To start this email, a big shout-out goes to Grandpa & Grandma Thornton. It was their big 50th wedding anniversary Friday night! In today’s world, just how many couples get to check that off their list? Way to go!!!
Yes, we are sorry we couldn’t be there and also that Sean or CJ couldn’t be there – something about not being able to leave your mission, , , Anyway, Katie was our last hope to have someone in our immediate family represent us at the party – but alas, even as we write this email, Katie is winging her way to Ecuador for a month with the BYU nursing program.
Speaking of which, yes, we are just a BIT worried with all this talk about SWINE flu and our little family being spread out over 4 continents. Not that we would want the alternative – no wishes here of anyone coming home early - but we are just saying, with all this talk, it does make one think of how blessed missionaries and members are around the world to be experiencing generally good health.
And Mike says our kids have nothing to worry about with swine flu anyway. Why? Apparently when he was in high school, his basketball coach had the whole team inoculated against swine flu. That was around 1977 and he has yet to catch it, so he is just sure it is still working. I will save you the horrific details on how BIG he now recounts the needle being, or how much it stung – poor guy – a little ironic he was a big, strong, Bonneville BEE. Anyway, according to “Dr.” Mike, he figures half his blood is running through our kids, so they should be at least ½ inoculated. And, if ½ inoculated is not strong enough, he has some very simple advice – PLEASE DON’T KISS ANYTHING RESEMBLING A PIG!
Of course, you may want to follow the above advice even in non-epidemic times. In fact, SEAN & CJ it is really simple for you - there will be NADA, ZERO, NO kissing AT ALL - until you get home! Keep your minds focused on the work and you will be fine. As for Katie, well, as we tell the young adults here at the Institute, (Surprise! We too were once your age,) so at least keep your hands washed frequently won’t ya? (Like we really needed to tell our little germ-a-phope “nursing” student that, right?) And finally (whew!) a word of disclaimer, if you did not know already, Mike is not a real medical doctor, but rather a Juris doctor, so take this advice for what it’s worth.
As for the Seattle mission front, it has been another interesting week of teaching and meeting up with some great people.
First our little Book of Mormon classes in Edmonds are growing a little due to the club fair we had last week and because of the efforts put forth by class members.
Second, it must be that time of the year for submitting mission papers by young students attending the Institute single wards. We have several young men waiting on pins and needles to see where they have been called (or as more correctly put, “assigned.”) It is funny how attached you get to some of these kids in just a short period of time.
Third, our evening class at the Institute on U-dub campus continues to grow. Two new students joined us this past week. One of them, “Aaron” is a fairly new convert. Aaron has been a little on the outs with the church, so it was really great to have him join us.
Fourth, it was also our good fortune, not only to get to teach our Book of Mormon classes, but to also substitute teach a Book of Mormon class for Sister Tucker. Why so? Well, in Sister Tucker’s class there is a student by the name of Sean. What’s not to like about that name? Also, Sean and his whole family happen to be very active members of a Pentecostal denomination. He doesn’t want to be taught by the missionaries (but we ARE missionaries, hah!) The reason why he is taking the class, is because he had several good friends in high school who are “Mormon.” Their examples gave him the desire to take a Book of Mormon class while attending the university. He is really a very bright and wonderful young man. He intently reads, asks great questions and is willing to accept truth rather than just ask cynical questions like sometimes happens. Anyway, being able to converse and discuss the Book of Mormon with him is just so wonderful. It is just one of the many examples of why it is so great to be missionaries serving at the Institute.
Fifth is Samatha. She is one of the students attending our New Testament class held in south Seattle. Samatha is also a non-member, She is from Taiwan. The “member” students in our class just love her and she is now starting to reciprocate their friendship. She even brought a “rice” bowl soup (very SWEET) to class to have us all taste. Even Mike was venturous enough to taste it and loved it. And for all we kid Mike, he really will eat about anything with a smile on his face - at least the first bite.
