Jensen Christmas Newsletter

 Merry Christmas to our family and friends!  

We hope this end of the year Christmas greeting update finds you well, healthy, happy, and full of life and hope. The world will sometimes have dark places, and unfortunately, as part of life, we get caught up in them. However, there is hope that the love of God can be bestowed on all of us.  Sometimes that love is more evident while experiencing trials. Sometimes it seems overwhelmingly evident even in the midst of what some call success. One thing that is for sure is that we are His children, and He loves us on such an incredibly deep level that we may not even understand it. It’s certainly one thing I (Rick) am trying to understand, even as I type this letter. I have seen God’s love poured down on our family, and on me personally, as we have gone through this last year. I’m so grateful for His love! 

This year we have seen many miracles, both with our jobs and with our family. I am still working for S&I (Seminary and Institute) in the ASL program. The program started up about two years ago and I have witnessed many miracles happen with our Deaf population. The numbers of Seminary students continue to grow and so do the numbers of Deaf adults who are involved in their own religious education classes.  Much of my time and energy has been focused on this wonderful cause and this year I had some great highlights. I was able to be involved with two Board of Accessibility meetings where I have met with General Authorities from our church, met with incredibly talented and capable Deaf chairs on that board, and participated in two of the six committees on that board. This year I also was able to take a trip to the Washington D.C. branch with Elder Peter Johnson, who is the Chair of the above-mentioned board.  He and I were able visit, minister, and work with the wonderful people in those areas.  It was an incredible learning experience for me! 

 

On another side of my career is the opportunity to go out and interpret. Both Wendy and I continue to interpret as much as we can because it is such a fulfilling occupation. Wendy is currently working as an interpreter and is also the interpreter coordinator at Utah Tech University. This year she also served on the language and translation sub-committee for the St. George Temple open house. She coordinated a special guided ASL tour for the Deaf Community and set up other tours for the Deaf Community on various days and evenings. She also coordinated three special tactile tours for the blind/visually impaired population and helped to coordinate volunteers and interpreters for people requesting language assistance in many foreign languages as well! This assignment has kept her extremely busy over the past year! She is grateful that the open house is finally complete, and the temple is now re-dedicated! She is thankful that she had the wonderful opportunity to be involved with this great work and is now hoping to take a few work cruises together to make up for lost time with her husband (or at least that is MY hope!) 😉 

 

Our family is growing, and our children have been able to accomplish some amazing things! 

 

Brandon and Janika: This year has had a lot of firsts for our sweet little Everett boy. Our baby has turned into a full-blown toddler who loves doing "zoomies" around the house, talks and talks and talks (especially during church or nap time) and can pound down adult portions of food and then some. He cracks us up and we have loved watching his sweet personality develop. He also loves being a helper, dancing, and playing with his cousins. Other highlights of the year: Brandon moved to a new company and now works remotely for Flex, a New York based company that helps people break up their rent payments. We had a fun getaway to New York in April and loved getting to see a couple of Broadway shows! Janika is still working part time as an elementary school counselor and feels like it's the best job. And the best highlight of all is that we've got another little BOY coming our way in April! We can't wait to meet baby brother! This year has included some ups and downs, but we've definitely seen God's hand in our lives the whole way. We feel very grateful for all of the blessings that have come right when we needed them this year. 

 

 

Jase and Ellen: We currently live in Herriman with our two boys, Evan and Eli. We enjoy being up north close to Ellen’s family and our careers. Jase works for Co-Diagnostics Inc where he has been for the past year and a half. He received a promotion this year and is now the formulation team lead. Ellen is a consultant for Cambridge Financial Group and has picked up many more assignments as part of her work there. Most exciting this year, Ellen will be graduating this December with her master’s degree in professional communications. She has already begun consulting for a few family and friend businesses and hopes to continue growing her opportunities once she finishes school this month. Evan is now 2 years old and enjoys playing with his brother Eli and spending time outside. Eli just turned 1 and has been crawling all over and getting so big! It’s been an enjoyable year for us to grow up as a family and we hope next year can be just as amazing!

