(I flinch every single time I type his name for fear that I will misspell it. Kristofferson, Christopherson, Christofersen, Kristopherson, etc.)
1) As a teenager, he performed in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra.
2) After his mother had a difficult bout with cancer, Todd became the official family bread maker at age 13, and filled this role (get it?) until he left for college.
3) Loves dark chocolate and has a weakness for Chips Ahoy cookies.
4) Served a full-time mission in the Argentina North Mission. (1964) Elder Richard G. Scott was his mission president.
5) Worked professionally as an attorney, even though he secretly harbors the desire to be a farmer. He earned his law degree, (Duke University) and worked as a law clerk for Judge Sirica, while he presided over the Watergate trial. He would later speak at Judge Sirica’s funeral.
6) Is a Captain in the US Army Reserves.
7) Saw his future wife (Katherine) at a BYU Alumni football game, waited until the next yearbook came out, figured out her name, and then got a friend to set them up on a blind date. (There was no Facebook stalking back then.)
8) Was the only member of the church in his High School class in New Jersey.
9) “D” stands for David, but he has always gone by Todd.
10) Is a BYU man.
11) He said this: “If you determine to sit still, paralyzed until every question is answered and every whisper of doubt resolved, you will never move because in this life there will always be some issue pending or something yet unexplained.” (I love that quote.) (link)
12) He is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Happy Birthday Elder Christofferson!!
One of my all time favorite conference talks is his April 09 talk on “The Power of Covenants”. I find myself quoting from it frequently. Also loved his Sense of the Sacred BYU Devotional. I always look forward to his talks.
Just call him D. Todd. As in “D. Todd’s in da house”. He’s cool like that. Happy Birthday to him.
Fun things to learn. Re: #1, I looked at his name to see if I could find an easy way to remember how to spell it- now I’ll never be able to spell it wrong….Christ. Offer. Son. Cool, huh?
Which makes it kind of funny that I didn’t ‘get’ #2 until I read it several times (I never get word plays that I read instead of hear b/c I don’t subvocalize when I read.)
Great post. I love the quote in #11. Do you have the reference for that?
It is from a BYU-I devotional. Here is the link: http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2013_9_24_Christofferson.htm
Thank you so much. This hopefully will be a great help for one of my seminary students.
Happy birthday Elder Christofferson! Was the quote in number 11 from a talk? If so, do you have the reference?
I love these birthday shout outs.