Whew Review

They say you can tell the tourists. They’re the ones packing umbrellas.

Normally that’s not so much to talk about. After all this is Seattle, but lets just say this tourist’s umbrella is getting a little bent out of shape as many times as we have had to use it as a snow scraper in February.

As you can see, our building’s little mascot is basking in the sunshine - just after a rain storm - just after a snow storm -which gave us enough of the white stuff to build him.

You might be pondering, “Do Senior Missionaries do things like build snowmen?” Answer: Absolutely! If done with Public Relations in mind.

What does “PR” have to do with a Seattle snowman? Well, you should have seen all the people just walking down the sidewalk who would glance up and smile at the CUTE snowman – which just so happened to be strategically placed just under the sign reading “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – Institute of Religion” - thank you very much.

Of course all good things must come to an end. Someone late in the day came by, and apparently didn’t believe in snowmen, because they SQUASHED him. Sorry Frosty, we simply did NOT know that atheists also deny the existence of snowmen.

Okay, just in case you think we didn’t have anything else to do this week besides build a snowman, this is what we did in a nutshell:

SATURDAY: Just after we wrote the last email, we ran off to have a “meet & greet” with a bunch of high school juniors and seniors who are checking out the institute as future U-DUB students. Of course, we fed them and afterwards the Institute had rented out Husky Football Stadium to play frisby games. The potential future students had a blast and let’s just say the faculty woke up Sunday morning a LITTLE sore.

SUNDAY: We talked in one of the University Wards. Deon Turley surprised us by being there to visit her daughter Carol. (Sorry Deon for having to listen to us twice in a very short period of time.)

MONDAY: We taught our classes and then the University wards had a “Tri-ward” film festival - which was really fun, and kept us going until about 10:00pm.

TUESDAY: Fairly normal teaching day and we finished up our teaching at around 9:00pm. Not all of the Church’s institute locations celebrate Mardi Gras, but the one in Seattle did. We only made crepes for the students in honor of Sister Thornton’s mission experience in France. When the students asked what Mardi Gras was she preferred to be a little vague.

WEDNESDAY: We taught in the morning and then we had another out-of-state wonderful visitor, Rex Barzee. Rex is a BYU Idaho professor (and Jenny’s nephew.) He dropped by with two of his students for an Institute looksie - His students are here on an internship finding trip. We really enjoyed his all-too-brief visit and we said our good-byes with the hopes of the Institute seeing him and even more students next year.

THURSDAY: We taught our last class of the week and then shopped until we dropped for the normal Friday Feast. That evening the Institute sponsored an on-campus forum to field questions from non-member U-Dub students which finished up about 10:00pm.

FRIDAY: The normal cooking and feasting with a western theme. We had barbequed beef and the fixin’s and root beer floats.

The feast was followed by a CES satellite training seminar with Elder Cook. The faculty then went out to dinner as a group.

AND there you have it. Another week has FLOWN by. That pretty much takes us up to this very moment where we are typing out this email.

Whew.

Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton

Kerfuffled

Last week, we skipped sending out our weekly email and just LOOK what you missed:

First, we teach a class on Mondays/Wednesdays at Edmonds Community College. We just happened to be teaching in 3 Nephi during that week. In particular we covered verses in chapter 8 like; “And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land.”

One might say our lesson was a bit TOO powerful - perhaps, just a tad over the top. Why? Because the very next day, the Edmonds area was hit with an earthquake. As you can imagine, once we were released from the hospital, we were very busy just cleaning up the mess. As a result, we really didn’t have any time to write the weekly email.

So that MIGHT be a little bit of an overstatement. We haven’t personally met anyone who really felt the earthquake (it was only a 4.2 magnitude.) Also, we know our lesson had nothing to do with it. But that is the best excuse we could come up with for not writing. And since NOBODY emailed us to say, “HEY? What happened to last week’s exciting senior missionary installment?” OR “Gee, I wonder if Elder & Sister Thornton are all right?” We realize you might have other things going on in your life, things more important than worrying about an Edmonds earthquake. You really need not worry. We are still here serving as full-time missionaries. How exactly did the Apostle Paul put it? Something about “Bereft” being his middle name? (Trivia fact: Did you know Jenny doesn’t really have a middle name?)

Okay, so the earthquake’s only impact was to reinforce what we were discussing with our students that week – but that was great in and of itself.

And that would have been about that for the week - except, for one other interesting thing. Which might not be that interesting to those living in snowbound Utah or Idaho. But on our first day in Seattle, we were told several times, “Oh, it NEVER snows in Seattle, , ,”

Now, we know what you are thinking – looking at this picture – What a crazy, huge amount of snow, huh? Okay, this might not qualify even as snowflake (plural) in Utah or Idaho, but here in SEATTLE, this much snow in February cripples the entire city. And this was after it already snowed in January - twice. However, since we have yet to teach ANY lessons related to snow, we feel pretty confident they can’t blame us for it. We should be able to finish this week’s email without further delay.

