Merry Christmas 2023!!

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 Seminary 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 a cute girlfriend, and so 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, we did the first leg of a Church History Tour with Josh's 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