Papa J & Grandma T

April Flowers and Gospel Blessings

2010-05-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

This lovely young lady finally got permission from
her Mom to be baptized. Elder Smith got to baptize her
before he got transferred. She is wonderful! Her mom even
came to her baptism.

A few changes to Santa Cruz Zone. Always sad to say
goodbye, but always excited to welcome new ones. We
have two brand new missionaries, an ASL Elder, our
singing Elder from New Zealand, and a new Senior Couple.

Meet the Hanbergs from Altamont, Utah. They have already

dug in, and are hard at work.

Elder Murray & Elder Valencia asked if we could help
them get an investigator to the temple. No problem!
We are prayerful for a baptismal date soon for Samantha.

We had another wonderful senior activity day, but ended
up at the Vegetarian House. What, where's the beef?
Actually, it wasn't to bad.

Callas everywhere! They were beautiful!

Todd & Gail Brown treated us to a lovely lunch, and trip to
their office. Todd and his family are the largest Calla Bulb
growers in the world. It was amazing!

Matt & Kathryn McDougall invited us to be their escorts
for their first trip to the temple. We were honored!
They will go back soon to have their 2 daughters seal-
ed to them.

Phil & Irma Emory. Phil was baptized on April 25th. Irma
had joined about 4 years ago. Now they sit together at church,
united in the gospel and in their love for the Lord. How blessed
we are to know this wonderful couple! How thankful we are
to the Lord for this glorious opportunity to serve Him! The
worth of a soul is truly great in the sight of the Lord!

An eternal friendship.

Strawberry fields as far as you can see. Watsonville produces
the biggest and best. Did you know that you shouldn't put your
strawberries in the frig after you have bought them at the store?
They lose their flavor faster.

One Year This Month

2010-03-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

Seniors celebrate Valentines at a Moroccan restaurant. Those
with the bad knees didn't sit on the floor.

Washing your hands is very important, especially if your
actually using them to eat with.

President did a good job of picking the restaurant.
It was pretty good, and we even got out before the
belly dancers showed up.

Santa Cruz in the springtime. Beautiful!
These are called Tulip Trees.

Another Zone activity at Henry Cowell Park.
We do like spoiling our young missionaries.

How we love serving with them.

Nice try Elder Cook, but it's just to big!

This is the bottom.

This is the top. Trust me, it's way up there.

Your not going to believe this, but we are standing inside a
giant Redwood.

These wonderful Spanish brothers & sisters got to go
hear Elder Richard G. Scott. It was wonderful!

Bro. Torres baptized his daughters, Paulina & Fernanda.

President & Sister Jackson's son, Clark.

Our new favorite thing to do on P-Day, collect sea glass.

Maria & Joie Sandoval. We spoke at their
baptism. They are wonderful!

Daniel & his family have waited a long time for this moment.
You should hear him tell the story of Joseph Smith's First Vision.

A trip to Main Street Bagels for the Sisters, just before
heading to San Jose for transfers. There was lots of giggling
around this little table, but when they teach you can feel the power.

Well, I think that should catch us up for awhile. We just want you to know how much we love each of you wonderful family and friends. We are so grateful for the opportunity we have to serve a mission together. The Lord has truly blessed us, and our family. We are so blessed to have the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I am on my third time reading it on the mission. It truly is evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I love the Book of Mormon!
We look forward to General Conference. That always makes for a wonderful weekend! Take care! Love to all!

A New Year in the Mission

2010-03-03T20:56:00.001-08:00

Elder Elmer teaches Sis. Jensen about priorities, using sand and rocks.

Sis. McNally fixes Chipino for Elder Elmer, I got spaghetti.

Yes, another full moving van, thanks to the Elders Quorum
and the missionaries.

Elder & Sis Hanson say goodbye to the Vietnamese Branch where
they have been serving, as well as in the office. We'll definately miss them!

Artichokes are big in California. You can eat them a million
different ways, so our Senior Day activity started out doing
just that.

Shopping in Carmel. We got our picture, and the store
manager got a pass-a-long card. She was very nice, but
not interested.

This was a beach down by Big Sur. The sand was marbled.
It was really beautiful!

