Then Is My Soul Filled With Joy! ~ 2 Baptisms! ~ Last letter as a Missionary!

My companion Hermana B and I

Wow, my last letter to send home as a missionary. I cannot put into the words all the good and sad emotions I have felt the past few days. I think at church on Sunday it really hit me that I am going home (especially after having to say a closing prayer or bear my testimony in each class or meeting haha). I love the Hispanic people, every time I see one I just want to talk to them and just help them feel of the love their Savior has for them :] they are a beautiful people and I have been so blessed to work with them throughout my mission. 

good bye cake  ~  hispanic tradition to "mordida" or bite the cake 

(so they can push your face into it)haha

How grateful I am to have followed the prompting of extending my mission. The few weeks before the extention and during the last 4 weeks that I extended my mission were probably some of the most hardest weeks I had to face during my whole mission, actually during my whole life to be honest. But I have grown from those experiences, and I am who I am today because of what I have gone through and grown through :] A few weeks ago I had a normal interview with President Ashton of the mission. As I expressed to him my concerns about my area and going home he simply said, "Stop stressing. Just put your trust in the Lord". That has been something I have been learning even BEFORE my mission! To trust in the Lord, replace my fear with faith. 

Our investigator C has been progressing so well! The other day we stopped by to say hello and found her mom and grandmother came to visit from Mexico. We shared a quick message about families and left. I put my trust in the Lord that things will be fine :] and she will be baptized when she is ready. She called us later that week andshe said she was ready to be baptized:] We also have another investigator J who has been progressing so well in the gospel! The only things holding him back was that he just wanted to know more before baptism. J didnt even have his baptismal interview until sunday morning before church started, he passed:]

C and J Baptism  :]

Hermana B  and I were able to be apart of the baptisms for BOTH C and J!!!!!!!! My heart was filled with so much joy!!! How grateful I am to have been able to see the fruits of our labors, especially right before I head home :]

"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy. And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent,and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy;then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, eventhat he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember hismerciful arm which  he extended towards me."(alma 29:9-10)

I testify to these words, all the good that has occured on my mission has not been because of me, but of the Lord. How grateful I am to have been an intrusment in the Lords hands for the past 19 months, the mission I've experienced has not only changed the lives of others but has changed mine as well. No joy has been greater for me then that of seeing others change for the better and follow Jesus christ.  I am forever grateful for my savior jesus christ, and will serve him for the rest of my life and onward. How blessed I am for my family in California :] for my parents who have supported me here on my mission through all I have gone through. How happy I am to also have another part of my newly found family here in Texas :] I know one day I will return to see all those who I have met on my mission, if not then I know in Heaven I will be able to see them with open arms and smiling faces :]

Forgot umbrellas...SOAKED  ~  Sister pic :]

Zone pic  ~  J took me here!  :]

I know without a doubt I have a Heavenly Father, he loves me. How grateful I am for ALL the good and bad I went through during my mission. It has changed me for the better. How excited I am to be reunited with my sweet family :] returning with honor not as a returned missionary, but as a released missionary :]

I love you all! See you all very soon :] Adios!

love- Hermana Ashley Susan Jaeger

Hermana P teaching me to cook  ~  Rainy days in TX

Payback for scaring her  ~  Last time I will see this

Houston Texas

With greater faith comes greater trials (bike accident)

This past week has been the most stressful week of my mission. I know that the more faith Hna Beltran and myself keep exercising the more trials keep coming, and believe me this past week were some of the most hardest trials I've had to deal with in the mission. And as much as I would love to write one by one of all the trials I had to face this week I will try and keep the letter short and leave it on a good note. 

This past week our car broke down so we were put on bikes. We were able to bike to visit C our investigator who is ready to be baptized :] We went over the baptismal questions and everything was good! We set up for her to have her baptismal interview on sunday. As we left her apartment to go to the next appointment we crossed a pretty busy road. My companion Hna B was riding in front of me when a guy in a big car made a turn without looking and ran right into Hna B. It was one of the most scariest moments I've had on the mission. As the car hit my companion Hna B her bike got pulled under his car but she got pushed back and flew a good amount of feet away from the car and landed in her backpack. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I had no idea what to do. Something I learned from my dad is laughing is the best medicine. As much as I wanted to freak out at the situation I know I needed to stay calm for Hna B. She laughed when the medic was asking for her first name and I got it wrong. I replied, "Gesh Hna B I've been with you for about 15 week and still cant get your first name right". Though her eyes were holding back many tears she laughed. At the hospital we waited a long time for results, miraculously Hna B walked away with just some pulled ligaments which will take a few weeks to heal but she will get better. G and N were kind enough to pick us up from the hospital at 10:30pm and take us home. The next few days were rough for Hna, from the accident it left her SUPER sore so shes needed help getting up out of bed, sitting down, basically the poor thing can barely move. While all this is going on I took phone calls from numerous people wanted to know how she was doing, then canceling and rescheduling appointments because there was no way we could go out and teach people. 

