I wrote an email (Friday...sorry I'm a slacker) to everyone to ask them to write some nice things and memories they have of mom. There aren't that many responses yet because I didn't give a lot of time, but these are a couple responses. I'll add more as they come in!
"A time I can always remember Fran dragging Grandpa Hal along to play a few games when we came over for a dinner, and the funniest thing was watching grandpa try and play the card game PIT when you want to collect like 7 of the same card and you are trading with others kinda like the stock market to try and get these same 7 cards. Well after one game and grandpa had been hording all the cards that Fran needed and she just said, "Grandpa, you need to get the same cards not all different cards" in Grandma Fran's game-face tone if you have ever played games with her you know this voice. Anyways we were all thinking the same thing and it was just Grandma Fran who was the one who stated it. I thought that was a very funny experience and I enjoyed those opportunities to games with Grandma and Grandpa. Love you both and Happy Mother's Day Grandma Fran! We miss you both!
Love Casey and Kimber"
"Fran is so much fun! We love her energetic spirit and kind heart. We have great memories of playing game after game, and enjoying the best soup around at her home last Christmas. She is strong, determined, loving, and a wonderful example of to all of us. Love her tons. Happy Mother's Day!"
Love, Cody and Camille
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day Mom!
"Mother I love you, Mother I do. Father in Heaven has sent me to you. When I am near you, I love to hear you, singing so softly that you love me too. Mother I love you, I love you I do!"
(We used to sing that song (often) when we would get in trouble and hope it would soften her heart...It generally worked! She really is a softy!)
As the person in charge of the blog, I am taking the
opportunity to write a few things I remember and cherish about my mother!
The knowledge of
working hard for a testimony and fulfilling callings: I was thinking about
this and have thought of the things that make her unique and my mom. She is a strong person who knows what is
right. I remember when I was wondering whether
the church was true or not and I asked her to just tell me. She said, “I can’t know it for you, that’s
something you’re going to have to find out on your own.” I was frustrated. I
wanted to know, but I didn’t know how to know and I didn’t know how to do the “work”
to know. But I remember praying about it
so many times and did what my mom told me to do. Years later, I could (and still can) firmly
tell you that because I wasn’t given the “easy” way, I now know it’s true. Because my mom knew it was true, she was an
example to me of what a believer does.
She never watched bad movies. She
always did her visiting teaching. I remember
one time jumping on the trampoline at Rita Cox’s house while mom and Rita went and
did their visiting teaching. (I was the
youngest and smallest of course, and almost got trampled by the big kids as
they jumped and broke the egg).
The value of serving
others: I remember, probably my
fondest memories of growing up were the 5 pointed star, life saver books, one
big candy cane apple turnover and any other creative things we could think of
that went with the 12 days of Christmas.
Mom would be the driver of course and turn off the lights, us kids would
run like lightening after we had snuck up, rang the doorbell and left another
secret santa gift on the door. I have wanted
that tradition to continue on in my family.
The love of learning
and life: I remember sitting for long hours in the hallway reading
encyclopedia books with mom. She was
always very inquisitive and wanted to learn about things; how to get rid of
fungus, what planet was closest to Earth (okay that was and still is me),
things about snakes, having every kind of animal possible (hamsters, hermit crabs,
geckos, iguanas, tarantulas, snakes (“Don’t drop my snake!” Mom screamed after
it bit me on the nose!), even a scorpion…what the heck was she thinking? No
cats though, never cats…that I’m okay with!
It is because of her love of all life that I love life so much, animals,
plants, music, nature etc. I have
learned so much from her.
How to study my scriptures:
It is a good woman who will wake up early and read her scriptures. If you know my mom, then you know she has her
little space/place that is her very own for studying scriptures. I often wonder
how I turned out like her and I guess it’s because you do what you see. I have become a mini her in many ways, it’s
kind of scary and good in other ways. I
get up and read my scriptures, it fills me up and I have learned that from
her. Watching T.V. doesn’t fill you
up. Being in tune with the Spirit, doing
what is right and giving certain amounts of time to things that invite the
Spirit, that is what fills you up.
