Our 3rd Letter while serving at Heber Valley Camp July 2026

 July was a fun month for us here serving at Heber Valley Camp.  Our days are still filled with tasks of converting fluorescent lights to LED, taking inventory of lights still to be converted, and removing tiny o-rings from propane fittings and inserting tiny new o-rings back into the tiny groove inside.   Luckily we enjoy doing several presentations called “I Feel My Savior’s Love” to groups of youth throughout each week, sometimes 3-5 a day. 

    

     Over the 4th of July weekend, 5 of our kids with spouses and grandkids, came to visit and stay a couple nights in a pavilion by the lake.  We were able to take them on a high challenge course where they all climbed up and went across the different routes to get to the crows nest to come down the zip line.  Parents even took Haven (6), Tillie (4) and Remi (3)  along for the adventure and then those kids had to go on their own down the zip line which they all bravely did!  We also got to go on a big swing where you are harnessed and pulled clear up into the sky, then once you let go of the pull rope, you go flying back and forth several times.  It makes me squeal so it was amazing to see our 6 and 4 year old granddaughters get pulled way up, then swing so high and even let go and wave their arms around!  We climbed the rock wall with several making it to the top to ring the siren, even 4 year old Tillie! We did several low course challenge games such as swinging all the kids from one mat to the other, then getting several adults and the grandkids all over the big wall.  The kids all threw tomahawks and this was where 4 year old Kora stuck 7 stars in a row! Everyone loved our time paddling around the beautiful  lake. We enjoyed several meals together, a little down time for the adults as the kids happily explored or rode their scooters around the big open pavilion, playing volleyball and 9 square, and evening time on the lake shore playing with remote control boats.  We  joined about 30 sets of missionaries by decorating our side by side and joining in the parade we put on for anyone in camp on the 4th of July. Our adult kids got the bonus outing of going on the “Faith Walk” which is such an amazing experience.

     One night we went with our friends, the Hendricksons, for a long ride in our side by side to explore beyond the camps and get to some backcountry.  Lots of fun, lots of dust.

     We celebrated our 38th Anniversary by going to a buffet dinner and outdoor musical of “Little Mermaid” put on here in Heber out in the middle of a big field.  Earlier in the month we went to the musical 1776 held in the old Social Hall in Heber.  We enjoyed both these productions.  

     Our final fun was helping our Activities Committee put on a Hawaiian Luau.  We collected decorations, gathered Amazon boxes to cover and paint with Tiki faces, and made up Aloha Awards to give to our “Tiki-riffic mission leaders” and other prizes for the Shark Bait Award, the Walking Volcano, and Cast Away awards.  Luckily the food was catered so it was all amazing. 

     Now we start into our 5th month here on the mountain.  Suddenly this is the last full week of girls/youth coming to camp as many will begin school soon. We will still host groups but the numbers begin to drop and things will begin to change for all of us.  

     We are feeling good and will continue strong through the end of September when we will move back home to find ways to serve in our area for 6 months before coming back for our second season

Much Love for you all,   Love Elder and Sister Jerman

 Kids at the High Ropes Course 

Grandkids team work games 

 

. Grandkids at High Ropes Course

 Red, White and Blue at the lake 

4th of July parade

                         

 

                After a fun (and dusty) ride in the back country 

  Tikis we painted for the Luau

                           

 

Our 2nd Report

 HEBER VALLEY CAMP                                      June 2026

It’s been a couple months since we have written about our mission, so we will catch up a bit.  We spent April and May getting the cabins, pavilions, cook stations and bathroom ready for campers.  We turned it on, tightened it up, repaired it or replaced it to be ready for the Young Women groups, Young Men groups and Youth Conference groups who started coming after Memorial Day.  It was so wonderful to finally see faces!  

Now we keep the camps stocked with supplies such as soap, toilet paper, garbage sacks, cleaning supplies, wasp traps, etc.  Some days we pull out all the fluorescent lights in a cabin or pavilion and convert them to LED lights that should last ten years and use a lot less energy, plus they are very bright!

