Amy's Facebook video

Here is the link of the video Amy posted on Facebook in her first area.  So beautiful!

https://www.facebook.com/100058481747994/posts/pfbid0fY83tNDTxFtqwxWNbJtKhWd1DUjFd55qQRyLqX3zX685A9qmj6EQmU2AcBccYrUil/?d=n

Barton shmarton

 Hola mis seguidores!

Monday- For preperation day (if we call it p day our mission president will spawn in paso robles and smite me) we went to California Valley to this stunning flower field, i felt like i was in Holland with elder Callhoun and elder Roger's in the best 2 years movie

Tuesday- zone conference and my new friend elder Espinoza informed me that Celsius drinks aren't against the word of wisdom?! But I can't break my no energy drink goal for this transfer some of the elders in this mission are concerningly gay

Thursday- exchanges in Santa Maria with hermana Barton from af! We walked a ton and talked to one person after the other, we had this really good convo with this older guy for like 30 minutes, but it turned out he's down bad for María (mother Mary)

Friday- my favorite day of the mission so far. Me and hna Wheatley went to a highschool softball game during our dinner hour and got shaved ice, we walked back home and there was tons if people downtown bc of a car show that just finished and a cute Latino was singing with a old woman dancing. The sun was setting and I felt like I was on vacation for a sec haha? My sister in Lithuania prolly never thought that

Saturday- lesson with recent converts Isabel and Ricardo. It's hard to teach them because their first language is Mixteco which is Spanish and Chinese combined- Elder Sumsion ik you know both, help me out. They haven't been able to come to church bc the police had their car or they say their baby doesn't wanna come? But this Sunday they came and my heart was so happy! 

The First Great Commandment: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng

Super good talk by Elder Holland, listen to it while you get ready tmr. I love what Elder Holland thinks Peter, the senior apostle, would've told the rest of the apostles after Christ's mortal ministry was over. "We have talked with, prayed with, and labored with the very Son of God Himself. We have walked with Him and wept with Him, and on the night of that horrible ending, no one wept more bitterly than I."  It's so cool to picture how close they would've been, like best friends fr. I also love how they had emotional times too. Jesus wouldn't just hype people up or always try and solve people's problems in an unvalidating way. But he was the most genuine person to live, the most empathetic. And then poor Peter was left alone to "bitterly weep" which I'm sure we can all think of times that we've done the same. 

-Herman Jerman 

Pics:

-I led little Romie in her princess carriage to her death in some weeds

-Exchanges w hna Barton

 

-sheep on a hill 

-Hna Wheatley found her next zone conf fit at the thrift store

Lord Speciman

People:

-Wednesday was my comp Wheatleys bday so we went to Alexis's house (branch president wife) and made bracelets. Alexis's conversion story is crazy, she got baptized and went through the temple behind her parents backs. Her parents used to hate the church/ missionaries but now they have a soft spot for us hermanas. 

-During finding one day we met Noah. We told him as missionaries we teach people about how much God loves them and he said "that's wassup thats astronomical you guys do that for 18 months. Come over for sum tea sometime and we can chat about Jesus" We asked for his number and he said he's an underground rapper (goes by Lord Speciman) and is really big in Asia right now so we gotta keep it on the down low

-we've taught our Golden boy Martin like everything but in our lesson on Saturday he said he feels like he'd be "playing God" if he got baptized into our church bc he was already baptized as a baby. We've explained that to him a few times already so pray for Martin to feel good to be baptized soon! 

Since learning spanish I'm starting to question how I even know English and how I know how to speak it. How do you even understand what I'm writing? Stuff is bonkers. Bro Gonzales told me " If you don't eat spicy food you won't learn Spanish hermana." I also am finally starting to get energy in the morning, we go to a high school track for exercise at 6:30am and I'm starting to talk to myself and skip around lol wut

Spiritual:

-had testimony meeting for the baby's (aka me and 5 others) on our entire mission zoom. I told a story of when I was in hs and I came home crying, I never cried in hs, but my older brother Zac was there and just hugged me. He's always been so Christlike, well actually only after his mission lol but that hug reminded me of how my hug will be with my Savior when I'm back in heaven again. Until then I like to picture Him with his arm over me when I'm praying or walking around finding people. 

