Ashlyn....Nov. 23rd

We've actually heard quite a bit about the typhoon in the Philippines. One of the Hermanas in the District read a letter from her friend's mom about her daughter who was there. Probably in the same place as Jordan. It was miraculous that they survived. Their apartment flooded and they had to climb out onto their roof to stay alive. Then they had to hold on for their lives to keep from being blown off. After the typhoon the people started going crazy and there were gun shots everywhere. A member of the church who had a plane recognized the missionaries and that they were trying to get out and made several trips to fly them out. It was an amazing story we all cried when we heard it. Thats so touching about Jordan. I hope he's alright and that he'll be able to go back out on his mission. 

I have to apologize about not sending a letter last week. I have repented and I'm sending several out today. 

Also thank you so much for the camera! I've taken a couple pictures but I will send them to you next week. I want to get one with my entire district first. 

So about my leg I just strained it lunging for the ball in 4 square. It's not a big deal but the doctor wanted to send me in for some physical therapy. It only hurts really bad after gym so I figured I would take care of it before it turned into something worse. When the lady called you I was in the room and I heard your voice! I had to really control myself to not grab the phone and talk to you. I almost shouted out that I was there but that wouldn't have been professional. It made me a little homesick for the rest of the day but not too bad. Elder Harrell bought me a Twix to make me feel better.  He's one of our zone leaders.

I would love some ortho sport. My back is really tight and I think that I just need to start massaging it before I strain my back as well. Also some lemon oil would be great and peace and calming. I'm not sleeping very well and I keep waking up. I've been praying that I won't be tired. I still wake up during the night but I'm not as tired during the day. 

My companion and I have bonded over a trial that we both have. I have found that if I just take time to talk to just her she's OK for when I talk to others. She is definitely a type four. Imagine a grown up female version of Jacob....She is really great though and I do love her a lot. I have been seeing the reasons why we are companions lately and its given me courage. I do miss my alone time. That's probably the hardest part about having to be in a companionship I can never just be in a room by myself which as you know I really like to do :) . 

So our meals are all really early so by the time we get back to our apartment we are starving! If you could send some snack foods that would be great! I would love some cheddar sun chips they're my favorite...

Well expect some letters in the mail! I love you all so much!

Hermana Naegle

Katelyn's first email...Nov. 21

Hi everyone! I'm so glad it's finally p-day so that I can write you! (And finish moving into my room.) I'm on the main campus of the MTC. I share a room with my companion, Sister Erlandsson, in one of the "residence" buildings. My companion is an awesome T1. She's a cutie, and she reminds me of Sariah a lot, partly because she has dark skin and curly hair. Although she actually is part Mexican. :P hahaha. We are the only sisters in our district, and there are six elders. Two of them are international. One is from Germany (Heilein Elder) and one from Austria (Hoferl Elder). they are really awesome for learning Hungarian from English teachers. We all love them because they have accents and they are so funny. Actually, everyone in my district is really funny which is not always a good thing since we end up spending a lot of time laughing our heads off instead of learning Hungarian. I think we might be getting a bad reputation for being the loudest district. :) but we are learning a lot. The very first day our teacher had us learn to bear a short testimony in Hungarian. We spend almost all day in our classroom being taught or having personal study or language study, so we've spent a ton of time together and have gotten to be friends. We are all bummed right now because one of the elders flew home this morning because of a worthiness issue. We miss him but his goal is to come back in six months so we're all praying for him and looking forward to serving with him in the field. 

I am lucky because I haven't struggled with homesickness. Some of the missionaries here have a really hard time the first week. I saw Ashlyn again though, and I totally cried a little. We were so excited and I was trying to find everyone in my district so they could meet her. They all think that we look exactly alike. What!? 

Anyway, the food here is totally fine. I was worried before I came but there are always fairly healthy options and I'm pretty sure I've lost weight. We get to work out for an hour each day so I always try to make it count. And I'm buff!! I've been trying to learn how to do the machines. And on one of them (a leg press, I think?) you can only go up to 400 lbs and since that's what the elders were going for i decided to see how high I could get and I got to 380. Super proud of myself. 

One miracle I've had is that I haven't had any problems with low blood sugar, which is amazing. There isn't really time to eat a snack in between meals but I haven't had a problem. I have a testimony that when you follow the rules, the Lord blesses you to be able to do everything. I am learning Hungarian, but it definitely takes faith every time we have to teach a lesson in Hungarian. I was feeling pretty bad about how I was doing during lessons so I finally talked to my teacher about it and she made me feel a lot better. I'm a lot more motivated now to learn everything I can.

I love being a missionary. I am already so sad that I only have 18 months. I love learning and the spirit comes so quickly here whenever you invite it. Personal study is one of my favorite things. I have had more insights into the scriptures in the last week than I have had in months! The Gospel is real. None of us would be able to do this if we didn't have a testimony. I can feel Heavenly Father helping me through every step of every day. I love you and I hope you are having a wonderful time getting ready for the holidays. Hope to hear from you soon! 

Much Love, 

Sister Naegle

P.S. Tell the YW thank you for the package. It was SO fun to get it. Everyone was jealous. :)

Week 2 from Ashlyn.....Nov. 16

That's so awesome about Josh being so social and Jordan getting invited to a birthday party. Tell him he has to go it will be really fun! 

So I have gotten to know my zone a lot better. My nickname is "madam susio sister training leader ma'am" susio means dirty/sneaky it makes me sound like some mean crazy old lady.... (and yes there's a reason for the susio part but i'll tell you in my letter) I'm trying to get the Elders to change it but they are pretty stuck on it. Well I'm planning on writing a letter with more personal stuff in it. So you can tell Mikaela to be looking for one in the mail. Tell her that I love her letters they make me so happy! Also if you could send me some more stamps I'm afraid I might run out before I leave the MTC. Also what kind of stamps will I use in Mexico? U.S. stamps or are there some type of international stamps? 

