HISTORY

A Little History:
Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.

From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.

In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.

Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.

Our Mission Statement:
This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.

We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.

As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Eight days until Canada Day!

We work with a couple in the office from Utah-the Spuhlers.  They have a daughter-in-law from Brazil.  She recently returned to Brazil for about a month to spend time with her Father.  He is very ill, not expected to live much longer.  When she first decided to go her passport had expired, so it took her a while to make all the arrangements to get to Brazil.  She did make it on time, and was able to spend lots of time with her Father.  When she had been there over two weeks, she realized she wanted her Father to get a blessing, so she started looking for the local branch/ward.  She found a ward page on Facebook.  She sent a message to them and explained her situation and asked if someone could come and give her Father a blessing.  Within five minutes, someone had responded.  It was the first counselor, and he told her he would come over right after work.  He did come, driving all the way across the city.  He stopped at home, and changed into his suit.  He sat down with her father, and asked him what he wanted to know.  He told him he would answer any questions he had.  They talked for a long time. This man was able to talk to him not as a young elder might have been able to.  Finally he gave this man, who a few hours before had been a stranger, a blessing.  It was a very sweet blessing.  The man's wife was weeping so much that she had to leave the room.  As he left, he told him he would be back.

Sister Spuhler's daughter found the location of the ward and the following Sunday went to church.  She was warmly greeted by the members, who knew of her situation, not realizing how much she had missed her own ward family.

We often talk about being a world wide church.  No matter where we go we will hear the same lessons, go through the same process for meetings and ordinances.  It is all familiar to us.  But, we also have perhaps an even greater blessing to be surrounded by disciples of Jesus Christ, who are often ready and willing to extend love, comfort and support.  We are so blessed to be part of this world wide group of caring, loving individuals, who genuinely care about their brothers and sisters.

Sunday afternoon we taught a young woman from Japan, and another young woman from Korea.  Following this, we went to teach a man, Prince, from Ghana.  He came here via Ohio, where he earned a Master's in Public Health.  He is now getting his PhD,at UBC and hopes to work for the United Nations to help others countries with food/health related issues.  His fiancee is in Sandusky.  David mentioned that that's where that movie with Chris Farley was based.  It  didn't appear that the elders of the investigator knew about Tommy Boy.  Anyway, it was an inspiring lesson, and he sincerely wants to find truth.  I felt his sincerity.  However, it is sometimes so difficult to make the changes that truth requires in our lives.  I hope he has the strength to make those changes.  He is a really, really nice guy.  The missionaries made a follow up appointment.  We are praying for him.

Warm weather in British Columbia.  They need some rain.  Lawns are turning brown.  The strawberries came on early, and didn't last too long. The fresh fruit here is so delicious.  One other thing--they don't do pennies in BC.  If you have credit or debit charges, they do pennies, but you don't get them in change.  They just round up or down.  Leslie, Lola and Mila come tomorrow.  Alex  comes the next day.  We are going to the island on Friday.  This is transfer week.  Lots of changes as your former missionaries know--sadness seeing missionaries go home, but lots of excitement as the new missionaries arrive.  Life is good.  The church is true.  Jesus Christ has all the answers.

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