nahigugma ako sa amo!!!

Hello my family!! Another week has come and gone here in the MTC. It has been a great one!! My Cebuano is coming along...slowly, but surely. Last week a lightbulb went off and the grammar started to make sense. So now I can make sentences all by myself :) Cebuano isn't even a written language which makes things interesting...I can't wait to come back home and be in the middle of Wal Mart talking to my current companion on the phone and having NO ONE understand what I'm saying!!

I loved the drawings from Madeleine and Mercedes! It always makes me sooo happy. I have the best family in the world. My district gets jealous every Monday night when I get 5 plus letters from my family. So thank you for taking the time to write me, even when I have so little to say.

It's kind of like the movie Groundhog Day here. I feel like I do the same thing everyday! But I always try to find something to laugh at. My district has very different and distinct personalities so I find myself laughing all the time.

Tonight is the 50th Anniversary of the MTC. I HOPE THE PROPHET COMES!! And President Uchtdorf. And all of them. I'll probably cry. Oh, I love the apostles. I'm sure it will be great. Everytime we sing here at the MTC during a devotional I love it. Music is so powerful!!

Random, but I saw Elder Sam Gordon today. He says hi!

So yeah, things are going great. the older cebuano district left yesterday and so now only 8 of us here at the mtc are speaking cebuano!! I only have 6 more weeks to study hard before I'm out there in the jungles of the Philippines!!

Cebuano lesson of the day:

Paghinulsol= Repentance

Oh, we were teaching our investigator the other day and instead of saying "Jesus Christ preached the gospel while he was on earth" I used the wrong verb and said "Jesus Christ resurrected the gospel" Haha. Preach= sa pagsangyaw Resurrect=sa pagsabanhaw. So they almost sound the same. Needless to say, my teachers got a pretty good kick out of it. Lesson learned.

Alright I love you all! thanks to my friends who wrote me this week. I guess calling you out actually worked. Rachel tell sarah to write me!! I'll be writing you all back soon.

I know the church is true! Nasayud ko nga tinuod ang ebanghelyo!!!!

Love you!

Sister Nicole Trayner

First of all, thanks to all of you (except Rach) who sent me a letter on dearelder! It really helped so much! Last night I had 5 full pages of letters! It was BETTER than Christmas! I was seriously jumping up and down!

Also, I don't have her email but can you tell Aunt Corrinne thank you for me? She sent me some yummy cinammon rolls! I am so lucky to have people looking after me. Thanks Aunt Corrinne! And of course, JB, tell Merecedes and the twins thank you for their beautiful artwork. You should send me one each week! They are sooo cute and I love them!!

This week was pretty good. We haven't had any "big" speakers for devotional yet, but I know they will come. I feel like there is so much to learn here and at times it can be so overwhelming. We had been teaching an investigator in Cebuano when we first got here and he was pretty tough. I mean, it's not easy when you can't even make sentences! But anyway, it turns out that he is our second teacher. It was actually pretty funny! I love both of my teachers, Brother Christensen and Brother Young. They are great and I always learn so much from them- Cebuano-wise and gospel-wise.

On Sunday I was asked to be the Coordinating Sister for our Branch. So yeah, kind of like Relief Society president. It's not too bad, kind of like Zone Leader for the sisters. Just more meetings. But I look forward to getting to know the sisters in my zone better! On Sunday the Primary General President spoke in Relief Society and it was sooooo good. She talked about loving the children where we are going and teaching them about the love their Heavenly Father has for them. I am so excited to do that in the Philippines. Also Mom and Dad, I met Sister Bocanegra! I'm sure she told you!!!! She is so cute and I can just tell she will make a great missionary. I hope she gave Mom a hug for me. I told her she will have the greatest mission president and companion ever. That, even when I get home, I will never deny. Texas McAllen has that on Philippines Cebu :)

The language is coming along. I've only had one break down, but it was small. Yesterday as we were teaching our 2nd investigator, Richard, he asked us questions and I was able to make sentences and answer back. Best part, he understood! I know that as I continue to study the Lord will bless me and the Cebuano will come.

I hope Rach is posting this on my blog, so maybe my friends will write me, haha. There are friends (whose names rhyme with Bemily, Tepencer, Harah, Baura...many others!) that I keep hoping on hearing from.....

Anyway I love you all and I know that this gospel is true! Please continue to write me on dearelder. I love you all!

Love

Sister Nicole Trayner

Kumusta from the MTC

Well family, the day has FINALLY arrived! You are receiving an email from your beloved Sister Trayner!

The MTC is a special place....in so many ways. I really like it here! (most of the time) I didn't even have time to be sad when I got out of the car because they put us right to work! I went to my room and then off to Cebuano class I went!!! This language is NUTS. It's like a jungle language.

I have a companion!!! And she is in my district, and going to Cebu!!! Rachel and Josh, you are going to laugh so hard. Remember that Poly family we saw in the parking lot right before we dropped me off? And how I said it would be so cool if she was my companion? SHE IS MY COMPANION!!!!!! Her name is Sister T and she is originally from Samoa, and moved to Taylorsville 5 years ago. She is super calm and laid back which has helped for the past week. I feel so blessed to have a companion! There is only one other sister learning Cebuano. Her name is Sister L and she's half Tongan/half Samoan and is from Hawaii. She is our roommate. So yeah, I am just here with my brown friends and I LOVE IT!

Cebuano is crazy. The words are so different from anything I've ever said in English so it's hard to remember them. We have to teach the 2nd lesson to our investigator tomorrrow without any notes. I know I can do it, it will just be hard. I am always so happy when there is a random Spanish word thrown in. It's hard to not wish I was learning Spanish because of it's familiarity and the fact that basically 1/2 of the MTC is learning spanish. But I know this is a call from God and that I can learn Cebuano.

this keyboard is annoying and it's hard to use the shift button so to make it easier and faster please forgive me for not capatalizing anything. the elders in my district are very much 19 years old and they haven't been all that obedient. on sunday we were on the computers using the tall program to learn cebuano and the other sisters got on their emails. i just couldn't believe it. i know that this is the lord's time and that it is so important to be obedient to the rules, no matter what.

ok i love you a lot. please write me on dearelder. it makes it a lot easier for me, so i don't have to read all of your emails so fast and try to respond.

love you sooooo much!!

sister nicole trayner

nasayud ko nga tinuod ang simbahan!

i know this church is true!!!