This is a great beach for Tidal Pools. I know a few grandkids
that would love this place. I know Papa J does.

Rule #1 is you never turn your back on the ocean. Seconds earlier
we were taking pictures of the marbled sand, and then we were
running to get away from this giant wave (and some of us didn't make
it).

Our California San Jose sweatshirts. The Elders and Sisters
keep trying to get them away from us.

Famous Highway 1. Wow, what a view!

Elder Murray gets a new companion, Elder Gushiken from
Okinawa.

Twin Lakes Beach (by our
apartment) got some pretty rough waters during a storm
we had. The ocean is an amazing and powerful thing to behold.

Annie & Sophie made a blanket for Lamar. He loved it!

The Santa Cruz Zone

Did I forget to mention, that E. Gushiken is a Ballet Danseur.?

FHE with the Levys

Emily makes Elder Elmer one of her healthy green Santa Cruz
smoothies.

I don't think this missionary is going to turn Veggin anytime soon.

We got to substitute in Seminary for a week. Not a bad picture
considering it was 7 a.m. in the morning. Great kids!

Well, believe it or not, we have been on our mission 1 year now. It's going by so fast. We keep thinking there is still so much for us to do. We have had some additional responsibilities added. We go to Alma Branch (in the mountains) one week of the month. The mountain people consider themselves very different from the Santa Cruz beach people. They are very close and self sufficient. There are about 55 families in the branch. We are excited for this opportunity, and look forward to meeting more wonderful people to love and teach.
We've been getting a lot of rain here in Santa Cruz. It makes it a little hard on the contacting. We are really looking forward to daylight savings time. Our evenings will be much more productive.
There is much to share, but not much time. We send our love to all our family and friends. We are grateful for the gospel in our lives. Thank you each for your examples of love and committment to the Lord. We sure love our mission!
Advice: Hold to the rod, and DON'T LET GO!!

Congratulations to Katie and Daniel on their engagement!

Congratulations Rob and Christina on little Riley's arrival!

Happy Birthday (FEB 25th) to Aaron!

Gotta go!

Holidays in Santa Cruz

2009-12-25T20:33:00.001-08:00

Building a fence for the Forsyths.

Our Assistants to the Presidents. Four hard-

working and very fun Elders.

A Seniors's Day Outing

Look closely, and you can see lots of little orange
dots on those leaves. The orange dots are Monarch
butterflies.

A real skeleton of a Blue whale. Does the word
humongous come to mind?

A Santa Cruz Sunset

A Thanksgiving Feast for the Santa Cruz Zone

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving was a hit, Elder Elmer.

Teaching Alex and her dad, the Plan of Salvation.

Our visual aids are very helpful. Thanks Grace and

Livie.

Thanksgiving at the Blakes, Elder Baker, and

Elder Heyland. It was wonderful!

A little Christmas spirit in Santa Cruz.

In case your wondering if it gets cold in Santa

Cruz, just look at this picture. We would like to say

thanks to Cheryll Mabray, and her helpers for

this great quilt!

Another transfer, and more Sisters in the Santa

Cruz Zone.

Brian and Crystal are sealed in the Oakland Temple.

It poured down rain, but didn't dampen our joy for

this wonderful occassion. One of the great blessings

of our mission.

Brad and Ash got to help the seniors fill the stockings

for all the missionaries.

Sister Manarello makes a little hat for Brad and Ash's

baby.

A great day for a walk on the beach!

Brad didn't quite escape this wave. Actually

it got us all.

All Ashley wanted to do was to see some ocean.

So we worked hard to give her a little ocean.

The cup use to hold a Slurpee, but now it's being

used to hold sea glass and other treasures.

Felton for a walk in the Redwoods.

Lights at the harbor.

The Boardwalk for a little shopping.

Sister Mcnally can't wait till the kids come back.

How's this for a Christmas tree? We love our

ornaments!

Elder Baker, Sophie, and Elder Murray

Christmas 2009, Sophie's Baptism Day!

Sophie with her mom, Remy, and sister, Sydney. How

grateful we are for this sweet little family in our lives.

We hope each of you have a wonderful new year!