Sister training leaders 

Noah the rapper 

us when our top progressing friend Ismael starts ghosting us 

ig I'm now hna Jeram 

olive garden for wheatleys bday 

district 

Martin at church in his snappy suit! 

United is the best airline!

 Hola Hola here's my past 11 days:

Conference in the mtc was cool- when you think abt it we sat and listened to old men talk for 10 hours (love you old men = prophets of God!) 

Had a goodbye devo at the mtc and sang the armies of heleman song and sis Vi's voice sounds SO good in that specific song. And when it said "and we will be the Lords missionaries to bringggg the wooorld His truth" me and sis Burrell looked at each other and started balling. It finally hit me that I really was taking part "in the most important and THE GREATEST work, that's taking place on earth today." Aka missionary work. (shoutout to my brotha zac for that quote)  

Said goodbye to the mtc friends (little did I know...) and the new Zealand elders and sisters did the haka. 

Monday: me and sis Burrell up at 2am, on the plane by 8am- windshield wiper was broken and they took apart the engine, 10am- oh that didn't work you're all being deplaned. 11:30- one of the elders in our group that left his phone on the plane amd finally got it back, the mtc folks said to come back to sleep at the mtc and do it all again tmr. 4:30pm- we're back at the mtc baby! (the luggage flew on to Santa Barbara!)

Tuesday: up at 3am, back to the airport, at 8am- on the plane and sat in line to be de-iced, 10:30am we finally push off. They were really testing our patience and the ability of our backs to sit in airplane chairs, thanks United.  This 2 hour delay put us in late at San Fransisco so we missed our connecting flight to Santa Barbara so flew on down to LAX where our mission president and wife came to pick us up. It was all worth it when we got to the mission presidents house Tuesday night and we had ice cream WITH WHIPPED CREAM!!!

So all that was chaotic, but with chaos comes blessings (I just made that up, put it on a sign in your kitchen). 

-We met this pilot named Joel who bore his testimony abt mission work and the spirit was so strong his eyes were welling up with tears and mine may have been too. At the mtc I've realized that whenever another person cries from the spirit, I do too without fail. 

-we talked to a dude waiting for the front runner and a convert on the front runner and they both told us rlly good advice I felt like I needed to hear

-we met hermana engstrom(sister in our zone)'s twin and she gave us a ride back to the mtc so we didn't have to take Trax! 

-me and sis burrell strutted into the mtc and shocked just about everyone that we had come back, i espially shocked a certain elder larson ifykyk.(if ya know, ya know) With chaos comes blessings ;)

So back to cali- the area I'm in is paso de robles (north of San Luis Obispo - top of the mission) and my mom (trainer) is a cute cowgirl hermana Wheatley. She makes spoon rings, I make spoon rings= besties. Thursday we did service for 4 hours- unloading and loading boxes of deseret farms food (catch me on the ksby news) =  https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/40-000-pounds-of-food-donated-to-san-luis-obispo-county-nonprofits

Friday and Saturday we handed out lots of Easter invites at laundromats, I even led out in Spanish for a few! We also got bashed on by some jehovah witnesses! Latinos are awesome tho bc when we ask if they wanna learn more about Jesus they say si si! Then we ask for they number and they're so down to give it to us. Sometimes they say funny stuff like well if your church is at 12, do I eat lunch before? Should I eat at 10 or 11? Saturday night hna Wheatley felt that we should turn back and invite this lady she had never met but her past comp knew. She ended up not being home but we talked to her next door neighbor who was outside, Puley. He was such a sweet man and wants to have a lesson with us! 

Ok wow almost done, but EASTER. We had 9 new people come to church which was a dub and then went to our branch presidentes house for dinner. We had a confetti egg fight and presidente threw one at me and hermana Wheatley and we got a mouthful of egg shells. Their family is so fun (with 3 young girls) and I'm so grateful for my family and that we get to live forever and ever all because of one person- our Savior. 

Loves and kisses! 

Hermana jerman 

Amy made it to California! (and in a quick clip on the news!)