Jared just graduated from Utah Tech University in Business Management. He is excited that this hurdle of education is finally over. However, that isn’t the big news for Jared. He was hired by S&I during the summer (even before his degree was finished) to teach full-time in Saratoga Springs. This career is EXTREMELY competitive to get into (I should know) and I’m so proud of him. I watched him teach this last year and saw what an incredibly gifted teacher he is. He’s used that skill with the kids and counselors at FSY this last year, with students in seminary, and will continue to use it with his own family.  He has a very active social life, and we are excited to see where this will lead!  

 

Janelle experienced the love of God this year in a myriad of ways. She returned home from serving a full-time mission to Taiwan and immediately started working for FSY (a job which she thoroughly enjoyed)!  During that time, she was able to get things settled for her schooling at BYU and get another job teaching at the MTC (another job that she thoroughly enjoys)!  In the midst of her busy schedule, she still manages to date QUITE often.  It’s great to hear about her dating stories with so many great young men.  She seems to attract winners, so we’re not worried about her prospects. Her only dilemma may be choosing which winner she wants. 😉 

 Click here for Janelle's Mission Video

Jaiden: This year flew by. It started off with me in college, and boy that feels like years ago! I was going on random little trips with my friends, working, and doing lots and lots of gym and library days. A gym and library day is where you go to the gym in the morning before class, then you go to the library to do homework for many many hours after your class. It's tons of fun! I was also preparing for my mission to Mongolia!! Never did I think would end up in Asia, but spoiler alert, I live here now and am writing this in the back of a shaky little taxi in the packed city of Ulaanbaatar! My summer was packed. I worked to save up for my mission, while spending all my free time with friends who were leaving on their missions too! My start date came all too quick, and I soon found myself at the Provo MTC. Little did I know that I would basically be moving in for a whole semester. Learning Mongolian is one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I had so many great experiences and made tons of friends in the MTC. I also became a certified English teacher so I can teach here in Mongolia!! My first transfer went by so fast, and I grew to love the people here in Enkhtaivan. I ate lots of animal fat, taught so many English and church lessons, saw cow heads on the side of the road, and continue to get called a Russian person on the daily. I just found out that I will be moving to Choibalsan this week!! So, I will be living in the countryside for Christmas!! I am so excited to see how goes and what this next year will bring!  Click here for Jaiden's Christmas message through song! 

Josh is a senior this year and is looking forward to graduating with a 4.0 like his sister Jaiden.  He is smart, athletic, has an incredible work ethic, and tries to show his love to his dear old dad by bringing home left-over candied nuts from his job at Tuacahn. He is extremely involved in soccer (both club and high school) and is looking forward to finishing up the year on the varsity soccer team. This year Josh and Jenna did a little traveling.  We first went on a family vacation cruise to Mexico.  Later on in the summer, they did the first leg of the Church History Tour with their cousins. That tour included New York down to Kirtland with a stop at Niagara Falls.   

 

Jenna is in 9th grade this year and seems to be the social light of middle school. She always has friends over for baking workshops, games, scream sessions (I’m not sure what they are doing, but there sure is a lot of noise coming from her area of the house), and movie parties. She is currently involved in dance, and voice lessons and loves to share her talents as she develops them. She is also extremely giving and observant, which is an incredible talent for a youth to obtain! She’s had to school her dad on a few occasions, and I’m grateful for the schooling. 😊 Though she isn’t looking forward to being an only child in the coming months, I’m sure her social skills will help her deal with the loss of all her siblings being there to hang out with.  

So, as you see, the term “God is Good,” does not adequately explain the number of blessings my family and I have received this year. He is much more than good. He is MAGNIFICENT! I certainly am grateful for His all-abiding love particularly at this time of year. John states it like this: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)” I am sure grateful for that gift, and the love that so many of you have exemplified to my family and I in His behalf. We are certainly grateful for you! 

 

Love the Jensens  

Beware of water, snow, and wheelchairs: Jensen Weekly

Here are some of the happenings for this week in the Jensen household!! 

Ellen came down with her family for their Fall Break. They stayed at an Airbnb for the week. Jase came and joined them on Thursday night and we celebrated Eli's first birthday over the weekend with a barbeque and family and friends! Happy Birthday, Eli!!!

Jared had come down for his Fall Break last weekend, and is back to work and school this week. I didn't get any pictures from him this week, sorry! 