Season's Greetings

2009-12-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

SEASONS GREETINGS TAKE ONE

SOMETHINGS NEVER CHANGE

WE LOVE YOU TANYA FOR WHO YOU ARE.

SEASONS GREETINGS TAKE TWO

FINALLY, WE BOTH WISH YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND A WONDERFULLY HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY

2009-11-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday , Brock!

We love you very much!

Papa J & Grandma T

Loving Life as Missionaries

2009-11-08T12:49:00.001-08:00

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

Where Did Summer Go?

2009-09-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

Jerry is the proud owner of Shauntel, the Ukelele.
Now he just has to find time to learn to play it.

Only in Santa Cruz!

Luncheon for the sisters at the Mission Home.

The Senior Sisters in the California San Jose
Mission.

The appetites of 12 Elders requires alot of ribs

& barbeque chicken.

Nice job Elder Elmer! I think they liked it.

Now really, who wouldn't want to be apart of this.

Elder Huls & Elder Baker (Our Zone Leaders)
Grammie, you should hear Elder Baker on the

piano.David Trevino baptizes his sister, Danelle.

We are teaching the after baptism lessons

to her. She's wonderful!

The Gilroy Garlic Festival. I wonder if Blue Bell

ever thought of this flavor.

Elder & Sis House, and Elder & Sister Norris

went with us.

The last stop on the way out is the, you guessed it,

it's the hand sanitizer and mouthwash booth,

Happy Brithday 7 years old

2009-08-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, BRYNN!

WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

Love, Papa J & Grandma T

Catchin Up

2009-08-10T11:41:00.001-07:00

Elder Grigg & Elder Parker loving the Double

Double at In-N-Out.

This is the favorite stop on the way home from the

temple, for all missionaries.

The Oakland Temple on the day when the whole

mission got to go.

Jerry and I were able to teach Temple Prep.

classes to Sis. Fulton. We were very happy

to be able to be with her on that special day.

This is the concrete ship off Seacliff Beach, were we

sometimes go on P-Day to walk.

Claro gets baptized.

We love this sign. Especially when there

is literally no parking places at the hospital.
(Clergy Parking Only)

Sis Irma Emory goes to the temple. She has been

a member about 3 years. She is from Mexico, and

wonderful.

The Santa Cruz Zone. We love these missionaries!

David Levy gets baptized. A great day!

Senior Couple FHE. We sang oldies around the piano.
Jerry and I actually sang a duet that night, a classic
called Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey.

Flowers from Guitarman down at the Soup
Kitchen. We taught him the song, There Is Sunshine
In My Soul.

Sis. Roberta Manarello, someday we'll get her back

to church. We love our visits with her.

Well, we got a little behind on our blog. Things have stayed pretty busy around here, but I now know how to add pictures to the blog, so I'll try to keep up. We are doing fine! We love being in the service of the Lord. I wish there was a way we could really describe to you the wonderful miracles, big and small, that we see everyday. We (mostly me) have a few moments of discouragement from time to time, but the Lord in His love, provides me with a sweet thought from my companion, an expression of love from someone less active, or the spirit reminding me that the work I am doing is vital to God's children. The Lord is in this great work! It is His work, and I am grateful to be apart of it. We press forward with a steadfastness in Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and I am so grateful for my testimony of it.

The time we spend with our Elder's, provides us with laughter, love, and strength. The other day in District Meeting, we had to give a prepared talk on an assigned topic. It falls under practise and application. After you give your talk, the district is suppose to critique you and give you suggestions for improvement. We also say what we like about the talk. So far, even though I could use some improvement suggestions, nobody feels very comfortable critiquing Sis. Elmer. However, one day when Elder Guthrie said what suggestions could we offer Sis. Elmer, there was silence, then our Elder Swallow said I've got one, she might try doing a little something different with her hair next time. We all laughed, I accepted his suggestion, but told him that was more of a difficult thing to do, than any suggestion he might have given me about my talk.

Well, it is hard to believe that EFR is over. We loved being able to see you all, and hear Uncle Jeff and Peggy's report from their mission. Seriously, could our family get any better? We love each of you so much, and are indebted to you for your love and examples. We loved the number idea on the shirts. Good work to Joe and Steph, and all those that contributed! We will see you all at the next reunion.

