Jared is Home!!

Jared is home from his mission! It was just three days after Jase's wedding (March 17th) that we learned that the Church would be sending missionaries home early due to Covid-19. We then received an e-mail saying that Jared would be coming home May 27th (three months early). His original date was August 19th. I had mixed feelings about this! I was excited at the prospect of getting to see him in just over two months, but also sad that his mission was being cut short.

Later on the church started sending home missionaries in droves! All foreign missionaries immediately came home (many to be re-assigned to missions in the states a couple of months later). Everyone in Jared's original MTC group got sent home except for him. We wondered if this was because Jared was serving as Assistant to the President at the time. All of Jared's friends also started returning home. If they had served 18 months or longer (which I think was the case with all of his friends) then they were given an honorable release and were home to stay. Other missionaries who had served less than 18 months would be home temporarily and then reassigned to a mission within the states. So at 21 months Jared actually ended up serving longer than most of the other missionaries. He was grateful that he could stay as long as he did.

Jared was such an awesome missionary! I loved receiving his letters each week and always felt so inspired by them! There were so many changes that happened during Jared's mission (Rick points out some of them in the MISSIONARY VIDEO he made for him). Jared still received his call through the mail in a big white envelope -- now missionaries open their calls online on their device. Instead of being nick-named "The Mormons," we are now are to refer to the church by it's official title only, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

February 15, 2019 the church sent out an official letter explaining that missionaries could now call, text, or Skype home on P-days. In the past missionaries could only e-mail and were only allowed to call or Skype on Mother's Day and Christmas. This was a HUGE change! I wasn't sure how I felt about this change at first -- it definitely took some getting used to, but I learned to love it! I felt SO connected with Jared throughout his mission because there was such open communication with him. Then Covid-19 and the resulting quarantine hit the past couple of months and that severely impacted the way missionaries did their missionary work! No more knocking doors -- most missionaries were quarantined to their apartment most of the time. Missionary work was done through social media such as Facebook and lessons were taught through video calls. Amazingly enough the work still continued to progress! As Joseph Smith stated in the Standard of Truth: "...the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent..."

Now back to today...we spent yesterday and today cleaning the house, preparing food, making posters, buying balloons, preparing Jared's room (he is sharing with Josh -- good thing Jase got married just in time so that Jared had a room to come home to, ha ha!) Rick didn't want to leave too early to go to the airport because only the first hour of parking is free and then you have to pay. He originally planned on leaving at 12:45. I told him that was cutting it too close since Jared was flying in at 1:12 and it was a 25 minute drive, so we decided to leave around 12:20 instead.

Good thing we left earlier! Jared's flight was 25 minutes early! We can't fit our whole family in one car and so we drove two separate cars, actually three cars since Jase and Ellen were meeting us there. I rode with Jaiden (she drove to get driving hours) and Rick took the three youngest. Rick and the kids arrived about five minutes before we did. We were just walking into the airport when I heard Rick cheering and looked up to see Jared walking off the plane! We had barely made it just in time! Whew! I was so grateful that we left early! I would have felt so awful if he had walked off the plane and no one was there to greet him! Jared and Ellen arrived just a couple of minutes later as we were taking turns hugging Jared!

He looked great! Jared told us that he gained 30 pounds on his mission! His legs definitely look bigger and more muscular -- must have been all that time on a bike! Rick videotaped him "running" across the finish line! With all of our missionaries Rick has come up with some silly chant and then had a piece of crepe paper representing the finish line that the kids held up while the missionary ran through it. I don't think he had a chant for Janika, but he did have the finish line. Of course Jared did his serious "runner" pose just as Josh had predicted and then he ran dramatically in slow motion as we all cheered for him. He is such a nut -- boy have we missed him!

We came home (we had hung up his mission state flag and also the missionary sign that Jared had made for Jase in Digital Graphics that said "Welcome Home Elder Jensen" with a big picture of the Book of Mormon." Jenna also made a little sign for him and we had balloons hanging up.) We ate Papa Murphy's pizzas for lunch, including a Chicago Deep-Dish style pizza in honor of Jared. Then Jared gave us a really awesome lesson. Rick had Janika and Jase teach a special family lesson after their missions also. Jared said that he had remembered Jase giving his lesson and that it had really impacted him and he wanted to do the same. In fact he asked if he could give the lesson as soon as he got home, before he was released.

