Abnormally normal

As far as this past week, you might just say all is “normal” here in Seattle.

Rain for four days straight – normal.

Losing 4 of the 6 University Elders to transfers – normal.

Teaching on several different campuses this week – normal.

Having 86 at Friday Friendship Feast – normal.

Assisting with the creation of a LDS student association at a local college campus - normal:
But, what is a “normal” week without having a few “abnormal” moments?

Abnormal – Watching a “hip hop” dance of some of our LDS students at the college fair:
(Actually, if you are into “hip hop” they are really quite good!)

Abnormal - Dave & Lori Wise helping on Friday. Not that either Dave or Lori are “abnormal,” but, if you recall, this is their second go-round! So Thanks!

Abnormal – Meandering on our P-day down the sidewalks of this late 19th century town - still in much use today:
Where you may ask?

Abnormal name, abnormally cute town!

And the last abnormal moment of the week – Lori Wise and I getting tickets to go listen to Sheri Dew at the women’s fireside in Seattle – then on the way out, really NOT trying, but absent-mindedly (did I emphasis the “absent” part of mindedly) bumping right into Sister Dew afterwards. (FYI, in her fireside remarks, she spoke very highly of our very own Kathy Hughes.)
So if you experienced just a “normal” week, we hope it too was broken up by a few “abnormally” pleasant moments!

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

Hungry?

With each new school year comes a new flock of hungry college freshmen who are craving for Institute.




Craving you say? Weren’t most of these freshmen fast asleep in some early morning seminary class just last year?

Did not at least some of them display an unspoken lack of desire about scripture learning to even the best seminary teacher?


You are probably right on all accounts.

But, all that half-asleep learning did not go to waste.

Not so. Many of them now express they actually miss the daily contact provided by early morning seminary.

It is out of this sense of a daily spiritual needs that brings many of them out of hibernation and into institute.



So, hungry for more scripture-based learning they come. Some of them even sign up for two or more institute classes at a time.

And we stand at the ready:



And hungry they come:


And grateful are we that they do!

Oh, and if you didn’t catch on. We spent part of our P-day at the Woodland Park Zoo today!

It was very nice. But we have to say – Oh how going to the zoo without our kids for the first time REALLY, REALLY makes you miss your kids!
So we are just a little kid-sick but it’s much more manageable than probably the Swine flu. And what are we to do anyway?

Our kids are all exactly where the Lord needs them to be. And we are where we are supposed to be.

Life remains good despite some good challenges. Conference was just amazing! Isn’t the gospel great!

Best of the best to you!

Love,

Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton

Boots and Saddles

As much as Seattletonians (Seattle+Washington=Seattletonians) are NOT into umbrellas (refer to former email on identifying tourists), Seattletonians have just the opposite point of view when it comes to rain boots.

We are not sure if it is just fall, but the rainbow boot parade of fashion has arrived.
All around campus, both young and old alike are sporting their latest finds in galosh wear.

Do you think the missionary white manual covers rain boots? Sure it talks about wearing sensible, somewhat frumpy, everyday footwear. But do you think it prohibits sister missionaries from buying say a pair of bright pink polka-dotted rain boots? Okay, okay, if pink is too bright, they do have other cute colors and styles. All they really need to do is match the fall colors around Seattle. And as you can see, the colors are getting to be absolutely vibrant:

And just in time for general conference!

Speaking of conference, here is a tip for anyone who wants to make a lot of “brownie” points with their parents:

When you are listening to conference and the speaker says something about “parents,” “family,” “love at home,” pull out your cell phone. Text your parents with some cute & quick saying like, “I love you guys!” Make sure your timing is right when the speaker is talking about those things.

That is one sure way to make any parent who is watching conference instantly warm and fuzzy for a lot of reasons.

Why so? Well, it tells your parents:

1. You are not napping and you are actually listening to conference,
2. You are thinking and putting the words of the apostles into action, and
3. You are somewhere the spirit and you are supposed to be.

Of course, we weren’t smart enough to do that for our parents. But then again, they aren’t quite up on the “texting” thing (of course, maybe they are and we are the last to know.)

