Josh's Missionary Video!!

 Here is the mission video that Rick made for Josh! Love it! 

Elder Jensen is Home!!!

Today was the day!! I took work off yesterday to try and catch up on house cleaning. Janelle and Bryton arrived last night and we visited with them for a while and then they stayed over at Bryton's parent's house. Thursday I started interpreting at Utah Tech and so I needed to be there, but it was just a half day. The rest of the day I finished cleaning up Josh's room. Bryton was working remote and Janelle came over and helped me clean. I turned down several interpreting jobs this afternoon. I knew I would be too busy trying to get everything ready. 

I had ordered a nice big "Welcome Home" banner and also a nice yard sign. We headed over to the airport around 5:15. His flight was expected at 6:25. Usually when we have picked up our missionaries, they were the only missionary flying into St. George. But today there were several! The first family we met also had an Elder Jensen coming home! We said, "That's perfect, we will all be cheering for Elder Jensen!" 

Then another family arrived and it was Mark Tarr and his wife, the family we had met two years ago at the Golden Corral when dropping off Josh to the MTC! Mark was in LD Singers with me at Snow. At the time we laughed about how we had also run into them when we were dropping off Janelle to the MTC and they were dropping off their daughter to the MTC! Their son was also going to Korea, but the other mission. So it was funny to run into them again at the airport for the return of both our boys!! 

We also ran into people we knew from our ward and area who were welcoming back a sister missionary. There were also a couple other missionaries coming home from Korea (but the other mission). So there were lots of Korean flags, and posters, and people, and excitement! The missionaries came out one at a time, instead of all at once, which was nice because each one could greet and get hugs from his or her family and then move off to another area to make more room for the other families waiting for their missionaries. 

Josh was one of the last missionaries to come out. He had gone to change into traditional Korean robes, which was fun! A lady who was on the airplane saw our banner and said, "don't worry -- he is coming!" It was wonderful getting that long awaited hug when he finally did come! We all did our hugs and took pictures over by the baggage area and had him run through the finish line! The chant Dad decided on was: "Josh, it's time! Cross the line!" (repeated three times getting louder and louder). You can see our cheesy chant in the video! 

Then we all headed to the house. Josh wanted Dominoes pizza for his first meal, which made it easy! Rick ordered it and Janelle and Bryton picked it up at 7:30. We ate and then Rick, Josh, and I went to the church to meet with President Rowan for Josh's release. Unfortunately the stake president was out visiting people and their visits went over and so we were waiting outside in the heat for thirty minutes! But we eventually made it in and had a nice visit. 

Then we went back and met back up with the rest of the family. We have a tradition for our new returned missionaries where they teach our family right after they get home. At first Josh was flustered because he had brought a phone home with him from the mission, but everything shuts down on a missionary phone after coming home and so he didn't have his notes or anything. But then he went ahead and gave a very nice lesson and then got very real and vulnerable. It was very touching. We have loved this tradition. The lessons of our new returned missionaries have always had such an impact on all of us! 

Thanksgiving Blessing

My former missionary companion, Juliette Landsem Holdaway, now lives in Korea with her husband, who works for the military. Juliette also served her mission in Korea for a short time before serving in the ASL program in Atlanta, Georgia. She knew our son, Josh, was serving in Korea and made arrangements to pick up Josh and his companion and bring them to a nice hotel on base for a traditional American Thanksgiving feast!! It looks amazing! 

Not only that, but she had asked Josh and his companion what treats they missed from America that they weren't able to find in Korea. They surprised them with a total haul of treats!! Josh was in heaven!! Josh loves Takis and Korea doesn't have them and so he was excited to receive Takis along with everything else!! Hearing about this experience made my mama heart so happy! Thank you Holdaways for treating our missionaries!!  

Jaiden's Missionary Welcome Home Video!!

Rick worked hard on Jaiden's welcome video and I love the way it turned out! It contains some things that are definitely non-traditional and unique, but Mongolia is not your traditional mission! 