Congratulations to Casey and Amanda on???????? We didn't know the outcome of the name voting.

Welcome back to the US, Zach, Steff, and family.

Did we hear that Dan Elmer won the shopping spree? Awesome!

Thanks for all your fun blogs. We try to read them on P-Days, but just don't have time to respond to all of them.

Congratulations on John and Donna expecting another grandbaby.

That's all for now. We love you, and are grateful for your prayers in our behalf and of those we serve. Take care of each other.

We know school starts pretty soon. Have a great year! Dad keep swimming! Grammie keep walking. Love, Jerry & Tanya

How Great Shall Be Your Joy

2009-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Dean Moser was Baptized on the 4th of July

Dean is 80 years young

Dean and His wife LuLu

Dean, Lulu, and some of their family that attended

What a wonderful 4th. We celebrated the birth of our country and the rebirth of Dean Moser.

We met Dean and LuLu our first day out. It was one of those miracles. There are not words that explain all that has happened to prepare him for our invitation to hear the gospel one more time. Dean and LuLu have welcomed missionaries into their home for 54 years. She thinks probably more than a 100. Each had a part in preparing him. If they only knew that he was finally baptized. People came from all over the area. The Chapel was filled for his baptism. Member friends from Fresno and San Jose drove to Santa Cruz to attend. It was wonderful. The best part for me was to watch as each of his children and grandchildren (two great grandchildren) came up and embraced and wept with him after the baptismal service was over.

Dean has supported his wife in her activity over these many years. They have put three sons on missions and have a number of grandsons who have served. One is now serving in Chili. The entire family was so excited to see their beloved father and grandfather come into the Kingdom.
They shared with me how long they have prayed and waited and waited and prayed that someday he would soften and join. Some had almost given up. Even Lulu was surpized when he made the committment to be baptized. Most said they would not believe it until the saw it. Perhaps thats why there were so many there. Deans family came from all over the country to be here. He was baptized by his youngest son Brett and Comfirmed on sunday by his eldest son Victor. When Dean came up out of the water he simply said in a loud voice WOW!

My heart has been so full these past months as we have served and taught Dean. It has been a humbling experience to witness the hand of Lord as he touches the lives of his children. I am so greatful for the spirit of the Holy Ghost which is ever present in this work. I have felt its promptings as we teach and extend invitations and committments. I know that people are prepared to hear the gospel message, that we can never give up on those that have lost their way or those who seem to be hardened. Deans conversion is a witness of the love that God has for all his children. In the words of one of Deans daughters. "Your mission has been a success, you helped my Dad come into the Church"

Now we need to get him ready to receive the Preisthood and get to the temple a year from now. We appreciate all of you who have prayed and fasted for us and for Dean. It made all the difference.

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY GRACIE

2009-06-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A WONDERFUL GRANDAUGHTER

FROM YOUR MISSIONARY GRANDPARENTS

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS

2009-05-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Rafael, Wife Betsy, and Rebecca

Baptized May 16, 2009

All the Missionaries that worked with Rafael

Kaleb and Ion Martin, Elders Quorum Presidents
Family

Senior Missionaries in our Mission
Lt to Rt The Balls, The Houses, Sister Elmer
The Hansens
Everyone on the Beach thought we were from outer space.
On the beach in our suits and dresses.

Tanya Hugs a Redwood On P-Day
Very Cool Place

Elders Aubry and Provolt

Two Super Missionaries

Elder Aubry served for 18 months as a Signing Missionary for the deaf

Sister Anderson and a Picture of her granddaughter
We are bring Sister Anderson back after many years

Elder Cheesman gets transfered. We love him

he is a terrific missionary

Sister Elmer and sweet Sister Hopkins

Sister Hopkins is 90 yrs old and is so wonderful

Helping Bro Hopkins he is 92

Just minutes after this, I turned around and he

was up on the roof with me. Reminds me of Papa.

The Welch's a wonderful family in our ward.

Zone on P day in Monterey. We visited the Aquarium

and then Bubba Gumps

Multi Zone Conference in the Mountains a real treat for all of

the Missionaries.