Janelle is loving teaching at the MTC and had her first district come and go! She came down with Logan for the weekend to attend her friend, Anika Boettcher's wedding. She and Logan went to the temple open house while they were here. 

Jaiden arrived in Mongolia!!! We are grateful that she and the other members of her district arrived safely!! We are excited for her P-Day so that she can catch us up on everything! The tidbit I did hear was that all of the missionaries had to go to the hospital to get x-rays and blood drawn to make sure they don't have TB or something!  

Josh is in the middle of Water Wars at the high school. Water Wars is not an official high school activity, but a student run event that lasts several weeks -- or until there is only one team left. The students choose others to be on their team and then they pay a combined amount of $20.00 for their team of around four people. It seems like practically the whole student body is involved. They all get wrist bands and have very specific rules to follow. They get members of opposing teams out by squirting them with a squirt bottle. 

Each team has to get someone from a different team "out" during the week or their whole team is out. Each person who gets another person out has to catch it on video so that they have proof. Inside the school or church is off limits, but inside someone's home is not. The winning team gets all of the money, and it is like $2000.00 or something! So it gets extremely competitive!! Josh carries around a squirt bottle wherever he goes and makes us lock the doors whenever he is home. I remember Jared being involved in this also, so apparently it has been going on for years! 

We are constantly getting emails saying that more volunteers are needed at the temple open house. It was Josh and Jenna's turn last Saturday.  The other available times for them were either during school or during evenings when Jenna had dance and Josh had work, and so we had grabbed the only Saturday shift for shoe-coverers that was assigned to our Stake. 

They had both signed up to be shoe-coverers, but then someone there assigned Josh to wipe down the wheels of visitors in wheelchairs, which apparently wasn't nearly as fun as putting shoe covers on people's feet. We were glad that they could serve, but sad that their service time ended up at the same time as Eli's birthday party. They would have loved to be there for the party, but they had signed up two months ago and we didn't feel right about backing out at the last minute. Jenna said it was fun and offered to come again. 

Josh came home completely grumpy and hangry. The shifts are almost four hours long and Josh was tired and starving. It was almost time for them to finish their shift and Josh was counting down the minutes when he was asked to push an older lady in a wheelchair through the entire tour -- tacking on an extra hour to his shift. He apparently accepted, but very begrudgingly! The others couldn't find him and had to wait the extra hour for him as well. Luckily we had extra hamburgers and hotdogs from the party waiting for the kids when they got home! 

Saturday night Josh went to his soccer Halloween party. He said it was fun but he was disappointed that he didn't win any big prizes. Josh got sick the next day -- he went to church, but soon after he was complaining of fever and chills, and was blowing his nose and sleeping all day. He said that it must have been from wiping down all those wheelchair wheels yesterday -- or the party outside in the freezing cold -- or a combination of both. Rick sang in church -- his arrangement of "Did You Think To Pray." It was so beautiful!!

Josh stayed home from school because of his illness. He also missed his last soccer game, which is okay with me because the weather suddenly turned cold tonight. We had our ward Halloween party and chili cook off. (Chili, dunk tank, cake walk, pumpkin painting...). Jenna dressed up as a devil for the party and her friend Clarissa dressed up as an angel. Josh managed to feel well enough by that time to at least go try a few bowls of chili. When I got home he and several of his friends were in the house saying that they couldn't leave or someone might "get them out" (water wars). They eventually left. 

I had tried a couple of bowls of chili at the Fall Carnival and then brought Jenna shopping for her Halloween party -- nothing like waiting until the last minute! We went to several stores looking for a red dress for her costume (Kiss, Marry, Kill) and having no luck I put a request out on our RS GroupMe chat asking if anyone had a dress she could borrow and soon had the perfect dress. 

I started to feel sick while we were shopping and realized that I was having an allergic reaction to something I ate at the party. My chest hurt and the skin around my eyes swelled up. This is the second time that has happened. It happened a couple of months ago the day before we left to bring Jaiden to the MTC after eating some soup at a work meeting and it took two full days for the swelling to completely go away. It has been the same this time. It is so frustrating -- and I don't even know what is causing it! (This one took three days for the swelling to completely subside!) I also feel like I am coming down with whatever Josh had and am praying that I don't get sick! Rick is going to Washington DC with Elder Peter Johnson this coming weekend for Seminary and Institute recruitment and so we are praying he stays healthy too. 