But our daughter, Katie, did exactly that to us. She did it during Elder Bednar’s talk during Saturday’s morning session. And let’s just say it sure did make our day to know she was where she was supposed to be and to know she was thinking about us. Way to go Kate! We love ya! We are sure your brothers would follow your example, but, even if they are fortunate to be listening to conference “live”, they can’t text – at least we hope.

As for us, we are sure glad conference came when it did. We needed a break, even if it is only the opening week. We knew this “Opening” week of Institute was going to be busy, but WOW! We now realize we are “senior” missionaries. This past week has been a blur of classes, shopping, baking, tours and socials. By Friday we were running out of steam. Fortunately, Brad & Karen Beagles came into town. We put them right to work. Once again, looking back, we are not quite sure how Friday would have really happened without their extra help. So thank heaven for angels on both sides of the veil!

Well, it is great to be back in the saddle for one last term!

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

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

Choosing the right BIG can be so difficult‏

We were thinking about doing something really, really BIG for our last term at the Institute.

Then we came across a protestant church which is situated right next to the I-5 freeway on the north side of Seattle.
After looking at what they have done, we are thinking BIG may not always be a good thing.

Here is a picture so you can see what we are talking about:

Now we are not exactly sure what they were going for. But apparently the city thought it was too BIG and won’t let them occupy it.

What do you think? We don’t mean to be condescending, but we can’t imagine even the Zoramites erecting such a tower. In fact, our thoughts honestly ran along these lines when we first saw it:

Now, from this stand they did offer up, every man, the selfsame prayer unto God, thanking their God that they were chosen of him, and that he did not lead them away after the tradition of their brethren, and that their hearts were not stolen away to believe in things to come, which they knew nothing about. Alma 31:22

We can’t imagine that reaction was what the church was going for. But just what were they thinking? Which elderly widow of their congregation was going to ascend up to that tower to pray or worship?

Perhaps the tower is just a sign of the times. Speaking of signs of the times, when we go walking every evening, we see this great sign:



We couldn’t have placed the sign better if we tried. We just wished more of the people in those cars knew how to read. Anyway, there are quite a few casinos in and around Seattle due to the several Native American reservations.


Back onto more spiritual matters, it always turns out to be a good thing to sit back and watch the Lord in His wisdom rather than counsel the Lord isn’t it?

Here at the University of Washington, the single wards’ Bishoprics are somewhat similar to BYU single ward bishoprics. But in some ways they are different. For example, Bishops tend to serve in the single wards for 8 to 10 years. Think about it! Can you imagine having the energy to serve in a single ward for 8 to 10 years? We wonder sometimes how these good men find the energy. But we now see evidence why the Lord has these good men serve these longer periods.

Unlike BYU wards, a large number of the students are converts, and recent converts at that. This means, the single UW ward is basically the only “ward life” they have ever known. Having a Bishop who has been in the ward long enough to really get to know each of his flock can mean a big difference in convert retention.

Also, other long term needs can be addressed that may unintentionally slip to the wayside if bishops were changed as frequently as they do at BYU. For example, a young man named Sean got his mission call back in 2006. Sean didn’t have any worthiness issues, but he decided a mission was not for him. But in 2006 a wise bishop put Sean under his wing. Sean responded well and this same Bishop then called him to be his ward executive secretary. Sean has served there for two years and has remained active. In fact so active, he and a group of his buddies just returned from a “road trip” where they visited over 25 temples in a two week period before school starts again next week. Sean has now matured. He has matured to the point that he made up his mind to see if he could return and serve his mission. It will be almost 4 years, but just a little bit ago, he and this same good Bishop got the approval for his return!

Sean is an outstanding young man and would have been even if he had never decided to return to his mission. But just think what this will mean to Sean and his family. Our hearts are so glad for him! And these are but a few examples of why sometimes we have found it is better for us to be patient until the Lord reveals why He is doing what He is doing and what His timing is.

Speaking of time, we can hardly believe our final school term is upon us. After the long quiet summer, signs of the new school year are breathing new life back into the Institute. Yesterday we witnessed the baptism of a young South Korean student whose nickname is “K.J.” K.J. is one of the most diligent students we have ever met. He will be a great asset to the Church in South Korea when he returns. Each Sunday brings a new wave of students into the three single university wards. Just when we thought we were getting a good handle on knowing all the students, here we go again! It is going to be such a challenge trying to remember all these new students’ names.

