Rebekah Ethington

Our May 2017 spotlight sister is Rebekah Ethington.  She has been blessed with many talents, one of which is that she can play the flute. Her favorite hymns to play are Be Still My Soul and I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go.

            Speaking of going places, an interesting place she has visited is Germany, where she got to go visit her Dad for Christmas when she was 12 years old.  She has also lived in an interesting place or two.  When she was 18 she moved to O'Neill, Nebraska, a 1sq mile town. Her Great Grandma had lived there for over 50 years and the Church was a small Branch without a Young Women's program. She was given the choice to go to RS or be Primary President /teacher /activities leader.  She chose the latter and her grandma would help her out when more children came for holidays. 

            She graduated high school in O'Neill and added to the long list of family members to graduate from the town’s alma mater. Later Rebekah continued her education and got her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Master’s Degree in Teaching.

            If she could have any super power it would be that she could be in two places at once.  This superpower would probably help her enjoy, even more, the many hobbies she is interested in.  These hobbies include: crocheting, playing flute, watching old movies, playing Scrabble, dancing, swimming, bowling, volunteering, and recently - Zumba.

            She is going to get her Zumba Basics instructor training in June and will be certified.  Then in September (anniversary month of losing her leg) she will get her Zumba Gold instructor training and get more certification to be an instructor for nursing homes and Adult Family Homes and Senior Centers where she can find interest. 

            When stuck in bed the past few years she decided to put her crocheting skills to use.  She started to crochet things for charity, mostly outfits for stuffed toys and donate to hospitals, shelters, etc.  After about a year she decided to create a nonprofit organization to do it.  That is when she came up with, and developed, Rebekah's Crochet Corner.  

            Rebekah’s favorite flowers are roses and if she had a theme song it would be the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song.  If given the choice to have a maid, chauffeur, or hair dresser free for a year, she would definitely choose a chauffeur. If she won $1 million dollars she would buy a big house with 4 bedrooms, a craft room, a den, an office for herself, a kitchen, living room, an elevator and a system that makes everything capable of voice activation like the doors, lights, curtains etc.   She would also make a dance studio/party room in the basement.  

            She was able to meet a TV Star when she was volunteering for the YWCA in 2011.  She met Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show mom) and spent 5 minutes alone talking with her before anyone else arrived to the VIP meeting.

            Rebekah’s birthday is December 14th so she likes to celebrate by going to a holiday Church dance or holiday Church party - No stress of hosting, sending out thank you cards for gifts etc.  Hehe.  (She might have to celebrate it a little early this year with the ward on Dec. 9^th)

            We feel very blessed to have such a talented sister in our ward, Thanks for helping us get to know you a little better Rebekah!

Amber Funnell

We are glad to have Amber Funnell  in our ward who is currently serving as a ward missionary.  She was born January 21, 1993 in Pocatello, Idaho and moved 25 times in 24 years, all within Idaho and Washington.  Her most recent move (#25) was due to getting married! On October 29, 2016, she was sealed to her best friend, Carl Funnell in the Seattle Washington Temple. She says being married to her best friend is the greatest thing in the world and can’t wait to see where the adventure of marriage will take the two of them! (So far she says it has been pretty gosh darn fantastic!)

Other interesting and/or important things about her -- she has 3 brothers and 3 sisters, she is an Irish twin, she loves playing sports, playing the piano, being with friends, watching movies (especially musicals!), listening to music (She's a HUGE Country fan!), sleeping, eating, cooking/baking and being random. She also likes just having good, clean fun -- and knows how to party...Mormon style! :)

These are a Few of her Favorite Things:

Flower – Stargazer Lily
Color – Pastel Yellow
Food – Orange Chicken from Panda Express
Drink – Water
Sport to Play – Basketball
Sport to Watch – NCAA (College) Basketball
Holiday – Christmas
Season – Spring
Animal – Horse

Amy Oppie

Amy Oppie is our March 2017 spotlight and she is currently serving as the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency.

Before being a stay at home mom, she was a research Chemist for 2 different companies working on things from rocket propellants to carbons structured for batteries and ultra-capacitors.

She met her husband in the singles ward down in Lynnwood.  They have 3 boys - Memphis 6 yrs., Nash 3.5 yrs., and Indiana 8 months.  They also have a little Chihuahua dog named Peanut and a fish named Belt Buckle.

As a family they love to play outside, go to parks, and spend time at the beach.  They also love to have dance parties, family movie nights, and love playing all sorts of board and cards games too.    When Amy can actually have time for hobbies she loves to play soccer and softball, cook and read.

     If she could have any super power it would be to never need sleep.  This would be helpful as 2 of her boys still wake up at night and for the fact that she usually gets the energy to start a project or clean when it’s time for her to get to bed. 

     She would love to have a personal maid and if she had a million dollars she would buy a comfortable house, put away enough money to pay for her boys’ missions, college and weddings, then use the rest to go see the world with her family and make MEMORIES.

     Her favorite flower is Gerber daises, her favorite food is Thai food, and if she had to choose a movie to watch over and over again, it would be Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility.

     Her current favorite TV shows are This is Us, Nashville, and Victoria.  Her favorite vacations were both to Vegas.  Once for her honeymoon and once for a girls only weekend.

     To Amy the best way to spend a birthday would be a big party with all her favorite people! Hope we are all celebrating with her in June :)

Olivia Borges

    Olivia is one of the newest members of our Relief Society as she was recently baptized on January 21^st, 2017.  We are so excited to have her join our ward family! She was born and raised in Hawai'i on the island of O'ahu and thinks, along with most of us, that it's pretty cool to have been raised there. She has two pets; her amazing cat, Lucy, and her puppy, Chrissy. She enjoys being with family and when they all get together, they usually eat, talk story, and sing. If she had a superpower, it would be time travel so that she could travel back in time and meet her mom when she was Olivia’s age. They’re best friends now, and she knows they'd be best friends then, too.

    If Olivia won a million dollars, she'd pay off her student loans and any of her parent’s debts. She'd also buy two houses next door to each other for her and her husband and her my mom and her husband to live in so that they could be neighbors, sponsor a child's education in another country, take a cross country trip across the US, buy all the makeup she could ever want, and give 10% to the church. The rest she would try to save. 

   Her number one pet peeve is bad drivers and traffic.  Her theme song would be "When Will My Life Begin" from the movie Tangled. Her all-time favorite movie is “50 First Dates”. 

    The most interesting scar she has also comes with an interesting story involving losing a fight with a boat propeller. She has a pretty nice scar on her hip as a result, but she still survived and thanks Heavenly Father for that!!

    The most important things in her life and the things she is most grateful for are Heavenly Father and her family.

Callie Wilke

Our January Spotlight is Callie Wilke.  She recently moved into our ward from Seattle but previously lived in Spanish Fork, Utah.  Her and her husband have two rescue pets: a dog named Harry and a cat named Moon Pie. They are both 3 years old and so much fun.  Callie studied Anthropology and Art History at University of Washington and is currently teaching preschool at Sweet Pea Cottage Preschool of the Arts.  She loves hiking, camping, taking walks, watching birds, gardening. Anything outdoors!  Another interesting fact about Callie is that she has an identical twin sister who lives in Utah.  We are thrilled to have her in our ward!