The value of Hard
work: We had a pool growing up. It
was such a blessing and mom would go out and faithfully clean it. She taught me hard work, even when I didn’t
want to learn. Now I tell her thank you
soooo much for teaching me how to clean. It has been a huge blessing to me. I
had thought many times that she was “tough love” but the older I get, the more I
realize that “tough love” means you love someone so much that you don’t want it
to be so easy for them, that when they come up against something difficult that
they won’t know how to deal with it.
The Value of
patience: I can remember so many
times when I didn’t want to do the dishes or finish something I had started,
that mom would walk me through it. It
happened on occasion when I was just spent, that she would finish a task for
me. It was then that I really knew that she loved me, because she taught me to
work, but also taught me that there is only so much you can do in a
situation. She helped me and taught me
patience. Often I am impatient and I think of her and how forgivingly patient
she was with me. This gives me more
incentive to be patient with others.
The value of
forgiveness: I remember when we
lived in our really nice house in Palmdale that there was a room we weren’t
really “allowed” in unsupervised…the following story will tell you why! We were home alone. The dog had this green bat (too tempting for
children!) and a hamburger (with a ketchup line painted on it). Well, we got to playing a mean round of baseball
in the forbidden room and before we knew it, there were “ketchup” paint marks
all over the white walls! We were frantic.
We got out fingernail polish remover, white out, Elmer’s glue (ps it dries
clear) and any other white “paint” substance we could think of….needless say,
it didn’t work out so well, so we practiced our parts of “Mother I love you” so
that when she came home we could beg for forgiveness in this song. It worked but we still got in trouble, but
probably less because the song softened the blow.
The value of health: When we were growing up, we weren’t allowed
to drink soda, except for special occasions. I thought that was the meanest thing
a parent could do to their kids. So of
course, ask any of my siblings what the smell of Dr. Pepper in a paper Burger
King cup makes us remember, and we’ll tell you, “Really hot summer days in
Blythe, barbed wire fence, beer cans and a hard earned quarter (or however much
it cost)” And then there were the times
we would hoard the sodas from the 4th of July parties at Tamarisc
Apartments when they would have trash cans full of soda and ice….it was like we
had been let loose in a chocolate factory! (the hoarders in us took complete
control) And the other times when we were kids in Ogden and we would get our
biannual soda and refill the can with water until it had holes in it and walk
up and the down the block showing the other kids how cool we were that we had
soda pop! Well, I, to this day am so grateful
that I am not addicted to soda pop. I’m glad that the fizzing is something I only
partake of on special occasions and that I am healthier because of it (and have
some pretty stupid and funny stories to tell because of it).
When I was on my mission, I got a letter that said that my
mom had turned vegetarian! I was in shock
and totally not going to stand for that!
That’s just ridiculous! I told my companion right then and there that I would
for sure be having a roastbeef dinner, mashed potatoes and gravy etc dinner
when I got home. That’s what I
thought!!! Well, it didn’t turn out that way, but it didn’t turn out badly
either! We had always grown up with a salad for dinner each night (mostly) and
so that was normal, but my mom has since become an amazing (even more amazing
than she was before) cocinera (cook).
She has rubbed off on me and here I am making vegetable soups and
putting them in jars, salads for my daily lunch etc. I am blessed because of her knowledge and awareness
of what is important. This has been a
great blessing for me in my life as I have learned about health.
The Value of exercise: I remember as a small kid seeing my mom work
out in the morning. I was a real mama’s girl then. I would wake up early to do work outs with
her when I was about 4 or 5. She would
stretch and do aerobics so I would stretch and do aerobics! She would walk every day and still runs every
day. Looking back I am amazed at how
often she did those things and had no husband to support her doing them. She did them because she knew it would help her
more than anything to care for her body and love herself.
The value of comfort:
It has been on two cold occasions that I have nuzzled my teary eyes into my mom’s
faux fur coat (not sure if her coat is faux now, but it was when I was 14ish). It was when we got in a car wreck and the guy
just kept coming and slammed right into us.
I looked out the back passenger side as mom screamed, “Buddy are you
going to stop? Buddy. Buddy.” and then he slammed into us. He went through the intersection and the
glass shattered everywhere. We were all
okay, but it was a cold winter day in the town of Tehachapi and we were on our
way home from church I believe. I was
crying and nuzzled my face into the comforting warm coat of my mom as I hugged
her. She said everything would be
alright.
Then many years later, I was not able to drive anymore as
the tears and emotion had overcome my composer.
