FAMILY!!

So. Let's see. This week was GRREEAT.

Elder Nelson's devo was amazing. He talked a lot about recognizing the Spirit and I learned that I still have a lot to learn. It gets hard to always be listening to the spirit when you are busy doing other things. But it is important! He shook hands with each of us. It was just awesome! Cebu Philippines mission is just the best!

We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates and we are just ripping up the Less-Active scene. There are so many and most of them are just...well....kind of off the deep end. But we love them anyway :) I still love my companion, Sister Brand. We will FOR sure be friends after the mission and we've already planned to live together and travel the world together...that's if she won't be married in the next year while I'm still kickin it over here in the Philippines....

We are seeing progress in our area!!! We had church attendance close to 100. When I got here it was around 75 so we are talking about 25ish people returning and STAYING. Amazing. Missionary work is hard work but it is awesome.

My companion will go home on Monday and I will be working with members in my branch until Friday morning when I will go with the Elders in my city to Cebu City to pick up my new companion. I am so nervous! This will be my 4th companion. All I ask is just that I get to stay with her for more than one transfer. I've had an awesome opportunity to learn from 2 great missionaries but I want to stay with my next for more than 6 weeks. I feel like I was just starting to get rolling with Sister Brand but alas, all good things must come to an end.

I hope that all of you are doing well and starting to enjoy your nice Summer lives. It's still super hot here. But don't worry, we bought some fans so all is well in my life again. For the most part, haha. Every time I eat at this recent converts house I get super sick. I'm thinking it's the oil or something that they cook with...but yeah I get pretty sick like 2 or 3 times a week.

Today was a great pday. We went to the bukid (the mountain) and went fishing. It is crazyyy cool. Then we cooked the fish and ate our fish and rice with our hands in true Filipino style. Sometimes I just can't believe I am actually doing this. Crazyness.

Well I love you all. I hope you are all studying your scriptures. Even if for 5 minutes each day, DO it. Stay close to Heavenly Father and He will bless you. I know that it is true. I have witnessed it in so many ways.

I am grateful for each one of you and for the love you have shown to me. I can't think about how much longer I have because it feels so far away! But know that I love all of you and think of you often. You are amazing! Keep on keepin' on.

love
Nicole

Maayong buntag gikan sa Philippinas!!!

Hello my dearest family,

Thanks to those of you who emailed me this week. I love my family and
I love them even more when they write me :) But sounds like things are
going great back home. Good to know.

Things here are great. I love my companion. We are like the same
person that sometimes it is just entertaining. She is leaving soon and
I am nervous to get yet again another companion. But I will survive!

We have more investigators. We have Cyrus who is a referral from one
of the members. He is 20ish and just always noticed that his member
friend was so different from the rest. We taught him  yesterday for
the first time and he has a baptismal date set for June 16! he will
have to simba (church) for 4 times in a row before he can get
baptized. But I have faith in him. We also have another investigator,
Sister Inie who is like 26 and married. She is super funny and will
just tell you all about her life. Actually that's what most people do
here. You talk to them for like 15 minutes and you will know about all
of their problems. Anyway she is a strong Catholic but she really
likes learning so hopefully it will go somewhere. My favorite comment
of hers, "I feel like my prayers are so empty" well yeah, they are
when you recite the same words over and over...

We found lots of pretty walay-claro less-actives this past week. Walay
claro= baptized but have no testimony, living in sin, and hides from
us. But it was pretty fun finding them AND pretty entertaining. Sister
Brand has no shame WHICH I LOVE! Seriously we had travled for like 30
minutes to the outskirt of our mission and we drove past this huge
group of people playing BINGO. So we asked them if they knew this
family we were looking for and they said nothing. So we continued on
to another large gathering of people only to have them tell us the
lady we were looking for was back playing Bingo. Haha. So we walked
back and yes, she had most definitely been trying to avoid us.
Hahaha.... I always joke that it's not a surpise the FBI hires so many
RMs because you become SO GOOD at finding people no your mission!

Today in just about 15 minutes we are headed of to Cebu City because
Elder Nelson of the 12 is here!!!! Awesome, no? I am so excited. We
are the best mission here in the Philippines :)

Anyway I am doing fine. Yesterday was not really my day. I broke our
only 2 fans...in separate instances and also...my running shoes got
stolen. That's what I get for wearing a size that some Philippinos fit
into. I've always had a talent for breaking things. But other than
that I am doing great.

Thank you for all of your prayers for me. I know this Church is true
and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share it with the
people here in Balamban! It is hard work but it is rewarding work.

