Just so you will understand, Elder Jerman calls the Visitor Center the VC. He also mentioned naps... Hmm...while he naps, I log our miles for the week, write to our missionary, update our photos, write daily in my journal, ya know, just some basics. :)
This past week we've had so much rain and been so anxiously engaged that we have had to force ourselves to "Just Keep Swimming," as best we could. Monday we got to go visit Jay, Tay, Haven and Tillie. We took a really fun nature walk with our Grandkids and noticed how green everything is getting. Even the brown hills around us are turning green already after a short, mild winter- Spring is just around the corner! 
We love teaching with the Elders and Sisters at the English Connect class and practicing English one-on-one with Native Spanish Speakers. Wednesday through Saturday was kind of a blur because we helped out each night at the Temple Visitors Center after working at the Employment Center Tues and Wed.
We are asked to check in with our job seekers about every 2-3 weeks to monitor their progress. Once in a while they call us to let us know that they were eventually hired - sometimes despite our help. Haha. It's been reported that about 80% of every job out there is filled by just word of mouth, and a whopping 70% of jobs are never even publicly listed. So a large part of what we do is to try and teach job hunters about networking. Usually we just call and check in to see how their journey towards a job is going. We both have had people find success who have been previously meeting for months with the couple we replaced, but then sometimes it takes only a few weeks to find a job. It is so random, but rewarding when someone reports that they've been hired.
So the next 4 days, Wednesday through Saturday we worked at the VC. Thursday was fun because we got to go to the Temple with about 100 missionaries and then went to a mission devotional with Pres and Sister Lash. On Friday during our shift at the VC, we got to meet the new Visitor Center Directors from Provo, Elder and Sister Childs. They have recently returned as mission presidents from Russia. Elder Childs told us that despite the fact that they could not proselyte in their mission, the Russian Saints stepped up and baptisms increased over the time they served their mission.
Saturday we were helping with a performance and reception the church sponsored with an Interfaith Council including VIP's from local churches and leaders from the NAACP which met at the VC. It's wonderful to see how much effort the church is putting on collaboration and friendship between other religions here in the Bay Area, as well as World Wide. We enjoyed listening to a Gospel Interfaith Choir and a local singing star in the area who performed nearby at the Inter Stake Center Auditorium.
We are so glad when Sunday afternoon rolls around and we get a little time to ourselves. One of our favorite things to recharge our batteries is to just sit by the fire in our little apartment and stare at the Digital Picture frame our kids gave us for Christmas. We chuckle, or ooh and ahh at the latest thing our Grandkids have said or done and sometimes take an afternoon nap to prepare for the next week. Here's hoping each of you take a moment out of your busy week to relax and do something for yourselves to make the coming few days "Swimmable."
With Love,
Elder and Sister Jerman
No comments:
Post a Comment