He Knows Better Then I

Photo of Brazos District!

We saw the amazing miracle of having 4 people attend church this sunday!! How grateful I am for the lords help and guidance in this work! We visited I.  Shes is a special person.  Also I found out hermana oneill and i are staying here for another transfer YAY! We love this area. We had a really good week this week, were able to teach a lot of people and attend some branch and ward activities where we were able to meet new investigators! i know this work will not move forward without the help of the members.

this weeks email is going to be a little different. its more about what I've learned then a focus on a specific investigator but i feel impressed to share with you the knowlegde I've received this week. I'd like to share a scripture in the book of Alma that I've been able to relate to while I've been out on my mission.

"Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations... Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have been cast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries" (alma 33:9-10)

I know my Heavenly Father hears my prayers. I feel an urgency to talk with my Father in Heaven everyday. Without his help and his guidance I could not do this work. I want you to always remember how merciful our Heavenly Father and His son is. This past week I've been studying a lot about Repentance. 

Me & my Companion

Never in my life before have I feared so much for the salvation of a lost soul. I worry for those who do not feel godly sorrow for what they have done they will not be saved. But in my studies today about repentance I found hope. To repent we need to change our thoughts, beliefs, and actions. We need to feel SORROWFUL for what we have done, pray and ask forgivness, and strive to not repeat the same sin. Results from repentace is that we feel Gods forgiveness in our lives, guilt and sorrow are taken away, we feel the influence of the spirit in greater abundance, and when the day comes when we pass through this life we will be more prepared to live with our Father and His Son. In Helaman 5:10-11 It explains that the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, came to earth to redeem his people FROM their sins, not IN their sins. And christ has power from his Father to redeem his people from their sins BECAUSE OF REPENTACE. the scritpure goes onto say, "Therefore, he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringith unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the slavation of their souls". God has sent his angels, his missionaries and more specifically Hermana O'Neill and I to declare repentance unto everyone living in Rosenburg. What great urgency I feel to cry repentace unto anyone and everyone I come in contact with.

I know the savior rejoices in the souls who repent (D&C 18:10-13). I know if we do not repent of our sins we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. I love the parable found in Luke 15 of the lost sheep. That what man having 100 sheep and if one of them is lost doeth not leave the 99 and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds the lost sheep, he puts it onto his shoulders, rejoicing! And calling together all his friends and neighbors saying "Rejoice with me! for I have found my sheep which was lost" "I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repentath, more than over the 99 just persons, which need no repentance" (Luke 15:3-7). I know the savior is our Shephard, el gran pastor. He is calling each of us to come unto his fold. Hes asking all of us to go out and find the lost one! To give them rest, peace, and eternal happiness.

It is of great importance, wether you have a missioanry nametag or not, for all of use to preach the gospel. "And now, behold, I say unto you that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto the people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen."

I know this gospel is true. I charish the time I have right now to be a missionary. The work is hard but oh so worth it. I love being in the service of my God. I know he watches over and protects all those who trust in Him.  

Love- Hermana Ashley Jaeger

Keep moving forward ... Saving lives!! Ah Ha Moment..

Thank you for your emails, they really do bring a lot of happiness into my life. I get pretty dang emotional when I teach about the plan of salvation and how families have the opportunity to be together forever. When it feels right, I explain that as a missionary I am away from my family for a year and a half to help other families be together forever. i miss my family so much and its sad being away from y'all but how much more grateful I am for the plan of salvation and to know that I will be with my family not just temporarily in earth but forever.

This sunday we had two people attend church! R and a new guy J.  is hard because he feels he is going to receive his answer in the bible. We are praying that we will know which of our investigators is ready to be baptized.