Mothers Day Flowers from Matt, Karen and the Girls

BEAUTIFUL

Tanya's trade mark Smiley Face

We have had a wonderful and busy month. We feel so blessed to be here and to be apart of this

work. We were blessed to participate in Rafael's Baptism. Every baptism is evidence of Gods love for his children. In this case the entire family has been blessed. Rafael had his whole family at the baptism all non members. It was fabulous. They are so happy. We are looking forward to going to the temple with this little family next year.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve. We are learning everyday. The Spirit of the Lord is in every aspect of the work. We get to see it from a unique perspective. Just think of the long term blessings the fullness of the gospel brings into the lives of Rafael and his family. Generations are effected both future and past.

We stay very busy. We look at each other at the end of the day and are so tired, but it is the good kind of tired.

One of the things I love the most is the opportunity to study. Preach My Gospel is a wonderful, inspired book. We work hard to be able to present the lessons simply and with power and authority. We had the opportunity recently to meet with one of the four Brothers that were called to write Preach My Gospel by the Missionary Executive Committee. He shared with us the details of how it was put together. I cannot do it justice here but will in a later email.

We love you all and miss you so much. But the work fills the lonely spots in our days and pictures fill our hearts when we get home sick.

Love,

Jerry and Tanya

Oh, Dean has a baptismal date for July 4th, Fitting I think the day we celebrate the brith of our country we can celebrate Deans rebirth. Pray for him and us.

Life Is Gooood In The Mission

2009-04-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

Not everyone can get roses from their companion.

Believe it or not, Elder Elmer found a spot for some tomato plants.

My exciting purchase from the Flea Market.

Crystal Richardson, Chloe and Gisell.

Before service at the Mosers.

After service at the Mosers.

Elder Parker is anticipating a win from Elder Elmer, finally.

Elder Sparks, is that a brace on your ankle? How did you do that?

Elder Schuetzler (DL) on right and Elder Vanderhoef .

Elder Swallow and I were greeting people who came to the Emergency Preparedness Fair.

Sister Palmer, Driscoll, and O'Shaunessy had the canning area under control.

Lunch for the Elders at the fair, pizza.

A little Basketball after the clean-up was done.

Hello from Santa Cruz. Hope everyone is doing well. Things are good here in the mission. We have officially been on our mission for 2 months. We have had our second Zone Conference, and interviews with President are this Friday. It is indeed going fast.

President Jackson invited us to our first Transfer Meeting to see what is was all about. Don't worry my companion stayed the same. He reminded the Elders that we were the only missionaries that had permission to walk on the beach. Our Zone is always saying they can't wait to be a senior couple, so they can get all these cool priviledges. We actually lost a few of our elders to other areas at that transfer. I didn't like that. We've become attached. We love the missionaries, having fun with them and learning from them.

We are presently working with less active families. We are teaching a few of them the lessons, so they can remember the spirit they felt as the doctrines were taught to them so many years ago. They are good people. Sis. Richardson is coming back, and asked if we could help her with teaching the gospel in her home. She has been away for so long that she feels like there are gaps in her understanding. We are also teaching 2 sisters the Temple Prep lessons. We hope that we will be able to go with them to the temple when they go. One sister is anxious to be sealed to her husband, who died in a car accident 9 years ago. The other sister was baptized about a year and a half ago.

I want to say thanks to Steph for her Potato Swiss Soup in the family cookbook. We took it to a brother who is less active, and his wife said he loved it. We're hoping it opened his door a little wider for us.

We love our walks in the morning. The flowers in this place are amazing! Half the time when your walking, your also sniffing. They have dog parks here, which I had never seen before, because everyone here has a dog, if not multiple dogs. The really bad thing about this area is parking. It can definatley be a distraction to the work. You have to have permits to park on the street. I guess the good thing is, that when you finally find a place to park, you can street contact ,while walking a mile to the house that you wanted to go to.

We love being missionaries! I have to say, that we have had some disappointments lately, but we press forward knowing how important our message to the world is. We continue to study, and work hard, so we are worthy of the Lord's direction. I've been reading in the Book of Mormon lately about Alma and Amulek as they tried to teach the people of Ammonihah. What incredible missionaries they were! I love the story of Zeezroms's conversion. I love the care and respect they gave to one another. I have a great companion, too! He truly loves the work.

