September 2025 Letter

 Dear family and friends,

This past month has been filled with a lot.  Once again, a blessing of being close to home, we have had the privilege of celebrating several birthdays with grandchildren.  We have had the opportunity to have one-on-one time with each of Ellee, Weston, Lilly and Dallin.  Well, Lilly and Dallin actually helped us decide an event to do together.  It has been a joy to spend time with each of them.  In addition to this, we spent an evening at the 100th Anniversary of Box Elder County's Fair ... we went to the rodeo and as you can see from the photo, we were "tough enough to wear pink".  This morning we went to "Music and the Spoken Word"; we were joined by Toni's cousin Kerry and her son Mason.  Shout out to them for instigating it this week ... we love you guys!  We have been able to attend these several times while here in Salt Lake City.  They are always so calming and good for the soul.

Our sweet Ellee

Weston the "builder"

Toni had an experience at the Bishop's Storehouse that she will share ... Take it away Toni.

Hi everyone.  Several weeks ago, one of our patrons at the Bishop's Storehouse was returning the shopping cart back inside the building, after we had filled a food order for her. It was a very hot day outside and as the automatic doors opened and let her in, I saw her sigh in relief.  I was at the front desk and mentioned how good the air conditioning feels after being out in the parking lot. She replied back that that was not her reason for sighing. She said it was such a relief to know that she now had food to take care of her family, that it was like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. 

Sometimes we get so used to filling these food orders that we forget what an impact we are having on peoples lives. When ever we are doing something to lift or serve each other, we may not realize what a blessing it is.  Even the smallest thing can turn someones bad day around. Keep smiling. Keep speaking kind words. Keep encouraging. You are all doing the Lord's work in small and simple ways.

I want to share something that occurred during August at Welfare Square that was to me a demonstration of God's love for His sons and daughters here on Earth.  I need to give you a little background information first that will help to explain the story.

Welfare Square is a hotspot for visitors that want to come see what the church does to help those in need.  We are often getting visitors from all over the world.  Princes, rulers, law makers, normal people, members of our faith and members of many other faiths.  Some of these visitors come having first made an appointment while others just drop in.  Dignitaries most often have appointments.

We have sister missionaries that come from the Temple Square mission to conduct many of the tours at Welfare Square for the visitors that come.  Most of the scheduled tours with dignitaries include management from our storehouse and/or special hosts from church headquarters.  Each day, Monday through Friday we have these sister missionaries to help with the tours that don't include dignitaries.  They are always rotating who comes so that we are rarely seeing the same missionaries from day to day.

With the above in mind, we had an individual named Noble who called and made an appointment with our storehouse manager for a tour.  As a young kid, Noble lived in Texas.  At 8-1/2 years of age, he and his mother were baptized members of the church.  His mother was raising her kids alone and was struggling financially to take care of her family.  She decided to move her family to Salt Lake City thinking that by joining with the members of the church that lived there, life would improve.  Upon arriving, she sought out the bishop of the ward and he sent them to Welfare Square to get food and clothing to help them out.

Noble recalls being well taken care of by those that were serving at Welfare Square.  They helped him get clothing, a warm coat and other items that would make life more comfortable.  He recalls the kindness with which he and his family were taken care of.

When Noble grew up and got married, he and his wife moved to Saudi Arabia.  He is living there now and has made a good life for his family.  He wanted to bring his wife and a son to Welfare Square to show them some of his life story and share with them the place and the welfare system first hand so they could see the place that made such an impact on his life.

Noble had made the appointment for the tour at Welfare Square for a Friday.  As the day neared, a call was placed to our manager and an apology given that he would not be able to make it on Friday but asked if he could please reschedule for Monday.  The time was arranged and he was assured that the change would be ok.

The plan was for our manager to conduct this tour; the sister missionaries would not be part of it.  On Monday morning, at the appointed time, our Manager, Lisa, waited for them and was visiting with the sister missionaries from Temple Square as she waited.  She asked them to share with her a highlight of their mission.  One of the sisters shared that she has had the privilege of remotely teaching a man from Saudi Arabia the gospel of Jesus Christ by way of video calls and that he had recently been baptized a member of the church.  Note too that we have no proselyting missionaries in Saudi Arabia, however, the gospel is over there.  When Noble arrived with his wife and son, Lisa asked this sister missionary to recount her teaching opportunity with Noble and his family.  Upon completing her story, she asked Noble if they knew of this man and she shared his name.  Noble responded that they in fact knew him and that he was baptized in the swimming pool in their home.

Think of that.  Imagine how this sister missionary felt to make this connection.  A tangible connection to someone that she had been teaching half way around the world.  Had Noble and his family came on Friday or if they had been on time on Monday, this particular sister missionary would not have been there or would not have shared her story with Lisa and thereafter with Noble and made the connection.

Heavenly Father IS in the details of our lives.  He cares enough to do this for his children.  To let them know that he loves them.

We love you all so very much.  Thank you for your prayers, you love, your hellos, your friendship and kindness.  We are so grateful to have you in our lives.  We love God!  We love Jesus Christ!  This is their work and we are so happy to be a small part of it.  May we each look for God in our lives and try to bless those around us.

Love always,

Grandma, Grandma, Mom, Dad, friend, neighbor, Elder and Sister Christensen.

 

A few extra pictures ...

This is a vew from our apartment building looking east towards the Salt Lake City Center.  You can see the Salt Lake Temple and the Church Office building in it if you look close.

This is us experimenting (more Toni than me but I was happy she did it).  It is a cheese stick cooked inside of a waffle.  You put the cheese stick on the kabob stick, dip it in the waffle batter, and cook it in the waffle iron.  We tried it with a fresh peach slice too.  Both were yummy!

This is one of the pictures inside of the Bishop's Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City.  We finally took time to go out there for a tour.  It is so big and impressive.  What is pictured here is stacks of empty cans.  Look how many there are (you can't see them all).

This rendition of the Savior hangs and the Bishop's Central Storehouse.