He taught about the apostasy and restoration and shared some really neat personal experiences about when he first received his testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the gospel. He said that he only read the Book of Mormon four times on his mission because he really wanted to delve deeply into it and study it instead of just reading it. He said when he finished the first time he prayed really hard to know if it was true. Finally, after much prayer, he had a vivid memory pop into his mind. It was when he went to his first EFY when he was 14 years old. He said that the first couple of days he really had an attitude and thought everything was dumb and that he was "too cool" for all of activities. Then some things happened that changed his attitude and he ended up having a great experience. He said that during a testimony meeting with his company he felt the spirit so strong -- it was literally a "burning in his bosom."

He acknowledged that we don't always feel an actual burning in the bosom when we feel the spirit, but he said that time he did. It impacted him so much. He said that he didn't share his testimony -- he didn't even want to move because he didn't want to lose that feeling. That really changed things for him. So when he prayed about the Book of Mormon this time he remembered that experience and he knew that he already had a testimony and already knew that the Book of Mormon was true. He said there were many times during his mission when things were "brought to his remembrance" and he felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for his Savior, for the gospel, and for his family. Jared also emphasized the importance of writing things down when we felt the spirit and received personal revelation. We really felt the spirit during his lesson and both Rick and I got a little emotional. In fact Rick was really weepy on and off the rest of the day.

After the lesson Jaiden went to her rehearsal for dance concert that is coming up this weekend. Jared and Rick had a neat discussion and then we took naps while Jared unpacked and visited with Josh. He was excited to ride his unicycle again and got out his juggling supplies!

Then Rick and I took Jared to the Stake President's house for him to be released. President Nadauld  visited with Jared alone for a while and then called us in. He had Jared share some feelings and experiences from his mission and gave him some advice. He asked Jared what his morning routine was (getting up early, exercising, and studying the scriptures) and his first piece of advice to Jared was to continue this morning routine and not let those things slide. He said in following up with missionaries who had been home for a little while he could definitely tell the difference between those who had kept up these important habits and those who hadn't. His next advice was to study the scriptures (which is included in the morning routine). He also admonished him to pay his tithing and asked Jared why he thought that was so important and they shared a discussion about that. He finished with "always having a current temple recommend." At the end of the meeting he had Jared share his testimony. The meeting was really neat and the spirit was definitely present!

When we got home we late a late dinner of marinated barbecued chicken and squash, salad, and rice. Then the kids went swimming! The pool probably felt so good to Jared since he hasn't been able to swim in almost two years! Jared was able to call Janika and then later on Jared's friend, Broden came over to visit. All in all it was a perfect day!

Rick wrote a nice thank you letter to both of Jared's mission presidents and they both wrote glowing letters back about how much they enjoyed working with Jared! I have included Rick's letters and the two letters from the Mission Presidents in my journal.

Happy Easter!!

We spent Good Friday fasting as encouraged by our prophet in General Conference this past weekend. This past week for our family scripture study we have been studying the last week of Christ's life. As we studied about Friday's events I thought, "I can't even imagine being Mary, the mother of Jesus, and watching her son be tortured and murdered right in front of her!" What a sacrifice her sacred calling was to be the mother of Jesus, the Christ.  

Saturday: I spent three hours in the yard -- pulling weeds and cleaning up the ward (with help from the kids) in order to get things cleaned up for Easter. Rick was blessed with the inspiration to write a new song and decided to give it to all of the kids for Easter. So he spent all day in the studio writing it! It is a bell arrangement to "Oh My Father." He is really excited for the the kids to learn it! 

He and I went for a walk in the afternoon and it was pleasant, but getting a little too warm by that time. We had an Easter egg hunt with the kids. The kids filled their own eggs -- half for the hunt and half left out for their Easter baskets. I fixed a meatloaf dinner and then Rick and Janelle hid the eggs for Jaiden, Josh and Jenna to find. Then the kids and I delivered Easter eggs and bubble wands to the young women in my class with a cute note. The kids scattered the eggs on their lawns and had fun ringing the door bell and making a mad dash for the car!  