This upcoming week will be a mad dash of final preparations. This fall, we will be teaching four – 2 credit hour – classes. Mostly Book of Mormon, but with one New Testament class. Also the first week Institute “Kickoff” is going to make us wish a little for the slower summer days. Basically it will be a week of sign-ups, barbeques, parties, touring (and lest we forget, also teaching.) Anyway, it begins! And this is where we need to end this email.

Love,

Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton

P.S. Not that we are fair-weather fans or anything, but what happened to BYU? At least we have UW to root for this week, who knocked off No. 3 ranked USC!

You too can become fishers of blackberries & students

As echoed in the lyrics of the 1969 pop song called Space Oddity,

“Ground control to Major Tom. , , , Planet earth is blue and there is nothing we can do, , ,”


The sky today is perfectly blue. Mount Rainier looks spectacular. September is absolutely splendid!

Yet, September at the Seattle Institute is also a very odd month to be a missionary.

Just as all of Europe takes August off for “Holiday,” it seems all of Seattle takes September off for “Weather.” The Institute itself was closed for the Labor day weekend. Students and investigators are all but non-existent. But have no fear, we remained at our post. Well, sort of, , ,

Here is a picture of our final summer class, held down in West Seattle last Tuesday:

Actually it is a picture of only about half the class. The other half already left last week to go to various places, like BYU – I.

Down in West Seattle, most students are facing some pretty hefty challenges. But face and grow from them they do.

For example, the one gal in the middle, (dressed in green sweater, purple shirt, pink shoes,) just got her mission call. She is about as out-going and positive of a person as you can possibly imagine. And she just finished graduating from BYU – Provo. She also put her charisma to work as an EFY counselor. She is just great with kids.

So what is her challenge? Guess where she got called? The Provo, Utah Mission! Once she got over the initial shock, (the only mission she was fearful to be called to), she wrapped her heart, might, mind and soul around it and got way excited for her mission again. She realizes this is not her work and humbly accepted where the Lord wanted her to go – even if it is back to the very place she just spent the last 4 years going to school and working.

She will be a great asset to any mission! In fact the girl in red and black plaid standing next to her is just one of the many less-actives or investigators she routinely brings with her to our class and to church. She is going to be a great missionary. We are just honored to have had the opportunity to discuss the gospel with her this summer and all the other great students in West Seattle.

Speaking of greatness, take another look at the summer class picture above. If you look closely at the person sitting on her knees, you just might recognize her. Even though she fits right in with all those “young,” single students, she is actually a mom of four, a wife of one – a friend to all, a big happy 25-year anniversary salute to Michelle Wimmer and her husband Greg!

Greg and Michelle came and visited us this past Labor day weekend:


Greg had to leave after the weekend (something about work, work, work, to feed and clothe their naked & starving kids, yada, yada, yada,) but Michelle stayed a few more days and pitched right in and whipped up a wonderful dinner for our “last class of the summer.” It was a Thai curry dish that everybody LOVED. She also sat through our teaching of the last class without falling asleep. In fact she sat right by a less-active student and helped her with scriptures and thoughtfully answered her questions. Thanks Michelle!

Bonus; She even cleans up after herself! That is an art Michelle and I have tried and tried to teach our current companions, but with only limited success. Wait a minute, maybe Michelle and I can go on exchanges! Greg and Mike can go and do that which they do best. You know, “talk, talk, talk, , , clear your throat and pontificate really deep thoughts like, , , ‘back in our single mission days,’ bla, bla, bla, then BYU football talk, then more mission talk, talk, talk,, ,”

While, Michelle and I, “chatter, chatter, chatter, , , ‘wouldn’t so-and-so student be so CUTE with so-and-so?, , ,’ giggle, giggle, giggle, more chatter, chatter, chatter, , , ,” BUT at least we do the shopping for the Institute while yammering. Because, as everybody knows, although we are created equal to men - we just so happen to be “more” equal when it comes to “Multi-tasking.”