Weekly Update

This has been a busy week, as usual, but I also saw tender mercies and blessings. 

So, you know how the young men do scripture reading every Sunday morning? Well, Rick was thinking that with the new bishopric they might take a break from that. No break -- in fact they are going to have the young women start doing it too! Jenna would have gone last Sunday, but she was sick and stayed home from church on Sunday and school and dance on Monday. I was glad that she had sung in church the week before instead of that week! Last Sunday Anna and Evie sang "The Miracle," in church. It was sweet! Josh went to the "Back to School Fireside," something he definitely did not want to do, but he went. 

Monday 18: This morning we did another temple tour for the visually impaired. There was a group of around 12 people, but really only 3 of them were blind. The others were the escorts, or helpers. I had been really disappointed that they couldn't come to our other special tour that was just for the visually impaired and blind, before the tours were open to the public, but it still worked out okay. It took two hours -- just like the last blind tour. We tried to accommodate them the best we could and they seemed very appreciative of the effort. 

Monday night Josh had a soccer game, but Rick was still out of town and I had two classes that I was interpreting for, so I couldn't go. It was a good game to miss since they lost 0-8 or something like that! Rough game! Rick got home from his work cruise at 12:30 am and then I couldn't go back to sleep! 

Tuesday 19: I interpreted this morning for two classes and then interpreted for the temple open house for an ASL tour. Since I have been a few times now, I was able to quietly point out a few things. It was nice. Rick had an interview over zoom that he was interpreting for and he wanted me there in case he missed anything. So we did that and Jenna went to Hip Hop. She has really been loving the class!  

Wed. 20: Today I was really feeling stressed because I had so much to do for the language committee for the temple open house! It was also the day that our time cards were due for my job and I am in charge of doing all of the interpreter time cards and entering in everyone's hours. So I had all of that to do, and had an all day interpreting assignment, plus a night class to interpret for that night, and then Josh's soccer game after that. Well, I went to my appointment and they said, "Oh that appointment was cancelled." So I was paid for six hours of time and was able to go home and start working on the temple open house spreadsheets and finish all of the time cards! It was such a tender mercy and I was so grateful! 

For the open house, we received a spreadsheet of all of the requests for languages and there were almost three thousand individual people on the list wanting language assistance in another language! It was SO overwhelming! We had already set up specific dates for big language groups to come, with 8 language assistants assigned to each one, but these were all in addition to the dates we had already set up! So we were wading through thousands of requests that weren't even in order, trying to figure out which languages were needed on which days and how we would get that all set up!  

Then we received a spreadsheet of all of the YSA sisters who were scheduled weekly. Several of them speak different languages and so we were trying to match up some of the language requests with the times a YSA sister would be there who spoke that language. Just doing that took a lot of time. I was trying to figure out all of the times deaf people were coming so that I could try and get interpreters to come volunteer. So I worked on all that until I needed to leave to go interpret for my class. I brought my laptop to the class because it has a lot of down time and did more work there. So I ended up getting a lot done! BLESSINGS! 

Also, Janelle started her training at the MTC and ran into Jaiden! She sent us a picture and it made my entire day!! It is so neat to see our two girls together in the MTC -- one as a teacher, and one as a missionary! I feel so blessed! 

Then I met Rick at Josh's soccer game. It was at 5:00 and really hot out! Rick had to leave early to go interpret. Later on the temperature cooled down and then all of a sudden it got really cloudy with lightning! So they called the game (about 20 minutes early). Josh's team was really disappointed because it was 0-0 and there were sure that they could have won if it hadn't been called off early. But I am sure that the other team thought the exact same thing! Our team was SO close many times for goals, but not close enough! 

Thurs. 21: I interpreted my classes today and worked on contacting people for the open house. Jenna had her voice lesson with Rick after school and then I brought her and Brooklyn to dance on my way to interpret for my night class. In the class they were just watching a movie and so I went into the hall with my laptop and started working on my RS lesson for Sunday. 

Fri 22: I went to Josh's CCR this morning. Time to start filling out college applications!! I didn't have to interpret today and so I spent a lot of time working on my RS lesson -- way too much time! I did a PowerPoint and it took forever!! I also worked on it a lot on Saturday too! Rick and I went and watched Josh sing with the Madrigals at Swiss Days this afternoon. They sounded great!! Then Rick and I walked around for a bit and talked to people. Jared arrived late and it was fun to talk with him. I haven't seen him since Jaiden left on her mission!  

