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!