Mike insisted there was some kind of mission rule against them dancing. Yet, Jenny actually read the missionary “white bible” from front to back and found no such rule for Seniors – imagine that!
So don’t let that slow-moving couple with name tags in the right-hand photo fool you. That really is us, showing off our fancy foot work.
It kinda like a scene out of that cowboy Australia movie “Quigley Down Under.” You know the one at the end where Quigley is thought to only be able to shoot with a rifle. So the bad guy ruffs Quigley up a bit and takes away his rifle. Then he gives Quigley a pistol, thinking to beat Quigley in a quick draw. Quigley of course shoots the bad guy and says something to the effect, as the bad guy lay dying, “I didn’t say I wasn’t any good with a pistol. I just said I didn’t appreciate pistols.” Anyway, you get the picture.
In our case, both of us grew up in that wonderful enlightened era of hugely sophisticated dance steps. You know the one we are talking about. Instead of wasting all that time learning those old-fashioned steps (yet somehow, oh so beautiful and graceful steps to the waltz, fox trot, or tango), we grew up knowing the DISCO! As a result, at this stage of life, all we can do (without embarrassing ourselves too much) is one thing. Hold hands and slowly shuffle around the floor in a slow circle thingy. Okay, so that isn’t quite like the Quigley scenario. In fact, maybe it is the opposite. Maybe someone should have shot us and put us out of our misery. But, is was fun to be there with these great young adults. And that is more dance’in than Jenny has been able to get out of Mike in the past 20 years. Who would have thought all Jenny had to do was get Mike out on a mission and he would be such a willing dance partner? Will the miracles of mission life ever cease?
After recovering from the LATE night dancing with the living, we also went the past week with the young adults to the university wards’ temple night to do some work for the dead. We were able to do some WONDERFUL work. It was so great seeing many of the young adults we are working with all dressed in white in the celestial room. Kinda brought tears to some of the “Senior” eyes (this getting older thing, impacts the body more ways than one.) More perhaps on that subject in an upcoming email.
Anyway, we then had to do some planning for the upcoming term. We thought these things just magically happen. By the time we got our class outlines in shape and material ready for the upcoming term, somehow that WHOLE first week came and went. It sort of just flew by getting ready for the next term.
Speaking of flying, lest we forget, we had another SHORT, but wonderful “fly by” visit from some more wonderful friends, Anne and Rich Crosland. What we mean by “fly-by” is exactly that. On P-day morning, Rich and Anne just happened to be flying their way back from Hawaii, (where they and their parents and siblings celebrated Rich’s parent’s 50th wedding anniversary – Way to go Grandpa and Grandma Crosland!) Anyway, as luck would have it, on Saturday morning, they had a 1 ½ hour layover at the Seattle airport. They had e-mailed us earlier and wondered if we had the time to come and chat. We did:
It was so great to see them. Ann and Rich had been flying all night long and had a bit of a Hawaiian sunburn (ya, we felt really sorry for them too.) Seriously, it is so good just to be able to hug someone from home (sorry Elder Sean and Elder CJ – just one of the perks of serving state-side as “Senior” missionaries.)
Our attendance at our normal university Sacrament meetings over the past two weeks has been a little abnormal. It all started at one of the single wards. As you may have noted from previous emails, we have gotten to know the Bishop of this ward really well. He grew up in the same little town of Ucon, Idaho as Mike’s mom. Anyway, Sunday was High Council/speaker day. But, as luck would have it, the High Council speaker didn’t show. Guess who the Bishop called upon to fill the time? We hope to return the favor someday, but we are not sure quite how yet. Anyway, we then were asked to speak in another sacrament meeting the next week in south Seattle. Since the assigned topic didn’t exactly fit one of our already canned talks, we ended up taking more time during the week than anticipated preparing (Maybe just being asked to speak out of the audience wasn’t that bad after all – at least there is no time to prepare – and it’s over before you know it.) Anyway, we are a little slow, but between preparing and doing the next two tasks, somehow the week was gone.
What were the next two tasks you may ask? Well, the State of Washington has a problem with anyone who prepares meals for say 100+ people each week without getting a food handler’s permit. Since we hadn’t taken the test to get our permit, the Institute Director thought it might be a good idea to get one before the Institute got picked to be randomly inspected. After all, if we get someone sick because of our food, we certainly want to make sure we got them sick using Washington state approved rules.
So, we went and took the food handler’s course. For those who have never gotten a food handler’s permit lately, let’s just say you don’t have to be the sharpest knife in the drawer to pass the test. Basically they show you a movie that emphasizes over and over again how to wash your hands and how to keep food out of the danger zone where bacteria and other “bad” things can rapidly happen to food between the temperature range of 41̊ to 140̊. Then they give you a test of 36 questions which asks you 36 different ways of why it’s important to wash your hands and keep the food out of the danger temperature range. However, there is a VERY scary part. We made the mistake of actually looking around the room and seeing all the people who were taking the test. Not that we want to be rude, but if you want to enjoy eating out at any public food establishment in the future, don’t EVER, EVER, EVER visit a food handlers’ testing center and see generally who will be actually handling your food. Let’s just say their individual need to express themselves overshadows any rational thought concerning personal hygiene.
Okay, so the actual test didn’t take that long, but by the time we drove clear over to where you had to take the test and beforehand we foolishly thought that perhaps you needed to at least read the food handler’s material before going to take the test and then by the time we fought traffic there and back, our day was completely shot.
On to the next task. This one, we had been dreading for sometime now. It is that task that is not excused even if you are on a mission. The tax man cometh even after missionaries if he doesn’t get paid. So, as anyone who is “self-employed” can attest, getting everything ready and doing your taxes is not for the faint of heart. And when you have a few different, unrelated businesses, the fun can last for several days.
So went another big chunk of our “off-term” time. After doing our taxes, so went our thoughts of a higher spiritual plane.
So went our two weeks we had somehow thought we would get to use in SO many wonderful of ways.
The term starts again on Monday. Classes start Monday. Here we go again, ready or not.
Actually it is nice getting all the “non-missionary” things off our to-do list. We remember reading one of the Jeppesen’s “Musings” in which they noted once you are out in the mission field, you really do develop a stronge sense of not wanting to do things which would take your focus far away from your work. These past two weeks have driven that point home to us. We look anxiously forward to the students’ return this weekend.
We love our mission. We love the students whom we are called upon to serve.
We hope your Spring is going great!
Love,
Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton
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