Podcast of Sister Jaiden Jensen's Experiences in Mongolia!

Listen or download HERE!! 

https://familystorypodcast.com/returned-missionary-podcasts

Scroll to Jaiden's picture (right now it is at the top) and then click on the "play" or "download" button! 

 

Josh, MTC Drop Off!!

Today was the day! It was a crazy day for all of us. Jenna was picked up at 4:50 am to go to the church at 5:00 for a temple appointment with the young men and young women. She made it home at 6:40, just ten minutes before she was to be picked up for Madrigals! Then she had "lunch bunch" at Bria Thompson's house and then was supposed to work tonight (but ended up giving her shift to someone because she was so tired!) I don't blame her! 

Rick, Josh, and I left at 7:30 to head up north. We stopped in Orem at the car rental place so that Rick could rent a car for the next few days, since he would be staying up north and I would be driving back home. Josh and I both tried to sleep in the car on the way home, but I don't think either of us were very successful! 

Rick listened to a couple of good church talks on the way. Then we pulled out the letters that everyone had written to Josh and gave them to him to read. Then Rick said he wanted to read them and so I read them out loud to Rick and Josh and that brought all the tears! I read the letters, bawling the whole time! Our kids are so so awesome! They wrote such thoughtful, heartfelt letters and gave such amazing advice! I am so glad that we started this tradition of having all of the siblings write a letter to their brother or sister when they leave on a mission. They are treasures! 

After renting the car we all met at the Golden Corral. It was so funny because we ran in to Mark Tarr (a friend from Snow College) and his family again, just like we did when dropping off Janelle three years ago! At that time he and his family were dropping off their daughter to the MTC, and this time they were dropping off their son to the MTC, same as us! And what is even more ironic is that their son is going to Korea on his mission too! Only he is in the other mission. So we introduced his son to Josh and they got to visit a bit. They will probably see each other quite a bit in the MTC!

Janika and Brandon were able to take a little time off work to come to the Golden Corral with their boys, and so that was fun! Ellen also came with Evan and Eli and they made a cute little poster for Josh. She also brought a polaroid camera in order to take some pictures with Josh that he could take with him, which I thought was such a great idea! Josh loved them! Janelle and Bryton also came. Josh's good friend, Adam Parkhurst, was also to come since he was up north for Education Week. We had a really nice lunch and took some pictures. 

After that Josh said goodbye to the rest of the family and those of us seeing him off met at the chapel right next to the MTC. Usually we always take pictures at the Provo Temple, but it is not there any more! They tore it down and so now it is just a grassy field! So Jaiden was the last of our family to get pictures in front of it. We then headed into the parking garage to drop off Josh! I was fine until that final hug and then I was crying again!! We all were! Well, I don't know if Josh was, but I am sure he was feeling all the feels too! 

I sure wish I could be a fly on the wall those first few days at the MTC to witness everything he is experiencing! After our goodbyes we all went our separate ways! Rick was staying up north since he had meetings in Salt Lake this week. I was rushing back because I was scheduled to interpret for Frozen at Tuacahn that same night! So that was stressful. I listened to the show over and over the whole way home in order to prepare. I mean I had already prepared lots of hours, but this was the final preparation.

At least it forced me to take my mind off of Josh leaving, ha ha! The play went really well tonight. It was fun, but I was glad to get it behind me! So that was our day!! 

And Jaiden's one year mark!! I am sure the next six months will fly by!! 

Josh's Setting Apart

Tonight Josh was set apart as a full-time missionary! There were several missionaries getting set apart tonight and so the Stake Presidency had to divide and conquer! We were with President Parker. He had everyone give some advice to Josh. This was much easier than expressing how we feel about him, which always caused the tears to flow! Josh was given and incredible blessing! It was a really special experience! They even let immediate family members zoom in. We had Janika and Brandon and also Jaiden! We are so proud of Josh! 

Josh, Missionary Photoshoot

I brought Josh to Snow Canyon to take some missionary pictures today! I was glad that we got some good ones!!