LAUNCHING into Summer Term

Our two-week respite between school terms is over. Where did it go? We just can’t figure it out. We had plans to accomplish so much. Find more students, activate more souls.

Yet, just four hours before our Wednesday “Building Lasting Relations” class was to begin - we were in a bit of a panic.

We knew many of the students had gone home for the summer. We knew only 4 students, all female, had signed up for the Wednesday night class. BUT the reality of going through our summer with such small numbers in our classes was just now sinking in.

Of course, we know that every soul is precious - so four souls are fantastic! But “how” we wanted to approach the teaching of the class was highly dependant on having both males and females in the class to participate. AND there is something to be said about having at least a dozen students to ensure good and lively discussion. We knew those kind of numbers would be a tall order to fill in summer. But we had four hours left, , ,

SO we decided to throw all caution to the wind and LAUNCHED a summer institute enrollment extravaganza.

The first thing we did was have Mike climb up some brick chimneys, in the middle of red-square on campus, and raise a “small” banner:

AND believe it our not, Mike didn’t even fall once.

Okay, so the banners were really put up by a stunt-double and they actually don’t have anything to do with LDS institute, but hey, they can’t hurt.

Actually, what we did was this. With only a few hours remaining before the class began, we earnestly prayed and felt inspired to “text” two of the students who earlier had expressed an interest in taking the class. We texted – “PLEASE spread the word we NEED more participants, ESPECIALLY of the male variety.” And what do you know? Our prayers were once again answered. They came through with flying colors. 20+ students showed up, including the male variety! That might seem like small potatoes by BYU numbers, but it was BIG to two small Idaho potatoes.

SO thanks to the power of prayer and modern technology the class got off to a great start! Because we knew it really wasn’t because of us or anything we had done personally. So here’s to PRAYER & TWITTER POWER! And lest you think us strange, did you know more and more general authorities have FACEBOOK pages? A new day is dawning! AND we have a special surprise for our daughter Katie when she arrives next week for a visit, but SHHHH, don’t tell her – it will just be our little secret, okay? (Yah, we know Katie actually gets this email too. We just want to see if she really reads them, since we may NOT have received a letter from her for a while! Hint, Hint. What is up with these college students thinking they have a life full of school, work and some play, beyond writing their missionary parents?)

Soooo, just how did we get two students to encourage 20 others to join us?

Well, we may have offered something like a free boat-ride to them:



No, not on that ship you silly! But we did see that beautiful sailing ship last P-day.

Because last P-day, we boarded a Washington State Ferry and went and visited the San Juan Islands.


This is a pic of a place called “Friday Harbor.”

Actually, our good friends, Brad & Karen Beagles & family had invited us and also made arrangements to meet us at Friday Harbor.

They met us and were gracious enough to give us a boat ride on the boat named “Amazing Grace” for our P-day. We thought the boat’s name was very appropriate for a missionary couple to ride, don’t you think?


Anyway, we asked permission to come aboard, and since the biggest boat we are used to riding is a rubber raft on the Snake River, we felt something like a scene out of the PBS British comedy series, “Keeping Up Appearances.” You know, the one where “Hyacinth” and “Richard” go yachting for the day. (If you haven’t seen the series, this may not make any sense to you, so we will leave it at that.)

Anyway, Captain Brad did a great job of maneuvering the boat out of port and we sailed from Friday’s Harbor to “Jones” island. Jones Island is very small. The entire island is actually a state park. It is only accessible by private boat:


While there we explored the island with the Beagle family: (That is “Mom” Karen, son “McKay”, daughter “Elizabeth”)

And just had some good ole’ fashion fun:

And saw some wildlife:

And went to church (just kidding, but it is a “cute” little church isn’t it?):

Actually, the “church” and boats in the picture are located in a harbor back on the main San Juan Island. We were dropped off by the Beagles at “Roche Harbor” the end of a wonderful day.

BONUS: I didn’t even get Sea-sick! That is a FIRST for me!

The Beagles even arranged for a cab to pick us up and take us back to reality (back to using public transit via the Washington State Ferry):



Well, that of course was fun and wonderful. Thank you Beagles!

But it is also great to have at least some of the students back for another term. And “no” we didn’t actually offer to take them on a boat ride.

We also kicked off our Tuesday class with our West Seattle students by having an opening Social at Alki Beach. We had a fun pizza party right on the beach and found this, , , well, plank, , , and the picture best explains that:



Once again, yah, we know, it’s a tough mission. But somebody has just gotta have some fun with these kids.

