Everything's BIGGER in TEXAS!

Doing laundry and felt something in the washer! Took forever to get it off.  The bugs are BIGGER in Texas.

This past week has been pretty good! We've had some hard times but have also seen miracles :] Yesterday we went by to visit a less active named F C. She has a very sweet and big heart. The last time we visit her she said she was cleaning her hosue but that we could home in. I told her we would love to help and her excuse was, "No you both are so pretty I dont want you to get dirty!" Nevertheless, haha, I did as my mother has taught me and right as F let us in the house I picked up a broom and started cleaning. She laughed at me and said, "What are you doing?!" I said, "Haha are you going to be mad at me if I help clean?" She said, "..No. but I dont want you to get dirty". Then I laughed and said, "Its okay I love to help and I need to get dirty, it shows that I worked hard today".

After that day we've had a good relationship with F. Last night we were able to meet her friend J! Funny enough the day we visited them he told us that morning he told F he wants to start going to church, he wants to change. We had a great lesson with them about how families can be together forever and temple sealings. They loved hearing about the gospel and Juan wants to start taking the lessons.

We are also teaching two sisters; B and A. We found them walking around a complex. I said hi to her and she responded, "Hi. You're pretty!" Haha we finally have been able to teach her AND her sister! B gets so excited to see us! She acts like she just received a present haha! A knows A LOT about religion and is so eager to learn more! She accepted a baptismal date for August 24. This week we are going to talk to her parent about everything and see what they say because we cant baptise B without her parents permission.

Thanks for my shirt ~ I love it!

 I is doing better. She still wants to be baptized August 10! We just need to make sure shes ready. We have permission to baptize her in a pool. I'll let you know. :)

This week the Spanish Stake also had a night of talents! It was so fun we went with one of our investigators R. Each ward/branch did a special dance from different parts of the world (like Argentina, Slavador, ect.) I also got to see members from Missiori City which was the ward in my first area!!!! I was so excited. I got to talk to J L . He was so happy to see me and said that Hermana Kennedy and I were a huge part of him coming back to the church and now he's preparing to go serve a mission!!! :) I was so excited to hear that and am amazed to see that by just sharing my testimony with him and allowing the spirit to touch his heart he is now going to serve a mission.

Those are the biggest high lights of the week. I'm so grateful for this gospel. I know its true. I know that we need difficult and hard times so that we can enjoy the good ones. I know we are blessed automatically when we keep all the commanments of God. Everyone can be a missionary, you dont need a nametag. Just open your mouths and share the gospel. Its surprising how many people you will actually effect. I love being a member of this church, its what gives me so much happiness. And I want everyone else to experience this happiness as well. I love you and hope you have a great week!

Love-Hermana Ashley Jaeger

Week of Miracles

Hello to all my loves!

In the MTC my teacher told us something I will never forget. He said, "On my mission when we had a hard day we would call it 'the day before miracle day' because the day after we had a rough day we would see many miracles!" I have seen this happen repetidly while on my mission. Last week was defiently 'the week before miracle week'. I am grateful the Lord has felt like we were ready to receive miracles these past few days.

My Companion Hermana O and I

We have been stopping by "I"'s house every other day because she is very sick. We have been praying to know what to do with her because she wants to be baptized. Our last lesson we invited her to be baptized on August 10 (yes Kelseys birthday:]). She wasn't to sure about it but decided she would pray about is while we were there. As we knelt in prayer and she prayed in her wheelchair the spirit's presence was so strong. "I" gave a beautiful prayer and started to cry. After her heartfelt prayer she said she felt good and she wanted to prepare to be baptized on August 10 but wants to be feeling well on that day and to be able to stand. I've never seen her stand yet. But my companion and I are praying and fasting that on the day of her baptism she can stand.

We also were able to teach a man we talked to two weeks ago but havent been able to see him. He is AWESOME and has kids and a beautiful wife. We taught about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration and he liked it. He's excited to read the book of mormon and told us when we come back we better be prepared to answer his questions haha. We are excited to teach him more!

We met with a woman named I. She is excited to take the lessons and we invited her son S to go to our night of activities with the branch. We found out he liked soccer which was perfect because for this weeks activity we are playing soccer! S is excited and is going to go to the activity.

The members in the branch helpus out so much I am so grateful for them! One member Carlos Torres actually came out and BIKED with us haha it was great! How thankful I am for such helpful members in the branch. They show so much love. I know the best way to find new investigators is through the members.

It says Temecula!  That's my home :)

We go over 3 times a week to a recent converts home named P! He is older and is adorable!!! The other day we saw him at the gas stattion and we asked what he was doing. He said he wanted to go for a walk...and he lives over a mile away from the gas station haha! He went and bought my comp and I a soda :] we love visiting him because he is so funny! The other day he let us ride in his wheel chair HAHAHAHA it was so fast! He was laughing so much. We are helping him prepare to go to the temple in 4 months :] He has a picture of me as his screen saver on his phone HAHA!

Okay here is the BIGGEST miracle of the week! The other day we had to pull over and call a member. As we were on the side of the road a truck pulls up by us and the man mumbles something that sounded like, "Do you need help" We smiled and said hi and he pulled over to talk to us. We walked to his car and realized he was a deaf man. He got out a notepad he had and started writing to us explaining that he could not hear. We introduced ourselves and asked him about this life. His name is V. At age 8 he got Maleria or something and it caused him to go deaf. His mother and father have passed away.  He told us he has been sad. We told him we would invite the sign langauge missionaries to go over and teach him and he was so excited! We actually ended up "talking" to him for over an hour!!! We laughed a lot too he really enjoyed our company. We scheduled an appointment for 7pm on friday. V told us he would wait by the window until he saw the missionaries becuase there was no other way he would know someone was at the door.

My Trainee

A few days later we were on that same streeet and we saw a lady in her garage. Even though we were heading to an appointment we felt we should stop and talk to her. Her name is N and she is a devoted Christian! She is english AND spanish speaking! the more we talked to her the more things we had in common such as great faith in god, tithing, ect. She invited us into her house and started feeding us quesadillas haha! Shes in her 60s and had lost her husband and some of her children. We were able to share about our religion and she loved it! She told us what beautiful woman we were to be preaching about God to the world! As we got her information I noticed she lived on the same street as the guy V lived on! I asked if she new him and she did! She told him he needed God in his life and that would make him happy. She was excited to know we had talked to him about god! all of a sudden the sign langauge (ASL) missionaries texted us and told us they couldnt visit our other friend V that day. We asked N if we could go to V's house real quick and let him know that they werent coming. She said of course and said to invite him over to her house! As we walked up to V's house we saw him sitting by the window. He hurry and got up from his chair and opened the door for us! We told him if he could go to N's house so we could teach him. He was so excited and happy he grabbed him notepad and hurried and locked up his house!

N was so excited to see V. She loved that he was laughing and kept telling him it was a blessing he could meet the missionaries. We explained a little about our church and invited them to church the next day at 9am. They said he'd maybe come and was confused by the directions. It was a miracle we could meet N and that she knew V and we could teach both of them at the same time!

Silly Companions

Sunday came and we tried our best to get people to church but it didnt seem like we had anyone coming. As we waiting in the foyer during the opening prayer my companion goes, "Oh wow I think I just saw V pull up!" We walked outside and sure enough there was V!!! Book of Mormon and salvation pamphlet in one hand and wearing a huge smile on his face! We had him sit by us and we translated what the speakers where saying on paper so he could understand. It's a miracle the lord helped me translate in my brain from spanish to english and write it down on paper really quick for him to read! And amazing enough sacrament meeting was on the plan of salvation!!! The members were very welcoming to V. V stayed 2 hours and then had to go. We walked outside and expressed our thankfullness for him attending church and that we were happy to see him. He was very happy and was excited to learn more with the ASL missionaries on Saturday.

I know the Lord had us stop on that road at that specific time on that specific day for a reason. We needed to meet V. And even though other missionaries will now be teaching him we set a good foundation for him and we all became life long friends. At that moment I was reminded of the scripture Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weaknesses. I give unto men weaknesses that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselvs before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them". I love being a servant of God. I love being a missioanry. How grateful I am to have this gospel in my life. 

Yo se que este iglesia es la iglesia de dios. Estoy es muy agradesida por my slavador jesucristo. Me encanta ser una missionara. Yo se es muy importante tener fe en jesucristo y actuar en nuestros fe. Con Dios todo es posible!

love with all my heart- Hermana Ashley Jaeger

Another week in Paradise! "Your not hard to notice"

Good morning!!