Sunday: This morning we did a quick clean up from last night's activities and prepared the food for our Easter lunch. Then we had the kids get their Easter baskets, which was really simple this year -- just stax potato chips, hot chocolate, candy filled eggs, clay, and Rick's new song.

Jase and Ellen gave the Easter lesson and did a great job! We had Janika and Brandon join us for the lesson over a Zoom call.

A couple of Janelle's work buddies stopped by the house and dropped off a little Easter basket filled with goodies for her! One of her friends also dropped off some flower seeds and a sweet note. 

Then we had a delicious lunch of ham, cheesy potatoes, asparagus, beans, and salad. Then everyone dyed Easter eggs!!

Then it was the traditional Egg Bash!! Jaiden's "Chick-Fil-Egg" won the tournament!! 

 

The girls were really excited about the song (Josh, not so much!) Our family gathered together in chairs around the piano to have our first practice today! I even felt a little emotional as we started to sing together and imagined where we might perform this beautiful tribute. Tonight the kids and I watched the movie, "The Fighting Preacher." It was good! What a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His glorious resurrection! What a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my family! What a precious gift!! 

EFY Jaiden 2019

I had so much fun at EFY this year!! I went with my friend Emily Williams. We went to the BYU Provo session, and our session had 1,500 people!! It was the biggest session of the summer! The theme for EFY this year was "Trust with all thine heart." I had such a great company and my counselors were named Mariyah and Grant. My companies name was "The dead rise" (1st Corinthians 15:29).

After we first checked in, we went to our dorms and met the girls in our company. They were super fun! And there was 2 other girls from Snow Canyon there! Our dorm was in the middle which means that our dorm is where we would always meet. After we got to know our counselor, we went up to meet the boys in our company. They are also way fun! When we were done playing some get to know you games, we went to the EFY orientation. We got to see our whole session and meet our session directors! Our session is HUGE!!!

After dinner, we met with our company for FHE. First our session directors gave us a lesson, and then we went to our company spot to play some games and do goal setting. Then we walked back to our dorms and had reflect and review. We lived in Helaman Halls, so we had to walk like 5 MILES to get everywhere. But I like staying in Helaman because you get your own bathrooms.

On Tuesday we had our morning devotional and then we went to breakfast. After that, we had our gospel study, and then went to our morning side. Then we had our first two morning classes. The first two classes are the same for every teacher. They were recognizing the spirit, and finding answers to questions. They were really good! After that we had lunch and then we headed off to our afternoon classes. The classes that my friends and I went to were called "A peak at the playbook: scouting Satan's game plan" and "3 ways you can lose your testimony and not know it." They were both super good classes! Then during free time, Emily and I had our variety show tryout. We were singing a song called "Super Friend" from the flash. It was really fun! We didn't make it in though because there was like 3 katrillion people who tried out. After that we had dinner and then did our cheer and banner prep for games night. Then, we went to the dance!!!! It was so much fun!! I literally love dances. I danced every single slow song!! After that, we got ready for bed and did R&R.

On Wednesday, we did our devotional, gospel study, and breakfast and then we went to the morningside. Then we went to our classes. The morning classes that I went to were, "Sharing your faith with testimony, tolerance, and love" and "Our individual influence." They were both super good classes!! Then after lunch we had our afternoon classes. Mine were "Safely anchored through faith in Christ" and "Your dreams vs. God's will." and these classes were also awesome!! After that we had free time and Me, Emily, and some of our friends went bowling. It was a party!! Then after dinner we had games night!! It was so fun! Then we had pizza night which was also a party! Our counselor kept taking funny bitmoji videos and sending them to the boys and it was hilarious. Then we did R&R and went to bed.

On Thursday we did the devotional, breakfast, and gospel study, and then we split up for the young mens and young womens activity. We learned about the book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It was really cool! Then the young women went to the morningside which was also super good! After that, we had lunch and then the variety show!! It was really good!! Then we had free time, and then dinner. After that we had the musical program and the fireside. It was super good! Then we sang the EFY medley and went to our testimony meetings. It was good! Then, because it was the fourth of July, we got to watch FIREWORKS!!!! It was soooooo much fun!! They were like playing music and we were just all having a party! But then by the time we got to bed it was probably almost one in the morning! Because our dorms were closer to the fireworks they had to close them all off. And then once we got ready for bed, Emily and I had to plan our devotional.

