Merry Christmas 2021!

Hello my dear friends and Merry Christmas to you all! It’s such a joy for me (Rick) to write this letter to all of you and thank you for your wonderful friendship. Your examples in my life and the lives of my family have been more than substantial and have led my family to have a more abundant year, each and every year we have known you. While many have been suffering with effects of Covid (including my own family), we have still had a very abundant year. In fact, it could be said that it is one of the most abundant years of my life (and I think my wife would agree).  Let me explain why…..

This year started out with me taking a new responsibility at work. My official title is “North America ASL Coordinator and Advisor.” It’s a fancy way of saying that I get to work with Deaf youth and teachers from across the nation, setting up seminary and institute classes. It has been a joy for me to meet new friends who are everyday heroes in my perspective. They teach with so much love and I’ve gained an even greater admiration for our Deaf youth. They are exemplary in their leadership and have so much potential to help others grow. I love it and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for these outstanding people. I’m also interpreting and enjoying that as well. Knowing ASL has blessed my life with more abundant opportunities, and I’m so glad I was miraculously led in the direction I was.  Of course, the most abundant blessings I have come from my family, and their abundant year has also added to my own abundant year. At the bottom of this newsletter is a little song (and music video) I wrote this year which discusses this topic! 

Wendy has been busy working in our home and also interpreting in the community. She has played a huge part in helping our children (especially those still at home) to have an abundant year by encouraging them to embrace opportunities to grow and then helping them succeed in these endeavors. She spent countless hours helping our children prepare for competitions, auditions and performances, and also spent numerous hours in the car driving our children to and from their various sports and events, while cheering them on at every possible game or performance. She is constantly updating our family blog, keeping a detailed history of what we are engaged in and the abundant blessings we are receiving. She also helps our children by teaching them what source the abundance comes from. They have done well to listen to her and follow the example she sets for them.  

Brandon and Janika have had a most abundant year.  They purchased a new townhome in Pleasant Grove this last summer and have successfully moved in! We have had the opportunity to visit them on many occasions. At one of our most recent visits, they surprised us and let us know that their abundant life was still in the beginning stages.  More abundance will be coming to them in June of 2022, when they welcome a new baby into their home!  We are thrilled! Brandon is enjoying working at JobNimbus and was recently featured by Utah Business magazines as one of the 2021 "20 in their twenties" honorees. Janika just graduated with her Master's degree and is currently working as a middle school counselor. 

Jase and Ellen have also had an abundant year. In July they were able to bring into the world our new baby grandson, Evan Rick Jensen. He is a joy and we feel so lucky to have them live near us!  We love to have Jase and Ellen come over and spend time with us because they always share baby Evan with us. Having them near us makes my life feel extremely abundant. Jase and Ellen will be graduating from Dixie State University this next year (Jase in Bio Chemistry and Ellen in Communications) and then they will move to Maryland for the summer for Jase's internship at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. 

Jared’s life has been socially abundant. Since returning home from his mission, he has lived with a group of young men who have been extremely enjoyable. He was also just hired on as a part time seminary teacher and so he and I have great discussions about our upcoming lessons. This year Jared, Janelle, Jenna, and I all went to Chicago to where Jared served his mission and met many of the people he taught while he was there. It gave me more appreciation of the abundance God has blessed him with through meeting and socializing with so many individuals in Chicago. We loved our experience with all of them!

Janelle’s year was full of abundance. She enjoyed serving on the Seminary Council and as the Alto Section leader in Madrigals. She graduated from Snow Canyon High School and then received a mission call to serve in the Taipei Taiwan mission. Because the borders aren’t open yet, she is being temporarily re-assigned to the Minneapolis Minnesota mission. She started her MTC experience at home and went to the Provo MTC on Dec. 1 to continue her gospel and Chinese language studies. Her abundance will continue to grow as she serves the Lord and meets those on two different continents who are desiring a more abundant life by learning more about Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Jaiden’s life has been both busy and full of abundance. She has served her fellow students this year as a student body officer in charge of activities and also as the Soprano section leader in Madrigals. She continues to dance with Southwest Dance and started taking voice lessons. She worked really hard towards a scholarship competition, and won the title of Distinguished Young Woman of Southern Utah. Six months later she won 1^st runner up at the state competition. Both earned her amazing scholarships, which she is grateful for! She works at Tuacahn and continues to maintain a 4.0 GPA. She was voted Homecoming Queen and had the opportunity to play the lead role of SpongeBob in The SpongeBob Musical at her high school. She also recently won Sterling Scholar for Speech and Drama at her high school. As you can see, she has had quite the abundant year! Click HERE to watch one of her songs in SpongeBob! 

Josh’s abundance has been most notable on the soccer field.  He made the Snow Canyon High School soccer team and has also been playing on two club teams for United. I have enjoyed watching him play and seeing just how quickly he makes decisions that end up benefiting his team in scoring. I’ve seen him score a number of goals, and assist in many more. He is very skilled and practices soccer whenever he gets a free moment. We are very proud of him for his dedication! He was recently named MVP of the year for his club team. He also got two jobs this year – working as a soccer referee and also at a local restaurant. He is extremely smart (like the rest of his siblings) and continues to achieve a 4.0 grade point average.  

Jenna has also had an abundant year. She recently tried out for her school play “Rudolph” and made the part of Rudolph’s girlfriend, Clarice. She is extremely social and loves to constantly hang out with her friends. Unfortunately, she also seems to have an abundant amount of little boy admirers. This is one of those abundant things I’m going to have to keep my eye on. Jenna also won first place in the Geography Challenge for her school (and in District) and won the Reflection’s contest in music at both her school level and the council level. She wrote a song and played it on the ukulele. She also wrote a song for our family LOVE CD this past Spring. She loves to sing and is a member of the Honors’ Choir. Like her siblings, she also has a 4.0 GPA. Jenna’s abundance also lies in her ability to be creative and crafty.  I’m waiting for one of her ideas to make us all financially abundant.  😉 Click HERE to hear Jenna singing a song she performed at our Ward Party. 

Of course, our year has come with challenges too.  Not every day of our year has been full of roses and bliss. However, overall, we have been extremely blessed in abundance. I’m reminded of an old article in the Ensign Magazine that states, “No earthly reward – no other success- could compensate for the bounties the Lord will bestow upon those who love Him, keep his commandments, and endure to the end.” (Identity, Priority, and Blessings, Ensign Aug. 2001, 10).  We have felt this love from Him and seen his gracious abundance through our lives.  Part of that abundance is from knowing you and the love that you have shared with us.  We wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope the Lord will bless you with every bit of abundance you deserve and more.  He certainly has for us.

Merry Christmas!

Rick, Wendy, and Family

P.S. Just for fun, here is a little song (and music video) I wrote this year about abundance!