Our favorite part of the day is to take some beautiful paintings of the Savior and go to a campground of girls, or young men, or youth groups, and give a presentation of “I Feel My Savior’s Love”.  We talk, teach, share quotes and play the guitar for them to sing along to the Children’s Song with the same title.  It is a sweet experience with them and uplifts us.

We work hard all week then enjoy our p_day back home in American Fork where we can have the kids and grandkids over, catch up on sewing, yard work, prepping some food, going to wedding receptions of returned missionaries from our mission in San Francisco, and sleeping in our beds next to our bathroom which we now consider “spacious.”

A special new addition to this camp is the Faith Walk built last year.  We have enjoyed experiencing it for ourselves, then helping at different stations along the way for others.  There are usually 600-1000 guests a night and sometimes we don’t finish and get home until just before midnight.  We see so many touched as they walk along or hear from them the next day and know that this is such a meaningful experience for so many.  

Most days we work from 8:00-5:00.  Church is now held in a large pavilion or amphitheater outside.  We serve on an Activities Committee and are busy helping for such things as our Talent Show, Firesides, upcoming 4th of July parade, Cowboy HoeDown and Hawaiian Luau. 

We are half way through our 1st season here at camp.  We are happy and enjoy serving with the 220 other senior missionaries.  We are making a lot of new friends :)  

The Youth Theme this year is “Walk with Me.”  Our daily cheer together is “Hurrah for Zion!”

We hope all is well with you.  Love, Elder and Sister Jerman

  Entrance to Camp 

Picnic spot behind our RV

                                                   

   Our favorite place is the lake! 

Our Building Maintenance Crew  Lights along the Faith Walk Trail

    Trading out lights

  

Riding and hiking with our side by side on the trails

We start our 2nd mission

                               

                            Heber Valley Girls Camp Mission                       APRIL 2026

We are serving another mission!  Even during our last mission we talked about our next mission and what that might be.  This came quicker than expected and not what we had ever discussed.  In January, we were invited to winter camp overnight at Heber Valley Girls Camp with our friends, and our children and grandchildren.  Suddenly we were talking with the mission president who encouraged us to apply to serve here.  We took a couple days to adjust our thoughts, then jumped in with enthusiasm to complete our paper work to apply.  We already had a motor home, so the new fun assignment was to shop for a side by side! 

One day as we drove up the canyon to look at the camp, we received our mission call on our phones so we opened it to read up here.  We needed to be ready in 3 weeks!  We already had been working on fixing up our motor home but we continue to update things that are 30 years old now.  We began gathering supplies while tending grandchildren, celebrating Easter, listening to General Conference, and fixing a few meals to enjoy family time before several of us leave for the summer season.  Brett and Ashdon went to Hawaii to open a soda shop for a friend on Maui.  Be sure to pick up a “Swell Soda” when visiting Kihea!  Mac and Amy are on their way to do “summer sales” in Kentucky.  We are now full time missionaries for 18 months.  We will spend 6 months here at camp, then 6 months at home where we will continue to serve as missionaries for the Orem Mission, then another 6 months back at camp.  

We had a week of training, then teachers from the MTC (Missionary Training Center) came to teach us.  We even got to go to the MTC to join the young missionaries for a devotional.  We imagined ourselves being chosen to help at the Lake or Challenge Courses, maybe a Camp Host or Greeters.  Our names were the last ones called for Building Maintenance.  What!?!  We are in a zone with 4 other couples, a plumber, 2 electricians and a building inspector.  We are school teachers who fix most things with hot glue and duct tape!  We had to recover from our shock and show up with willing hands to help and a happy heart to serve.  We now know how to hard pipe plumbing to trailers, fix window screens and fill propane tanks!

The best part right now is riding the side by side around as we explore the mountain.  

We are also enjoying getting acquainted with 240 senior missionaries serving here. 

We just learned that this mission has 1/8th of all the senior missionaries serving

throughout the world. We will host nealy 1000 campers a week.

Our cheer here is “Hoorah for Zion!”

Love, Elder and Sister Jerman