Speaking of being venturous, friendly, kind, generous and just an all around great person, it was our honor to have a recently returned missionary, none other than, (drum roll please, , ,) Sharon Jeppesen, drop by for a visit towards the latter end of the week! We say “venturous” because we picked Sharon up from downtown Seattle, where she was attending a very proper, fine, and oh-so, etiquette-experience with her wonderful daughter-in-law, Mindy at the downtown Seattle Women’s University Club.
We whisked Sharon away from Seattle’s high society and brought her back with us to the U. district. There we walked up the “Ave” and suggested lunch at a little dive where a soup called “Pho” is served. For those who do not know what “Pho” is, (it is phonetically pronounced fuh,) Pho is a Vietnamese soup that has various Asian vegetables in it. You then choose what kind of meat you would want with it. Whatever kind of meat you choose – anything from brisket to tripe to various and assorted fish parts – it is then cut, raw, into very thin strips. The raw strips are basically just thrown into the soup just before it is served to you. Have no fear, the soup actually does cook the meat. Anyway, for about $4.00 you get a HUGE bowl - about as BIG as you could ever eat. And that is just the medium size – even Mike can’t eat the “large.”
Also they have a drink called “bubble tea.” For us Word of Wisdom observers, you don’t have to worry. It isn’t what the name suggests. Basically it is a Jamba-Juice type of fresh fruit drink – Honeydew or Mango is our current favorite. However, the “bubble” part is this – they put LARGE black tapioca beads in the drink. I know, I know, that sounds really weird – but if Mike likes it, well, need I say more – it can’t be that scary. And it is really quite good and refreshing. Anyway, Sharon was a true sport and we hope she enjoyed our little lunch experience on the Ave. We know we did! After we asked her a 100 questions, we took a stroll through campus. Sharon is no stranger to the U-dub campus. Duke University and the University of Washington are on the top of her list of favorite campuses. Anyway, we then went back to the Institute and have this picture to prove it:
Yes, we are sorry we couldn’t be there and also that Sean or CJ couldn’t be there – something about not being able to leave your mission, , , Anyway, Katie was our last hope to have someone in our immediate family represent us at the party – but alas, even as we write this email, Katie is winging her way to Ecuador for a month with the BYU nursing program.
Speaking of which, yes, we are just a BIT worried with all this talk about SWINE flu and our little family being spread out over 4 continents. Not that we would want the alternative – no wishes here of anyone coming home early - but we are just saying, with all this talk, it does make one think of how blessed missionaries and members are around the world to be experiencing generally good health.
And Mike says our kids have nothing to worry about with swine flu anyway. Why? Apparently when he was in high school, his basketball coach had the whole team inoculated against swine flu. That was around 1977 and he has yet to catch it, so he is just sure it is still working. I will save you the horrific details on how BIG he now recounts the needle being, or how much it stung – poor guy – a little ironic he was a big, strong, Bonneville BEE. Anyway, according to “Dr.” Mike, he figures half his blood is running through our kids, so they should be at least ½ inoculated. And, if ½ inoculated is not strong enough, he has some very simple advice – PLEASE DON’T KISS ANYTHING RESEMBLING A PIG!
Of course, you may want to follow the above advice even in non-epidemic times. In fact, SEAN & CJ it is really simple for you - there will be NADA, ZERO, NO kissing AT ALL - until you get home! Keep your minds focused on the work and you will be fine. As for Katie, well, as we tell the young adults here at the Institute, (Surprise! We too were once your age,) so at least keep your hands washed frequently won’t ya? (Like we really needed to tell our little germ-a-phope “nursing” student that, right?) And finally (whew!) a word of disclaimer, if you did not know already, Mike is not a real medical doctor, but rather a Juris doctor, so take this advice for what it’s worth.
As for the Seattle mission front, it has been another interesting week of teaching and meeting up with some great people.
First our little Book of Mormon classes in Edmonds are growing a little due to the club fair we had last week and because of the efforts put forth by class members.