Sat. 23: Rick and Jenna did pretty much everything to take down the pool. Jared and Josh had apparently snuck out to go play pickleball! I basically just helped push it onto the wheelbarrow and put it in the shed. Then I pulled weeds for a while in the sandbox, but it gave me allergies so bad for the rest of the day! We had our zoom call with Jaiden and the family and that was fun! Then I worked on my lesson some more and met Allison at one of the Swiss Days booths that we were asked to volunteer with. There were three ASL temple tours today, but I asked other interpreters to cover them. Rick and I watched a movie together tonight. It was cute, but I was SO tired and kept falling asleep!  

Sunday 24: Our testimony meeting was really good! RS was good too -- I felt like my lesson went well. It was Elder Uchtdorf's lesson "Jesus Christ is the Strength of Parents." I shared Jaiden's Sunflower Story in my lesson. I also shared the picture of her and Janelle together at the MTC. Great picture! After church I did some temple open house stuff and then took a nap. Rick fixed dinner, which was really nice! He cooked last night too! Chinese food last night and Italian today! I am so glad that I married someone who can cook, ha ha! The kids and I watched, "Meet the Robinsons," and I realized that I have never seen it! 

Sleepwalking in the Storm

Well, the big news for us this week was of course dropping Jaiden off to the MTC!! Then we went to Janelle's apartment. There was a note on her door saying "Welcome to the 98th Ward!" Isn't that crazy?! Welcome to BYU I guess! We met her other two roommates and then took Janelle, Brea, and Esther shopping at Walmart for groceries. Esther is from provo and went on a mission to the Netherlands and will be teaching Dutch at the MTC! Brea will be teaching Spanish at the MTC. We sure hope that Janelle gets hired too. That would be a bummer for her to have half her roommates working there and not get hired. Esther will be in Janelle's room and Isabel in Brea's room. All four girls are returned missionaries and had so much fun swapping mission stories. It is easy to see that they will all get along just fine! They are all very easy going! 

Thursday Dad left to work in Vegas for the day and then he left on his weekend cruise Friday morning. Thursday evening we got hit with a huge storm!! It was pouring with tons of lightning and thunder. Water was even slowly dripping from the black box above our little fireplace in our bedroom! I tried to go outside to check out where the leak might be coming from, but was too scared because of all the lightning! So I stuck a little garbage can to catch the drips and went to bed. Josh came home saying that the show had been cancelled part way through but he stayed and played in the rain. About thirty minutes after I went to bed Josh came in and said that Jenna was sleepwalking and it was really creepy. I went out to get her just as she was unlocking the front door and about to walk outside in the storm! That really freaked me out! Josh said we had better restrain her at bed time! I led her to my bed and put her back to sleep so that I could keep an eye on her. A little later she woke up and asked why she was in my bed and then went back to her room! 

Friday it rained on and off all day long. I have been so busy with all of the temple open house stuff I am working on, as well as the interpreter coordinator stuff, and interpreting etc. Jenna and Bria are going with her family to watch Vann's bike race in Cedar City tomorrow and hopefully they will be able to watch Clarissa's race too. It will be so cold and rainy and muddy though! I am going to the St. George Temple Open House tomorrow morning (I can go to one of the private tours since I am on the committee). I got asked to teach Jenna's Sunday School class on Sunday and so I need to prepare that lesson too. I wish Rick were here to teach it with me!

2022 Christmas Newsletter

We couldn’t let this year pass by without saying how grateful we are for your friendship and your kindness. You truly are the salt of the earth, and we feel we are lucky enough to be salted by you. You have had a huge impact on us and our family! 

Rick: This year we have had some wonderful experiences and many of you played a part in those. I have had the exciting opportunity to continue working with the S&I (Seminaries and Institutes) ASL program for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This year we were able to see history in the making with the establishment of the first ASL Deaf Board of Education! I feel so grateful to be involved in such incredible opportunities to help gather Deaf Israel! 