And though we try our hardest to act like the “Seniors”, at least ONE of us just might get a little carried away. Which one of us? You will just have to guess now won’t ya?

Well, Thanks again so much for all your prayers and support.

Love,

Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton


P.S. Of course our thoughts and prayers go out to the Benson family. We hope Travis’ recovery continues to go well. Thank you so much to everyone back home who keep us informed.

And a sneak peek for next week email:

More visitors come to the U-dub!

Diggin In - 3 BIG Shout Outs

We are digging in for a big start to summer term.Summer term starts next week and there simply is not much to tell til' then.Except THANKS to one and all for your information which will greatly assist our first-time teaching of "Building Lasting Relationships" aka, Marriage Prep. Any additional info is always appreciated.

AND we do want to give a BIG shout out to THREE soon-to-join the full-time ranks of the Lord's army:

Elder Josh Barton - Brazil Brasilia!!!

Elder Alec Matthews - Billings, Montana!!!

Sister Michelle Crosland - Managua, Nicaragua!!!

Congratulations to all!

Until next week,
Elder "Mike" & Sister "Jenny" Thornton,

Friday Harbor, Washingon

Smore Transfers to Sing about

As all missionaries know, an important event routinely occurs – that of Mission Transfers.

It usually happens via the telephone. Someone calling and announcing your efforts to publish glad tidings in that particular part of the Lord’s vineyard is now over. Announcing what little time you have left will now be devoted to a new area and with a new companion.

Before the phone call ends, your emotions usually drown out the person speaking. The spirit simply carries your mind and heart away to another place. Mostly away to those whom you have come to serve and love. By design, there is little time to exchange good-byes.

And so was the case for us. We knew our time was far spent. We knew our week of transfer at the Institute had arrived.

Yet, it didn’t come by telephone. Our companionship remained intact (despite my companion not getting me anything for Mother’s day – but that’s another story – which he has since made full restitution for.) And we are to remain at the U-dub Institute.

Despite all that, a transfer occurred. How you may ask?

Winter term ended. Though we remain, some of our students are leaving. Some are getting married. Some are graduating. Some are going on missions. And for some, it’s simply time to head home for summer.

All these transfers have been a little jarring. Somehow we had it fixed in our minds that since we were serving but a year - it would be us leaving the U-dub - not them.

Despite the jar, we had a splendid time with all the Institute students at the closing social. We held the social at a place called the Golden Gardens:

Golden Gardens is basically a very beautiful beach along the Puget Sound. And as luck would have it, we have been experiencing some very beautiful sunsets:


You might have thought that “Bond – James Bond” was the only person you can think of who would ever wear a suit and tie on a beach. But move over Bond, because can you believe it? Elder Thornton was the ONLY one on the entire beach dressed in a suit and tie that day, (However, note the orange/purple “party” tie he is sporting.) And I might have been the only person wearing a skirt.

But no matter. In fact, our attire ironically turned out to be a very good thing. You see, with a very large beach and thousands of people, it was a little hard, especially for the 30+ BYU interns who had just arrived in Seattle for the summer, to actually spot our “Institute” group on the beach. But have no fear, what other group would have a couple, dressed in missionary attire, besides the Institute? So, due to our dress (and maybe because no one was holding a beer bottle) our group was easy to spot. We roasted hot dogs, melted smores, threw a football and just had a swell time.

On Sunday, we held Institute Graduation. The Institute Choir sang:

And 12 Institute students graduated – 4 of which attended our classes. We were so very proud of them!

And so ends another term here at the Seattle Institute of Religion.

Summer now officially begins. We start our new classes in two weeks.

One of the classes we have been assigned to teach is entitled “Building Lasting Relationships.”
With a title like that, who can tell? This could be the summer of love at the Institute!

(But, help! We are in need of some good material for this class, so any suggestions are WELCOME!)

As always, you have our love and gratitude for all you do!

Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton

Counting and Keeping Your Companion Humble

No rain for 5 FULL days and counting!
Taking full advantage of our first sunny day, Memorial Day, we left early to go see Snoqualmie Falls:

Snolquamie falls are impressive. They are actually taller than Niagara falls:

We think Niagara falls still seem SO much bigger, but Niagara may in fact be OUTSIDE our mission boundaries, so these falls suited us just fine!