On sunday my companion had enough strength to go to church. C showed up (thank goodness) and had her baptismal interview and passed :] now we have to wait on the doctors to see if its okay if she can be baptized. C and G will be married this week :]

I look back now at the weeks I was figuring out if I should extend and I'm so grateful God gave me the prompting to extend my Mission and I did. I know that I'm not only here 4 more week to help our investigators be baptized but I'm here to help my companion Hermana B. I love her so much and am really blessed to have her as my companion. The trials we are going through are only making us stronger and more determined to do Gods will. I know Satan is really trying to bring us down so that people wont be baptized but I know god is more powerful that satan, this is gods work and I know he will help us through it. I love you all. Please keep my companion Hermana B in your prayers.   love-Hermana Jaeger

Starfish

This week has been SO LONG and not very productive ha. But as I was going through the week I came across a poem that mom sent to me awhile back. The poem is called the starfish. Its a short little poem but basically it explained how an old man is one morning walking along the beach. In the distance he sees a young man picking up starfish from along the shore and throwing them into the sea. The older man catches up the young man and asks what he is doing, the young man responds, "If the starfish stay out here on the shore they will die from the rays of the sun". The older man replied, "Do you think that you can save ALL of the starfish here along the seashore?" The young man bent down, picked up a starfish, tossed it into the sea and replied, "Well, I made a difference for that one."

Being on the mission I can relate SO MUCH more to this story! At times I feel like I cannot do everything for everyone in my mission area and satan is telling me, "do you think your little efforts are really making a difference?" Some weeks, like this past week, I feel as though I made very little difference. But when I look from the individuals perspective I hope and feel I made a difference for that one. This past week a member in my area found out she has cancer. Yesterday we visited her and I couldn't help but cry. She was the lady that a few months ago we spent her birthday together. The member, with tears in her eyes explained, "I know eventually in life, God gives us trials that strengthen our faith. Now this is my time, the trial of my faith". As I sat there looking at the sweet Hermana I couldn't help but think WHY this incredible lady, who did no wrong in her life, has to suffer so much! I'm sure Heavenly Father felt that same when he watched his perfect son suffer on the cross. I know trials are apart of this life, but only last a moment when looking at the situation with eternal eyes. "God puts trials and allows adversity to come into the lives of the great ones". (this comes from my patriarchal blessing, as it talks about how my children will have trials they will face, but then ends with that phrase which gives me hope and comfort that in the end all will be well).

I love you guys so much and am glad you're all doing well :] I'm excited if kels gets to come to kennedys farewell in Texas but PLEASE no surprises okay> I think I will honestly pass out if I see Kelsey before I get home haha. Maybe if you stay long enough though you could fly home with me Kels :] we will see. I've always planned on seeing you all at the airport. Bah I'm feeling sick talking about going home. Ha have  good week :]

Consider the Lillies‏

I remember a couple years ago while we were watching conference at home, the mo tab came on and sang "consider the lillies". I remember how touched I was to hear the sweet words of this song and from then on I desired to know the meaning of the scripture. In 3 nephi the savior brings this phrase up to the nephites, "consider the lillies, how they grow, how they toil not nor do they spin". The savior goes on to say "if god so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith. ..for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things" (3 nephi 13:28-33).

Ran into a EFY friend in the
hall from 7 years ago!

This past week which all the transfers and at our transfer meeting Pres said they were closing down parts of our mission because they didn't have enough missionaries coming in to fill those that are leaving. So some got switched to english speaking.  I am still spanish.  Getting a new companion we realized we didnt have much food. We seriously only had cereal, milk, and bread and some cheese and ham. I felt so bad for my new comp and I barely had any other money to go buy fast food cause its too expensive. So I prayed really simply to God that he would provide food for us. After that prayer we were fed twice that day and the next days after. I know with all my heart the Lord takes care of his servants. I am so grateful for him and the faith I have in him to see many miracles in the lives of others and in my own life.

Okay now onto the crazy week I've had haha. So my comp and I know drive the mission van, we are now in charge of picking up 5 other hermanas for church and other meetings. Just to pick them all up and drop off takes 3 hours out of our day. For transfers we were squished into the van with A TON of luggage and everyone was talking. of course im the one driving cause we have the car and all the sisters are new. I was pretty nervous that at one point I started driving away as one of the hermanas was trying to get into the van!!! HAhaha that night I had a dream that I was driving the van full of little children and I was telling them to calm down. 

My new companion is Hna B from NY. her parents are from mexico so she is the bomb at spanish because its her first language. sometimes we will start speaking english then switch to spanish and it takes me a second to keep up haha but i love her and we get along really well:] The past sunday I hit my 1 year and 2 month mark. Its weird to think i have a little less than 4 months left, kind of weird but I'm okay with it. It gives me a bitter sweet feeling. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Hna Jaeger

P.S. CONGRATS to my brother AUSTIN in Chile on your baptism!!! I am so extremely happy for you :] you look so happy and nice.

Long week

First off thank you my sweet brother Elder Jaeger for sending me a letter :]  i got lots of laughs and a few tears from it :]i wrote you back and will try and send it soon. sorry my letter is short-this is what i sent to my mission pres so thought itd be okay to send to you all too :] i love you and hope you have a good week!

Flat tire... not on the bike this time

We had a REALLY hard week. We tried our hardest to have member present lessons this past week, at least 13 of our set lessons (at least half being with members/part member families) cancelled right before or after the lesson was set. This week I did realize how grateful I am to have an amazing companion though. We could have EASILY just lost our faith and not work as hard, but we tired really hard and kept the faith :] We were blessed to have lessons with J and G.

J was a man OYMed on the bus and ever since his accident where he almost lost his life he has been wanting to live his life to the fullest. He sees his life as a blessing from God, he sees it a miracle that he is still living after being punctured in the heart with a knife a few weeks ago. Because of his accident he decided to take better care of his body. He has come to church 3 times know and loves it, we are planning on having him come to the Devotional on Sunday. J has an amazing testimony and so much faith in God. He wants to do the right thing. 

G and her husband actually take J to church on sundays. This past week we got to visit with her 3 times. She has been going to church for about a year now and I ever since I've met her shes been SUPER ready to be baptized and make this step. We asked how she felt she says see is 100% she is getting baptized :] we invited her to pray and fast with us to know if God wants her to be baptized march 9 or 16 because she is ready. For some reason she just wants more time until she is baptized. But she said she would pray and fast this past sunday to know! After that she started asking AMAZING questions about the temple like when she can start taking the temple prep classes to prepare to receive her endowments and get sealed to her husband! She told us we need to come back for the sealing :] 

Downtown Houston
It's a little scary at night

I loved studying the Atonement this week. I like in alma in verse 16 how it talks about that he who exercises faith unto repentance receives mercy which satisfies justice and he who does not repent is exposed to justice and has to pay the consequences. Its interesting to see how important it is that we ACT on our faith!!!! Christ already went through the pains and consequences for us, so why would we not use the atonement in our lives? If we dont repent then christ suffered for us for nothing because in the end we would have to suffer for our own sins which christ already paid for if we do not repent (d&c 19). I realize the importance of NOT procrastinating the day of your repentance. While reading in Jacob 5 and going through the footnotes I see how important it is to repent daily and always live a righteous life, because we don't exactly when the Savior will come. We dont need to be preoccupied with guessing WHEN he will come but more we need to be prepared DAILY for when he does come :] and we will be ready. And we will come boldly to the thrown of grace. 

I have a great desire to help ALL come into this gospel, to receive the blessings that god has for them.

Great Blessings

This past week we were at our investigators house & guess who we see!  P biking to see our investigator!!!!  He BIKED about 1 1/2 miles to come say hello.  He is an amazing member!

For branch conference in Brazos Hermana O and I were able to get R to church! We had a member call and invite him to church and then another member went and picked him up! I know it means a lot more when a member of the branch calls and invites and investigator to church instead of us missionaries doing it every week. The meeting was very powerful and during President P's talk he pointed out R and how blessed he is to have the chance to live in America right now and have the chance to learn about the gospel. R had a great time at church, so many people were talking to him and making him feel welcome. After church President P asked if we could go visit with him and R and have like a simple lesson. We were able to have a member with us too and we taught him at the park. It was amazing to see how President P taught with such simpleness but power. Without telling President what R needed help with, President P spoke about everything R needed to hear to understand more about Joseph smith and other topics. I could tell R's mind was enlightened and he wants to be baptized. right now he just is praying for himself what day he feels god wants him to be baptized on. 

M is the grandma of some members in our branch. She loves learning about the gospel. We have an FHE set up this week at the members home. Hopefully hearing the testimony of her kids and grandkids will make her feel more excited and understand the importance of baptism and going to the correct church. 

L and his family are new. We were able to teach the dad and 3 of his kids this week. The mom and other daughter were not home. The lesson was really good we used alot of the how to begin teaching points and invited the spirit in with a prayer. We were able to teach the restoration and watch the restoration movie. The family really liked it and L is really interested in learning more about the church. They accepted to read and pray about the book of mormon. Invited them to church. We are visiting their family this monday to teach them more.

A for I we are praying to know what to do with her. She had a blessing from the elders which afterward she said during the blessing she felt no pain. she loves our visits but we are worried shes not remembering what we are teaching her.

S has been taught for about a month now. Shes going through a lot which is the reason why she was open to talking to us. this last lesson we taught the restoration. we had a member family the J's with us. the lesson was good and S was open to reading the book of mormon. at the end of the lesson Hermana J asked if S knew the mother of Hermana Juarez. She said yes and they gave each other a big hug! We found out that S is the god mother of Hermana J and they lost conact with each other at least 10 years ago!!! we were shocked and because of that we were finally able to talk to the husband of S. He was so excited to see Hermana J again and he told us that him and S would try and make it to church sept 1 to see what its like and since they have friends who go to the church!! :)

My Companion Hermana O with our bike helmet/lights :)

I am starting to understand how important it is to stay on the Lords time and do things the way he wants them to be done. When R wasn't able to be baptized on the origional date he accepted (aug22) i was really upset and wondered why couldnt God just make him not have work so he can go to church! But after the lesson with President P I understand know why R's baptism fell through. I feel it was more the date I wanted R to be baptized and I didnt go and prayer with all my heart to God to know if that was his will. I know I cannot be do this work without the help and guidance from my Heavenly Father. 

-Hermana Ashley Jaeger

We bike at 8am to get people up for church! :)

good morning everyone! This week has been good! A lot of our investigators are showing interest in learning more. We are trying to prepare all of them to be baptized :] 

We love P...

The other day I was on my bike and I decided to start praying to myself. I was praying to know why I was sent to Brazos area and who I was suppost to talk to that day. i asked my Heavenly Father to open my ears so I may understand others.I asked him to guide me to those who are ready to hear the gospel. Every person we went to contact opened their doors and let us in! I was able to understand them and get to know them. God has shown theres a purpose and a reason to why I am serving where I am serving and why I am serving my mission at this time in my life. I know Heavely Father listens to ALL of our prayers and if we have anough faith in him and trust in him with all our hearts he will answer our prayers.

This is P... he was baptized 8 months ago! Hes 78 and is a fireball HAHA! We go over and teach to help prepare him to go to the temple. The other day he was talking and all of a sudden just stood right up and walked away. Then my companion goes, "Uhh SIster Jaeger P... is on your bike!" Haha I turned around to see Panchito struggling down the driveway on my bike! It was so funny he loves to joke around. Hes the member who has a picture of me as his phone screen saver haha!

We've been able to meet A LOT of new people who we are planning on teachinng this week! Its so true, the Lord does put people in your path who are prepared to hear about the gospel. i wish I had time to share about all the investigators we are teaching haha but I guess I will just focus on the ones that are progressing.

R is wonderful we took him to a devotional last night and he loved it! He has a desire to learn more and be baptized. We've had some powerful lessons with R, we taught him in the church and the spirit was so strong!

Sweet I is doing better. shes preparing to be baptized the end of september. Shes so sweet and I care a lot for her, i think my nurse instincts kick in when I arrive at her home haha. P brought her over a new wheel chair and she was so excited!!!

We were able to teach I who has just recently had a baby! As we were teaching her her 2 sons came in and one of their friends!!!! We were able to teach them and set up an appointment for next time, I loved that we were teaching her children :]

So this is what we eat on a normal day!  This is called a Papusa and we made bomb spanish rice.

Sunday morning we biked at 8am to get people up for church! Hermana ONeill and I are getting very bold with people but in a loving way haha. We knocked on our other investigators door and a roommate said they were sleeping :[ but the roommate wanted us to go over later that day and teach him!

Our area is doing well. I thank the lord everyday for the miracles he gives us in our area. I know my purpose here, to invite other to come unto christ. And how important it is to call people to repentance!!! Sorry this letter is short but know that I am doing well and my area and investigators are well :] Ilove you and hope you have a good week!

Week 3 MTC ~ "...and down ascended two CARROTS!" & Elder Holland visited

Buenos Dias!  email 1 today!!

I hope you all are doing well :] Well my Spanish is SLOWLY starting to improve. Yesterday we were teaching an investigator/teacher and he had expressed that his wife had a miscarriage. I'm surprised I even understood what he said. I got a little emotional and explained that my mom had a miscarriage but that this gospel makes me happy because I know I will live with him again. So "hijo" is son and "hermano" is brother. After our lesson the investigator/teacher pulled me out of class. I had told him that I had a miscarriage because I said "hijo" not "hermano" haha I was so embarrassed because my teacher thought it was probably an issue if I had a miscarriage and was out in the field. So embarrassing. Needless to say my Spanish still needs A LOT of work. It's okay though one Elder in our district said that Jesus was a women and the other Elder said Joseph Smith saw a pillar of light and down ascended two carrots hahaha! Aww learning a new language is awesome.

Our teacher was asking us questions and he asked my companion and I if we followed satan. We were so focused on what he was saying that we just expected he asked "do you two follow the example of jesus christ" instead he said "do you two follow the example of satan". We said yes and everyone started busting up laughing. it was so embarressing haha

Oh here's an even more embarressing story. Our zone loves to play volleyball during gym. I was standing out of the court waiting for the ball. All of a sudden the ball starts coming to me and I just hit it back in the court. A new Elder in our District was running towards the ball. It was super awkward when he ran into me and accidently put his hands on my waist. haha we were embarrassed because you're not suppost to hug/touch/do anything with someone of the opposite gender. Obviously our whole zone jokes about it now. He asked me the other day if I could take a picture with him to send home to his mom so she could see which girl is the cause of him getting sent home. hahaha he's not getting sent home, we just joke because if an elder and sister hugged or did anything like that they would most likely get sent home.

I saw Joel F yesterday! He tried to give me a hug twice!! haha he's well and is really happy to being the MTC!

Let everyone know I love them and thank them for theri letters and prayers.  Someone told me that under the Prophet the missionaries probably recieve the most prayers!  I am grateful for this because I need those prayers. A quote by Elder Bednar really toughted me, escpeciall as I am trying to learn Spanish.  "IT IS MORE IMPORTANT WHO YOU ARE, THEN WHAT YOU WILL EVERY SAY."  

(pic above this was the volleyball 'toucher" Elder C in the middle!!!)

Sister W from home ~  (going to Japan) 

How grateful I am to have felt the prompting to go on a mossion, prayed sincerely about it then by faith (fe') acted upon it!  That's how our faith grows.  I love everyone and miss you all so much.  I hope all is well and I know this church is true.

Love, Hermana Ashely Jaeger

Email 2 today!!!

I love Hermana N!

*I also learned that we need to be willing to walk like Lehi, not knowing where you are going but by faith you keep walking.

*"Mother's are magical"-elder holland (i so agree)

*The Book of Mormon was a record kept not for those who wrote the record but it was written for us!!!

*We don't worship the prophet, we HONOR the prophet.

*"you may be missing your dad and aching for your mom" -elder holland

"Don't take for grantid to have been born in the last dispentation. The gospel has not been on the earth for a long time amoung many people. Almost nobody had the gospel! Everytime the gospel started there came an Apostacy. I believe someday, probably not until heaven, when we see the panarama of the history of the earth that we will understand what it was we were given and to what time we were born. A mission is not just a break from 'the real world'. And don't think that after your mission you are going back into the real woRLD, THIS IS THE REAL WORLD! You will never be closer to God then on your mission. Everything God does is devoted to the saving of His children. We are favoredpeople of God to bring about the latter day glory and kingdom of God. think of the prophets of old, they knew the gospel wouldn't last long in their time but they still diligently worked. Love the scriptures and master preach my gospel because you are the generation that is going to make it!Prophets of old stuck it out because they knew that we were destined to win. This is the day and you are the troops. Others on the other side are cheering you on knowing that you can do this!!!How many temples did we have before Joseph Smith? One. And that temple was stadnign for only a few decades. Today we have about 139 temples! That example alone is amazing. Do this work for the Savior. Dont let him walk alone. My mission meant everything because it was a break through of finding these truths" -Elder Holland