The Hope of Easter

 Happy Easter to each of you! We are so blessed to know that JESUS LIVES today and loves us dearly. He broke the bands of death, overcame the effects of sin, the unfairness of this earthly life and invites us to come unto Him to be healed of all our imperfections. He lightens our burdens, eases our sorrows, and brings comfort and peace to our hearts. God be praised that OUR REDEEMER LIVES!

Celebrations

 Hello!

We have missionaries speaking 9 languages in our mission -  English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Cambodian, Samoan, Tongan,  Fijian, and Tagalog. So, the word from the mission office is that this is the most in any mission. Because of that,  we see weddings, birthdays, baptisms and other celebrations in a variety of cultures.  This week we got to participate in the Cambodian New Year with a program of dancers in cool native costumes, then we helped serve dinner to over 1000 people.  Fun to sample some food while listening to a band and watching people dance and play games.  

We enjoyed hosting a dinner party at the Family Search Center for all the senior missionaries.  We are lucky to have about 40 in this mission.   We called it our "Pot O' Gold Luck" dinner and invited everyone to wear green and bring green foods to go with the corned beef and pork we prepared.  We had enough left over pork that we hosted young missionaries the next two nights for dinner at our place.  It was so fun to get better acquainted with several missionaries last week and we are looking forward to more this week.  Then transfers will happen and we will have new missionaries!

After serving at the Employment Center, we enjoy some time going out on the trails for a ride on our E Bikes, spending some time in the Family Search Center and our shift at the Visitor Center.  It just couldn't be better!  Then the best bonus was a trip to Folsom to visit Jason and Taya and their 3 young ones.  Finn is now just over a week old. What a privilege for us to be so close to celebrate life!

The grandest celebration of all is the gift from our Savior.  We hope we can all take time this Easter week to study, ponder and reflect on the Savior's life, sacrifice and death for us, then also recognize His gift of forgiveness, resurrection and eternal life.  Happy celebration of all these gifts our Savior offers us!

We love you, Have a wonderful week,

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman

Feeding the senior missionaries

Feeding the young missionaries

Feeding a thousand 

Cambodian Festival

Cambodian New Year celebrating the harvest 

Celebrating Finn

Tending the grandkids so Jason and Taya could go to the  Sacramento Temple. 

Celebrating the Savior and all He makes possible

Happy Birthday Baby Finn and the RS

 We got to celebrate several events this week. First we celebrated with the missionaries on Monday night. The Sisters came over for dinner on Monday and we had a good time getting to know them better.  As we were reading "The Living Christ" together, the Sisters reminded us that of all the names for Jesus Christ, the title of Redeemer is one of the most significant because He has personally redeemed each one of us through His individualized suffering for our sins.

We were so Excited to celebrate the birth of a grandson! Jason and Taya had their baby boy, Finn, on Thursday, Pi Day. Just looking at him, we can tell he will love eating pie for his birthday every year since he was born on 3.14.24 at 6:38 (which means absolutely nothing to Pi, haha!) Of course we think he is just the cutest looking baby!  Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing great.  In fact, Taya did not even have an epidural because she progressed so fast that by the time she was admitted, she was already at a 9 and ready to deliver! She was up and around with an amazing turn around time. I think I would rather just run a marathon! We were so lucky to go visit Finn and his parents and family. We got to be with our granddaughters, Haven and Tillie, and their Grandma Paula.  It was so fun to take a walk together in their big, wild and open "backyard!"

That same night we were invited to our friend's home in Sacramento.  Josue and Melisa cooked up delicious fish tacos, and we chatted with them, her parents and family all night, just like old times. We met Melisa a few years ago when she served her mission in our area in Utah.  She came by often to pick up Alicia to help them teach in Spanish.  After her mission she lived with us to go to school, then met Josue and they were married in our backyard while the temples were closed.

Saturday we were able to attend a baptism.  We happened to pass through a Tongan wedding on our way through the Inter Stake Center at Temple Hill. Those Tongans really know how to celebrate! (Zoom in on the picture below!). We went downstairs to the baptism of a Cambodian friend, Brother Seong, who is the sweetest old man.  He got baptized by the Elders we got to know in January at a dinner. So fun to hear their testimonies again and feel the spirit so strongly at these baptisms.  The wedding drums were going on right above our heads throughout the whole  program.  The Cambodian missionary was especially emotional as neither he nor this new member have any family support.  We were happy to support and celebrate after with a dinner of Asian noodles.   

Sunday night, Kaleen and I delivered St. Patrick's Day cookies to our neighbors, then celebrated the Relief Society's birthday by watching the Worldwide Broadcast.  It was great to get to know the new RS presidency and to hear Pres. Nelson. He said, “Anytime we help anyone find the covenant path and stay on it, we are helping to gather Israel. No one does this better than you do — as mothers, leaders, teachers, sisters and friends. You are preparing future generations of the Lord’s Church and the world.”

Love you all,

Elder and Sister Jerman

Sister Hitchler and Sister Canar

Brand new Baby Finn

We got to visit before he was 24 hours old!

We also got to visit  Haven and Tillie

Look at the bride and groom's thrones and the roasted hogs and lobsters!  The guests were eating from a different buffet table so I'm not sure who will eat this food.

 

Cambodian baptism

Our mission / Our privilege

      It is truly a privilege to be here serving a mission.  We are having a grand time and love to talk to others about working towards this opportunity as it has truly been a wonderful experience in our lives. We cannot believe we have been here almost 5 months.  The time has flown by and we have so much we still hope to do!