Of course, what good are BEAUTIFUL falls to guys like Mike, without seeing how they generate POWER out of all that falling water! (insert your own Tim the Tool man growl):

What is it about big pipes and the hum of water flowing through them at high pressure that creates such a guy magnet?

Mike could have spent the whole morning right there watching water turn into sheer electric power – (insert another primal AAuurgh, AAuurgh, AAuurgh!!).

So after a few minutes looking at pipes, I gently persuaded my loving companion to MOVE ON.

Because the walk down to the bottom of the falls was like walking through a rain forest was much more pleasurable than pipe watching. (Okay ,,, most of Seattle is actually a rain forest.) But, the forest around the falls was iridescently beautiful that morning:

And the Washington State Flower is now in bloom:

Well, we could have stayed longer wandering through the flowers, at least one of us could have, but it was Memorial day and we had yet to see one grave or tombstone to commemorate the day.

This raised a problem. We actually don’t personally know anyone who is buried near Seattle. However our problem was soon solved by good old Sister Garmin. Who is Sister Garmin? She is that GPS voice that basically takes us all around Seattle - like we actually know where we are going. Anyway, she located a cemetery close by.

Throwing all caution to the wind, we went. And it was just amazing what we ran into.

First we found the memorial for the greatest electric guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix.
As we stood there, we both tried to recollect just what were some of his songs. And guess what? We couldn’t remember one. In fact, we couldn’t remember even what band he played with. Okay, we have heard of Woodstock, but we are just sure he was famous for something else. Because the Seattle Music Experience, (which is a BIG deal here in Seattle), was dedicated to him. But apparently, we just aren’t astute enough electric-guitar aficionados to know. We did think though, that it was probably just too bad that a man of such talent was born into the world at such a time as the 60’s – in that he only lasted 28 years before his death.

Anyway, our attention was soon drawn to another part of the cemetery – the real reason for Memorial Day. At this little cemetery, about 200 military veterans and families had gathered for a commemoration. They had a few short talks and then it happened. What everybody had been waiting for. A full entourage of bagpipe and drum players playing Amazing Grace:

And then of course they had a 21 gun salute. So it just felt good to give honor to these veterans since we couldn’t be home to give honor to those we personally know and love.

The remainder of the week went pretty much as normal with our classes and teaching.

However on one evening the Institute Council sponsored a “Linus” blanket-tying event on campus.

Essentially the “Linus” project gives blankets to kids who have been traumatized due to various situations. For example, when firefighters are called to do a rescue of a child, once rescued, they use one of our blankets to wrap the child up. Anyway, it was a good project and bonus, several non-members joined in. Of the group in the picture, three are non-members. So bonus, some good missionary things were also happening at this event.

Finally, on Friday, the “ole” institute instructors (Bro. Knowles, Bro. White, & Elder Thornton) took on the young adults in a b-ball game to celebrate the NBA finals. They played a game to 11. They surprised everyone by winning. However, they were the first to acknowledge, had the game gone to the normal 21, they might not have lasted. And since Elder Thornton hit the game-winning 3-pointer, he might not be livable with for a few days. But since I am his companion, I have too, so I will do my best to remind him that hitting a 3-pointer after you have not taken a shot for over 3 years is LUCK and has nothing whatsoever to do with skill.

As you can see, some days it is a full-time job just to keep my companion, humble, meek and well-grounded. But I am up to it. I have had 24 years of practice with this particular companion (and counting, and loving it!)

We also do miss and love you all!

Elder (Mike) and Sister (Jenny) Thornton

Ring Out Wild Box

Missionary pixie dust has just been flyin’ around the Institute this past week.

This picture sums it up. But since you weren’t here, , , umm, , , maybe some further explanation is needed?

About once a month, the Institute Council sponsors a “Friday night” Institute movie. Can you guess the movie?

If you guessed something like “The Village People – The Sequel” just what are you thinking? (And just how old are you if you remember the Village People?) If you guessed “Hook” - Arrgh! That’d be Right! (What is it about pirates that makes you want to go around growling – Arrgh!)

We know, we know, , , you might be wondering what exactly does “Hook” have to do with serving a mission? Well, take a closer look at the picture and maybe it will give you a clue.

The guy on the far left? He is an investigator. The girl standing closest to him? She just got baptized a month ago. As for Pocahontas? She just got baptized a year ago. The red-headed young man with the hook to his throat? He just got his mission call this week to the Philippines. As for the rest of the shipmates, well, the guy in the cute pink tinkerbell shirt is the Institute Council President (also working on his PHD in ancient Hebrew studies. Yes, someday he may be teaching you Isaiah – AND having a lot of fun doing it.) The guy in the cute mustache? That is the Council Vice-President who is working on his PHD in chemistry. The girl-in-green most like unto Peter-pan? Sorry, but she just got engaged this week – more on her and a “box” later in this email.

