I got up in time to shower and get ready for church. Leroy quickly put breakfast sandwiches together for us, and we left for Starbucks. Once there we ordered some tea, and I set up my laptop and started to type out yesterday’s journal. I didn’t get much typing done because we ended up talking for most of our time there.
We went to Temple Baptist Church this morning. Leroy and Karen haven’t found a home church yet, and are visiting different churches in the area. This church is the one where the seminary president and his wife attend. The church was interviewing Brad for the associate pastor position that morning. He had taught Sunday School earlier that morning, and would lead worship and preach the morning’s sermon. There was also a potluck following the service where there would be a Q&A time for the congregation with him. It was a long morning for him, but I thought he did especially well. I even had a chance to talk with him for awhile.
The church was very welcoming. Mike, the senior pastor, came over and introduced himself. We were sitting in front of the seminary president and his family, and sat with them during the Potluck. I really enjoyed my time there. Taking an info card to the visitor’s center, I was also given a very nice coffee mug.
We went back to the house and changed into casual clothes to head out again. We drove out to Point Defiance again to see some different areas than I went yesterday. There’s a zoo there, and I don’t recall how it came up, but Karen asked me why I didn’t like zoos. It’s one of those “don’t get me started” issues, but I did. I went on my rant about the pointless nature of them and the irksome additional local sales tax created by a ten-year-old’s desire for the zoo to stay open in Fresno. I understand that most kids love them, and that I used to be one of them (so my mother tells me), but I think there are plenty of other things to do to enrich kids. Karen said that I’ve been a bachelor too long. She’s been after me all weekend about setting me up with someone.
We parked and walked out along the rock beach I had stumbled upon yesterday. Puget Sound is so beautiful. It was overcast but not raining, and we saw a few boats out there. I took several pictures, and even had some other people take pictures of the three of us together. While we walked, Karen returned a call from Tanya, who is about to take a Chemistry class. When they hung up, Karen told us the trepidation Tanya was experiencing, having loved the life sciences and being confused with some of the presentation in Chemistry. I gave my thoughts on that, and Karen called Tanya back to have me talk to Tanya and allay some of her fears with my background in the physical sciences. We talked for a little while about the different methods of presenting material, and gave her an analogy my friend Cindy once gave me about the differences between Biology and Chemistry. I hope it all helped her.
From there Leroy said he wanted to take me to get some pictures he knew I hadn’t gotten yesterday, and was he ever right! We went along Five-Mile Drive, stopping occasionally to get out and admire God’s handiwork. One of the things we stopped at was a 400-year-old Douglas Fir. It was fascinating to read about, but I found the bullet through the information sign even more remarkable. We stopped next at the Native Gardens and walked around in there, and finally went to Anthony’s for lunch before heading home.
Leroy had not been feeling well all day, suffering from some form of vertigo. I offered to give him a neck rub when we got home, citing my mother’s high praises of my massage skills. Karen had me put some essential oils on my hands as well, something I had never tried. It all seemed to help him, and Karen asked what I charged. I responded that a few days room and board ought to do just fine. Leroy and I had been feeding off of each other’s dry humor all day, and Karen said she didn’t know about letting us hang out together any longer.
Leroy and Karen come from a Mennonite background, and my alma mater was Mennonite Brethren, and so I had wanted to show them the shirt I had gotten there as a student volunteer during the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) relief sale, or as my friend Matt calls it, “The Mennonite Festival” because Mennonites comes from all over for this relief sale on our campus. They found the shirt “What Would Jesus Do at the MCC Sale?” list hilarious. The shirt prompted a discussion about the different variations under the Mennonite denomination and their origins. It was fascinating learn about.
To cap off the evening, we decided to watch a movie. We ended up going over to Albertson’s to rent National Treasure 2. Albertson’s (at least the one in Tacoma) has a vending machine to rent new releases for a dollar. Leroy had seen the movie with his son-in-law Greg, but it was the first time for Karen and me. We all really liked the twists and turns of it. I was impressed how the movie had its own storyline, and wasn’t an undiscovered tangent of the original plot. I also enjoyed the role of Ben’s mother in the movie.
What I really enjoyed what how this family watches movies. We paused it for bathroom and snack breaks so that we didn’t miss things in the plot. We started with popcorn and grabbed some ice cream in the middle of the movie.
After the movie we charted out the next day, realizing they would be gone to work before I left. So we said our good-byes then, and I prayed for them in this new phase of their lives. I have really enjoyed my time with them. I journaled for awhile in bed, and then went to sleep
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