Dad...

We just had to go buy another LARGE suitcase..I told him so :)

Chips

I was in the store one day and I wrote down all the flavors of Lays potato chips:

Fried Chicken Flavor

Mexican Tomato Chicken

Italian Red Meat

Cucumber

We only ate the regular kind, and they're not as good as good old USA kind of Lays.

See ya soon!


I wrote her back and said they should bring some home, who doesn't want to try Mexican Tomato Chicken????

June 10th

Saturday we had a branch party at our Presidents house. He has a huge house on a lake. There were probably 50 people there and all sorts of food! We had hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken and all the trimmings! The boys (YM and older) played with remote controlled boats on the lake. The little kids had bubbles and of course there were water guns! We stayed longer to help clean up and then it rained! Their house is in a complex and there aren't any taxis nearby. We watch Karate Kid 3 and then decided we'd just have to walk in the rain to find a taxi. They don't have a car and their driver wasn't available. So we got ready to walk ..and it quit raining! We still had to walk a ways to get a taxi but that was OK. In our branch we have Joseph who is 30 yrs. old and single, and Brad who is in his 20's and on an internship here for 3 months. The branch always fluctuates with its number of members. Pres. Bakers nephew, in his 20's, is here for 2 months on an internship. Trevor is from SLC but is not a member of the Church. But he has come to church the last two Sundays and Joseph and Brad are very excited to have a new friend! Nelson teaches the Gospel Essentials class to which Trevor has been attending with Brad and Joseph. Today we had 5 young men, RM's, attend our branch. They will be here for 8 weeks. They're on a summer exchange program from the U of U learning Chinese. They also attended the Gospel Essentials class. Nelson had told Trevor to bring any questions he had and they would discuss them during class. And then 5 returned missionaries just happen to drop in! That is not an accident. What an asset they will be to our branch as 10 of us are leaving. Dad had a lazy birthday. We didn't do much, just the branch party and I'd baked a cake for him and took it to the party. Love you all. This week will be full of "last times". that's so weird! Mom XXOO

June 5th

Well, we are into finals. This time we are recording them each night so we won't have to do them all on the weekend or that last Friday. They wanted us to then take the grade sheets and then try and find the college site and the English dept, all in Chinese, then enter each final grade to each student with their student number. We said no. That is why you have assistants. And they have them. Can you see us trying to do that after we hand in our grade sheets for 1,000+ students, and then get ready to pack and leave? Anyway, at least everyone has shown up for their final time on time so far. There are to many to have them all come at once, so we have 1/3 of the kids coming each half hour. we have like 25 minutes between the 2 classes so that helps us. I've got kids taking pictures and giving me cards and pictures and crying and it was just the first day. We went on a neat boat ride with our FHE group last night and saw all the lights. They really like to light up things. Bridges, buildings, anything that will hold a light design. We did see some neat large kites before we got on the boat and as darkness set in, the kites had these neat lights on them as well. Gotta get some of those. Well, better get going and get my walk in. I just walk somewhere. Love you all, because you all love me, your mother, and each other. Dad

June 3rd

Paula Ferrel gave me a huge bag full of instant oatmeal packets in assorted flavors;more than I could ever eat. So I made granola bars out of them! They're really good! The oatmeal had pieces of blueberries, strawberries and peaches and I added chocolate chips (from Lori) and other ingredients. I sort of followed a recipe from the Internet. It made enough to last me for one a day for the rest of our stay! Saturday we went to the Little Italy area of Tianjin. Bodo and Elke went with us. We were not impressed. Just expensive restaurants and souvenir shops. Then Dad and I walked down "Walking Street";no cars allowed. Bodo said they were having markets on the street, but it was just high class stores with sales. We managed to buy a few things :) Bodo and Elke are here for 2 months. He's teaching Mechanical Engineering. They're from Germany and live in the next apt. bldg. He can not believe that we don't drink;not ever! Saturday he kept asking if I wanted a beer. I think his wife got mad at him! Dad told them a little about the Church. It's been so hard for Dad to not talk to people about the Church. I knew that would be the hardest part of China for him. But he's done quite well. He hasn't landed in jail yet. Today he wanted to pack a suitcase, but I restrained him. Everything in it would get wrinkled in two weeks. Our Branch Pres, is flying to Seattle next Sunday and has offered to take a suitcase for us. Johnathan will pick it up for us. It'll probably have our winter coats and other stuff we won't need for awhile. I bought some silk pants from a street vendor last week. They're nice but they wrinkle more than I thought they would, and they might be a little too big also. Tomorrow night for FHE we're taking a river cruise through Tianjin. I've heard it's very pretty. Love you all. Write to me!! I'm getting trunky!! And we check the e-mail ALL the time!! Love ya !!! Mom XXOO