Speaking of engaged, we went to an evening temple session with another couple (Kyle and Gina) who are, you guessed it, engaged. Gina took out her endowments and it was just a very wonderful day. Gina is the only member of her family and has been a member for only about a year and a half.

And just to show you temple blessings don’t stop once you leave your session, Mike received a double blessing of sorts for attending that day.

After the session, Mike went down to the recorder’s office to pick up the cards of those whom we had done the work for. At the office, a younger man stopped him.
The younger man hesitantly asked, “Did you used to teach at the MTC?”
To which Mike responded, “Yes, but don’t let my youthful black name tag fool you. I am now a ‘Senior’ missionary, and it has been over 25 years since I taught in the MTC.”
To which the younger man smiled and replied, “I thought so, I was one of your Elders.”
After further conversing with “Elder Jenkins,” (in our temple voices, of course) he introduced us to his wife and told us about their children and how their oldest is 16 years old and is already looking forward to serving a mission. Anyway, it is just so great to “reunite” with those whom we have come in contact with through the gospel. This of course, made Mike’s whole day.

I wonder if 25 years from now, if any of the students we are teaching will stop and ask us if we used to teach at the U-dub Institute? Let’s see, we will then be 73. At 73 what are the odds of remembering we even served a mission at the U-dub Institute? 73 - How will it be? What will the next 25 years bring? Will they go as fast as the last?

Speaking of time flying – since last we wrote, we celebrated our twenty-fourth anniversary! No transfer or exchange of companions for us! Well, at least we hope so! And that is true, even if I MIGHT have said something like “Honey, has the past twenty-four years gone as SLOWLY for you as it has for me?” And can you believe it, Mike wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. But what I really meant to say was, it is hard to remember a time when we haven’t been together. Yes! That is what I meant. Anyway, that is my story and I am sticking to it.

We went to Maggiano’s (thanks Cherlyn Thornton for recommending Maggiano’s to us when we were in Boston, they also have one here in Seattle.) Anyway, the atmosphere is just splendid for such events and the crème brulee is definitely worth the zillion calories a bite for dessert.

We also went to a couple of other events over the past week.

The first was an exhibition sponsored by our Church
called, “Reflections of Christ,” by Mark Maybry

Perhaps you have seen it, or have heard of it.
Basically the artist has done some very tasteful photographs,
which drives home the point that Christ was a real man,
a mortal Messiah, not just some historical hero in a book.
If you haven’t see it, it may well be worth your time.

The website for it is http://www.reflectionsofchrist.org/


The second was a classical guitar performance by one of our Book of Mormon class students, “Peter Harker.”

Peter is on the right. His performance was incredibly good.

Whenever, we are invited to one of these concerts by our students, we love to go if we can. But it always causes us to ponder, “Now, just what were we doing in the pre-existence when all these other musically-talented spirits were apparently practicing?”

Okay, just in case, you think we spend all of our days going to movies, art exhibits, and concerts, we do have to work a little. In fact, we didn’t even stay to watch “Hook.” And this past week in our classes, we are very excited to have “Traci,” a young woman who is investigating our Church, come to our Wednesday night class.

Traci is a very interesting U-dub student. Among her many talents is she is an accomplished “unicyclist.” We are not sure which of the younger missionaries talked her into bringing her unicycle to the Institute. But each of the younger missionaries took a turn at falling off – and it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it looked like it might just hurt a little. Question, “Does the Church cover young Elders being hurt while attempting to ride unicycles? The young Elders weren’t quite sure, so they thought they had better quit. Elder Thornton decided our health insurance coverage excluded us from unicycle riding, so we respectfully declines. For which we were glad, because Traci then showed us all up and then some.

Speaking of our Wednesday evening class, we were also very delighted to have another student, a young woman, by the name of “Ahn,” join us. Ahn has been a member for an entire, whole – week! So, yes, we do get some missionary work done among our other duties with both investigators and new converts.