We love each of you so much! Thank you for your prayers. They mean so much. Take care! Congratulations to Joe and Steph for having their first college graduate. Way to go Annie! Happy Birthday to Toni!

Sorry, if I repeat something. I just can't remember everything we've told everyone.

THE Easter Message

2009-04-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

Let us give thanks in humble prayer
For God gave us his son.
That we may live and be like him
The battle he has won

His life he gave the ransom paid
He beckons us to come
I Stand amazed and humble, still
His work it must be done.

We love you all so much, the work of the Lord moves forward. We love this clip. Truly, this is an Apostle of the Lord

Love Dad

"Its ya birthday"

2009-03-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

We went to the Red Woods on P-Day

Elders are wonderful! It sure was good

to be in our Jeans!!!!

This is a beautiful tree we pass about 10 times

a day. It's at at a buzy intersection so Tanya

snapped this as we flew by.

Disrict Development Meeting

most of the Zone was here for this one

My birthday door! I just love all the

cards and especially the ones drawn by little hands

The only bad thing about my brithday is that it

is followed by TAX day. What a bummer!

We have had a wonderful two weeks since our last post. My birthday was terrific. It started out with four Elders on our door step singing early in the the morning. I feel great for a 58 yr old dude. We celebrated with Elder and Sister House who drove over the mountain from San Jose to go to diner with us. We knew the Houses in the Phillippines. They are really fun.

We are starting to really get into the mission. I can get around really well in the city now. It is really not that big so we see alot of it over and over again. We have met many wonderful people. Tanya is the best companion ever. She has really stepped up. She has had a number of conversations with our neighbor and invited her to learn more about the church. She accepted and we plan to teach her and her family soon. We are teaching two less active families the lessons and one recently activated. We are really growing as we prepare and teach.

Recently we are having alot more success finding investigators. We went to a referal with a member today and met a family of four, along with a boy friend of one of the girls. We have scheduled a lesson with all of them in the members home week after next. We have located two other potential investigators who are familiar with the church and we hope to invite soon to hear more. Most of our time is spent finding those that are lost. We have many who are in the ward but less active. Some do not want to be found. I love to see the surprise on their face when they see us at the door. Its like oh no they found me!! All are surprized some are very kind but not interested. We do not let them off easy we invite as many ways as we can think of to come to church to relearn or to let us serve them. It is great. We have only had a few say we could not come back. We consider that progress.

Especially thanks to Gracie, Livie, Ella, Jack, Matt, & Nathan for the beautiful birthday and easter cards.

We appreciate and feel all your prayers. This is a blessed work. Thanks Brad and Ash for taking care of things there.

Love you all

Papa J and Grandma T

Hard At Work

2009-03-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

President and Sister Jackson

(they are FABULOUS!)

Out the door ( we do miss our jeans).

I I need a Pensioniesta!!

Preach My Gospel, don't go to sleep without it!!

Elder and Sister House playing the psaltry.

Well, we've been here in Santa Cruz for 3 weeks. I think we are starting to feel like we are settling in. Jerry is getting around like he has lived here for years. I haven't driven for a month or written a check at Target. Boy, my life has really changed. Anyway, we love being missionaries! We have met some wonderful people. Most of our time is spent getting to know the members of the ward, and trying to help less-actives. We are teaching a man who is 63 years old, and has not been to church since he was 17. He has some very serious health issues, but is interested in understanding a little more about the church he belongs to. It will be hard to get him to church, so we're working on bringing the church to him. He is a very kind man, and seems to be receptive to learning the messages we are trying to share.

Another thing we love is our Elders! We have the priviledge of working with some fine young men. I am just in awe of them. Our Zone Leaders are also in our ward (Capitola Ward), so we work and coordinate with them alot. I can't even tell you how amazing Zone Conference was, and how much we love our Pres. and Sis. Jackson. It's a wonderful work we are engaged in, and we are learning everyday. I have to admit that after being asked to speak in Sacrament two minutes before it started, being asked to give two talks in two weeks, and singing acapella with 6 sweet soprano singing sisters in front of 60 or so people (my companion almost lost it on that one), I was almost ready to put my 2 week notice in. I guess with the Lord and Jerry as my companions, I'll hang in here a little longer. No complaints about my comp. He is a joy to work with, and a wonderful missionary. I hope Pres. doesn't change us anytime soon.