Second, it must be that time of the year for submitting mission papers by young students attending the Institute single wards. We have several young men waiting on pins and needles to see where they have been called (or as more correctly put, “assigned.”) It is funny how attached you get to some of these kids in just a short period of time.
Third, our evening class at the Institute on U-dub campus continues to grow. Two new students joined us this past week. One of them, “Aaron” is a fairly new convert. Aaron has been a little on the outs with the church, so it was really great to have him join us.
Fourth, it was also our good fortune, not only to get to teach our Book of Mormon classes, but to also substitute teach a Book of Mormon class for Sister Tucker. Why so? Well, in Sister Tucker’s class there is a student by the name of Sean. What’s not to like about that name? Also, Sean and his whole family happen to be very active members of a Pentecostal denomination. He doesn’t want to be taught by the missionaries (but we ARE missionaries, hah!) The reason why he is taking the class, is because he had several good friends in high school who are “Mormon.” Their examples gave him the desire to take a Book of Mormon class while attending the university. He is really a very bright and wonderful young man. He intently reads, asks great questions and is willing to accept truth rather than just ask cynical questions like sometimes happens. Anyway, being able to converse and discuss the Book of Mormon with him is just so wonderful. It is just one of the many examples of why it is so great to be missionaries serving at the Institute.
Fifth is Samatha. She is one of the students attending our New Testament class held in south Seattle. Samatha is also a non-member, She is from Taiwan. The “member” students in our class just love her and she is now starting to reciprocate their friendship. She even brought a “rice” bowl soup (very SWEET) to class to have us all taste. Even Mike was venturous enough to taste it and loved it. And for all we kid Mike, he really will eat about anything with a smile on his face - at least the first bite.
Speaking of being venturous, friendly, kind, generous and just an all around great person, it was our honor to have a recently returned missionary, none other than, (drum roll please, , ,) Sharon Jeppesen, drop by for a visit towards the latter end of the week! We say “venturous” because we picked Sharon up from downtown Seattle, where she was attending a very proper, fine, and oh-so, etiquette-experience with her wonderful daughter-in-law, Mindy at the downtown Seattle Women’s University Club.
We whisked Sharon away from Seattle’s high society and brought her back with us to the U. district. There we walked up the “Ave” and suggested lunch at a little dive where a soup called “Pho” is served. For those who do not know what “Pho” is, (it is phonetically pronounced fuh,) Pho is a Vietnamese soup that has various Asian vegetables in it. You then choose what kind of meat you would want with it. Whatever kind of meat you choose – anything from brisket to tripe to various and assorted fish parts – it is then cut, raw, into very thin strips. The raw strips are basically just thrown into the soup just before it is served to you. Have no fear, the soup actually does cook the meat. Anyway, for about $4.00 you get a HUGE bowl - about as BIG as you could ever eat. And that is just the medium size – even Mike can’t eat the “large.”
Also they have a drink called “bubble tea.” For us Word of Wisdom observers, you don’t have to worry. It isn’t what the name suggests. Basically it is a Jamba-Juice type of fresh fruit drink – Honeydew or Mango is our current favorite. However, the “bubble” part is this – they put LARGE black tapioca beads in the drink. I know, I know, that sounds really weird – but if Mike likes it, well, need I say more – it can’t be that scary. And it is really quite good and refreshing. Anyway, Sharon was a true sport and we hope she enjoyed our little lunch experience on the Ave. We know we did! After we asked her a 100 questions, we took a stroll through campus. Sharon is no stranger to the U-dub campus. Duke University and the University of Washington are on the top of her list of favorite campuses. Anyway, we then went back to the Institute and have this picture to prove it:
Well, all good things must come to an end. We left Sharon in the good hands of her son David, (at least we hope, we actually dropped her and Mindy off at a COSTCO and David was supposed to come and get them.) Anyway, we hope everyone’s health is in good hands, or at least everyone remembers to wash their hands!
Love,
Elder “Mike” and Sister “Jenny”
The newest Pho Seattle Missionaries
P.S. Next Week - Windermere photos and much, much more
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