Working with so many amazing people has been a season of growth for me, and I truly enjoy learning from the great youth and teachers. This year I have also decided to grow in different ways. I finally got the courage to screen for cruise interpreting and interpreted on FIVE cruises this year! I absolutely loved it and have met wonderful people in the process. I’m so glad I did it! Choosing growth is something I hope I always have the courage to do.

Wendy: I am proud of Rick for everything he has accomplished this year! Life has been busy for the rest of us also! Despite being busy, our home has become much quieter the past few months. With our two oldest children married (Janika and Jase), two living away from home and going to college (Jared and Jaiden), one serving a mission in Taiwan (Janelle), that leaves only two children at home with us (Josh and Jenna). It is really different! But Jenna still continues to shake things up by bringing a dozen or so noisy teenagers over to the house often enough to remind us that we aren't empty nesters quite yet!

Like Rick mentioned, this has been a year of growth for our family -- both literally and figuratively! This year we welcomed TWO new grandbabies into our family! We now have THREE adorable grandsons! It has been a delight watching our family expand! We also had five graduations this year -- Jaiden from high school, Jared with his associate degree, Jase and Ellen with their bachelor's degrees, and Janika with her master's degree! With all of the University classes I have interpreted for through the years, I feel like I have earned another degree as well, ha ha! I absolutely LOVE my job, especially University interpreting, and learn something new everyday! Rick loved his experience with cruise interpreting and FINALLY convinced me to give it a try! So, he and I will be teaming together on a cruise next month! 

It has been a fantastic year! Now I will turn it over to the young 'uns for their updates! 

Janika and Brandon: 

This year has been a whirlwind, but we feel so incredibly blessed. At the end of May we welcomed our perfect baby boy, Everett Hayes Jenson, into our family and it's been so fun to watch him grow! Janika was offered her dream job as a part time elementary school counselor and has been loving teaching social emotional wellness skills to all of her little friends. Brandon was recently promoted to Revenue Operations Analyst at JobNimbus and has really enjoyed his time working there. We are currently living in Pleasant Grove and just feeling so grateful for all of the opportunities God has given us this year! 

Jase and Ellen: 

This has been an exciting year for us! Ellen started a new job in January working from home for a financial advisor. It has been a great job for her to still focus on school and be at home with the kids. In May, we both graduated with our bachelor's degrees. Ellen graduated in Communications and Jase graduated in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Shortly after our graduation, we moved to Baltimore Maryland for Jase’s summer internship at Johns Hopkins University. At the end of the internship, we decided to move to Herriman Utah where we currently reside. Jase started a new job at Co-diagnostics in Salt Lake City and Ellen decided to continue her education online through SUU for a master's degree. In October, our second baby boy Eli was born prematurely and on November 22 he was able to come home from the NICU. We are so excited to have him as part of the family! (You can read Eli's birth story HERE!)

Jared: 

This year has been a blast and I'm already excited for what the next one has to offer! I finished two more semesters and I'm officially a senior at Utah Tech University. The schooling was probably my least favorite part as I took some of my most challenging classes and had to crutch my way around campus with a torn ACL and meniscus. The injury was due to dancing with superior amounts of energy that my body couldn't handle, and although it has been a tough recovery, I have gotten surgery and will be running here again shortly! The highlight of my year was spending my summer working for FSY at Snow College in Ephraim and BYU Hawaii! I was able to have marvelous spiritual experiences and hopefully helped create some for the youth as well! (That's where I learned to dance with great vigor, and I guess as soon as I took it back to the party college environment the spirit stopped protecting my knee). I've continued teaching seminary, and had a memorable year working with the youth during the school year as well as the summer. Overall I had a pretty good time and I'm ready to see where life takes me!

Janelle: This year has been great, and I have grown so much! In January I was partying it up in the MTC and headed to the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission on January 17! I served in Duluth for three transfers with my companion Miriam Martinez, which was awesome, and then I went to Eau Claire Wisconsin with my companion Gabby Carter! Afterward Heavenly Father decided it was time for me to go to my original assignment of Taipei Taiwan. I started my Taiwan adventure in Danshui, with Jin Yuling as my companion. She went home that transfer, and I stayed in Danshui and served with Yao Xinci for one transfer! Afterward I became an STL and served in a trio in Jinhua, with my companions Chen Yucai and Li Xinjie. After a transfer Chen Jiemei left and Li Jiemei and I stayed, which is where I am at now! I have loved all of my companions, areas, and experiences and have learned so much from each one. There have been ups and downs and blessings and hardships, and I have grown closer to the Savior through it all. It is a miracle to witness others change their lives and turn toward the Savior. This work is run by God, and it will not stop. I'm so blessed to be a part of it!  