Hal and mom were on their way home
from the MTC where they worked in a branch presidency and I had just had my
broken heart torn into more shattered shards than I knew what to do with. There they stopped on a cold road and hugged
me as I cried and they said, “It will all be okay.” I did believe them. I knew I would be okay. I
have been okay, and two years later, I’m growing again and believe it will be
okay as long as you do what you know is right.
I have learned from my mother, many, many things. I have
learned how to behave (though I don’t always do what I’ve been taught! “Some
people’s children.” Mom likes to say), to be bold, to be strong, to look at
things from a different angle, how to forgive, how to let go, how to let hard
times make you stronger. I haven’t seen all the things my mom has been through.
I’ve heard many stories about them, but I have seen how she comes out on top
even when it seems that there is nothing to look forward to. She is my beacon. She has come through so much and will go
through so much. She asks the Lord to make her equal to the task as she trusts
that what she can’t do, He can. She was
so devoted to learning Spanish. I wish all my students were as persistent and
consistent as she has been. It is a hard thing to learn a language, but I’m
sure I will be able to speak to her in Spanish fluidly in a few months after
their mission.
She has flaws and she has good things about her, but I
wouldn’t take her any other way. I know
that the Lord set me up to be in this family, with these circumstances, and this
mom so that I could become who I wanted to be in the end. I have been blessed
beyond measure and treasure the memories I do have, even the painful ones,
because they have made me who I am and sometimes, the tougher things are, the
more you have to fight for what you know you want and I know what I want,
because my mom taught me what was right…I do not doubt, because my mother knows
it! Happy Mother’s Day mom! I hope you’re
happy and tears of joy are in your eyes and you know how valued you are. Thanks for taking such good care of me and
for loving me even when it’s been hard! I love you and wish you the best mother’s
day ever! Enjoy your memories! You’re making
more right now!!!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
April 29, 2012
This week has been a “stay home
week”. I have been coughing and trying
to get rid of the infection in the lungs.
In addition I have had a head cold so it really hasn’t been fun. We missed going to the temple, which was all
right because they only had one large day, Friday. We stayed home Sunday because it was a
coordinated Stake Conferences for all of the Stakes in Ecuador. The Sunday morning session they had a special
broadcast from SLC, which went to all of the Stakes in Ecuador. Elder Christofferson spoke along with the
Area Presidency and a couple of the General Board Women. The saints enjoyed it. I don’t feel too badly about missing it
because they didn’t have the English translation set up.
Fran
has been the real trooper during this week.
She has been the nurse, Doctor, cook, etc. She has been a real asset during this
discouraging period. We are going to try
and get back to work on Tuesday. We are
in charge of the baptistery and on Tues.
We usually don’t have a lot of people.
We will arrange to work only half of a shift until we are back in full
swing.
We
are grateful for the e-mail, calls, Skype, and other communications. What a wonderful world we live in. Conrad has been helping us with some computer
problems we have been having. Fran’s
hard drive was all filled up. It appears
all of the e-mails we had ever received or sent just keep storing on the hard
drive. Conrad walked us through some
technical steps and now the computer is deleting over 2000 messages. We hope this will clear some space.
Spanish
is moving along slowly. I think the
Spanish we are learning is going to be temple Spanish, which doesn’t include a
lot of common everyday conversation. We have to learn this on our own, which
would be all right if we had enough time.
Working 5 days a week, going to Church on Sunday and one day to take
care of our washing, ironing, etc. makes for a very busy week.
I
am sure this next week is going to be more productive.
We love you,
Grandma/Grandpa, Dad/Mom
Saturday, April 21, 2012
April 21, 2012
Dear family, 4/21/2012
Another week has passed. We have now been in the field one month. In one way it seems like a year and in
another, like a week. We are working on
the veil trying to learn in Spanish. It
is difficult because we don’t know what the words mean so we are memorizing
words only. Fran is doing real well; I
am trying to learn the whole thing because I will eventually have to work on
both sides.
This
has been a rough week for me since Friday.
I have caught some kind of viral infection in my lungs and have been
laid up. It has been hard breathing and
I have been coughing a lot. I had my
first experience with typical Latin medicine.
One of Temple workers from Peru is a retired Doctor. He practiced medicine in Peru for 40 years.