Actually, we could have finished last week’s email, yet for another kerfuffle. Earthquakes, snow storms, all this we took in stride, but the next surprise surpassed both the tremors and the snowdrifts combined.

On Thursday, as normal, we drove to the Institute and went downstairs to teach our morning BoM class. Earlier that morning, just as we were leaving our apartment, Mike casually remarked to Jenny, “Aren’t you excited for today?” Jenny responded, “What? It’s Thursday, I guess I’m excited because its – Thursday?” To which Mike responded, “Now you got it. It’s Thursday, the most exciting day of the week! In fact, it is so exciting, I am going to take the camera with us to Institute today to catch all the Thursday excitement!”

Now, such comments might seem a bit peculiar to the casual email reader. But, remember, Jenny has been married to Mike for well over 20 years, so she just responded, “Okay then. Thursday, it is!” And off they went.

Meanwhile, back at the Institute, our morning class just finished. Both students and instructors head for the exits. Since our class in held downstairs, we made our way back to climb the steps up to the student-lounge area. Jenny (of course) beats Mike to the top of the stairs. At the top, she finds the study-lounge filled to the brim with both students and Institute faculty alike. Jenny thinks to herself, “Am I being overly paranoid? Why does it seem like everyone is staring at me? Everyone, that is EXCEPT that one student sitting in a chair with her back to me. WAIT A MINUTE, [as the student stands and twirls quickly around so Jenny meets her face to face] Its MY KATIE!!!! Its MY KATIE!!!”

We think those lines are still echoing around somewhere in space. Anyway,

Click, goes Mike’s camera and there it is:

Actually, Katie and Elder Thornton, had been in cahoots for sometime planning this little surprise for Sister Thornton. You see, as many of you know, Elder & Sister Thornton left for the MTC only 9 days after Katie got home from Spain. As a result, Sister Thornton has been just a tiny-bit anxious about their little Hermana. So Katie’s arrival for a 5-day visit was just what the doctor ordered – (Just one of the many benefits of serving as a “Senior” couple – you can have visitors from time to time!) And since we had a long President-day weekend ahead of us, we got permission to take an extra day off – for good behavior of course – (we hadn’t started an earthquake or snowstorm in at least a few days or so.)

Of course, the first thing we did, was put Katie to work at our weekly Friday Feast:

And lucky we were to have her. You see, we had to prepare a “Valentines” day feast and then get everything taken down and put away in time for us to go and help out at the Tri-stake “Sweetmeet” that very evening.

What’s a Sweetmeet you ask? Well, it is where all the single “guys” build a dessert. The desserts are then auctioned off to the girls. The girls “buy” the desserts with Institute “cash” they earn by going to Institute things. The catch - the girls don’t know which guy made which dessert. It was actually quite interesting (and a little intense – since Jenny & Mike were supposed to judge the desserts.) Below are just some of the interesting desserts:


Can you see the “bird-cage” dessert with two marshmallow peep “lovebirds” on the middle perch? Quite ingenious, eh?

We were proud of Katie. Fresh off the mission, we weren’t sure she would be to willing to participate. However, she did, and she got to know a few of these great Institute-age, young-adults in the Seattle area.

The next day, we went and took in a Temple session:


Afterwards, we took a little time to take in the “Pikes Market” waterfront:


And to go see a few boats raised in the locks:

See how the boats are down about 15 feet, then they raise, up, up up.

And of course, what is Seattle without a few overcast skies?

Or how about a ferry boat ride to picturesque Port Townsend?

Or a lighthouse or two?



And a few Port Townsend “Victorian” houses to dream about:

And there you have it. A nice, well-spent visit. We then took Katie to the airport and said our “see you laters” to our little BYU “Hermana.”

Lest we forget, on the Sunday before Katie left (on a Tuesday), we took it “easy” on Katie. We only went to “two” university wards. At the first ward of the day, it was ward conference. The ward Bishop - Bishop Dale Jenkins - was one of the speakers. He spoke of days gone by and how he grew up in Ucon, Idaho. His dad had been Bishop there. He recalled how the old Ucon church had a pot-belly stove and how he used to stoke it in the winter-time and watch the mice run in and out of the wood pile next to the stove. He recalled how excited they were when it was announced they were going to get to build a new church in Ucon. He then mentioned he remembered a man by the name of Lloy Prater. Lloy owned a local lumber yard. He said Lloy provided the materials to build the church in Ucon at a very low price – He suspected even at a zero profit price. He thought this was remarkable since Lloy wasn’t even a member. He then mentioned this good man, Lloy Prater, was in fact the great-grandpa of Katie Thornton and the grandpa to Elder Thornton. Well, of course, that got us a little choked up.