And Look! Here Michelle and I are multi-tasking while actually doing some missionary work with a cute couple on their bicycles.

We invited them to Church on Sunday and can you believe it, they came!
Okay, so it was kind of easy to get them to come to church. They were visiting from Alpine, Utah and were already looking for a place to come to church. But, we do what we can and the black name tag does the rest!

We were just thinking, do you think Greg & Michelle’s four kids would miss them very much if we kept them to help with the Friday Feasts until December? After all, about ½ the recipes we tried on the kids last fall came from the Wimmers.

It was such a delight to have Michelle and Greg join us. But, like we said, with the students gone right now, they really did not get the full effect. So to compensate, while the Institute was closed in observance of the Labor day weekend, we took off to visit some of our favorite places:


And of course, we had to stop and pick blackberries that grow like weeds everywhere around here:

But then, as soon as they came, they were gone. Not the blackberries, but the Wimmers.

Now we wait for the students to start coming back. We think it is kind of like the fishermen waiting on the river banks for the salmon to return each fall. Until then, we will keep our lines in the water and work with what we’ve got. We’ll keep preparing for the fall classes and keep picking a handful of blackberries or two.

And for a limited time, we are now taking reservations for those who want to come and help with a Friday Feast this fall. Especially if UW was your Alma Mater! Of course, you have to pay all your expenses to get here. And there is no monetary pay for the work. You have to be subservient, humble and willing to take orders. And Friday hours are, well, long. But besides all that, it is a LOT of fun! Open slots are limited and filling fast, so sign up early. October is already mostly filled. LOL! Remember, this is our final term!

Well, from the all-to-quiet Institute in Seattle, we leave you with the immortal last words of David Bowie, “Ground control to Major Tom. Hellooooo!!! Is anybody out there???? Can you hear us? Is something wrong? Is the circuit dead? , , , may God's love be with you, , ,”

Until we meet again,
Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny,” Thornton
Fishers of Blackberries & Students


P.S. Do you think David Bowie, aka, “elephant man” actor and pop star would have ever thought he would be quoted in a missionary email?

Bring em in, tri fold them up and its purple mania time!

Most all of the students have left for September break. We are down to teaching ONE last class until fall down at Myers way where Karen Beagles mom attends church. (I think of my good friend Karen every time we teach down there.) Anyway, next week we will be down to NO classes. Then in two weeks later it will get sooo busy we will have wished for these slow times. But, the temple opened back up again this week. So we will go be missionaries for the dead, if not the living, for a week or two.

However, we have tried to be creative.

This is a picture of “Jarod” (in the white shirt) and “Brian” (in the blue shirt.) They are two of our most favorite people in the world. During this slow time, Mike got permission to pow-wow with them and our business partner, Brad, over some looming business issues. So on Friday, they came up from Oregon and visited Fife, Washington to see a transfill operation like ours in Oregon. Anyway, when they were done, we invited them over to the institute. Jarod is not a member, but if he was one, his Bishop would have him doing all sorts of things because he is so people conscientious and friendly. And Brian is the same way. They are both just really great “people” persons. Anyway, Brian thinks he may have been baptized a member, but he doesn't remember and his wife is definitely not a member. So we gave them a tour of the institute and campus. We then told them about what we study here and of course about the Book of Mormon. They were both impressed. They asked some very good questions. We left them with a copy of the Book of Mormon and they both committed to read 3 Nephi 11 and so on. So, if we can't find enough students or investigators to teach, we will just keep bringing our own people in to teach. LOL!

Also this week, two of our students in our “Building Lasting Relationships” class are getting married. They were already engaged before they took our class, so Sister “Yenta” Thornton can’t take credit for this match. But we were so delighted and honored to be invited (and we went) to the temple to see “Kristen” receive her endowments. “Holland” and “Kristen” will be getting married this weekend. They are so great. Neither of them come from active homes. So it was so great just seeing these two young people, without any parental support, doing the right thing. A new generation starting their lives out the right way. What a blessing for them and the future generations of their family.