We love serving in the community! We help at the Soup Kitchen on Tues. They serve about 200 to 250 homeless everyday from 12 - 1. We have met some wonderful volunteers. Last week we were the greeters. There are alot of homeless and jobless people in Santa Cruz. It's a very hard thing. We also help at Grey Bears on Fri. mornings. This organization bags excess food and produce, and then loads cars and trucks to take the bags to shut ins, needy, etc. It's fun to do! Our Relief Society Pres. is there on Fridays too, and she has been great to work with. I feel like I've known her for years.

One of the Senior Missionary couples from the office came over from San Jose to go to dinner with us for Jerry's birthday. They play an instument called the psaltry. Elder House (we knew them in the Philippines) actually makes them. Sis House is a musician (fiddles), and she does the music. They are great people! Sis Mcnally (RS Pres) invited 6 0r 8 people over for a little fireside. The Houses played, and shared a thought. It was nice. The best part was when Sis Mcnally brought out her ukelele. I said do you know I'll Be Down To Get You? She did, so every one joined in and we sang oldies for the next 30 minutes. Dad, wish you could have there. One of Sis. Mcnally's non member friends was there, and she seemed to enjoy herself. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Tomorrow is PDay. YEA! I have got to clean my floors. We try to keep a schedule like the young elders, but sometimes its hard. We weren't having anytime to fix dinner, so we have to plan in our daily planner to stop and fix dinner. We do have invitations from time to time. Tomorrow we are going with our Zone to see the Redwoods. We're going to have hamburgers, and we made Potato Salad, and chocolate cake for Jer's birthday. Should be fun, and we can were jeans!!!!! Some of the Elders will be on bikes, and the rest will be walking.

I have started reading the Book of Mormon again. I have my own personal study early in the morning, just before Jerry gets up at 6:30. I am reminded again of the committment that Nephi had to the Lord. He was indeed steadfast and immovable in his faith. What a wonderful example he is. I am grateful for this book in my life. Just like the Prophet Joseph said, it does bring me closer to my Father in Heaven and Savior when I study and ponder its truths. What a wondrous message we have to share, and speaking of sharing messages, it's late and I have work to do, so I'll close for now. Thank you everyone for all your love and support.

Were off and RUNNING

2009-02-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

t Our Placques at Last

Our wonderful group of senior missionaries

Nice little view a block down from our apartment in Santa Cruz

Our Zone, How about our ZL ELder Chessman 6'11"

This is our first blog on the Mish, (as our kids would say). The last two weeks have been absolutely terrific. Tanya and I were sooooo surprized by our fabulous four. We were eating the traditional , get all the Elmers you can together dinner in Lehi, when we heard a familiar voice behind us ask if he was included in the party. I whipped around to see David right behind me and to our absolute unbelief Kristin, Karen and Brad as well. We were both blown away. Needless to say we cried, laughed and talked together for two days. Tanya and I have never felt so loved and supported by our family. That goes for our extended family as well. We are grateful

for all our freinds and family who have aided us in this effort.

The MTC was a blessed experience we rubbed shoulders with some of the finest people on earth.

These senior couples come from all over to serve the Lord in the fall of there lives. Some of these wonderful people are serving their fourth mission as a couple. They are unbelievable. The training was first class and the place runs like a clock. We were so grateful to be there and to watch the young elders and sisters (almost 3,000 of them) was inspiring. We saw Elder Derrick Asay and Elder Taylor Swan in the MTC as well as Ammon Andelin and Christian Pratt. Matt's great uncle, grandpa Walkers brother and his wife, were also there working in the MTC.

We had the opportunity of hearing from Elder M Russel Ballard at the devotional. The whole experience was beyond words.

Then it was over and we were off to San Jose. We drove across Nevada and arrived on Saturday the 21st. Sunday was Stake Conference, broadcast from Salt Lake. We rushed to get here in time to hear the council for this area from the brethren.