Thanks so much for the camera! I'll be looking for it on Tuesday. I'm so excited to send you pictures of the MTC its actually kind of pretty. I saw Katelyn on Wednesday! It was only for a few minutes but it was cool to see her. She looked so pretty and excited to be there. Did she cry when you dropped her off? becasue she didn't look like she had. Well I'm so proud of her and she will be an amazing missionary. 

I might not see her again in the MTC though because our zone has already been invited to the main campus to watch the Sunday and Tuesday Devotionals. L. Tom Perry came on Tuesday. It was a great devotional. He talked about how important companionship study is and being with your companion. Speaking of companions I must tell you ours is good for the most part. However on Sunday she kind of had a break down about how she had felt left out when we walked back from the main campus after the Sunday Devotional. I don't really know what to do. I like talking to the other missionaries and its not like we don't spend enough time together during the week. She's not big on socializing so our P days are mostly work work work.... I just want to talk to other people! when i do though she doesn't join in but just stands to the side impatiently and I start feeling really bad that I'm having some fun. I think she's a bit shy.... (I still haven't decided what type at this moment i'm leaning towards a 4/2 but I still haven't dropped the idea of her being a 1).  But other than that its really good. We work well in lessons together and we are able to bring the Spirit which is probably our strong point. 

I'm a little bit frustrated with the language. I feel like if I was English speaking I would have the missionary thing down but its so hard to communicate in Spanish. I know that its going to be one of my hardest challenges in the beginning of my mission. We don't study it as much as I would like and I feel like everyone is progressing faster than I am and then they expect us to speak it like 24/7. I know I need to put more effort into it and its my goal for this next week. So I will let you know if there's been any change next Saturday. 

Well I can't think of much else to say. I received a package form the ward. It was really fun and was the second package I got that day! I love getting things in the mail it makes me feel loved and that people are thinking about me so tell everyone thank you for me. It was so thoughtful. 

Love, 

Hermana Naegle

Dropping Katelyn off at the MTC on NOv. 13th....yes I am crying!!

Ashlyn's first email...Nov. 9, 2013

Hola! 

Thanks for the email. The part about Jared made me almost cry! That is so sweet of him, he has such strong faith for a six year old. Its been really good here. We have one classroom where we spend most of our time. Its in an apartment bedroom and is tiny. It gets really hot in there despite how cold it is outside. 

We taught our first investigator last night. She's really nice and we committed her to praying twice a day. Tonight we're going to commit her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. 

What I need now is to be able to understand Spanish so that when I teach I know what they're asking and how to address their needs. 

I also really need my temple recommend its in my temple bag that should be in our room. Tell Katelyn that I'm super happy that she found shoes and that I'm looking forward for her to be here even though we might not see each other. Tell her that they keep you busy enough to not get homesick. Even though I think about you everyday I don't desire to go home. I know that I'm supposed to be here even though its really hard and I don't have time to just sit and take in the day. At least we have daily planing sessions and I know what I'm doing and when, which is really nice. 

I was wondering if you could also send me bobby pins? 

Well since you asked for lots of daily details here are some of them:

I had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. the hot chocolate tastes funny. we went to go do our laundry and realized we didn't have any detergent, if you could send that I would appreciate it! I have to go see the "nurse" about getting my last Twinrix shot, but it was closed this morning, Its very cold and I'm glad i brought both my new jacket and by blue leather one. You do need your scriptures on the first day so tell Katelyn to bring them, she can send them home if she buys new smaller ones but its very embarrasing to not have scriptures. Spanish is coming. I'm making flashcards. I figure if I make a million flashcards I can learn a million words! So we'll see how that works out, right now I have about twenty. The hardest thing for me is understading what others are saying, but even that is starting to get a liitle better. My companion is really good at it. I have to plan district meetings twice a week and I have to ask people to give prayers and to "facilitate the conversation". I have a meeting thats supposed to train me on my responsibilites as the Sister Training Leader tomorrow. I don't know if my companion is supposed to come with me or hook up with another companionship. our district consists of eight sisters. Me and Hermana Ashbocker share and apartment with Hermanas Newbold y Ford. They are really really nice. I've been so blessed to be surrounded by amazing sisters. Our district gets along really well. WE have a lot of fun together and we've all said how sad we are that we won't see much of eachother outside the MTC. Right now 18 months seems like forever, but I know that it as fly by. These first three days have already flown by. Our teacher, Hermano Salisburry says he's really impressed with us. he's funny and sarcastic, but he's really good at teaching. he knows that he can't just tell us everything that we have to find it out for ourselves. He won't let us take anything except our scriptures into our discussions with Juana (our investigator) And Kyle Chipman (did I tell you that he's here? I've talked to him a couple times. He was really excited to see me. His spanish is ALOT better than mine, but he has been here for two weeks more than me) says that he can tkae whatever he wants! and other missionarios that I have tlaked to say the same thing. 

I can say a simple prayer and bear a simple testimony in spanish. Each time it gets easier and I'm surprised that they're not always the same I am somehow able to say different things each time. They are still very very short but you can still feel the spirit. 

Well I love you all!!!!! Adios!

Hermana Naegle

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Tell everyone that I love them and that I think about them. Give Jared some snuggles for me and tell Jacob that I'm glad he's my brother. 

My P-days are Saturdays so that's when I will be emailing. 

Portraits we had taken of Katelyn the day before she entered the MTC

Dropping Ashlyn off at the MTC.

This is Sister Ashlyn Naegle being dropped off at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. She will spend six weeks here learning Spanish before she heads to Mexico.

Ashlyn's missionary portraits....she's ready to go!