Food Fun Family

 (written by Elder Jerman)

Hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving weekend together! We sure did.  Despite being busy on our mission, we were able to enjoy last Thursday with Jay, Tay and their girls! 

Each day at the Employment Office we have a video conference with regional employment coordinators, or our supervisors, or a special guest with training ideas. This Tuesday, they invited our son Jason to explain what the International Rescue Committee does (who he works for in Sacramento), and possible things we could do to help our participants find employment. That night we fed the elders here in Antioch and had a really good visit with them. In fact, we liked it so much we repeated our meal the next night and fed the other set of Elders in Brentwood. It’s really fun to visit and talk and get to know the young missionaries. We especially thought it would be fun to share some meals with somebody just before Thanksgiving.

Wednesday night we prepared some traditional dishes for our family up in Folsom.  We woke up early Thursday morning, packed the car and drove up to spend Thanksgiving Day with Jay, Tay, Haven and Tillie. First we took a drive up to the mountains (Donner's Pass) to hunt for Christmas trees! We had a picnic in the car while it sprinkled. Then we got out to search through the sweet smelling pine needles and wet moss for just the right tree. Not too far away, we found a couple of really cute Christmas trees, cut them down and got them back to the car, then went on a little hike before we heading home.  We also stopped at Donner's Lake to enjoy it's beauty.  We loved talking as a family with our missionary, Amy, who serves in the California Ventura Mission and then a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  

Saturday we enjoyed a session at the Oakland Temple. Then we walked around and saw the Christmas decorations, lights and trees in the Visitor Center, then we got to go next-door to the church house and celebrate the lighting of Temple Hill with a Christmas concert to boot. We’re feeling pretty fortunate to have so many blessings of good friends and family to start off the holidays. 

Hope each of you find a reason to Thank the Lord and to Let God Prevail in your lives!

Love, 

The Jermans 

Our 1st month down!

 Beautiful bike rides

Wow, time flies when you are having fun!  We can’t believe we’ve already served for more than a month.  The weather is lovely and we enjoy our time in the  employment center trying to keep up with things.  We (me, Kaleen) learned 2  ways to accidentally set off the security alarm in our building on 2 separate days.    Then we have amazing weekends to enjoy our time here.  

     We got to go to the Temple Visitor Center Monday evening to meet downstairs with all the other senior couple in our mission for a pot luck dinner.  It was so nice to get to meet others and see the Center and Family Search Library.  

     I celebrated my birthday receiving pictures of Kayleigh's new baby born the night before my birthday.  What a great gift!  Little Dottie Lou Larsen came in at 9 lbs. 2 oz.  She is named after Roger's mom, Granny, Dorothy Louise. 

     Wednesday night we got to help the young missionaries put on a Stake Youth Missionary Night.  Fun to mingle with the missionaries as we helped the kids do lots of missionary type activites.  We also participated in a Zoom meeting with many of the stake presidents, bishops, Relief Society presidents and Elder Quorums presidents throughout our mission area.  We are hoping to help many remember the services we offer.  

     Then we skipped town and flew home Thursday evening so we could meet and hold our new grandbaby, Dottie, who is only a few days old. So sweet! 

It was also very fun to get to spend 2 days with our adorable Kora.  She is 2 years old and treats Dottie with love and care.  She likes to help feed and burp her baby sister.  After spending all day at our house, we took her home and she held her little sister Dottie and kept saying, "I came home!"  

We had the bonus opportunity to go through the Orem Temple Open House.  It's so gorgeous!  Everyone that can go should be sure to visit and see how beautiful it is.  

We are now back to our peaceful apartment where we enjoy having our little gas fire on all evening as we enjoy some down time before heading into our new week.  

Have a great week everyone and "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!"  We have so much to be grateful for.