This week our investigator I was in the hospital. sunday we got to go visit her with some members of the church. How sad it was to see 50 year old I sitting in the hospital bed with tubes hooked up and needles intact with her skin. And still with all shes been through, she was wearing a smile. We made her a card and she loved it.  she cried as she expressed how she didnt want to be like this anymore, be so sick.  As we stood and listened my companion started balling. We decided to sign a hymn to her because she loves the church songs, they give her peace. As we sang in her hospital room a group of people stood outside the door, listening. I know the some didnt understand the spanish words we were singing but I know that they were drawn to the music becuase they could feel the spirit. We sang "Abide with Me" which brought tears to my eyes. We prayed with I for strength and comfort. Afterward she prayed, expressed her love for her heavenly father and for the members of the chruch who came to visit, she named us off all individually. she expressed in her prayer her desire to be baptized. this made me cry even more. Many things limit her.  we promised her we would stop by when we can and pray with her. Walking out of the hospital I realized why I am a missionary. I want to be a nurse because I love helping people. i feel its my job to save lives. Now is the time for me to save lives spiritually. As my cimpanion and I knelt in our apartment to pray we asked our father in heaven to take special care our Irma. I know the lord watches of her his children.

I've noticed a difference in myself since when I came to Texas and where I am at now. At first I was super shy to preach the gospel. I was nervous. I worried people would judge me and I would be picked on. I barely opened my mouth because I didnt know what to say, especially in a new language. Coming to a new area my 3rd transfer, having to be a senior companion, and follow up train was an even bigger struggle. I already relied so muchon the lord because of the language but now I was desperate for his guidance because now I was over a whole new area. Instead of being the junior companion and following what my senior companion would do, I had to be the one to say the first word, I had to lead out the lessons, I had to start out extending baptismal dates. A lot is put on the shoulders of a senior companion and after 12 weeks of being in texas i didnt think i was ready for this. I remember, and still have, many nights where I cry unto my father in heaven to help me speak the language, to help me meet people who are ready to change, to help me be a good servant of his. As I started to shift my thoughts from myself and all my worries and struggles to worrying about my investiogators i believe this was the moment when the miracles started to pour in. Yes I havent had a baptism yet. But I have seen this gospel change lives without them commiting to baptism yet. Ive seen eyes light up as we share about the story of a boy who humbled himself to his Father in heaven to know which church he should join and in the procees he sees God and Jesus christ. I see peoples hearts touched by the spirit as we bear testimomny of our savior and his life. I see those who are sick physically, confused mentally, or lost spiritually find hope in this gospel, the gospel of jesus christ. I know with all my heart and souls that this is the true and only church of jesus christ. I will not stop moving this work forward until my savior says so.

I love this work. How gratefulI am for this opportunity in my life to help others

Stormy days in September

So this week has been CRAZY weather!!! Haha i have no idea whats been going on. Yesterday we were biking to someones house. The ride there and during the lesson it didnt rain at all. As we leave the house to our apartment it starts DOWN POURING haha like so bad that I cant even look straight infrount of me!!! We got home totally soaked with only 5 minutes to get ready for a devotional we were going to. God has a great sense of humor.

This week we had the miracle of having 3 investigators show up to church!! I thank the lord for this miracle becuase its so hard to get people to church. S and A are a couple who came and then a girl A came with her cousins who are members! It was awesome. S is the sweetest woman ever and A is so funny. S met A when she was 15 and they soon got married after that and have been together ever since :]

A is a cousin of K a member. A and K LOVE us, they already added me on insta and facebook haha and K has me as her screen saver.  K also has the opportunity to go to the temple now so we brought up baptisms for the dead and told her she could take a family name to the temple! She's really excited and this upcoming Sunday we are going to try and have K and her family participate in the fmaily history class in the branch. We taught K family about the importance of family home evenings, praying, and reading together. We are going to visit with them tuesday.

M is the grandma of K, the O family. We got to teach about FHE and the importance of family time with M there. She loved the idea and wants to be apart of the FHE with her daughter and grandkids.

S and A the couple came to church this sunday to see what it was like and staid the first hour. We had the J family come out with us and after the lesson we found out that S is the God mother of Hermana J!! This helped S and A feel more comfortable going to church and while there Hermana J sat with them! We had a great lesson.

R attended the devotional this past sunday and loved it. He still has a desire to learn more but will not accept a baptismal date until he receives an answer that the book of mormon is true. He has been reading and keeping commitments. we also had a noche de mormona with R at a members house!

T is a new lady we passed by on the street. This week we got to sit down and teach her and her son J. Both accepted dates for october 5. We asked T and J to start reading the book of mormon together and he started reading right away haha!! T said this week she wants us to go to her mothers house (who lives in our area) and teach her! We are praying that the next lesson we can teach her husband. He believes in God but doesnt believe we need to go to church. 