 Wow - what a week for all of us!  Waking up to a foot of snow in April, driving and sliding in snow, and Amy trying to fly out of it all to get to her mission field.  Her siblings all flew to some pretty far reaches of the world, taking 2 days to get to their missions in Africa, Germany, Lithuania, Chile and Uruguay.  Well, Amy can now say that it took her 2 days also!

She was packed and loaded and at the MTC Travel Office by 3:00 a.m. on Monday.  She took a bus to the airport, checked her luggage and got on the plane by 7:30.  It went through it's de-icing procedure, but then they discovered a broken windshield wiper that they worked on for awhile until they decided to de-plane everyone.  At this point, the 5 missionaries determined they would no longer make it to San Francisco on time for their connecting flight to Santa Barbara, so it was decided that the missionaries would take the Front Runner home to sleep at the MTC another night!  She thought they would get their luggage back but it flew on to San Francisco that afternoon and the missionaries got to make do I guess.  She did 2 weeks of Europe without her carry-on so I'm sure she knew how to handle this one nighter.  

The next morning was a repeat of checking in at 3:00a.m. then off  to the airport to try again.  This was the day Utah county woke to a foot of new snow.  Grand Finale for Amy!  Everyone boarded the plane then waited in a 2 hour line of planes to be de-iced. This meant the flight landed 2 hours late in San Francisco.  So they missed their connecting flight to Santa Barbara.  This time they were put on a plane to fly further south into LAX where their mission president and wife traveled to pick them up.  Normally a one hour flight with no traffic but at rush hour it added an hour and half onto their drive time.  She must have been pretty tired by now.  A senior couple drove to the Santa Barbara airport to pick up the luggage that had arrived the day earlier.   Luckily they kept the missionaries at the mission office, fed them, and let them sleep overnight.  The next day they did some training and then sent them off with their new companions.  

This is the quick message she was able to send me.  "Hey ma!! So yesterday we sat on the flight for 2 hours again bc the line to be de iced was so long haha, but we made it to Ventura at like 7, ate dinner, slept at the mission house which is so nice, then today did orientation and drove to my area with my trainer! I'm in Saint Lois obispo (San Luis Obispo) (3.5 hour drive) and I love love love my trainer. Still tired but feeling good and happy!--Love you so much and tell the fam I love them all--"

I can't wait to hear from her on Monday!  She has such a story but I don't know how much time she'll have to write it up so I decided to share this much. 

Then today, I found this video just posted on her California, Ventura mission site.  It is a news story out of San Luis Obispo.  Did she get there in time to help with this project?  It would be a cool thing to do your first day in town and a great way to get to rub shoulders with a lot of local folks. After watching it a couple times I think I found her at point 1:21.  

Here is a link that was posted today on her mission website.  Look at 1:21 for Amy! 

https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/40-000-pounds-of-food-donated-to-san-luis-obispo-county-nonprofits

Ventura en Ventura!

 Zac calls it "La aventura en Ventura"

He says Ventura can mean joy, fortuity or fate

Ventura en Ventura!

From the California Ventura Mission

Dear Parents, Thank you for sending your missionary to the California Ventura Mission. Sister Amy Jerman is now serving in her new area with her trainer. 

 A Facebook page has been created voluntarily by a member in our mission.  We hope you will enjoy finding your missionary in the comments and in the pictures. The Facebook site is: california ventura mission friends and family. 

 You may expect a postcard from your missionary soon. We have attached pictures of your missionary’s arrival and with Sister Carter and me. Preparation day is Monday, so you can expect to hear from your missionary starting next week. 

 We welcome Sister Jerman into the Lord's service and thank you again for sending such a valiant missionary. 

 Sincerely, C. Tom Carter President C. Tom Carter California Ventura Mission

En route from LAX to the mission home with Pres. and Sister Carter

Sister/Hermana Jerman

Amy with Pres. and Sister Carter

Amy with her trainer Sister Wheatley

A quick message from Amy

 Hey ma!! So yestesterday we sat on the flight for 2 hours again bc the line to be de iced was so long haha, but we made it to ventura at like 7, ate dinner, slept at the mission house which is so nice, then today did orientation and drove to my area with my trainer! I'm in Saint Lois obispo (3.5 hour drive) and I love love love my trainer. Still tired but feeling good and happy!--

Love you so much and tell the fam I love them all--

Amy