After taking President’s day off, it was a SHORT week to get everything done. But as they say, time waits for no man. Classes came and went. Once again, we found ourselves trying to prepare another Friday Friendship Feast. What had we promised this week? Oh that’s right, it was “Africa” week and we had promised 200 shiskabobs, 100 twice-baked potatoes (we didn’t have any squash), 100 “Zulu” desserts (don’t ask – we were making it up as we went.)

Of course to set the right “ambiance” we combined a slide show out of young Elder Thornton’s Tanzania pictures and Elder & Sister Wells’ Africa pictures (the ones, the Wells had provided for our Provo High Priest party, so that part was easy.) But just how were 2 missionaries going to grill 200 kabobs and do all the dessert plating AND baking AND have it all done in time? Well, we hadn’t thought that out.

Fortunately for us, even though our memories were short, Thursday night it dawned on us we were going to be blessed with another set of visitors. Over a month ago, Brother Fowler, our area director (over the Washington, Alaska, etc. areas), had gone down south to Bonnie Lake, Washington to teach at a workshop for that stake. In that stake, we just happened to have some wonderful friends from our ole’ college days. They are Ken & Carol Milburn. Carol has taught seminary for many years. As luck would have it, Carol just happened to give a workshop at that same stake meeting Brother Fowler attended. He saw her workshop and he loved her teaching (no surprise to us.) They conversed afterwards and both found out they, of course, had common ties - Elder & Sister Thornton. Brother Fowler then “invited” the Milburns to come see us - Which they did.

Unfortunately for them (LUCKY for us), Brother Fowler had invited them to come this past “Friday.” They came. We put them right to work:

Brother Fowler couldn’t believe we would treat our friends like that – LOL! But we fully know – What goes around – Comes around! So we are prepared to return the favor.

We just hope the Milburns get called to Hawaii on a mission and we will GLADLY go help them for a Friday or two!

Well, it has been another GREAT week!!!!

Hey, maybe no one will notice if we take another 2 weeks off before we write again.

We hope all is well in Zion.

Love,
Elder Mike & Sister Jenny

P.S. Institute teacher, Brother White, gives a Shout-out to his former student Melissa Elmer!

P.S.S. Carol Turley and her roommates were Ingenious in their bidding at the SweetMeet!

Jaw Drop

WAIT: Attached is an audio file – Happy New Year.mpa. To get this week’s FULL email effect WHILE reading, double click on it beforehand – [unless your Mission doesn’t allow you to listen to Chinese music.]

Okay, , , aaaahhh, now doesn’t that music set the tone for cook’in some good Asian stir fry?

“Sister” Thornton sure knows how to WOK and ROLL doesn’t she?

Quit shaking your head. We can’t believe it either. But, trying to top last week’s Italian Friday Feast kept us up a few nights. We are getting a little STIR fry crazy – egg/drum roll please – LOL.

Seriously though, with all of your GREAT help it actually did turn into quite the Chinese Celebration. (Yes, “technically” Chinese New Year is past, but we are serving Chinese, so WOK with us a little.)

When we finally opened up the feast, the look on this U-dub student’s face said it all:

Okay, so “dragon man” isn’t exactly a U-dub student. But the picture really does capture the FESTIVE ambiance we were trying to go for. However, Mike wouldn’t put on the Dragon suit either to help set the Chinese ambiance. But, fortunately with all your help, we did set a great-festive tone anyway.

We received some great decorations made by some students at Bonney Lake (THANKS Milburns!!!):

And (as you can hear IF you are listening to the audio file) we received some great audio files from many of you (THANKS!!!):

Of course the Big Screen slide show presentation also was wonderful with all the pictures we were able to download on China (THANKS Warren BINGHAM!!!):

We can’t print all the Cookie Fortunes we received (THANKS Jeppesens, Wises!!!), but they were great too!

Anyway, we served STIR FRY, EGG ROLLS, LETTUCE WRAPS & THE GREAT WALL OF CHOCOLATE & FORTUNE COOKIES (Thanks for all the great recipes from one and all!!!)

All for 2 bucks! Try getting that much food for your $$$ anywhere! (Okay, we MIGHT have overspent the budget a little – and now we will have some explaining to do to with the Institute Director. If we get released early, just remember Walt Disney use to spend double and triple what he was supposed to and look where Disneyland is now!)

As a result, we topped 90+ students!!! They say it is a NEW Institute record for Friday Feast (at least a good one for a very long time.) We think we could top our intermediate goal of 100+ within the next two or three weeks.

Of course, next week might be a bit interesting. It will be Valentines AND Friday the 13th. We are trying to think of a food theme that meets both criteria. Maybe something set to a Greek tragedy or perhaps Madame Butterfly. What do you think?

