Beloved Missionaries,

We think of you often and pray for you always. When I think of you tears well
into my eyes for the blessing and privilege we had to know you. Only because of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ have we these eternal friendships. You were and are
great examples to us.


Since returning from our temple mission to Sweden we have been extremely busy
visiting family across the nation and attending weddings, blessings, etc. We
are blessed to have the Gospel in their lives because they are very good
people and parents and as they live the principles they are happily married
couples. We still have a couple who are not active and we pray for them always
as well.

Every day we have each other and our good health we  thank our Heavenly Father.
We only pray that we can have the strength to serve and be independent. My
husband is still handsome and patient and stable and plays a mean game of golf!
 I understand. We have been working on our histories and photos and it is a huge
task. We recommend you keep yours up as you go.

Another think we recommend is a book called "Master" by Toni Robinson. It is
fiction but about the Saviour when He was growing up , in the eyes of a young
friend and contains  details of the life at that time, the socio-economic, the
Pharisees, Sadducee's, and then the ministry after He reaches thirty-one. It
helped me feel closer to the Saviour and that my main goal these days.

Know we love you so much and before our last mission I was working to find you
all. I felt it was a daunting task but we do love you,each one, and care about
you and your happiness, your children, and want you to know how important it is
to your future and eternal happiness to keep close to the Lord.  Your happiness
depends  a great deal on the well-being of your children and it is imperative
to  strengthen their reliance on prayers and our Father-in-Heaven. I am amazed
at the strength and goodness of our grandchildren who are active in the face
of temptations these days.

Well, that's the message we want to convey to you. We love you, each  one of you,
and pray that you will keep in touch with each other, reach out to those of you
who need help. It is funny to me that even though my mind is slowing down I
still remember my missionaries, faces and names. In the meantime, our phone
number is 801-992-3551. We would  be happy to hear from you anytime and see you
when we are home. You have blessed our lives more than we can tell you. And when
I finish my history and start my genealogy I will return to trying to find
everyone. In the meantime, may the Lord bless you.

Love always, the Pres. and Sister Ensign

My Testimony of Temple work

Dale and I just returned from a temple mission to Sweden. These are my thoughts upon our return:

Each mission in which we have served has brought us joy, eternal relationships as well as real challenges.  During difficult times we have learned to rely on the Lord and  He has lifted, guided and comforted.  The greatest peace we have ever known was during our recent temple assignment as we went from the cold and darkness of the world into the light, warmth, peace and beauty of the temple. As we followed our daily schedule, dressed in white, speaking reverently and marveling at the teachings, ordinances and their beautiful promise we felt the love that inspired them,  experienced a bit of Heaven.  Concerns of the world with its problems, suffering, wars, tyranny and injustices were swallowed up in the knowledge that the justice, love and mercy of our Father-in Heaven will prevail.

 

I appreciate these messages from the dedication prayer in Doctrine and Covenants 109:13,16, and 22: "And that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of the Lord’s house may feel Thy power and feel constrained to acknowledge that Thou has sanctified it, and that it is Thy house, a place of holiness. And that this house may be a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of glory and of God, even Thy house. And we ask Thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that Thy name may be upon them, and Thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them."

One sacred privilege I had was to gather the names for the prayer list to be put upon the altar.  As I carried them in my hand I thought of those who had great needs and I appreciated those who loved and cared about them enough to submit their names. It was a very powerful experience for me. I often thought of the poem by President Kimball:
"Enter this door as if the floor within were paved with gold.
And eve wall of jewels of wealth untold.;
As if a choir in robes of fire were singing here
Nor shout, nor rush, but hush, for God is here."

There is a closeness that comes from working together in the temple with other couples. We were a family. We all had some concerns about our families back home and when good news would arrive we would rejoice together and if sad news, weep together. Especially the women became very close. The relationships between man and wife are also enhanced through sharing missions   Dale has never looked so handsome to me, dressed in white, as shiftleader and conducting sessions and greeting people with his warm, wonderful smile. We laughed a lot, walked in the beautiful woods nearby each morming and did sight-seeing in his beloved Sweden. We have always been on  missions where temperatures were cold and my favorite thing has been to jump into bed with our hot-water bottles and read the scriptures.  Great memories.

