In the early 1980s, my father, Talmage Christensen, had a home teaching assignment he found challenging. He was assigned to a family in which the father was a member of the Church and the wife and daughter were not. Each time my dad would knock on their door, the man would reject the visit. This went on for some time but Dad wouldn't give up.
He decided to have Mom bake some cinnamon rolls to take over to this family. When Dad showed up at the door with the cinnamon rolls, he was invited into the house for the first time. Each of the next few visits, Dad was invited into their home by the wife and daughter, but the father remained aloof.
Eventually, the father gradually warmed up to joining in on the visits. Dad would tell them of the beauties of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After some time Dad asked if he could have the missionaries come and teach them more of the gospel. They agreed.
The wife and daughter were baptized into the Church. The father became active and was called to be the Sunday School president.
This kind of story is often heard in the Church, but what makes the story meaningful to me is the background. My father was born in Delta, Utah, on July 10, 1919. He grew up on a farm just south of Delta. During his growing up years, he learned about obedience and service from his father, Lorenzo Christensen, who served as the bishop of the South Track Ward for 15 years. My grandfather would always visit any homes that had been missed by the ward teachers (as they were known in those days) and, thus, for 15 years there was 100 percent ward teaching in that ward. Grandfather would often take my dad with him to do ward teaching.
In 1933, Dad turned 14 and was ordained to the office of a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood and, as such, had the responsibility of ward teaching. Thus began his lifelong commitment to serve in that capacity.
On the morning of July 6, 2003, I received a call from my father. In the course of the conversation he humbly made the following comment: "I thought you might be interested to know that I have appointments set up for this afternoon to do my home teaching. As I visit all of my assigned families today I will be completing 70 years of having 100 percent home teaching since I turned 14 years of age."
Dad will be 85 years old this coming July and he is still on track to visit every single one of his families every single month for as long as he has the assignments.
Dean Christensen is a member of the Bloomington 7th Ward, Bloomington Utah Stake; Talmage Christensen is a member of the St. James Ward, St. George Utah Morningside Stake.