On Friday, since we got to bed so late the night before, we skipped breakfast and slept in. It was great!! We met up with the boys for gospel study and then we went to the morningside. After that we did our sharing the gospel activity and learned how we can be better missionaries. Then we went to lunch. After that we had the session showcase and it was awesome!! We were all super pumped and we basically had a dance party!! After that we had free time and my friends and I went bowling again, and then we also went to this way cool art museum thing. After that we had dinner and then we took pictures with our company. Then we went to the dance!!!! It was soooooo fun!! I danced every slow dance again!! After that, we did our taking it home message and then we did our company taking it home and we reviewed our goals and stuff. When we were saying goodbye to our company I cried so much!! I miss them all!!

Then on Saturday, we just packed up and left. I miss everyone so much!! EFY is so fun and is a really cool experience. It really strengthened my testimony and helped me to become a better person.

Two Hour Church and Come Follow Me

I am absolutely loving TWO HOUR church!!! It is nice not having to prepare a YW lesson quite so often and I love getting home earlier. I also LOVE the new family centered "Come Follow Me" program! I have been impressed at how well the kids are doing on their lessons! We made a new FHE chart and then take turns with a different family member each week: Rick, Wendy, Janelle, Jaiden, Josh, and Jenna. When Janika and Brandon visited we had them take a turn too. Jase is almost always off at his YSA ward. The first time the younger kids had to do their assigned "Come Follow Me" lesson they complained that they didn't know what to do and I ended up spending a good hour or two with each one of them on their week helping them put together a lesson. This surprised me because it is not like they have never done a FHE lesson before!

Anyway, the second time their turns came around for "Come Follow Me" it was totally different. They didn't ask for any help at all and planned out a well thought out lesson! They just got busy working on their lesson and did an amazing job! Janelle and Jaiden made neat handouts with smart art for the family to reflect and fill out as part of their lesson. Josh and Jenna both made a powerpoint with Google slides that had quotes and pictures that pertained to the lesson. I was suprised at how well Jenna could summarize the scriptures stories on her Google Slides. We have really learned a lot from each other and it is amazing to see our children's teaching skills! I am grateful for the time we have had together as a family and I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Jaiden EFY (2018)

Right when Rick and I were checking in Jaiden and Gracie we got a text from Alicia saying that she and her girls were meeting their friends for lunch in one of the BYU buildings. Since we were also on campus we decided to run over and meet them for lunch! I guess it was Harry Potter week and so the whole place was decorated with Harry Potter decorations and characters!

EFY (written by Jaiden)
 
          Efy was so fun! I had such a good time and it was a great experience! I learned so much about how to choose and find joy, recognize the holy ghost, and so much more! I went with Gracie Newby. To start off, we met our counselor. My counselor's name was Ashley. She was super fun! The efy theme was "Choose Joy" and Dad was the session director. After we went over all the rules, we wet our company. Our company name was "Bound in Promise." I had a super fun company! After that we went to orientation to learn about everything. After orientation, we went to dinner with our company. Then, we went to the FHE lesson which was taught by dad. It was a really good lesson about the theme. Later we met with our company for Family home evening games. Then we set company goals and personal goals for the week. After that we went back to the dorms, had reflect and review, and got ready for bed.

         The next morning we had a devotional and then left to go meet our company for gospel study. Our gospel study spot was soooo far away. We had to walk for so long. After gospel study we went to breakfast and after that we had a morningside taught by dad. Then, we went to classes. There were a lot of different classes and so I got with a group of people from my company and we went to classes together. The first class that I went to was "Recognizing the Spirit" and it was taught by Jeff Mckenna. The second class that I went to was " Finding answers to questions" and that teacher was Brother Thorpe. After that, we had lunch and I had a musical program rehearsal. Then, I got back with my group and we went to the afternoon classes. The next class that went to was "Now and Later: Missionary Efforts." that class was taught by Brother Thorpe. (if we got lost, or classes were full, we ended up going to the same teachers. But at least the classes were different.) The last class that we went to was called, "Is it True?" and the teacher was Trevor Wright. Then we had free time, and I had a musical program rehearsal. After that, we had dinner. Since I was in the musical program, I got to dinner kind of late, but at least there were a couple of boys from my company still there. They waited for me and we walked to the place where we were meeting with our company for the dance. After that we went to the dance and it was super fun!!!! I danced 5 out of the 6 slow dances. After the dance we had reflect and review, showered, and went to bed.

