Loving Life as Missionaries

Entertainment for the ward barbeque at Twin

Lakes Beach, by Sis. McNally & Gohnert.

Sis. Fuller brought her son and two grandaughters

to the barbeque, who we are prayful that we can

teach the gospel to. They are a great family!

Anybody want to guess what we are going to do

with this peace of Banana Cream Pie?

We're going to be in a pie eating contest. Never

got any training on this type of missionary activity

in the MTC. Elder Elmer did pretty good, but may-

be would have done better with an apple pie.

California has great fruits and vegetables,
and they don't just eat them.

At the Santa Cruz County Fair, they use them to
make animals to aliens.

This one was one of our favorites.

We went with Dean and Lulu Moser, and of coarse;

this plumber by profession, was attracted to the dis-

play using a toilet. He wanted to get it for his collection.

Zone activities are wonderful for creating unity.

This P-Day, we had Subway sandwiches and

played volleyball at the sand courts. You should

have seen the sand and bodies flying everywhere.

This is Remy and her girls, Sydney and Sophie.

We have been teaching the lessons to them. Remy

and Sydney have been baptized. Sophie is 11, and

has asked Elder Elmer to baptize her on Christmas

Day! We love this little family!

The Santa Cruz Mystery Spot.

This is Pierce, Cody, and Ella Howard. When we

eat with them, it feels like home.

These are their parents, Jerrid and Missy, and

little Brigham. When we watch them, it feels like

we're home.

This is Bob and Adelaide Soria. We have been

blessed with the opportunity to serve them.

We are teaching Adelaide the lessons. Unfortunately,

Bob is in poor health, and had to go to a care facility.

They are good people!

Look who we found at Bubba Gumps. It wasn't

Forest Gump, but it was OUR KIDS! YEA!

Look what we found inside this clam, at the

Monterey Bay Aquarium, OUR KIDS!

Charlie loved swinging at the Dennis the

Menace Park in Monterey, and we loved

watching her swing.

Giant Redwoods at Henry Cowell Park. This is a

beautiful place to hike.

The beach was fun for finding shells, making sand

castles, and running from the waves.

A trip to see Papa J and Grandma T in Santa Cruz,

wouldn't be complete without going to the Boardwalk.

Papa J and the boys wrestling.

Charlie liked hearing Papa J sing Primary songs,

that he is learning to play on the Ukelele.

Grandkids are the best medicine. Thanks

Dave and Toni!!!!!!

Santa Cruz Zone Temple Day! What a

blessing!

Notice anything different about this picture? I'm

not the only sister! What a blessing these young

people are in our lives!

The McDougalls. Matt joined the church last year.

We are excited to be with them in the temple, for their

sealing.

Called to serve Him, Heavenly King

of Glory. What an incredible blessing for

Jerry and I!

Hope this new blog finds everyone doing well. Once again, we made it through another transfer, where is the time going. We will reach the halfway point of our mission, next week. We are still in Santa Cruz, and that is probably where we will stay. We love it here, and still feel like we have more to do. However, we will do whatever Pres. Jackson directs us to do. We continue to have lots of opportunities to serve, and that is great! Mostly Jerry works, and I supervise. We fixed sprinklers, weeded, put up a fence, cleaned and painted a kitchen that had caught on fire, moved people, and more. In some of our experiences, the service has opened doors for us to teach. We work hard on our goal, to teach 20 lessons a week. We have added two more less active members to those teaching opportunities. Although, I have a long way to go to be a master teacher, we have been promised great blessings as we strive for this goal. Our ward is really trying to work on their missionary efforts, too. The Soria's (pictured above) is a result of that member missionary effort. Our Bishop is really supportive of us, and the Elders in our ward. We are having more activities to bring our friends, and neighbors to. We do Priesthood Finding the One nights, where the priesthood, including YM, go out to find and invite members who we don't know, or have never met. We found 2 people who definately wanted contact, and 4 who said some contact. No effort is wasted. We are so happy to welcome members back. Remember Sister Manarello? She has been to church 3 times now. She may not understand everything, but she is there, and we know the Lord is mindful of her. One of the keys to this finding the one, is Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching. It's so important!!!!!

Our mission has been challenged by our Mission President to read the Book of Mormon. This six week transfer is from Elder Hollands conference talk. Conversions happen, and last, when the Book of Mormon has been read, and prayed about. We are grateful for this challenge. I know it will help us, as we work with members and investigators. We had actually started reading it as a result of our Ward Mission Leader's challenge from a month ago, so we are reading it 2 times with one ending at the end of the year, and the other ending Jan 18th. Boy, that should help us, don't you think? We love the Book of Mormon, and are so grateful for our knowledge of how it came to be.

The holidays are fast approaching. Is everybody ready? We have been invited, with our Zone Leaders, to go to the Blakes for Thanksgiving. However, we couldn't not have pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, right Matt C? On the 16th, our Zone will be joining us for this traditional Jerry Elmer Family meal. We have reserved the apartment clubhouse for this occasion. Everyone seems to be looking forward to it. We will miss you guys, but we'll send cheers your way with Martinellis.

We love each of you so much! Thank you again for all the prayers, love, and support. We remember each of you as well. We are so grateful for Heavenly Father's plan for eternal families. We love our Savior, and all that he has done for us. We testify of the truthfulness of this great work, we are all engaged in. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love, Jerry & Tanya