He specialized in Alternative Medicine.
He treated me using German acupuncture.
He had a small vial of a clear medicine, which is produced in Germany
and with a small needle inserted small drops just under the skin all along the backbone,
neck, chest, and forehead. He wrote out
a prescription, which was relatively cheap.
I have been sleeping and resting for the last 3 days and I am getting
better. I not sure what helped most, the
Priesthood administration or the Doctor.
Fran has enjoyed the break and has given me the best TLC possible. I have finally realized added exercise isn’t
a cure for all sickness.
The
temple, like most temples during the weekend (Friday and Saturday), is the
busiest. The last two Saturdays have been record breaking. We had 12 buses several had traveled 9 hrs.
Their were 400 plus youth—we only allow 5 names and sometimes 5 names or one
sheet per two patrons (2 names for one and 3 names for the other). Of course, this weekend I was in bed
recuperating…so we part of the action.
We
enjoy the comforts of our little apartment and the friendship of the other
workers. They have been very concerned
about Hermano Christensen. We try to
communicate with each family on different weeks using Skype and the Telephone. We appreciate your prayers and our prayer is
that your prayers will be answered on our behalf.
We
love you all,
Dad and Fran
ASA Grandpa and Grandma
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Our calling
We just got called to be in charge of the baptistry. We are so excited. We only know a few phrases like:
- "Bienvenidos"(welcome)
- "Gracias por venir" (Thanks for coming)
- "Bautismos" (baptisms)
and a few other things, but we are learning! Please pray for us! We will update and add more later!!!! Love you all!
March 29, 2012
Dear Family and Friends,
We have been in Ecuador just over a week, just under two, and have comfortably settled into our lovely temple apartment. It has a lovely kitchen/ dining room combination with all of the amenities of home. The only thing we don’t have, that we had at home, is a dishwasher. The apartment is clean and recently painted. We have two air conditioners, one in the living room/kitchen and one in the bedroom. The bed is queen sized and comfortable. We have no bugs, ants, or little animals crawling around in the house. There is a gecko running around the walls in the outside corridor. (It is small and cute Fran says) and we only see it in the evening.
The attached picture shows the temple and some of the missionary couples we are working with. The other picture is with President and Sister Groberg. The picture was taken on a Sunday afternoon after a meeting in the temple for the missionary couples. The full time missionaries stabilize the temple work. We have 6 couple missionaries, one sister missionary and President and Sister Groberg. Brother (and Sister) Brimhall serve as a Counselor along with a local brother, Brother and Sister Bentencourt. We work Tuesday through Saturday. We have either the morning or the afternoon shift. The morning shift starts at 7:00 am and the afternoon shift starts at 5:00 pm. Evidently, the time between the two shifts makes it possible to wash the clothes and get ready, plus the patrons won’t show up. The biggest challenge the temple has now is the over crowding of the baptistery on Friday nights and Saturdays. The young people are very interested in coming to the temple and the Temple’s physical conditions will only take care of so many. Last Saturday it reached the point where they only allowed the last groups to be either confirmed or baptized.
We are suffering from culture shock as much as we are with the language difficulty. Everyone kisses everyone and shakes hands. MOST OF ALL, this is really a Spanish-speaking temple. There are very few English speakers in the whole country. Fortunately for us we have two couples that speak English and interpret for us. They speak very fast…but want so much to help us understand and speak their language. I helped in confirmations the other day and they spoke faster than any auctioneer I have ever heard in the USA. There was one blur of a sentence followed by another.
Looking at the schedule for the next 18 months the ideal time for any who would like to visit are the weeks we have off when the temple is under going maintenance. We are off Aug. 28, 2012 through Sept 8, 2012; Feb 28, 2013 through March 10, 2013; and August 29, 2013 through Sept 10, 2013. We are scheduled to be released sometime in Sept. There are many wonderful things to see in Ecuador and possibly more things to see in Peru, time permitting.
We are doing fine considering our limited ability to communicate effectively. We appreciate your prayers and enjoy reading your letters. The most effective time for us to Skype will be Sunday afternoons and Mondays. We have tried skyping most of the immediate family and made contact with most. Keep your computers on these two days and be prepared. In event of emergencies any time is good. Our Am schedule is from 6:00 am to 2:00pm and 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm (which is late!)
Hal and Fran
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