          On Wednesday, we had a devotional and went to gospel study, breakfast, and the morningside. Dad had me sing a song called "There Is One" for his lesson. Later on we went to the classes. First we went to "The Winning Team" and that was taught by Brother Mckenna. The next class I went to was taught by Brother Roe and the class was called "Successfully Navigating Life's Challenges."Then we had lunch and I had a musical program rehearsal. The next classes that we went to were "Spiritual Goal Setting" by Sister Tanner and "The Perfect You" by Brother Hales. After those classes I had another rehearsal and then dinner. Then, we met with our company to plan our cheer and banner. After that we went to games night and it was a party! Our cheer was like a wedding kind of, it was really funny. After games night we went to the dorms for pizza night, reflect and review, and went to bed.
   
        On Thursday, we had to wear church clothes. We had a devotional and then went to gospel study and breakfast. Then the young women and young men split up. The young women went to an activity and then to the morningside. It was opposite for the guys. The young women lesson was super good! We talked about the importance of women and the Family Proclamation. We also talked about divine identity and destiny. Then I had lunch and a rehearsal. After that we went to the variety show. It was really good! Later, I had a musical program dress rehearsal, and then dinner. After that, we had the musical program (I had a solo in "One Voice") and a fireside. Then we sang the EFY Medley and wrote our testimony. Then we went to our testimony meetings. After the testimony meeting we went to the dorms, had reflect and review, and went to bed.

       On Friday, Gracie and I had to do the devotional. After that we had gospel study and goal setting review. Then we went to breakfast and the morning side. Then we did a sharing the gospel activity. We played a game and related it to missionary work and then we discussed different scenarios and how we would share the gospel. After that we went to lunch and got ready for the session showcase. It was kind of like the week in review. If was really fun! After that, we watched the slideshow of all the things we did during the week. It was awesome! Then we had free time and I went to the creamery with Mom and Dad. After that we had dinner and we took pictures. Then, we went to the dance. It was a party! I danced all of the slow dances! It was super fun! Later we went to the last lesson. It was the taking it home message. Then we went to our company spot and had a little lesson/testimony meeting. Then we went through a couple more goals. After that we all hugged each other and said goodbye.
   
      The next morning we got ready and left EFY. It was a super fun week and I am so glad that I went!

Our Christmas Eve (2016)

Tonight we had our family's Christmas Eve. We had a yummy dinner of ham and cheesy potatoes (Janika made the cheesy potatoes and yummy salad).  Rick is always in charge of the Christmas Eve lesson/activity and he puts a lot of thought into it and always has something really cool prepared. This year he taught a really neat lesson about the ten Virgins, teaching about how half were ready for the Savior's arrival and half were not. We looked up a bunch of scriptures about the how various prophets testified of Christ's birth and asked what we would do if we knew Christ was coming in just a few days. We talked about preparing for Christ to come again and then watched the video on the ten virgins.  It was a great lesson! 

We then went to the kitchen and he brought out and authentic oil lamp from Israel and lit it. That got the kids attention and then he pulled out a little oil lamp for each member of the family and the kids eyes got really big. They were excited to get their own oil lamp. He poured olive oil into each one and each child would share a part of their testimony to another family member one at a time and then light their lamp. Josh shared his testimony about Faith and told the story about Enos and I shared an experience from after my mission when I had specific prayers answered and each of the kids shared their testimony with a personal experience or example from the scriptures.  We then sang a song together (this is the part where Jared tunes out -- he hates singing with the family). But other than that the spirit was present and it was a neat lesson.

We always have really cool Christmas Eve experiences like that.  At least Rick and I think they are pretty neat -- the kids are probably just anxious to open one of their presents -- another tradition. But they often talk about past Christmas Eve activities.  One of their favorites is when we dressed up in Nativity garb and had goat cheese and pita bread in tents in the basement and roasted S'mores in the wood burning stove. Anyway, the idea tonight was to go out and go caroling to some neighbors who might need some cheer and then give them one of the oil lamps to keep.  It was raining, however, and so we decided not to go caroling (much to Jared's relief).