We met and fell in love with people not only from Scandinavia but also from Latvia, Lithuania, Ghana, Russia and other places. To me they were angels, so humble, pure and radiating the Spirit. I miss them and look forward to seeing them again someday. We became close to three women who were professional  world-tour golfers who traveled constantly yet attend  the temple wherever they are. They also sponsor a humanitarian project, .-Eyes fo  We had a group of youth come from Lithuania with their seminary teacher who was also a Relief Society president. Actually they lived closer to the Finnish temple but because the air fare and housing was less expensive in Sweden, they came each summer to the Stockholm temple.   During each year they would forgo Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, even movies and ice cream cones and ask for equivilent money to go into their temple trip fund. They were very well prepared spiritually and did as many as 100 baptisms per person each day. When I asked them what they had for breakfast, they said, "pancakes’‘, for lunch, "pancakes", for dinner, "pancakes.". They gathered berries from the woods each day to garnish their humble meal. A few of us had the privilege of taking them to dinner. What a great example of the faith and sacrifice of youth.

I am grateful for the power of prayer. At age seventy -seven, I continually lose and forget things which compels me to fall on my knees ask for help and often, within a matter of seconds, I find the thing I have been searching for. What a blessing to be able to go to our Father- in -Heaven and pour out our hearts to Him and receive answers to our prayers.

 

I am grateful for the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days, for the faith, suffering and courage of Joseph and Emma Smith in bringing forth the translation of the Book of Mormon.  As I read it, I know that at age 23, Joseph Smith could not have written it, or any man of any age, for that matter, and that the accounts of the Nephites, Lamanites and Jaredites are, in fact, true.  I know that God lives and am grateful for the scriptures. They are my GPS.  If I read the directions they give and listen and follow the Spirit, I will reach my destination- Eternal life. Even if I get lost and make a wrong turn I can hear a "recalculating" get back on the path- if I study, listen and obey the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

 

With each passing year I become more grateful for the blessings of the Gospel in my life and the lives of our children and for my knowledge of our Savior, Jesus the Christ, His example, teachings and the love He proved through His atoning Sacrifice. I am grateful for repentance and for the promise that all shall be resurrected.  I will close with this oft-quoted statement by Lucy Mack Smith, who suffered the loss of her two sons in the building of the Kingdom:  "We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction that we may all sit down in Heaven together."

This is my prayer and with I send my deepest love,

 

Elaine Woodbury Ensign

Letter from the Ensign's

Beloved Missionaries,




Last week I saw some frog stamps here in Sweden and bought them --just thinking of you and future times together. You are never far from our thoughts. The new missionaries come to the temple here in Sweden their first day and it is great to see them in their new suits and dresses ready to go out and serve. They have pretty good success for Europe, the people seem to be disenchanted with their State government Religion and although they believe in God they are not too interested in organized religion. Of course the members here are valiant and dear.



We return the end of March and as with other missions it will be hard to say goodbye. You can look forward to serving a couples mission or several of them. They are the greatest! Never to equal the best experience in the Connecticut mission with you but nevertheless they have really enriched our lives and we are much closer than ever before. Of course there are bad days but that is part of life, right?



We know some of you have challenges of sorts, health, childrens health, ect. We don't know how this economy has effected you but pray things will go well for you..We would love to hear from you if you ever have a minute to email us and we want to know when and if we need to pray for you or yours, put them on the prayer list.



We are getting more wrinkles and more aches and pains but I tell you that it is a good life with the Gospel in our lives. Remember that we love you and more importantly that the Lord is mindful of you. Hang in there and you will be alright. Remember that we have been promised that regardless of troubled times if we are keeping the commandments and serving well we will be alright. Don't you LOVE the new mission of the Church, to serve the needy?



Sister E. and the Pres.

Holiday Greetings from the Ensign's

Dear Missionaries:

We are sending you all our Holiday Greetings from the land of our forefathers here in Sweden where we are serving a full time mission in the Stockholm Sweden temple, and we are loving this service. Sweden is where Sister Ensigns Capson family came from and where the missionaries held the first meeting in Sweden in their barn in 1852. That was in southern Sweden and we have enjoyed visiting the homes and special places of interest where the Church received its first roots in this beautiful country. My grandfather and grandmother on my mothers side came from a small village [Julita] in central Sweden in 1879 where they were baptized and immigrated to Richmond Utah. Wonderful stories of lives filled with the Gospel for which we are so very grateful. Now we look forward to spending a Christmastime here in fond remembrance of three I spent here over 60 years ago as a young missionary. But the fondest memories of Christmases spent was in the Hartford Mission with you! So often we remenince those never to be forgotten times with new found loved ones with whom we shared so many personal experiences. You were the faithful ones then and when we have heard from you we know you are the faithful fathers and mothers of a new and rising generation. Bless you for all your goodness.

