September 2024

 Dear Friends and Family,

If my letters are ever dull and boring, let me know so I don’t keep fretting about writing something and I’ll use the time to play some more Sudoku or something else like that.

Well, in the past month, we have had a number of missionaries that have finished their missions or that have just moved on to other service sites.  We have been wanting to increase the number of young service missionaries that serve on Welfare Square and it has been with gratitude that we have seen many who have come to both fill the vacancies but also to increase our numbers.  There have been a couple days that we have had 3 and 4 missionaries start with us on the same day … that has been fun!  We will lose another missionary this week and then 3 more the last week of September.  We continue to have others that come tour and of those, we seem to keep getting what we need to fill our vacancies.  I believe that God knows our needs and hears our prayers to send more missionaries.  

The most we have had serving there is 38.  We are currently at 36 (I think).  And we would like to have around 40-42.  They don’t all serve on the same day but they each serve a minimum of 3 days each week.  It is an amazing sight when we have 25-30 missionaries all there to serve on a single day.

This past week we said goodbye to 4 wonderful missionaries.  Some of them that really learn well to serve are hard to send them on their ways. We wish we could clone them or extend their missions but we know that they need to carry on.  We need to just be patient and keep praying for and hopefully helping the younger ones to become their better selves; and they will.

One of the missionaries that just ended this past week was speaking in his Ward today.  We went and listened to him.  What a good example and a good person he is.  There were a number of missionaries from Welfare Square that were there to listen and support him.  It was gratifying to see them all there.

Another of the missionaries that just ended has been sending us a weekly email to report on how the week went.  Let me share a paragraph from his letter:

"When my mission began, I was tired and distracted all the time, and struggled to use my time wisely. I still face the same issues, but I have grown as a person and as a disciple of Christ. I gave up distractions, set goals, sought answers to deeply personal questions, discovered the paternal nature of God, learned the joy of repentance, built relationships with new friends and planned activities to get together with them, completely changed how I went about prayer and scripture study, and gained technical and social experience with the operations of Welfare Square. My life is completely different from before. I have learned to love and trust people. I have felt things I didn’t think possible, both good and bad. I discovered that I don’t know everything, and I’m not going to until I humbly trust in the Lord. I’ve learned self-discipline and self-examination. I may not have been perfect, but I think I did good. I am growing and changing and consistently repenting, and I’m gonna keep doing so for the rest of my life. I don’t know what the future is going to entail, but God does, and I trust Him. I know it’s going to be glorious.”

This is a young man that we are told was awkward, introverted at the beginning.  He is someone that we trusted immensely as he was finishing his mission.  We will miss him.  Isn’t it amazing what we can become if we will trust God and let him help us become the best version of ourselves?!

I think I mentioned in an earlier email that we are living in the same area and therefore attend the same Ward as a longtime friend.  He is just a little older than our kids and we met him when his parents and family lived in the next apartment to us while we were in Logan.  A few weeks ago, he and his wife asked me to bless one of their children.  That was a neat experience to be a part of that.  We are grateful that we have reconnected with he and his family.

We love running into missionaries all around us.  We love it when the Sister missionaries that live in the same apartments want to drop by.  They came and blessed us with a visit this past week and we had some ice cream with them.  It is fun to see them and to recognize them and feel of their goodness.

Some of you know that my parents have been struggling with the challenges of age.  I've heard someone say that it is “TMB", or too many birthdays. I like that.  We have been going home each weekend and sometimes during the week to assist my siblings care for the needs of our parents.  We have had so many of you and of others that have been praying for them (and for us I’m sure).  We thank each of you.  My siblings are amazing!  My parents certainly succeeded in helping us to care about and love each other as well as to love them.  Our parents have forever been there to support, love, assist, guide, listen, …  I am forever indebted to them and will cherish them forever.

It is tough seeing them struggle emotionally and physically.  On the other hand, it has been heartwarming to have witnessed some amazing love between them as they have dealt with these challenges over the past 6 weeks.  I’ve mentioned this to a few of you but I’ll mention it again here.  I am so very grateful for the hope and promise of a resurrection of both our bodies and our minds.  Even though in this life our bodies and minds fail us, because of Jesus Christ, we will rise again after death and our bodies will be restored to their perfect state.  I am so very grateful for our Savior.  I’m grateful that knows how to love us even with our many faults.  He knows you, he knows me.  He loves us all so very much and he wants us all to return to live with Him.  Let’s all do our best and make that happen.  I can’t think of anyone that I would rather spend eternity with than each of you, my family, my friends.

May our Heavenly Father watch over each of us as we go about our daily lives.  May we each look for and lift someone who is needing a little love and a kind gesture.

With much love,

Elder & Sister Christensen

P.S. send us a short note once in a while to let us know how you are doing.