Hug a Loved One

 We take too much for granted. This past week I have realized how many blessings I have been given from my Heavenly Father. I am so grateful to Him for my family and friends, my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for my freedoms I enjoy, and for the sacrifice of my ancestors so I could live in such abundance today.

This week we've been helping others at the employment center, some of our kids came to visit us, and we were able to travel home to be with family for our granddaughter's birthday and Alicia's baby gender reveal before heading to a National Church Employment Conference in Salt Lake City.  What struck me the most was how blessed we are from the viewpoint of where we live. Yes, our country is going through tough times and challenges, but the U.S. is still the envy of the world. We have the best economy, amazing opportunities in education and jobs, the freedom to live and worship as we please, and high expectations for the future. 

We have been helping a job seeker, Engel, get a construction job by writing a resume that highlighted his strengths. He is from Nicaragua, but he left his young wife and 3 year old daughter back home to escape death threats against him for his stand on human rights. Supporters of leaders of his country threatened him and actually beat him up after he demonstrated with other students against the leftist crackdown on freedoms in his country. He escaped and came to California to find a better way of life and hopefully to someday bring his family with him.  

How lucky we are to have our families, freedoms, and a future we can look forward to that will be a blessing to our children and grandchildren.  So find a loved one and give them a hug, and tell them how much you love them.

We love you, 

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman

Zac, Marce, and Amy (just home from her mission) got to come visit us!

Visitor Center and a session at the Oakland Temple

We got to go on a monohull!

Zac the co Captain

Amy the Captainette

San Francisco 

Kora’s 3rd Birthday

What is your guess?  Mostly blue

Wild Ride

 Hello everyone,

     Life has its ups and downs and we just went through a couple of them. During our time in American Fork, Roger experienced some sharp abdominal pain so we went to the ER and learned he had a blood clot in his kidney.  Luckily no surgery but it took a few days on pain meds and blood thinner to get rid of that.

     After our wonderful week welcoming Amy home, we flew back to finish the last 6 weeks of our mission. What!?!  

      We served at the Employment Center to help several new people that came in,  then put in several more hours to call and update all 148 job seekers.  Whew!

     Thursday we went out for our favorite activity to ride E bikes on the trails around here.  We got separated and I finally headed home since I didn't have a phone with me.  When I called him, I learned he had crashed coming down a steep hill on a curve.  He said he zigged when he should have zagged.  He could tell when he stood up that there were some broken bones. The paramedics brought him to the ER where he was told he broke his clavicle and 5 ribs.  Luckily we were able to come home that night.  We swung by the crash site to get the bike off the bike rack where the paramedic locked it up to and it had been stolen.  Argggh!  Too bad.  Salt in the wound.

     Luckily he has been able to sleep and take it easy the last few days.  It doesn't hurt to just sit, only if he is up moving around too much.  The Elders came by to give him a blessing and our family has been praying for him.  He is healing and doing fine, and is anxious to continue serving the best he can to the end of our mission.   We have so much to do!  Up, up and away! 

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman

Our Amy is home!

 We got to fly home to be at the Salt Lake City Airport when our youngest daughter, Amy, flew home from serving a mission in the California, Ventura Mission.  She learned to speak and teach in the Spanish language.  It was a thrill to welcome her home and have all 6 of our kids together again.  We also have 3 in law kids and 6 grandkids.  We had several days full of wonderful activities and meals together.  It's been a grand weekend.

We headed back Monday to complete the last 6 weeks of our mission in the California Oakland/San Francisco Mission.  Stay Tuned!

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman  

Cool connections

 Hello everyone,

     This week we inspected 8 missionary apartments. One set of Elders bought us a box of warm honey butter rolls and another set invited us for breakfast. Wow. We sure love these missionaries!  

     We enjoyed a BBQ with the other senior couples in front of the Mission Home, then another night went to see a musical show of “Sister Act” at a beautiful outdoor theater nestled in the redwood trees just above the Oakland Temple. 

     We’ve been given keys to an empty apartment just an half mile away from the temple. Our new routine is to serve at the Visitor Center until 9:00 p.m. then drive a couple minutes to settle down for the night instead of the 45 minutes back to our apartment. Then the next day we are right close to go to the temple and the Family Search Center for the day. Then we can stay again to be close to go to church somewhere on the peninsula. We have attended all the wards in the outer Bay Area, almost 100 now!

     This week we chose four wards in the Palo Alto area to attend. We went to two sacrament meetings and introduced ourselves to four different Sunday school classes. We drove back and forth between two buildings and took a picnic lunch. 

     The speaker at the first ward we attended was a young missionary home from his mission for surgery and invited to visit this ward to speak to them about his experiences so far. The amazing thing is Roger knew him while they were both serving on a Humanitarian trip in Malawi three summers ago!  How cool is that!?!  Then when we stood up, the man behind us greeted us as missionaries and we realized we were talking to Steve Young!  Pretty cool day at church.             We went to a San Francisco 49’ers preseason game. 

It’s been another great week. 

     A quote from my Aunt Sandy,  “When we are in the Lord’s service, something wonderful happens every day . . .  because the gospel is TRUE!”

    And this week . . . We get to fly home to be at the airport when Amy flies home from her mission!  

Life is great!