We are beginning to celebrate this holiday time with special concerts and programs furnished by the Lutheran church and civic associations. Its about the only time the Swedes enter one of their churches during the year and we noted with the special advent celebration, it was only the elderly that bothered coming to the tradtional service. There will be one other time they will come attended by a hearse, flowers and pealing bells they most likely will not remember Anyway there is a special holiday spirit present and the children are looking forward to the coming of the Jul Tompten, the Christmas elve, to bring them gifts. Christmas eve is the time of the main celebration when gifts are opened. Early the next morning some folks will attend the early Christmas church service. We will enjoy our own Church services and then will leave on Christmas day for Barcelona for a few days of warmth. Most importantly we are so very grateful for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for his redeeming sacrifice for us. Our testimonies of his life and existence have never been stronger. We also seem to have more appreciation of Joseph Smith and for his amazing contributions in restoring the Gospel and the true Church to the earth during his short lifetime. We are grateful for good health and for a blessed family who have been so supporting of us. We pray the blessings of the Lord upon you and yours during this special time of celebration and for the coming New Year. May you enjoy the peace and goodness that Christ brings and which you so deserve, is our prayer.
 
Love to you each one,
The Ensign's

HELLO FROM SWEDEN!

Beloved Missionaries from the Hartford, Conn. Mission.,

HELLO FROM SWEDEN!

We are now living in the country where my husband served his mission 62 years ago. It has always been his dream to return here to live. We are serving in the Swedish Temple and it is just wonderful to be in the Lord's house and serve with such spiritual people.We are tired at the end of an eight-hour day but live close by so we don't have to commute.

We were disappointed to be away when the reunion was planned and had hoped that it would go forward but we understand that it was postponed. We are sad that some had made plans and we missed you and hope everyone received the word.

We think of you often and today when we greeted the missionaries here we remembered our treasured days with you. We frequently tell others of our great experiences in Hartford, of the miracles, the tears and the laughter.

I was thinking of you when our temple president told us that the "Tree of life" is to be found in temple work, that that is indeed the door to Heavenly blessings. It makes sense to me. And that the three missions of the Church, namely: perfecting the saints, missionary work and redeeming the dead are all accomplished in the temple.

So I recommend in your futures you consider, along with missions, to be ordinance workers. As one friend in the temple in Bountiful said, "It's the best kept secret in the church".We will be here a year or a year and a half depending on our health and family considerations.

It has been interesting to me to learn how many of you have had autistic children. We have a grandson who is now sixteen and austistic. Of course they are celestial people and choice spirits but represent alot of prayer and sometimes expense. Also there are those of you who have handicapped children who are also celestial. Some have even lost children.Would you be interested in communicating with one another? To share successes and challenges and ideas? These children have been given to very choice parents who bless their lives.

Our love goes out to each one of you and how we are blessed to have you as our other family. We have never prayed, laughed or cried as much as we did on our mission with you. As we read your names and look at your faces I wish we could tell you each one that we still remember and love you and pray for you. I hope that in the next world we can mingle one with another.

Hosting, China and The Isle of Man were unusual in their own way. Sweden is a modern city, very clean. So there isn't anything much to tell you, nothing funny. Lots of water and islands and Ikea, blonde hair, red houses with white trim, funny language and lots of Swedes. The Gospel is true here as well as there and testimony meeting was very spiritual today. What a marvelous thing this Gospel is in our lives. It is and will be our life-line in days to come. Hold fast to it's principles, be patient with your children and with yourselves and know you are dearly loved

Love always, The Pres. and Sister Ensign

Reunion Update

With President and Sister Ensign being gone on a Mission to Sweden we have postponed/cancelled the Reunion in June. We are sorry for the sporatic information and how late this official word is.

We are also looking for feedback on whether or not we should plan a reunion while they are gone. Please voice your opinions. We have a group set up on Facebook specifically for the Ensign's. There we have a discussion question specifically for this. Please let us know how you feel.

Twitter

In an effort to get word out to everyone possible. We have set up an account at Twitter for the Ensign's. You can follow them at http://twitter.com/EnsignCHM.