Love Elder and Sister Jerman

Beautiful Oakland Temple

 

Birthday Dinner at the Spaghetti Factory

Orem Temple Open House

PapaJ with Dottie and Kora

Mama J with baby Dottie

Fun time playing in the leaves with Kora

Getting into the Swing

 It feels good to finally be getting somewhat used to a routine. Tasks are a little less daunting. We can find our way to the office without Google maps, it only takes 4 or 5 times instead of 7 or 8 to hit the right button on the computer, and we have figured out where to shop for the best gas and food prices, so we feel like we’re more at home. We’ve been figuring out things through constant help from the Lord, and also a former employment center manager, who occasionally drops in and explains things in a way we can understand them.

It definitely has gotten busier these past days, we are servicing more job seekers, than last week. In fact, Wednesday was so busy right after we opened up we helped several people in the morning and then worked right through lunch, not stopping for a break until almost closing time. 

We were able to attend a Oakland Temple Thursday, it is such an amazing Temple because It sits on top of Temple Hill with a beautiful view of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area. Of course it has gorgeous, palm trees, flowers, reflecting, pools and fountains and they are just putting up Christmas lights to get ready for the busy Christmas season with lots of activities in the visitor center and adjacent buildings. 

The next morning, we got to serve at the food bank distribution. It’s amazing how much food they give out to about 20 distributors and it feels good to be able to help a little bit. That afternoon we enjoy the drive down to Carmel by the sea. It is a very pretty little resort town with charming old fashion, shops, and quaint little hobbit like homes that cost about 2 billion dollars each. But it was a beautiful day to spend at this White Sandy Beach with Jason, Taya, Haven and Tillie. 

The next day we were able to be together for a Veterans Day celebration.  We also went out to eat before they had to go home. It was a great weekend to spend together.

I felt the spirit this past week as I helped an unemployed member who had recently lost his wife and been diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. We said a quick prayer before discussing his needs and we both knew that the Lord is aware and watches over His children, if we will humble ourselves and seek His guidance in our needful times!

Love, 

Elder and Sister Jerman

Pictures at the Oakland Temple 

and Carmel 

and Carmel by the Sea

Slick as a Whistle!?!

We dressed up like senior missionaries for Halloween 

Slick as a Whistle!?!  No, that is a joke!  We are deer in the headlights! 

     After trying to cram in all sorts of information during our week of training, we showed up Monday morning at the Employment Center and hardly knew where to begin. We needed to find passwords for all the different programs we were to have up and going. I’m still not sure what all the programs are about so now I have sticky notes everywhere!   Then we joined a zoom meeting, then met with some folks who walked in needing help. When I tried to listen to the phone messages, I could not for the life of me write down a 10 digit California phone number!  People just rattled off their phone numbers and because they weren't 801 area codes, it was just too many numbers flying by in a blur - oh my! We got through our time there but we are still deer in the headlights.  

      We have lots of different keys to keep track of every time we go out a door.  We learned  to not close the walk-in closet door (to keep the light from someone sleeping) as it locks and you have to knock for help to get out!

      Thursday we were able to attend Zone Conference.  So great to hear from the mission president and to mingle with young missionaries.  That evening we fed the local missionaries and one mentioned the Purvis Ward in his stake in Mississippi.  I told him we had friends back home by that name.  He said he had a football coach by that name when he lived in Utah.  You mean Kyle Purvis, the young man that grew up in our American Fork 30th ward?  Well yes!  

     Friday we got to help at a Food Bank distribution at a nearby church, and support the missionaries by playing pickleball at their event.

      Saturday we enjoyed our p-day with an E bike ride, then a drive to Folsom to join Jason and his girls at Pioneer Days at Sutter's Mill where gold was discovered.  

      Today we attended a church meeting nearby, then also a Tongan meeting.  Believe me, those folks know how to sing!

We are gearing up for a new week and hoping the lights are on “low beam.”

Love Elder and Sister Jerman

Zone Conference

Feeding the Elders

Elder Jerman helping at the Food Bank distribution 

Pioneer Days

In Coloma, California 

Sutter’s Mill where gold was discovered