Love Elder and Sister Jerman

P.S.  Anyone nearby that would like to see Amy, she will be talking in church this Sunday, August 25th at 9:00 a.m. at the church on the corner of 300 N. 700 E. American Fork.   You’re invited to come by our home after to visit and get a bite to eat. We'll be here too, then we go back to serve our last two months.

Outdoor Theater in Redwoods to watch "Sister Act"

With Elder Tommy Butler

With Steve Young

NFL 49'ers game

Back in the Saddle

 After last week when both of us took turns not feeling well, we are so glad to be feeling better and we appreciate our health and your thoughts in our behalf.

Both Thursday and Friday evenings we took the shift at the Visitor's Center. It is so much fun to talk to people whose curiosity in the gospel of Jesus Christ is fueled by a genuine interest in finding out about our Savior.

Thursday I was able to talk to a young man who had his first visit to the Temple Hill Visitor Center and we had a good discussion about Jesus' life here on earth and his visit to the American Continent. He agreed that it was logical that Jesus loves everyone and would want to offer them the same things here as he did in Jerusalem. So I was able to get a referral and phone number for the Elders. 

Friday when we attended the temple, as we were walking out after our session, Elder Gong was shaking hands with people at the desk, just coming in, so I said Hi to Elder Gong and shook his hand as I went out. He was there for a niece's wedding.

Kaleen's sister-in-law called and said she was flying in for a quick reunion on her side of the family.  She came to see us at the Visitor Center and then we got to take her out with our friend Lawrence on another sail boat ride under the Bay Bridge. 

Sunday Kaleen and I gave talks during Sacrament Meeting at a YSA ward in Dublin. We cheered them on to live successful lives.  You know how it is with talks, you are always glad when you're done and you hope that nobody falls asleep and snores too loudly.

Afterwards, we stayed for a Linger Longer event to enjoy a meal with the young adults.  Kaleen got acquainted with the gal next to her and learned she had served her mission in Orem, and had served in American Fork, and had attended Zac's YSA ward a couple times and even recognized Zac in a picture.  Then Kaleen mentioned feeding the sister missionaries and this girl suddenly opened her eyes big and said, "Do you live at the end of a cul de sac by a park?"  You had two long tables set up and served empanadas!"  Really!?! Yes! We took a picture and then found pictures from a year and a half ago.  Cool!

This was at church yesterday. 

This was taken a year and a half ago with the same gal while she was serving her mission and came to eat dinner at our home. (I’m wearing the same dress. Haha!)

Hoping you're still awake after this letter, remember the gospel is true.

Love,

Elder and Sister Jerman

Change of plans

 Hello,

Hmmm, sometimes the plan all changes.  We have taken turns being sick so have had a very different week.  Elder Jerman still helped people write up resumes.  Sister Jerman watched the Olympics and crocheted a few baby hats to pass the time.  We are grateful that our air conditioning finally got fixed.   Trials make us stronger, right!?!  We'll ease back in

Here's to a good week, everyone!

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman

Spectacular sunset was the only outing for Kaleen

Faith Precedes Miracles, Ballgame Victories, and Hunting Parties

 For me, this week was a tutorial in faith. I have had my faith in humanity tested, then restored by events that have taken place in our lives over the past few days. We've experienced a variety of highs and lows.   We have had, to say the least, an incredibly diverse and instructionally faith promoting and faith trying week.

Quick recap: One of our children's good friends died in St. George from extended high 110° heat exposure. So heartbreaking for her parents, who from their hospital beds heard the news of their daughter's death. 

Opposite end of the spectrum, It's always a thrill when we have a job seeker/applicant find work after a long period of time, just as it can be very disappointing when a caregiver gets fired over a misunderstanding and inability to communicate, one speaking only English the other speaking Spanglish.

Thursday we had the double treat of seeing Ubaldo, who had just barely been into our Employment Center creating a resume and applying for a job, being baptized that day in a nearby town. We watched from the Visitors Center via zoom, and he bore an amazing testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! Later that night, a couple of Chinese students came in and began looking around the Center, we asked them to sit down and listen to the Christus Narration, but they declined, looked around the Center, began to leave, and Sister Jerman said, "Wait! Here is someone who speaks Chinese," pointing to a newly returned missionary and also the Chinese Sisters. They said, Hmm, OK. The group of 5 talked for 45 minutes and set up a future teaching lesson! They flipped a 180 degree reversal of a gospel offer from "No Thank You" to "Hmm, Yes, Tell Us More,"

Had some fun, but a little frustration at an A's Baseball game. Oakland lost to Houston, 8-1. Houston played a great game, no wonder they were World Champions in 2022. I was out on my bike ride Saturday, when I came within 10 feet of a small pack of 3 coyotes! They were chasing a stray cat for dinner that scared up a turkey, which eventually flew up into a tree and they both got away. Good thing for those two, that coyotes lack faith.... and wings.

We were fed spiritually on Sunday, because we sang with the Tongan Branch at the ISC (Interstake Center), and we heard a return missionary bear his testimony about healing a 14 month old baby boy who fell down a flight of wooden stairs and cracked his skull. The doctors only gave him two days to live, and if he survived, he would most likely be brain damaged. Elder Xia and his companion gave him a blessing. Three days later, to astounded doctors, he was released from the hospital and given a clean bill of health. The Elders' faith combined with that of the boy's parent's faith were incredible. God's priesthood power and love are nothing short of a miracle! 

Hoping we can each personally experience His Perfect Power, Mighty Miracles, and Tender Mercies this coming week.

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman