I have given you an example

This past week was filled with bitter-sweet moments. I'm not sure why my last few weeks are being so tried but I know something good will come from it. Last Thursday there was a wedding! We hope she will excursize her faith and be baptized. After all the long nightly prayers, fasts, and sacrifices I've done I know that in the end I've done everything I could to help her and I just put all my trust and confidence in God. I know he sees the sacrifices in my companion Hna B and I are going through and I know he will bless us for them. We are planning tonight to help G be baptized next week, she is ready and shes been waiting. I pray things go well.

My companion Hna B is slowly healing. She is such an inspiration to me, she walks up and down and up and down so many flights of stairs and never gives up. It is such an honor to be her companion. She is sacrificing and going through so much to help the people here. Shes been getting crazy leg cramps out of no where, we say the doctor today and he said if it doesn't get better until next week she will need xrays.

With all that is going on for the past two weeks I came across a quote that I can really relate too, " If we are going to be disciples (of Christ), if we are going to say that we are sent by the Lord Jesus Christ, then we had better have some evidence of it. Part of that evidence will be at least a moment in that Garden with those tears, and a step or two in the general direction of Calvary made in anguish and sorrow" -Jeffery R Holland. I am a disciple of Christ, I know I was sent here to this area in H 1 with Hermana B for a very special reason. I know this is His work, I am only an instrument in the Lords hands. I know all that I go through is for Him, and he's felt my pains, burdens, tears, and fears. I know in the Garden of Gethsemane he suffered there and felt all my pains, and he overcame it. And that's what gives me hope, that I will come out of these trials too because He did. I know there is nothing impossible for God, he is all powerful and knows all. Because of this I remember to stay patient. I can only see the little picture of how things will turn out but Heavenly Father has an eternal perspective.

I love all of you and thank you for all the prayers and sacrifices you go through for me and the people in my area. This week is the temple trip for those who are leaving this transfer. I am excited to see all the missionaries I came into the mission, and feel so happy that I have a couple more weeks left in the mission. This is my life and I love every minute of it because I know the "trial of [my] faith is more precious then gold"-bible.

love- Hermana Jaeger

What are you willing to give up?

The work here is going so well!! The members in this ward are so amazing and they work so hard to help others. Our ward mission leader had a ward FHE at the church on saturday and we had a great turn out! The WML Hno R spoke on gifts we receive from god/christ like attributes. Each person wrote a gift or attribute of christ they felt they had and then they passed the gift to someone in the room who they felt had that gift from god. it was a sweet lesson and at the end we celebrated Hno Rs' birthday. 

Our most progressing investigators right now is C. They are expecting to have a baby girl the end of august. She is ready to be baptized. Please if you could pray and fast this sunday for C that she can get baptized? ;] The relief society is throwing her a baby shower which is so sweet because all her family is down in mexico. 

I wanted to share a quick story, something I learned this sunday about sacrifices. The teacher had us read two stories from the bible, first is the story of the young rich prince found in luke 18:18-24. This young prince is a good guy, he keeps all the commandments and does what is right. With this he askes christ what more does he need to do to enter into the kingdom if God? Christ tells him he must give up all he has and follow him. the young prince then turns and walks away crying sorrowfully because he had many great riches of the world. We then ready a story of the fisherman in matthew 4:18-22. This is when Christ tell the fisherman to forsake all and follow him, so the fisherman drop their nets and leave their father to follow Christ. These fisherman become apostles of Christ, James and John. 

Now I want you to think for a moment. From these two stories do we know the name of the fisherman? Yes, James and John. Do we know the name of rich prince? No...why is that? Because is we do not follow christ we will make nothing of ourselves, in the end. To truly follow Jesus Christ and be his disciples we must "forsake all" or give up all we have to follow his example. Then he will make of us more then we can make of ourselves. So what are you willing to give up to follow Christ's example? Through out my mission, little by little I have given up more and more of myself and I have seen the blessing from it. I have received more happiness in my life because I have been focussed on helping the lives of others. My mission has and is changing me for the better :] I know as we trust in God and follow his sons example we will return home to him with great joy. I love you so much and am so blessed to have such an amazing family! 

love-hermana jaeger

Make the Sacrafice

Rainy days in Houston Texas
won't keep me from saving souls!

Found out I will have a least one more transfer here in Houston with Hna B :] which will be good! The work is slow but I know it will pick up as long as we just keep working.

This past week we helped out a member in our ward who has cancer. Some of the other hermanas came with us to help clean up her home. We only spent 2 hours helping give service but you could tell by the look on the sisters face it made all the difference. All day she just sits in the home, alone fighting the pain her cancer is causing. She will have an oporation this week that can hopefully help cure her cancer. She is such a strong woman. 

This past week we didnt have much luck with seeing our investigators. It was hard but slowly we started to see miracles. People that we talked to from outside started letting us into their homes. We focussed a lot this week on how we can help our investigators get to church. Instead of praying to have them come to church, I asked in my prayers what I can do to help more of hs chrildren keep this commandment, the sabbath day. Instead of sitting at the church forever for our investigators to show up, we sacrificed our miles to drive all the way back to the homes of our investigators to help them get to church. door after door and call after call it seemed like no one wanted to come and we made a great sacrifice for nothing. Last investigators door we tried, D and H, said that they could come :] WOW I have never been so happy helping someone come to church haha. Though we were all late by 20 minutes, we made it on time for the blessing of the sacrament. 

Mexican Walmart in TX

From these two experiences and more like them I am remined of one of my favorite scriptures "The trial of your faith (is) more precious than gold" (1 peter 1:7). 

Also, I restudied what I learned in the temple :] I know my heavenly father was really speaking to me in D&C31:5 "thrust in your sickle with all your soul...and ye shall be laden with sheaves upon your back for the laborer is worthy of his hire. wherefore your family shall live". As I looked up the part that talks about that my family shall live it means that the lord will take care of their well being. This tender mercy of the lord gave me so much peace. Many times on my mission I worry for many members of my family!!! It does hurt my heart that I cannot be there when I know someone in my family is struggling. But I know the lord will watch over and protect my family as I am doing his work. I know he never breaks a promise. I know this is his work and his church. I will keep saying that until the day I die, and then on into the eternities haha. I know how precious life is, its short compared to eternity. Live, learn, and love. Forgive those who've wronged you. Live up to your potential. Let people know you're a member of the church of Jesus Christ of lattter day saints! and remember if anyone treats you poorly, or you feel like you cant handle anymore, remember your savior. and know that he's been there before. he knows how to help. i love you all so much :]

FHE fun with the C Family :]

Goodly Parents

Hola a mi bonita familia :]

This week was a pretty long week haha. The Lord has blessed us with finding and teaching a couple new people who are interested in learning about the gospel. This past week we had the chance to help out with seminary at 6am. It was so early. As we were waiting for the seminary class to start I saw a man outside moving his trash to the front yard. Without even thinking my feet moved towards him to go talk to him haha. He was a sweet older man who said we could come back and visit with his family. As seminary started there was only 2 students, and one of the students moms. The teacher wanted us to sing "To Bring The World His Truth" and thought itsd be more beautiful with the help of missionaries. As we started singing the first lines of the song I got emotional, "we have been born as nephi of old, to goodly parents who love the lord". As we kept singing I couldnt help but think of my family back home. My heart filled with gratitude for being raised in such an amazing home. After the song the teacher talked about how majority of missionaries leave on missions because they were raised in good homes with good paretns. She asked us missionaries if we would share our testimonies. As I started to speak my eyes filled with tears. I shared of how grateful I am for all the sacrifices my parents have and are making for helping support me on my mission. I quickly seem to forget that as much as i am sacrificing here, my family back at home is sacrificing just as much to help me be here. 

From this experience I have reflected on the things my parents have taught me back at home that I've used on my mission. Like being compationate and sacrificing your wants to help others. I remember EVERY birthday my mom would ALWAYS wake up early in the morning and put up birthday decorations and cake and everything all set up and nice for our birthdays :] even spending one birthday away from home mom still thought of sending birthday decorations and cake to make my feel special :] Today we found out a lady in the ward had her birthday. she invited us to go out to eat with her on her bday which was a pday. We could have easily said we will go another day because we dont have enough time on our pday, but we felt we should spend time with her on her special day, even if it took time out of our day of rest. The lady, Hermana P, bought us jack in the box cause she heard we like hamburgers haha, We saw that she bought herself birthday flowers and birthday cake. I felt for her that she was spending her birthday time all by herself. As we sat and ate together we joked around and talked and just had a good time. We gave Hermana P a birhtday card and stuffed teddy bear, nothing big. As she read the simple birthday card she started to cry. She looked at both of us and said, "Thank you hermanas, for coming to spend time with me on my birthday. All my family lives in mexico and I have no one to come and visit me. Thank you...Thank you." 

Another life lesson i learned from my parents is to take the time and talk to those in need. I can recall the many days and nights mom would just sit and listen to what was going on in my life. I cherish the moments I had with just me and dad sitting in his big diesol truck and talking about my future and giving me loving advice. On Sunday I saw one of my missioanry friends struggling to hold her emotions back while sitting in sacrament. I couldnt ignore that she was sad and stressed. So I tapped her in the shoulder and we walked out side to talk. As I sat listening to all the things causing my friend stress I felt the saviors love. I know he would do the same to anyone he sees who is going through a hard time, wether or not he knew the person. 

Also many times back at home I have learned the important lesson of having patience haha. Usually I learned this lesson with my sister Kelsey ;p Today as we were washing our clothes we found out we didnt have enough quarters to put our clothing in the dryer. And every month we are given a specific amount of miles to use that we cannot go over. So since we are SUPER in need of more miles for driving and without any quarters my comp and I used a clothes line mom sent to me many months ago and we hung up our wet clothes. After an hour of stressfuly figuring out how to put up the annoying clothes line we started to laugh and take pictures instead of bicker. I remember many times at home when Kels and I would have moments of stress and in the end we just started busting up laughing because of how silly the situation was. 

Though life is hard I've learned the best way to go through out life is with a smile on your face and a laugh in your heart. Sounds kind of silly haha but the best way I deal with stress of anything that hurts me is by laughing. I remember the word of dad, "laughing is the best kind of medicine!" and i could picture him saying that while doing a goofy dance haha. I cannot express my gratitude and appreciation for my family members. You are the ones who keep me going, besides my Heavenly Father and Savior of course. Usually ill catch myself looking at a picture of the family or looking at something that was sent to me from home. How grateful I am for this moment I have to help others, to bring them into the light! This gospel is what makes me who I am. Sad to think I have a little more then 5 months left to be a missionary. But with that thought in mind it pushes me even harder to make a difference in everyone who passes my way. I love you all :]

Finally P-Day! Elder Russel M Nelson, my sis, temple

I cannot explain how much I needed this P-Day hahaha. So We had stake conference this weekend and Elder Russel M Nelson from the 12 came here and spoke to us!!! Oh my gosh it was the coolest experience ever! Sunday morning he was the last speaker and at one point he asked all the little primary kids to stand up and wave their arms to him! Our little investigator K came and she counts her self as a primary kid :] our mission presidents little 8 year old daughter sat by us and we had to help interprate the talks into English for her. Anyway, as the primary kids stood up he asked them to sing Soy Un Hijo De Dios. Their little voices were so soft and sweet, just like the spirit. I cried. At the end Elder Nelson, who is 89, took both his hands, kissed them, and waved them to all the children :] He stood at the door for like 2 hours afterward to shake everyones hand :]

Me and my sister!

oh no I only have 8 minutes left cause ive been emailing mom and kels HAHAHA ill send a written letter home but know im doing a lot better. it was hard to hear about kels going home but I am relieved to know she is honorably released from her mission and is safe at home :] I went to the temple today and prayed so much for my sister. Kels and mom I also put your names in the temple.

Houston Texas Temple trip

Kels I know God loves you. My mission presidents wife receved some revelation for you that I want to share :] God doesnt go by measurments. Like in school we see how we are doing by our grades which tell us how we are doing and where we need to improve. But God doesn't measure like that. He loves you because your his precious daughter. He is EXTREMELY happy to see that you served with all your heart :] He knows your heart and he knows your sacrifices. He is so proud of you for serving more than other teenagers would! God wants to teach us what we are ready to learn. He realizes your sacrifice and is so grateful for the missionary you were and the person you have become.. I am so proud of you my sweet sister Kelsey. I cannot put into words what an inspiration you are to me. You are my best friend and I will do everything and anything to protect you and to make you happy. As I entered the temple today my mind flooded back with a moment when we served together in the temple :] I got emotional. I didn't want to take of the temple clothes because I felt like I was at home. So after the session, in the locker room I sat in my white dress and said a prayer that I will have the strength once I put my street clothes back on to do the lords will and that I can feel okay for the next 7 months. And you know what, I feel okay :] I know God will help me. I know he will watch over you Kels and I am just so happy you are back safe in loving arms. :] Take care, my heart is always with you all. P.S. Kels every time I put on my nametag I still think of you, my other Hermana jaeger (my sister)

Christ's Been There Before~ Trials...

My bestie Hermana S!!!

This week was a definetly trying my faith. I've had crazy bad bike problems that have been stressing me out. This past week a sweet member in the branch replaced my brakes. The day I got my bike back I got a flat tire as we were biking to a lesson! I was so sad, the investigators was nice and we rescheduled our lesson with him. We went to walmart and got a new tire. Then two days later I got another flat tire on the same street I had biked on the other day. This time we just patched up the hole in the tire but it was so stressful :/ then I tried to fix a part on my brakes and I made them waaay to tight and I struggled biking haha. I was so slow its like if you were trying to bike and there was a sock stuck in the wheel that was slowing you down. Plus the super crazy wind wasn't in my favor haha. As we biked long distances to a lesson and the investigators werent home or didnt have time for us I kept thinking to myself, "Wow, I wish they could realize the sacrifice I've made for them. They have no clue". As soon as I thought about that the Savior and his atonment came to my mind. I felt peace and comfort knowing that Christ has been there before, he knows exactly how it feels when you've sacrificed your all and more and people wont let you in. But still you love them. And you wont give up on them because you know how much this gospel can bless their life. I want to share the gospel with everyone, not because its my calling. But because there are too many people in the world who have no idea how much their Savior has done for them! They have no idea how much he sacrificed for them. In Luke 22 it talks about when Christ was praying in the Garden of Gethsemani. As he felt the pains and sufferings and sins of EVERYONE instead of giving up, he prayed more ernestly that he could complete his Fathers will. That he could complete the Atonemnt. This is not my mission. It is the Lords mission and I will keep going until I complete HIS will. I know it wont be easy. I know I will struggle. But I also know that I wont be alone. That is work is for the one who has felt my pains and bared them with love. To him I will give my all, and never hold back.

With our investigators this week it was both good and bad.  All this past week we talked to K about baptism and watched a video of when christ was baptized. We also shared a scripture in John about how we need to be baptized to enter into the kingdom of heaven. She said she would pray and talk to her mom about being bap[tized. We finally got to talk to K's mom, she is totally against K being baptized. After I heard those word my eyes filled with tears of sorrow. I couldn't hold my emotions in. I could barely speak but when I did I expressed how much all the members in the church really do love K. That she is a beautiful daughter of God and became such a good girl because of her mother. It makes me sad to see that she cannot be baptized right now. This Sunday she came to church again, for the 8th time haha. She bore her testimony! At first she got the the pulpit and stood their with fear. I was so nervous for her but knew I needed to let her build up courgae on her own to speak. Then, she spoke. She shared her favorite scripture which was the one we shareed with her in John about baptism. The spirit touched my heart as she finished her testimony. I know that even though K cannot be baptized now, someday she will be. She will always remember going to church and they way it made her feel. I know I have a special place in her heart as does she in mine. We are still going to be teaching her in hopes that when the day comes she can chose for herself to be baptized. K's brother also came to church.

J is a new investigator who is a "golden investigator" meaning that he is 100% for sure going to be baptized! He is so ready. He is doing all he can to preapre for baptism for the 25th of this month. He doesnt know a lot about religion but wants a change in his life and he knows that being a member of the church will change his life for the better. Our first lesson with him he said he couldnt come to church on sunday cause he had work, he felt so bad! He told us he really wanted to come but couldn't. The next time we saw him he said he talked to his boss and the boss allowed him to start work later so he could come to the first hour of church!!! I thought that was so awesome! We didnt even need to tell him to talk to his boss he just went and did it! He even gave us the info of his mother so we can send the missionaries over to her house :D

We have also been helping less actives come back to church and so far we've gotten two back! One we met this past week her name is R. Haha shes older but really funny. She has a quiet voice. She told us she was going to a different church. Then she shares, "During church I'll get up on the piew and start dancing! The pastor told me ,'R in church you cant stand up and start dancing in front of all the people' and so I responded 'Pastor..I'm not dancin for the people, I'm dancin for Jesus" HAHAHAHA I tried so hard not to laugh but it was just so funny to picture an older sweet lady at church dancing during the services. R actually came to church on sunday! No worries though there were no special dancing solos haha.

I love Brazos bike. I've grown really close to all the people in my area. Someone mentioned the otherday how long I've been her in B branch! I told them its been over 6 months and the member responded, "Good! I dont want them taking you to a different area". I said if I ever left I'de ask to be transfered to Hawaii haha. Thank you again for all you do. I really do have such an amazing family! I was so happy to see a package from mom today that had meds which I told her about 7 days ago haha I was shocked how fast the package came and that you even sent me something mom! I lvoe you all soo much and pray for you always :] I am doing really well! Weird to think next month I hit my year mark. My mission is going by to fast and it making me nervous! The amount of time I've spent here in Brazos is the amount of time I have left utnil I come home...I love you all so very much.

favorite scripture 2 corinthians 12:9-10 "For my strength is made perfect in weakness...I take pleasure in..persecutions in distress for christ's sake, for when i am weak then i am strong"

Christmas!!

SYPING the fam & sister on her Mission in WA Vancouver!

"One hundred years from now it wont matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank nor how my clothes looked like BUT the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child" -Forest Witcraft

Good morning!  Thank you so soooo much for making Christmas so special!!! I made sure not to open anything until Christmas morning! But I did open the Christmas pjs and loved them :] It was kind of hectic with Skype haha but im glad everything worked out :] Aus Im sorry I didn't get to see you but know how much I love you and again I always appreciate you coming here and surprising me, im glad I got to see ya :]

Thank you for all my gifts!

The rest of Christmas day we thankfully got to see a few people. Hermana M a member in the branch taught us how to make tamales!!! Daaha they are pretty dang hard! Sad day though is we didn't get to eat them :[ The rest of the night we had no one to see so we went and caroled at members

houses and gave them candy :] the last house we went to the lady gave us a plate and guess what it was...tamales!!! Haha I was so happy! We have so much fooood I am getting sick of candy haha and Its not even gone!

Making tamales!!!!!

This week we got to do some service. We helped rack leaves for some members and had our little invtestigator k help us. Shes so cute and was so funny! At the end we had her hide under all the leaves and scare people haha it was so funny! She came to church again on sunday :] She sat two rows in front of me then during the middle hymn she moved and came and sat by me and said, "Hey! I missed you!!" Haha I love her and sitting with her, people see us together and keep telling me I am going to be a good mom :] She comes to church and brings some used scriptures and uses a happy birthday bag to hold her scriptures in.  so For Christmas we gave her a book of Mormon of her own and wrote in it :] also gave her some coloring crayons to mark her scriptures and a scripture bag (cause mom sent me an extra, thanks mom!) she loved it and now always asks us when we can read so she can mark her book of Mormon haha! we want her to be baptized but needs approval. Pray that her fam will have an open heart and allow k to be baptized!

Oh the day after Christmas we went caroling at the older peoples home....haha all the missionaries were sick and no one wanted to sing expect my comp. but it turned out well and the older people were really happy we came by :] one lady came up to me and kept giving me so many sweet complements!

Thank you again for the Christmas presents! you all did soo much and I loved every little thing :] Pray for me that I will have the strength to keep working hard! im really sick again :[ Thank you for all you do! I love you!

For with God, nothing shall be impossible

what a wonderful week. I loved Conference. i received so much revelation during the sessions. When the prophet spoke tears came to my eyes. I know he is the one and only true prophet that lives today on the earth. How blessed we are to have a living prophet today to give us guidance and direction.

R has his interview with President Ashton to see if he can be baptized. He has a testimony of this gospel. R attended priesthood session, and both sessions of conference on sunday! AND between the 1st and 2nd session the other sisters in our branch had a baptism!!! Brazos branch has not had a baptism in almost a year and V was the first baptism of 2013. We know this is just the start of many more baptisms to come.

This past week we've been praying to know who is ready to be baptized this weekend (oct 12-13). We made a list of people who could be baptized. On this date my comp wrote MILAGRO (miracle) haha. We also have been giving up things to show the Lord were ready for a baptism. This week we decided to do a 9 day long english fast. Meaning we only speak spanish for 9 days.

During personal study in the morning a thought came to my mind, "I needs to be baptized". I thought what no way, shes still in the hospital and her condition is not good. Her name isn't even on the list of people who could be baptized. But the words wouldnt leave my mind, "I needs to be baptized". So I stopped what I was doing and offered up a simple prayer to God. I felt a peace after the prayer that this was possible. But how? Then the words came to my mind, "God can do anything". Then I looked right at my scriptures to the page that was open and this was the first thing I read, "For with God, nothing shall be impossible". I started to cry. I told my companion about this and she also cried. We prayed to know if this was His will and we recevied a confirmtion that it was.

Sunday during the 2nd session we drove to the hopsital to show I conference. Somehow I dont even know how but everything worked out and I was able to see the prophet speak. I started to cry again axplaining to I that we've been praying and know she needs to be baptized this weekend. She smiled and said she wants to be baptized. Even more tears filled my eyes. We went through all the baptismal questions and she had no problems. She has her interview this tuesday to see if shes ready.  She will leave the hopsital this thursday, be baptized amd confirmed this saturday and sunday and then tuesday she will have an opperation done on her heart.

For my family and Taylor I'de like to please ask if you could all individually and as a family pray that I will be ready physically, spiritually, and mentally for her baptism this weekend. I really appreciate all your help and support in my life.

I just want to share my testimony of my father in heaven. I know he is a god of miracles. I am a witness of this. Even when things dont seem logical, God understands perfectly and he knows all. I trust in my God with all my heart. I know I could not do this work with out his guidance, help, and direction. I am eternally grateful for his son Jesus Christ. I will always live my life in a way that brings him glory. He is my savior. My light. My salvation. Because of him I can be with my family for eternity. What greater blessing is there then this. i know this gospel is true. In the name of jesus christ, amen.

Peace in the Temple

Temple trip had to leave here at 6am to make it to the 8am session.  :)

family!  Sorry this email is gonna be short. We moved our p-day so we could go to the temple today on tuesday :] it was so amazing. When I got into the celestial room I started to cry. I havent felt peace like that in my life since the last time I visited the temple almost 4 months ago. The whole time in the temple I just kept thinking of how much I want to be there with my family. How I want ALL my investigators to work hard to make it to the celestial kindgom! They have no clue what they are missing out on.

Also happy birthday to my little cutie brother Austi :] I'm sending a letter hope it gets there on time! Your Mission pictures are so sick austin!! sent me an invite!  Chile is coming fast.

We had a miracle week and had A TON of lessons. I know we are going to have a baptism this transfer :] R has an interview with mission president tomorrow night to see if he can be baptized. The other day he told us when we come to visit him it  makes him feel at home. All his fmaily lives in ecuador and he misses them terribly. His kids are almost all the same exact ages as the kids in our family!! He told us we are good teachers and we are his good friends. He said we are like his daughters and I thought that was the sweetest thing ever!

Me and my Comp Hermana O

Know that I am doing really weel :] I'm excersising my faith more and seeing a lot of miracles coming from it. This week I made to personal sacrifices to show Heavenly Father I will give my all to have a baptism... one was Life cereal (i am addicted i eat that stuff every day) and naps haha 

One day it was pouring so bad.  My scriptures got wet and now they are moldy :(  Have a great week and rememebr while i am watching conference I will be thinging of all of you :]

Love- Hermana Ashley Jaeger

I havent felt peace like that in my life ...