Loving every minute

Good to hear you all are doing so well! Thank you for the package I got last week my favorite part was the pictures, especially of Austin when he was drugged up from getting his wisdom teeth out!  HAHA poor guy. I love that he wanted to play the piano. I was listening to a song the other day and thought of Aus, I miss him playing. And I miss Garretts big hugs. And Blakes desire to go out with me to places like the pool. Everyday I am remined how lucky I am to have such incredible parents. Oh and I loved the pictures of Kelsey!!! I miss her so much.

My week has been pretty good. The members here are wonderful and they come out with us everyday!! Even though we are on bikes they follow behind us in a car haha! And they ALWAYS bring us food. Biking is getting a little easier but last night I made us go home early because the lightening was crazy! The lightening was so close and we had no car for protection. Sometimes its best to follow how you feel.  

I'm learning a lot with being a senior companion. My comp is a hard worker. I know its my burden to bear right now and I have faith in God that someday I'll get the language. Everyday I see how my patience is tested.  Our apartment is always falling apart haha. For showers its either boiling hot or freezing cold. And our sink desposal is not working.  The office said they will fix it today.

We see miracles everyday. The other day we stopped by a house the elders told us to visit,it was the house of a member who just moved to the area. She had afriend there at the house that was not a member named A. We were able to teach her a brief lesson and when we asked for her information she told us just to teach her at the members house every saturday. Then on Sunday in the morning we called and texted EVERYONE we knew and invited them to church and asked if they needed a ride. As we got to church we had a feeling we would have no one. Then in comes the new member with A AND As daughter D!!! That was probably the biggest miracle we saw that week. I prayed so hard that we could have an investigator be at church and the Lord made it possible.

Oh haha the other night we had members out and we taught our investigator F the 10 commandments. It was good but we did stay pretty long during the lesson.

Another ouch from the bike

This week was a hard one for me but I just keep my thoughts focussed on the miracles the Lord provides daily. I make an effort to talk to EVERYONE I make eye contact with and say hi too. And even though some people dont want to talk I know I left a little impact upon them. Some drunk guy told my companion and I, "Yeah you guys stand out, your not hard to notice. Its easy to spot the mormons." Haha but I took that as a complement because I LOVE that people know who I am and what I represent just by my apperance. I know the struggles and challenges I go though are just going to make me stronger. I know I am dealing with all this for a reason and I love what it says in 3 nephi 12:11-12 "And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persicute and shall say all manner of evil against you falsley, for my sake; for ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you".
I love you all so much!

My skirt got caught in the bike wheel :(.... "My Savior keeps me going"

Hello everyone!

First off to my brother Austin I've heard a little about your mission! I hear the flight there is like 18 hours away?! I know you will be wonderful though :] Hey and dont stress about the language, it will come faster once you are set apart as a missionary. You should still TRY and study some things but just remember to spend time with the family okay? Thats whats most important.

Mama Hope made these scarves for us :)

So there was a lot of confusion for me on transfer day haha. I am actually follow-up training which means I'm finishing training a missinary whos only been here for 6 weeks. I'm the senior companion but she knows more spanish then me haha! We are in her origional area called Brazo City biking area...yeah our area is pretty small. We  bike from one side of our area to the other in a hour. The area is nice, the people are so sweet and since we've been on bikes we've had a lot of opportunity to talk to people on the streets. The members here try and come out with us everyday!!! But they are all men so we cant drive with them haha so we ride our bikes and they follow us in their cars to people we want to visit.

My companion Hermana O is sweet and we work well together and we take good care of each other.

Our investigators who we are mainly focussing on his I who is a very sick woman. I'm not sure what she has but shes can barely move and before i came into the area she was in the hospital. We visit her everyday and teach her. She wants to be baptized but feels she needs to wait until after her 3 surgeries which she doesnt know when that will happen. Also we had the opportunity to talk to her husband P who is very funny and reads the Ensyclopedia for fun! We gave him a word of Wisdom pamphlet and the next day we visited he told us he didin't know Joseph smith was killed, he looked up Joseph smith in the Encyclopedia haha.