(Click HERE for Janelle's Missionary Blog!)

Jaiden: 

I feel like 2022 just started, but we are already to Christmas! That's wild. This year has been super good!! First off, I graduated!! Senior year definitely had its stressful moments, but I graduated with a 4.0! Summer started off great - filled with dance rehearsals as usual! It was my senior concert, so I had plenty of extra rehearsals to go to. The concert was SO much fun, and I already miss dancing at that studio! Summer was filled with fun, friends, photoshoots of course, and trips! I got the chance to go to FSY with my best friend Emily, and we had the BEST time there!! Our company was on another level for sure!! I also was able to go on a cruise with Emily and Lizzie for our senior trip!! It was the coolest EVER!! We went to three different places in Mexico, and we loved it!! As the summer came to an end, I had to REALLY get my life together because I was starting college in the fall! I am currently a freshman at Southern Utah University, and I love it!!! I am majoring in exercise science and minoring in dance. I have the best roommates in the world: Emily, Liv, Dagney, Josie, and Alexis! It is always a party at apartment 3!! I have made so many friends and so many memories. Everything from silly string battles at parks to prank wars! Cedar City is cold so it is definitely taking some getting used to, but I wouldn't trade my time here for anything! I am so excited to see what next year brings!! 

(Click HERE for Jaiden's Sterling Scholar Portfolio Video)

Josh:  

This year has gone by pretty quick and that's good because the sooner this year ends the quicker I'll be going to Mexi-Cali for spring break!! Here is a list of things I did this year: got my driver's license, learned how to fish (self-taught fisherman), started a job at Wendy's, ended a job at Wendy's a few weeks later (thank goodness for that), started a job at Tuacahn (best job ever), played varsity soccer for the first time, and kept my 4.0. I joined the Snow Canyon Madrigals singing group and I'm currently still deciding if it's worth my time or not. I also recently made the ODP (Olympic Development) soccer team. This year I've developed a love for a restaurant that I never would have imagined: McDonalds. However, with inflation and all that, I'm starting to wonder if it's still worth it to keep going...anyway, stay tuned and I'll let you know next year.

Jenna: 

This has been a great year and a lot has changed -- first of all I got highlights for the first time! I also FINALLY got my braces off! I wrote a song for Reflections and was one of the region winners! My friend, Grace Freeman, and I sang a duet for our seventh-grade talent show. This year I went on lots of hikes with my family and friends! I found out that I love doing hair and so I did my sister's hair for dances and stuff. Now I am in the 8th grade at Snow Canyon Middle School. I dance with Southwest Dance and was in the play over at the high school. I got two new nephews this year! It's been so fun seeing how big our family is growing and I hope it will get even bigger!

As you can see, this has been quite an eventful year! As we continue our journey of growth, I am reminded of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 50:40-42: 

"Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; and none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost." 

Thank heavens that all of us can grow in this life and through the grace of Jesus Christ, none of us are lost. We look forward to an ongoing journey of growth with all of you this upcoming year! 

Love, 

The Jensen Family 

Grandma's Little Peanut

This week was the usual interpreting and so forth. I went to a parent meeting for Madrigals for a Jazz Festival at Northern Arizona University in February. It kind of sounds like caroler type music! Janika, Brandon, and Everett came to visit this weekend, so that was fun! We went to Josh's soccer game Friday night, it was freezing! We got a quick bite to eat at Rumbi's on the way home. Saturday morning I had an interpreter workshop on Body Positivity. It was interesting. Josh had activities for Sadies all day long. 

We got to play with Everett -- he had a cute little shirt on that said "Grandma's Little Peanut!" 😂 While Everett was napping Janika and Brandon and I took a tour of the traveling tabernacle. It was neat! Then I brought Jenna and Grace Christmas shopping. That night we watched Disenchanted (a sequel to Enchanted.) But Enchanted was WAY better and so this one was a disappointment. We had church today and then spent time with the family!