We spent the night in the mission home with Pres Jackson and his wife. They are terrific, about our age and they were so glad to see us we talked for hours about life, family and the mission.

He gave us our assignment and kicked us out the door monday morning. We drove over the mountains to our new apartment and first area. Santa Cruz. We are actually in the Capitola ward. We have been running like crazy since. We have met with the Bishop, the Relief Society Pres. the HP Grp Ldr and about 10 families. (Mostly Less active and Elderly)

The area is like a vacation spot, tons of retired folks and the ward has alot of elderly. We have many, many less active families. Lots of part member and some unbaptized youth. We will work with the ward council to sort it all out on Sunday.

We have our first investigator and teach our first lesson next week.

Love you all

In Utah Preparing for the MTC

2009-02-12T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are in Utah. We got in last night about 6. We checked in at the hotel, changed into our dress and suit, then met Joe, Steph, Annie, Judy, Aaron, and Teana for dinner at the Bombay House. It was fun! I have to admit when they started talking about EFR, I was contemplating how to address getting a 3 day pass from Pres. Jackson in July. In case, it doesn't work, remember the keyword is PICTURES LOTS OF PICTURES! The place looks great, and will be enjoyed by all, I'm sure.
Our first day in Utah began with a 1 1/2 mile walk in the cold (of coarse; we didn't pack to much for this kind of weather). While we were walking, we were watching so as not to slip on ice and spend our MTC week in the hospital, and commenting about the great blessing of serving in San Jose with no ice. We then enjoyed a nutritious breakfast, minus the Diet Coke. Yes, the mission will be full of little adjustments, but we can do it. I also started my journal(4 pages). Not a great writer, but it felt good.
The rest of the day was spent dragging Jerry around trying to find clothes that make me look like a missionary. He was a great support, and we were somewhat successful. He was particularly thrilled when I bought a coat (which means no more blue sweater coat with the swans on the inside). We hit the Distribution Center, Deseret Book for a few more CD's, Franklin Covey where he bought me a cool backpack to carry my books (not quite as big as Aunt Cheryl's book bag), and we dropped off his first tie fatality (Indian food) to the dry cleaners.
We then came back to the hotel , and I took off my hose and shoes, Jer took off his shoes and loosened his tie, and got comfortable. I sure hope the Lord blesses us with a little more stamina, because I'm beat and we haven't even started yet.
I think we'll break for dinner, and then study. Hopefully tommorrows errands won't take long, and we can maybe go visit a few people.
Anyway, that's it for my first blog entry. We are grateful to be here, and look forward to our MTC experience together. We love each of you very much, and are grateful for your support.

Do you know the way to San Jose

2009-02-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

Its hard to believe it is here. After much prayer and preparation (Almost 40 yrs) we are just about ready to go! We received our "CALL TO SERVE" on December 27. The big white envelop arrived and we waited with great anticipation for our family to gather. The Lord has called us to the San Jose Mission. We are both soo00 excited to go. There is some anxiety OK alot of anxiety about our inabilities and the unknown but at last we are about to leave for the MTC. We will spend a week there and then off to California.With the help of our sweet daughter in law (Thanks Toni) we have set up this blog to keep everyone informed and to share some of what we experience.God has been good to us to allow us this time and we promise to work hard and to be obedient.Getting ready to go has been a bit of a challenge just getting all the doctor stuff done was a major hassle. I had to get my knee fixed (surgery) and both Tanya and I got new orthodics, Yip Pee. Getting older is a pain. I didn't even know what orthodics were until I was 50. Eye glasses etc., all the fix em up stuff you have to do to your self has been real fun.I've been thinking that the young people who go out really have no idea of this part of the program. They for the most part breeze through this and are off. But us older or should I say "senior couples" well its kind of a get everything fixed so you can go deal. Its all for the best, they don't want us to break down on the mission.Well enough, with the Lords blessings and our faith in Him we are set and ready to serve. We so love and appreciate the support of our family both immediate and extended. Thank you all for your examples, your love and help getting ready.Elder Jerry and Sister Tanya Elmer(Sounds pretty cool)