As for the rest of our week, we are starting to gear up for fall. It may not seem like much, but here is a copy of a tri-fold we are working on to help students see the necessity of finding time for Institute in their busy college lives:


Anyway, that is the Outside, and here is the Inside:

Those are just some of the many students we have been so fortunate to get to know over the past school terms. And if you haven’t guessed, “purple” is the official University of Washington” color! Anyway, we feel lucky we brought a computer with us that just happened to have Photoshop on it to do some of these things. But don’t look too close. Because, if they don’t look “professionally” done you are right! Just think how they would have looked if we hadn’t brought the computer. We would have had to resort to drawing stick figures and turkey outlines of our hands with crayons. Anyway, we are also working on a CES fireside flyer to announce Sister Elaine Dalton who will be addressing us in a few weeks.

We are also getting a “Linus” quilting project going for fall to have the students participate in as they sit around the Institute. So this fall is starting to take shape.

This weekend is Labor day. Mike, the other instructors, and most all of the young men around campus are just quivering with the excitement of college football that will bust loose this weekend. Who would have known that keeping up with college football was part of a mission? We just hope UW wins at least one more game than last year (0 – 20, ouch!) But new Head Coach, Steve Sarkesian has high hopes. Go Dawgs! (Being from Provo, “Go Dawgs!” just seems so natural to say anyway!) And at the same time we still cheer for Cougar “BLUE!”

What a great time of year to be on a college campus – but it is a little strange to have a college game start before the students are actually back in school.

We hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend.

From the “purple” capitol of the west,

Love,

Elder “Mike” and Sister “Jenny” Thornton

Zone-ariffic Adieux

“Shlawkee, shleckee, shlawkee.” Loosely translated that means “The gospel has been restored.” Or that is what we think it means.

You see, from time to time we are delighted when we have time to assist the younger missionaries with a discussion or two. This past week we sat in on a lesson by two sister missionaries who were teaching in Mongolian. In most languages, when people are having a gospel discussion, even if you don’t know the language, every once in a while you will pick up on something like “Christus” or “Josef Smit” or something that gives you a hint of what they are talking about. Well, apparently not in Mongolian. We sat through a 45 minute lesson and did not pick up on one single word. Zero, nada, zippo. They might as well have been talking about a Mariners’ baseball game.

However, even though we didn’t catch a word, the spirit was still there. You could still feel the spirit working through these two young missionaries to bear testimony of the truth to our new little friend from Mongolia.

This past week marked a milestone for us. We attended our “first” zone conference! What you say? Our first? Yup. Even though zone conferences are held every six weeks, we have our own classes and other obligations we have to attend to. But finally a zone conference was held on a day when we didn’t have any conflicts. It was great! Don’t get us wrong, we love our mission, but being Institute missionaries does leave you a little isolated from the other missionaries. So to have a chance to rub shoulders with a whole bunch of missionaries at one time was a real treat for us.

And can we tell you how strong the spirit feels when you are surrounded by 60 young, articulate, well-groomed, and excited missionaries who are singing their mission song, as fast, and as loud, as they can in a chapel? Okay, maybe it was because we were having visions of perhaps what it is like for an Anziano Thornton in Milan, Italy to be attending a zone conference and an Elder Thornton in Nairobi, Kenya to be attending one there. Yes, one “Senior” missionary couple got a little choked up just thinking about them while being surrounded by all those young elders. They are just so great!

And Elder & Sister Arnold, the visiting general authority & spouse, weren’t too bad either. Of course, how could Elder Arnold not be? He was raised as a fellow spud from Rockland, Idaho. Salute! And boy is he organized. We think he gets more accomplished each morning by 8:00am than what we do in an entire day. We still have so much to learn from others don’t we? What a good example he is to set such a productive pattern, especially for these young missionaries to follow and incorporate into the rest of their lives.

On yet another missionary front, we were invited to go see the Church’s property out on Vashon Island. The Church was donated a 100+ acre farm on Vashon Island which they are trying to turn into a camp. Anyway, there is a legal battle of sorts, so until everything gets settled, (its been years) they have a missionary couple whose job it is to be the caretakers of the farm:

It is hard to see, but this beautiful farm used to be a Morgan horse farm. Its right along a south edge shore of the Island. In addition to its beautiful wooded landscape, it also has beautiful views of the Puget sound. Anyway, the missionary couple spend most of their time just trying to keep the place looking like this. They do a great job. But they sure were glad to see us since they don’t get too many visitors. So if you are looking for a nice & quiet service mission, this might be just what you are looking for.