We are also teaching J A a 20 year old. Its hard to teach him because he works until about 7:30-8 at night and starts at 7am. He also has a testimony of the book of mormon and Joseph smith. We talked about having faith and trusting in God. 

Its nice the members come out with us especially at night because they're are A LOT of "barachos" or drunk guys in our area haha! the other night some came up to us and started talking. He wanted to learn more about our religion so we said he could call us when he had time. We were so thankful C T a member was there because the drunk guy was big and a little intimidating.

The other day as I was biking I was thinking to myself, "Hey I really like biking areas. There not too bad" then all of a sudden my skirt got caught in the back of my tire and stopped the wheels and I flew of my bike haha. thank goodness I put on my biking pants because my skirt was down to my knees when I feel over!!!! Cut and bruised my knee pretty bad and its hard to kneel and pray haha but I just think that whenever I'm tired or my back is hurting from my heavy back pack or when people honk and tell me to move I just think of my Savior. Aww I'm getting emotional writing this but its true. I know he knows EXACTLY what I am feeling; the physical pain, the heat, the yells from other people, awkward stairs from others and other things. My savior is what keeps me going. Funny enough, even when my body feels like its going to collapse I keep going. When someone turns us down, we keep going and praying that we are able to complete what the Father wants us to do in this little area of ours. 

My sweet companion fixing my bike for me.

I am also really blessed to have such a loving and supprotive family. Thank you for taking care of me, you have no idea and I cannot express in words how amazing you all are. Someday I wish I could just get a quick hug form y'all and then I'de be okay. But I know I'm here to help other families be together forever just like what I have.

Being the senior companion is really hard, I feel so much weight on my shoulders. I know for a fact I cannot do this work without the help and guidance of the Lord. I love the scripture in Alma 26:12 and I can relate to it because all the blessings and miracles I see as a missionary come from God. I am nothing without his help. 

Hermana O and I have had a lot of opportunities to talk to people in Spanish and even though we barely know how to speak the language somehow the people are always accepting of our message and open to us coming back and teaching them. I have full confidence in God that anything is possible. The language is still hard and I struggle everyday with understanding and speaking it, but its making me rely on the Lord every second of the day. I've never had to work this hard for so many consistant days but I am happy. I know my struggles and trials are for a moment and they are stretching me to become what the Lord wants me to be. I will not stop this work until I've done everything I can.

I love you all. You are always in my prayers. Thank you for taking such good care of me.

Love-Hermana Ashley Jaeger

Surprise... your a TRAINER! & "Oh, I Like Ya'll"

Me & my comp Hermana K. I'm going to miss her!

So last wednesday night we get a call from the assistants to the president. They tell ys Hermana K will be training a new missionary. We got a little sad but figured either one of us would leave or we both would stay and have a 3rd companion. There was training meeting the next day on thursday but told us we didnt need to go because hermana K had been to it a bunch of times, so we skipped it. Hermana K was telling me sometimes the assistance forget to call people and tell them they are trainign or transfering so when they day of transfers come and the missionary isnt there becuase they didnt know the pres tells the assistance to call that missioanry and inform him what is going on ASAP haha. I though how anxious that would be to not receive a call that you were leaving an area or training. The whole week it was so distracting to think what would happen!!! 

I prayed the Lord would allow me to speak a lot of spanish and have me be in an area where the people really needed my help. On Sunday the missionj had a big Sing A long 4 of July party with the town. We might be in the church news!! Anyway, I saw a lot of the girls who I came out with on the mission at the choir. It was fun seeing them. 

Last night I reread over my Patriarchal Blessing. As I read it my eyes filled with tears. I always rememeber one part that said I would be a teacher and leader in the lords kingdom.  I felt peace and comfort knowing that one day I would be a leader, not because I want to be the center of attention or want praise but I want to show that I am capable of doing hard things. Before bed I was also reading in the Ensign for this month which talks about the Lord giving people callings in the church. The talk explained that all callings are equally important whether you are a bishop or an usher at the door they all can help give service to someone else. That made me think that whatever I am called to, another junior companion that its just as importnat as being a trainer or anything higher then that. There was a quote in there tht I loved by Pres Monson, "When we are on the Lords errand we are entitled to the Lords help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies".