Lest we forget to finish the “box” story. Basically, the girl-in-green, “Robyn” just became betrothed to “George” who lives in Colorado Springs. (Just like at BYU, ‘tis the season.) Anyway, Robyn decided to fly to Colorado Springs to surprise George. I told her I had a sister-in-law in Colorado and wouldn’t it just be fun if I could arrange to have my sister-in-law meet her with a BIG box that she (Robyn) could fit into and be delivered to George. She was game and I called “Cherlyn” to see if she would. Of course, Cherlyn was happy to help, but then it dawned on her that somehow I had forgot Cherlyn actually lived in Fort Collins, NOT, Colorado Springs. Whoops!! One of those “Senior” moments. Sorry Robyn! Sorry Cherlyn!

Oh well, and for all those RMs out there, here’s some free advise, (so take it for what it is worth) - the pixie dust is flyin’, it is apparently the season to get your ring on or move on. As far as boxes go, they’re optional.

We love and miss you all.

Elder “Mike” and Sister “Jenny” Thornton

Windermere - Who's Your Mother?

“Hello! Is that you? Tell your dear Mom everything, anything, something!”

Just practicing, , ,

With over 50,000 missionaries out serving, can you just feel the LOVE of thousands of Moms awaiting their annual phone call?

So many questions, so few minutes.

Having been through a few of these phone calls, there is a real art to keeping oneself focused, on task and not drifting into imaginary, pre-conversations - all the week long - prior to the real call (And once we figure out how not to do that, we will let you know.)

How bad can it get? Well, lets just say when we went to the University wards’ stake conference this past week, we didn’t even notice we had parked a little too close to a fire hydrant AND when we came out of conference we found our car was gone. So, yah, it can get pretty bad. AND after paying the tow truck company $200 and the $80 parking ticket - that is our story and we are sticking to it.

We just hope our classes didn’t suffer too much because of our daydreaming. In our Book of Mormon classes this week we covered the 2nd book of Nephi. You know, the good ole writings of Isaiah. Thank heavens for Nephi’s and Jacob’s great commentary. It really does help, especially with our Mother’s day pre-occupation. It also makes one think – just how does the rest of the Christian world really understand Isaiah without the aid of the Book of Mormon? No wonder the Book of Mormon will be a key in the convincing of the tribe of Judah that the Messiah really has already come for the first time.

Can we also say it has also been hard to concentrate on the talks we have to give on, , , Mother’s day, , , – focus – focus – focus.

Ummh, what were we talking about? This must be what it is like to have A.D.D.

Seriously, we understand Richard & Sharon Jeppesen will be reporting on Sunday – we hope someone takes good notes and sends them to us – hint, hint.

Fortunately for us - now that Katie is out of the country, she has once again decided to blog.

http://www.katiegracethornton.blogspot.com/

Reading her blog seems to help us a little.

Also fortunately for us, we have had several extra-curricular activities to keep our minds in the present.

The first was “Seattle’s Got Talent.” This was a talent show put on by the three University wards. The young adults were actually very good (made us wonder, just what talents did we have in college?) Anyway, it was really a fun evening for everyone involved as these pictures indicate:

“Funny Man – Allen”

“Teresa & Bass”

“Amazing Geography Man” - okay maybe you had to be there.

“The Band of Bands”

The winner for the night was “Jon, Sax – o – Man”:

We could go on and on, but we realize these pictures may not mean much without sound – so there you go.

Another great diversion this past week was an event involving one of our Institute kids.

“Rowing” a boat is really, really big deal here in Seattle. Hey, what else are you going to do with all this water?

They even give full-ride scholarships and everything if you are good enough to qualify for a college team – which is just what “Sam” (short for Samatha) did. Anyway, we try to go out and support any of our Institute kids when they have big events.

And around Seattle, there is hardly anything bigger than (drum roll, , ,)

WINDERMERE!!!

Once a year, Seattle closes the University bridge for thousands of people to hang out and about on this biggest of all boating days.

Some come on little boats;

And they bring their dogs;

Some come on bigger boats:

Some wear those funny sailing hats and sailor suits;

Some commute in the strangest ways:

But, by land or by sea, they all come out;

To see these guys compete:

And compete they do:

Our “Sam” and her team swepted! (that means U-dub won it all!)

It was just a really fun day, with Sam’s parents (Sam’s dad is photo-ing) and friends;

Well, from the Rowing capital of the civilized world, we need to sign off so we have time to formulate our Mother’s day questions!

May your Mother’s day be as GREAT as it is in our minds!

(Don’t worry Grandma Sandy and Grandma Fern, your two little “Senior” missionaries have not forgotten your call.)

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