Singing in the RAIN

Hola mi familia :]

This week has been full of unexpected situations. We were planning on having our investigator R go to an FHE at a members house last week. 30  minutes before we were suppost to have the lesson it started down pouring! The ground on our appartment complex flooded because the storm was so bad!! Sad to say R couldnt make it to the FHE activity because its super dangerous to drive in standing water. But we were able to teach Hermana A and her 3 little grand babies!!!  So to make them focus I taught the first vision of jospeh smith using sour patch kids HAHAHA. I wasnt being disrespectful I just wanted them to learn about the first vision. I promised them after the lesson they could have some sour patch kids and they were sooo attentive after that :] and they understood the first vision.

We were able to teach a new lady T who accepted a baptismal date right after we taught her the first lesson! it was so cool and she really wants to learn more. :]

R is good but a hard investogator. We taught him the law of chastity and he easily accepted to follow it! then last night we taught tithing and he had a problem with it because he belives we should just give as much as we want. but its okay hes progressing little by little and i know someday SOON he will be baptized. Hes a great guy.

Panchito the old member is funny. he bikes to see our investigators. everytime he sees me he goes "Jjjjaaaeger!" Haha hes happy he finally is able to pronounce my name :]

This week we've had a hard time teaching people. We talked to EVERYONE but very few would let us in a dn teach. My comp and I went to knock a house which the person was taught awhile ago, her name was E. This 23 year old kid with an eyebrow piercing opened the door hahaha.  I said, "Hi um does an E live here?" He said no and kept looking at us so I thought well heck what a good opportunity to share the gospel! So as I started to explain that we were missionaries his friend comes from the other room, no shirt on, skinny as a stick, long hair and you could tell right away he was smoking something. He stood behind the otehr guy and looked at me and said, "You have pretty eyes" HAHAHA I instantly said, "Oh thanks. Okay well have a great day!" And we walked away. Later that night I told Hermana O'Neill, "People are going to remember you by the girl with the glasses" she laughed and replied "and you are going to be remembered by the girl with the pretty eyes" Hahaha i cannot tell you how many times weird guys have complemented on my eyeballs. 

I know the work will not go forward without the help and support of the members! We are not suppost to knock doors anymore. We are suppost to receive new people to teach through the members. this week we have a few lessons set up with members which i pray will go well.

This past week had an amzing family drop us. We walked in the hosue and all the kids were excited to see us. We sat down and the mom who is super catholic explained she respects us as missionaries but because we believe differently and read from different books she doesnt want us to teach her family anymore. This was hard because a few weeks ago we had an amzingly spiritual lesson with the dad and kids. As the wife spoke the father just sat there with his head down. I know he wants to learn more about this gospel, but also doesnt want contention in the family. They handed us back the book of mormons and my heart just dropped. I told them i respect their beliefs and just like them, my religion is my life. We left with a prayer and said goodbye. The kids were sad and so were we. But I pray one day the mom will have an open heart to hear of this gospel again.

Two hours later we were teaching another lady, there we met her 20 year old daughter M. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and she asked for us to come by her house and teach her more. At that moment I realized, God knows exactly which people are ready to listen and change for this gospel and which aren't. God allowed at that moment for L and his family to stop seeing us so we can have mroe time to teach M who is ready to change. I know this is the lords work and its important to follow his guidance to attcheive,

The past week it has been extremely HOT.  As I bike down the looong roads in the hot Texas sun with my super grande backpack I cant help but imagine my savior when he had to carry his cross, alone, down a long lonely road. My testimony of my savior grows more and mroe as the days go by. I know he suffered for all of us so we dont have to suffer alone. Hes felt our pains, afflictions, difficulties, temptations. Hes been there! But through it all he loved those that cursed him, bore his pain with patience, and did the fathers will. He is the perfect example of enduring to the end. when times are rough he's there to lift up my spirits. He's the reason why I keep moving forward. I keep biking the extra miles. Keep visiting the investigator who has no time to listen. Keep acting on my faith in God.

I love this work. I love being a representative of christ. I know things happen for a reason. Some days the sun shines brighter then others. But even as the storms of life pass over me, i still find myself singing in the rain!!!