And speaking of visitors, we had a plethora (I just love saying that word) of visitors over the past two weeks.

First, we had the Dave & Lori Wise & family come for a day or two. They like to take their family on vacations that re-create history. This year’s trip was based upon Lewis & Clark’s epic adventure into the great Northwest.

And wouldn’t you know it? The Wises ran into the same problem Lewis & Clark ran into on their epic journey. That’s right, their alternator went out on their car. They ended up spending their first night sleeping in their car waiting for the mechanic shop to open up the next morning in Ontario, Oregon.

But, as Dave explained to their kids, that was the exact spot where Meriwether Lewis’ car broke down when he crossed the border into Oregon. Except, back in 1803, alternators were made much better so Mr. Lewis had made over 3,000 miles before his alternator actually gave out. Fortunately, his mechanic, by the name of Sacagawea, installed another and they were quickly on their merry way. And today, if you look real close at a Sacagawea dollar, you can see that alternator she carried in her right hand clear back to the Napa auto parts dealer in St. Louis so she could get a refund and pay for their entire trip.

A day later, the Wises did arrive. We met them at this historic Lightpost. Dave says the post marks the exact spot where Lewis told Clark “this is the spot President George Washington wants his library.” (or maybe Dave is getting this confused with “Lois & Clark?”) Anyway, that is how Washington University Library came to be around 1948. Oh, and if you look closely at the rusty, pointy, thing on the right, Dave also says that is where the next “national treasure” movie is going to have a major clue. There is a HUGE hidden vault of treasures right under that triangle.

And it is just by sheer coincidence that the handicap arrow is pointing directly at the point of Dave’s brain that stores all that accurate historical data. And as Mike is fond of pointing out, of course, the most important reason why anyone should study history in the first place is so that when you visit a historical site, you can go around correcting the tour guides.

Well we did have a little pity on the Wises. Since they spent all their money on an alternator, as missionaries, we thought the least we could do was take them down to Seattle’s soup kitchen so they could at least get something to eat before we sent them over to the homeless shelter for the night.

Don’t they just look happy? Or maybe Dave just likes to make people nervous by smiling like that.
Anyway, isn’t it just amazing how a little hot soup can melt away all your alternator troubles?

We then left the Wises in the good hands of the local authorities and wished them well until we meet again. Adieu, Adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow.

(Okay, if you don’t know by now, Dave & Mike were college roommates and they tend to get a “LITTLE” carried away when they get together.)

After the Wises left, we then had another pleasant surprise. My niece, Rebecca decided on a whim to pick up my mom and drive up the Oregon coast for my niece’s birthday. As they traveled north, they dropped in to see us and we were able to take a day to visit Orca Island and such.

We just LOVE visitors. Especially of the Mom & niece variety.

We did run into a slight problem. You see, when we went down to the water, there was this little tiny island at low tide you could just walk out to.

However, the tide started to come in faster than we anticipated and, , ,

You probably guessed that the water covered the trail back and it got a little deeper than expected trying to get back to our car – whoops!

We then toured another island and ran across this beautiful garden many of you probably recognize:
We have annual passes, so come on by!

We then said our “good-byes” and please, “please come again.”

We then had our final surprise visit of the week. Mike’s niece, Joy & her husband Alex (and darling daughter Jacklyn) McClean swung on by for a quick visit. We were so really happy they did! They live in Rochester, New York and we have not seen them in years. So we were more than happy to give them a good old Institute and U-dub campus tour:
And so ended our week. We attended our normal 3 sacrament meetings today and now it is time to go for a walk.

It is summer here in Seattle. All but one of our summer classes end next week. We LOVE getting visitors!

So don’t think you are of any bother if you decide to drop on by!

Mike will be happy to give you the “real” Meriwether Lewis tour!

Until next time - Adieu, Adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Love,

Elder “Mike” & Sister “Jenny” Thornton