     Our days at the Employment Center are busy.  Tuesday we had 8 people come through the door besides 2 Zoom meetings.  One meeting we just had to cut short and the other we didn't even join as we were busy with one job seeker after another.   At other times, if no one is there, we stay busy sending off texts and emails of information to job seekers as we try to continue to support them in their job search. We have so many people to contact that we stayed after each afternoon and went back an extra day to put in a bonus 7 1/2 hours at the office when the doors were closed.  

     

     We enjoyed helping at the English Connect class taught by the young missionaries, and two mornings at the Food Bank.  We love our time serving at the Visitor Center.  This week we walked in to find a girl looking for work, who had come there 3 times hoping to find us, so Elder Jerman sat down and worked with her for a couple hours to help create a resume and search for jobs.  I got to meet several missionaries who came into the Visitor Center before going to the temple the night before going home from serving in the mission. I also got to talk to a couple little groups about the gospel, serving missions, and the Savior. What a privilege!

We were also privileged to have a couple afternoons to go to the Family Search Center to work on family history.  What a great bonus to have that wonderful center in our mission.  And then, we had the privilege to go to a session at the Oakland Temple.  When we walked out into the pleasant evening weather, looking out over the blooming gardens lined by majestic palm trees, my heart nearly burst with gratitude for all my blessings.  This is truly a wonderful, happy time in our lives. We feel so privileged to be here. 

     We got in a couple walks, a couple bike rides and some phone calls with my parents, several siblings, the grandkids, and  all our kids, including Amy on her mission, Brett vacationing in Puerto Rico and Zac attending school in Uruguay.

     We were thrilled to hear the announcement that the Church had bought the Kirtland Temple, some significant properties in Nauvoo and several documents, etc.  When the announcement was made,  Elder Jerman was helping a man from Turkey who hardly spoke any English, so I just waved my arm in the air and called out, "The Church just bought the Kirtland Temple!"  It is just so incredible and wonderful!

      Saturday we helped at a stake/community service project all morning.  While out and about this week, I had two different occasions when someone saw my name tag and mentioned that they knew the church. One lady at the Food Bank told me that part of her family are members of the church. In fact, her brother is a bishop in Hawaii and her sister is serving with her husband on a mission in the Philippines. We will continue to follow up with her.  Then a gentleman in the grocery line told me he had learned quite a bit about the church, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon,  but he didn’t really like attending church for 4-5 hours every Sunday. I told him we now meet for two hours  and invited him to come back to one of our meetings, even specifically on Easter Day. It is just so cool to have the opportunity to  help people learn about the gospel and to consider what they could do to come closer to Christ. 

     Here is a thought to ponder about the word "name."  Why do we say, "In the name of Jesus Christ?" I heard the idea that when we address the Savior in His name that “name” can also mean His power and His authority.  This gives me a better understanding of what we mean when we say “In the name of Jesus Christ.”

     And finally a thank you to the young men who live in our home and take care of things there so we can be here. Also a thank you shout out to our neighbor, Jason Parker, who came to the rescue and fixed our furnace that quit working for 24 hours and got quite chilly in the house for those boys. 

     All our love,

Elder and Sister Jerman

Visitor Center Sisters

Service project

Our happy time together - a "walk in the park!"  

We have been invited to attend different wards each week to share what we do at the Employment Center.  This week we went to 3 wards in Walnut Creek. Since we were there for 3 sacrament meetings and one class time, we took a picnic lunch along.  

Don't tell my new friend that we went to 4 hours of church!  

Temple Trivia

 Friends and Family,

We keep pinching ourselves, wondering if we are on a mission or just a fun vacation! After working at the Employment Center on Monday and Tuesday this week, we were able to take a day off to attend our Mission Conference with two visiting General Authorities. Elder Sabin and Elder Dushku of the Seventy came, toured our mission and both gave amazing talks.

Do you know how many temples were in existence when Pres. Nelson was born?  Elder Sabin reminded us that there were 5 temples in 1924. The prophet has announced 154 temples for a total of 335 temples in various stages of construction and operation. He also told us that every month, 22,000 baptisms are recorded, which is a little more than the number of people who fill the Conference Center. Isn't it amazing how the Kingdom of God continues to grow! ?!  Another timely message they left with us was, "Don't stress- Just Stretch."  Each of us can grow in times of trial if we so choose.

Thursday we were delighted to have Alicia, Max and our grandson, Remi, come and visit for the weekend. We had so much fun seeing the sights, including a visit to the original and oldest fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. It was super fun to ride on a ferry, a Trolley Car and down Lombard Street which is the crookedest street in the world!  We especially enjoyed visiting the Redwood Forest in Muir Woods, where some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world are beautifully gracing our planet. Then on Saturday we all drove up to Folsom to spend the day with Jason, Taya, and their girls, Haven and Tillie.  We walked the streets of Folsom where the Pony Express finished its ride and the trains traveling from Sacramento were turned around to go back. We also went on a nature walk and finished up before the torrential rain started.   Too bad Max and Alicia had to drive through a crazy blizzard with high winds and deep snowfall over the Sierra Nevadas to make it home safely.  

We count our blessings daily and are so lucky to be able to serve others and be doing something of value with this time period of our lives. 

With Love,

Elder and Sister Jerman

Ferry Ride

Fisherman's Wharf

Ghirardelli Square

Trolley ride

A bit breezy at the bridge 

Muir Woods

Giant Redwoods 

The occasional sprinkles never stopped us from fun

Family Fun in Folsom