On another subject, when we first got here, it was common for us to hear innocent student comments like, “The couples before you had a lot more white hair.” “Do you guys know how to cook or teach or something?” You see, the SENIOR missionaries, who have come and served here, apparently have been the REAL grandma and grandpa type. Since we have no grandchildren yet, although the students have been VERY nice, we could tell they really wanted someone closer to the age of their grandparents, rather than just their parents (they already have “parents” telling them what to do, , ,.) [Those at home with “white” hair – you are desperately wanted!]

Since we don’t have white hair (just don’t look too close at Jenny’s “hair highlighting”) we have been trying especially hard to do our best to spice up the “teach a little” and the “cook a little” parts of our mission life. (Lest we forget, Note to Audrie, [Jenny’s Nice & hairdresser] Are you coming to Seattle anytime soon?),

As a result of ALL your extra help, we think we reached a pivotal moment with many of the U-dub resident students. Student comments at the end of the week, like one made by Nancy, (the U-dub long-time office assistant) says a lot.

(Picture of Brother White, Nancy and Brian)

Nancy’s comment, “Elder & Sister Thornton, you just can’t possibly go home in a year. You will just have to tell your 2 sons and your daughter, we need you more. So when they return [from their missions], instead of you going back to Provo, they, and your daughter, will just have to come and live here.”

Comments like that made us choke up just a little as we ended our week. Noteably, we would have to say Nancy was probably one the toughest to convert to the new/younger “senior” missionaries. Anyway, all you Senior/White hair types, just know, you have a GREAT advantage over us younger “senior” missionaries when you first start your mission - especially in the instant love & respect department.

Last, we wanted to catch you up with Ma’aki. If you recall, Ma’aki is the young man who joined our New Testament class last week. If you remember, we weren’t sure whether we were getting through to him at all until at the very end of class when he prayed for the first time. That was on Tuesday.

On Sunday, we went to three different Fast & Testimony meetings. The last of the day was at the Tongan ward. When we arrived, they were just about to start singing the opening hymn (in Tongan of course.) We quickly sat down in the back and grabbed a hymn book. Of course, their hymns are all written in the Tongan language and many of the melodies are uniquely Tongan as well. We did our best to join in anyway. As Sister Thornton’s dad says, “If you can’t sing well, sing loud.” Unfortunately, did you know the letter “e” in Tongan sounds like the capital “A?” We didn’t either. They also go UP and DOWN on some notes that don’t appear to go UP or DOWN. Some of the younger Tongan kids were giggling a little as we got a little Tongan-tongue-tied on words we didn’t have a clue on what they meant. Yet the spirit was strong. The Tongan branch members LOVE to sing and they sing so BEAUTIFULLY (despite two Provo missionaries.) It was a real treat.

Then it was time for testimonies. Once again, we didn’t understand a word they were saying. Yet, as we looked around the room at their beautiful faces, the spirit definitely bore testimony of their kindness and commitment to the gospel.

Testimony meeting there was somewhat like a BYU student ward, in that, it was a race and “non-stop” testimony event at the pulpit. Yet the race didn’t always go to the swift. When it was time for some of the more “mature” sisters of the branch to bear their testimony, you could feel the great respect the younger generation had, as they would yield and allow these wonderful sisters the opportunity to bear their testimony. Of course the meeting went a “little” over, but it was still a treat.

Somewhere towards the end of the meeting a tall, young man stood up. It was Ma’aki. He looked a little different in a white shirt and tie and without his Hoodie. He then walked up to the pulpit. Though you could tell that Ma’aki was not very comfortable, he bore his testimony in English (which was even more interesting, because afterwards, we talked to him and he hadn’t realized we were there.) Anyway, towards the end of his testimony something incredible happened. As we listened, all of a sudden he quoted two verses (not just read - he quoted two verses) right out of our discussions of 1 Corinthians. Then he stated, he had decided to go on a mission. What? Praying just a few days ago, then apparently memorizing scriptures, bearing testimony and committing to go on a mission? It was truly one of those jaw-dropping experiences that come all too infrequently in life.

Of course, we know it wasn’t us. But being there to see Ma’aki catch hold and see how the Spirit was teaching Ma’aki was truly a wonderful experience. We are so grateful to be able to serve the Lord full-time. We are so thankful for experiences like these. The gospel is truly the “good news.” Its message of Christ’s atonement, as born witness by the Holy Ghost, can and does change lives.

Reflecting back over this week and all of the GREAT help we received, it has once again made two little missionaries from Provo so thankful. Maybe a kind and loving Heavenly Father does send more of these experiences quietly to us than we ever imagine possible if we just take the time to reflect upon them.

For all you do for us - for all you do for those all around you - you make our jaws drop too!

Malo ‘aupite!
(Tongan – THANK YOU VERY MUCH.)

We love ALL your wonderful commentary.

MISSIONS ARE SIMPLY GREAT!!!


Well, we’d best blast off,

Love,
Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton