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!!!

Storm Season

We thought the storm would pass... nope

This week we had such a crazy storm!!! The weather here is so weird! Its been so hot and sunny. then after dinner the other day we walked outside and the sky was crazy gray. we knew a strom was coming but just thought its pass. as we were biking to our appartment to get something the wind got soooo strong haha we couldnt bike so we got off and started pushing our bikes along the side of the road (rememebr in my area theres no sidewalks haha). some car pulled infront of us and stopped. it was a lady with a 6 month old baby in the car. she asked us if she could take us home. we told her we were only 2 minutes away from our house and she said, "please i want to take you home! if my kids were in your position i would hope someone would take them home too". as we started putting our bikes in her car lighting cracked 20 feet away from us no joke!!! it was so loud and crazy! we got in the car real quick, her poor baby was crying :[ as she took us home we quickly got to know shes a baptist and has a big family.  shes so sweet and she accepted for us to leave her a church cad with our number on it. as we walked away the lady said, now you all be careful!! i know you go around knocking doors" haha,. as we got in the appartment the assistance told everyone to stay in side for the next 1 1/2 hour until the storm passed. as we waited we got a call. it was the same lady saying we left a helmet in her car haha! she said she could drive it right over. i struggled to think what we could give her a s athank you.  for some reason a book of mormon popped into my head. SO I grabbed one, wrote a quick thought in the front, and as we meet with her i said, "i know this is random but if you ever want to know more about yout purpose here on earth, read this book" she smiled and tookt he book. I'm not sure if she'll ever read it or ever join the church but one thing I do know is that on that stormy day a tiiiny little seed was planted into her heart.

Pday with the Hermanas

This past week we have been praying fervently for R. we prayed that hed have the opportunity to go to church this past sunday because mission rule is investigators need to go to church twice before they are baptized. we even did a fast for him saturday that hed have the chance to go to church. We meet with R saturday night at the church. then after the lesson we asked if he is going to church on sunday. he said he couldnt because he had work. my heart sunk so low and my comp and i just looked at each other. we explained he needed to go twice before his baptism. he said he just wanted to learn more before being baptized. we finished the lesson real quick and left. for the next 25 minutes ebfore we could head home i just cried. i felt i did all i can as a missionary to have R go to church and he wasnt able going. this moment was probably one of the hardest moments ive had on the mission. because R is ready!! he knows its true and its sad that work is going to keep him from baptism. sunday night we actually ran into R and taught about the mercy of god and how we need the atonment or else we cannot be saved. it was a powerful lesson and he said hed make a rgeater effort to goto church this time.

I lost one of my name tags and was really sad.  I prayed and prayed that I would find it.  One day I went out and somehow it was clipped onto my bike helmet :).  I was so happy!

My lost name tag appeared!

today i read a talk by deiter f utchdorf titled your ownderful journey home. its amazing that as i read the words of prophets and apostles i find exactly what i need to hear, "it is not your responsibility to convert anyone. that is the work of the holy ghost. your task is to share your beliefs and to not be afraid". i quickly realized after entering the mission field that this work was going to be hard. i believe christ understood the same about his mission here on earth. but i know with all my heart that as we endure well our trials in the end it will all be worth it. just hang in there! And as trials come upon you remember the sweet words christ spoke "do not fear, for i the lord am with you".

love-hermana ashley jaeger