Today we waited anxiously to get the call. You know that feeling you have on a roller coaster when you are at the top and just about to drop?!! Thats the feeling I had all morning!!! The Elders finally called and told us what was happening. Elder Birks says, "What do you think is going to happen?" We both replied "We dont know!!!" He laughed then said, "Okay heres the list of missionaries leaving their areas; Elder ....., Elder ....., Hermana...., Hermana Jaeger..." My comp and I both looked at each other and went "Aww man" Haha then I started thinking of all the things I needed to start packing. Then Elder Birks started listing off the missioanries who were training, "Elder.......,Elder.........., Hermana K, Hermana Jaeger.." Both my comp and I were shocked!!! We told him, "Umm no one told us Hermana Jaeger was triaing?" Then elder birks surprised, "Surprise!" I'm not sure if either the assistance forgot to tell me or President changed his mind last minute and felt I should train and open an area but whatever the case I know it was called of God for me to go to a new area and train.

This past week we got to take E... a 14 year old girl out on a minin mission to be with us for the day. It was so fun and she did so well! The first lady we talked to was was having a garage sale. My comp talked the whole time because I didnt know what to say. As we walked away from the lady who wasnt really interested i couldnt help but feel bad for not talking more then I could have. I let my fear get the best of me. As we walked to another house my comp asked for emily and I to talk to this next lady on our own. So we went to the next home and knocked the door. I heard feet hurrying to open the door and my heart started pounding, you'd think I'de be use to knocking door after 12 weeks but I'm not haha! Anyway the lady opened her door and I just started speaking. It felt funny because there was a gate she was talking through and I couldn't see anything so it felt like I was talking to a door. Maybe thats why it was easy haha! Anyway they lady was nice and started speaking english because she liked english better. When she heard we were mormons she said, "Oh I like y'all. I voted for Mitt Romney!" Haha we laughed and just asked her questions for us to get to know her more. she was so kind and open to talking to us. We had the chance to shaer a quick message outside with her, give her a little map we mde of the church, and started on our way. Just as we were about to leave I built up the courage to ask her if we could leave with a prayer and she said yes. That day with the help of emily a member we had 3 lessons, 3 member presents, and I believe 3 referrals and visited a less active! It was such a successful day and it was fun having emily come out with us and participate in missionary work. At the end of the day we asked what she thought and she replied, "i didnt know it was this hard haha. I hope I go somewhere cold like Canada". Haha

We are still teaching E and her family. We told her how important it is to attend church because its a commandment. And by going to church we partake of the sacrament helping us to rememebr Christ and be clean. We also mentioned how many blessings the Lord has instore for them if they do go to church.

We taught M and N O. about Lehis dream and the importance of following the word of God. The girls are so sweet. M has applied to 7 different jobs in hopes of getting one that gives her the weekends of so she can attend church! Shes praying for help that she can receive a new job that allows ehr to go to church. M knows without a doubt the church is true. Its fun teaching N because she is 9 and loves reading in the picture Book of Mormons!

This week we taught both R and her husband C. We expressed the need for them to go to church together as a family. At the end of the lesson we sang Yo Se Que Vive Mi Senor ( I know that my redeemer lives) The spirit was so strong and both R and could feel the spirit and got teary eyed. We havent been able to see R a lot this past week but next time we do we are going to extent a baptismal date to her.

The highlight of this week was teaching the HUGE Los T family! this is a family that consists of 3 sisters who all live on the same street! We got to teach them PLUS their friends about the Plan of slavation. It was a powerful lesson because one of the sisters P husband passed away a month a ago. We also were able to teach her 11 year old daughter the Plan of slavation and she liked it. This family is opening up so much to us! The other day we stopped by they told us to join in on volleyball haha! It was a challenge to play in a skirt thats for sure.

Wonderful D Family

We love E and her family

M...!!  :)

Its amazing to see all these miracles happen after we went and visited the temple. Missouri City is such a great area and I will miss the members and investigators there. But I'm excited for the next area the Lord is sending me to. All my trust and confidence is in the Lord because I know for a fact I cannot do this work without his help and guidance in my life. How grateful I am that the challenge I have at this point in my life is to speak spanish because it makes me rely so much on the Lord and on teaching by the Spirit.

Love the R family!

Sweet V and little boy

The M Family .. trying not to cry!

M.... :)

I will get more pics :)

i love you all so much! Hope you are well :]

Love Hermana Ashley Jaeger