Love you
Sister Trayner

Naglingkod ko sa usa ka lingkoranan. I am sitting on a chair.

Kumusta pamilya nako!

Thanks once again for your emails and all of your support. I have a great family whom  I LOVE!!! Sounds like things are going great over there in the big old USA. Gosh, that place is pretty great.

The Philippines. It's an adventure. And I love it :) It was so fun being able to talk with all of you 2 days ago! It was so fun and I forgot where I was for a while. But things are going wonderfully over here.

I remember when I heard the Philippines was switching it's focus to less-actives from investigators. In a way I thought it would be easier or something- no tracting!!! But I've learned it is hard after all. Some people are so gahi (hard-headed) and just when I think they are progressing and doing better they make a mistake and I remember that people have their kagawasan sa pagpili (agency). I've learned it's not easy for people to change and that it's so important for the people who are supposed to believe in them to never stop believing in them. Working with less-actives is a trial of your faith! We put all of our prayers, hope, and energy into families and then we go to visit them only to observe that mom and dad aren't doing what they should be and then the spirit in the home is GONE.

I've realized how important families are. We have so many Less-actives who were baptized when they were 10ish and it just makes me so sick. I don't know who would baptize children who have absolutely NO support from their families. I've learned how rare it is to find a complete, functioning family. When FAMILIES are brought into the church together, the church is strengthened. We all have a responsibility in loving and supporting each other in all that we do!

Anyway I'll step off of my soap box. This work is crazy! there is so much to be done here in the Philippines. People may be members but they don't understand the doctrine. This is a test of my patience :) For example: Our branch had an activity on Monday and they started planning it Sunday right after sacrament meeting with the WHOLE branch in attendance. Turns out they decided they wanted to cook food and since the activity started at 8 am on Monday morning they wouldn't have time to buy the food so guess what they did? The Branch President gave them all money and they went to the Market together and bought food for the branch activity on the SABBATH. Goodness. Patience is required in missionary work.

I feel like this was a venting letter but I am doing well here! I still love my companion, she is the best. I have learned so much from her amazing example! She is always talking to the others and that makes me so motivated to do the same and work harder so that hopefully I will be a fluent visaya speaker ASAP.

I love you all and think of you often! I know I have the best family! Love you all,
Sister Trayner

Not bad for a white girrrl

 Hello my dearest family!

So things are still great here in the 'Lippines. Thanks for all of your emails y'all are the best.

Let's see. Last week I had my very first Zone Conference which was SO GOOD. We had Elder Neilson from the first quorum of 70 come and I loved it! They talked a lot about how we need to change the way we do missionary work because of the Philippine culture. I'm a super nerdy missionary now, just fyi.

I still love my companion Sister Brand. She goes home in a month (but I don't EVER talk about it haha) and we are getting so much done here. Sometimes it's hard when you are both not Filippina especially since we are having to find the homes of LA's and they don't have addresses and it's kind of just crazy. But we are doing our best. I am now obsessed with getting AS MANY LESSONS AS POSSIBLE! Remember how I said I was the nerdy missionary?? Yeah. Anyway we have been working really hard. We had 33 lessons last week and I still feel like there is so much to be done in Balamban!

My Cebuano is getting better. I think? I mean it's just such a gradual process but I can now typically understand a normal conversation. It's just when people talk reallyyyy fast I'm like, "huh?" Actually when people don't understand you here they just open their mouth...like drop their jaw. It's funny. Yes, I still have like 14 months left of this and I'm going to come home with the weirdest habits. BE EXCITED.

We finally got our long-time investigator Wilson to pray and ask if Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I was soooo happy. We had an amazing lesson with him and his family and a branch member came and bore his testimony about Joseph Smith. It was super awesome and the spirit was so strong. This is the first time he has ever committed to ask so I was just the happiest. He always teases me and says that I can be his special guest when he gets baptized in Jan 2013...for some reason he picked that date...but then I said to him, "Apan Brother Wilson, mas nindot ang temple sealings. Ganahan ko magsaski sa selyohan sa imong pamilya" Which translates: "But Brother WIlson, Temple sealings are more awesome/fantastic/wonderful. I want to witness the sealing of your family" We will go back tonight. I just pray and pray and pray that he actually prayed and asked.

I am learning so much here on the mission. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to be here forever but I know that is not true. I'm almost half-way done with my 2nd transfer. AH! I know it is so important for each of us to stay close to our Heavenly Father. Everyday when we meet new Less Actives they have stopped: praying (pagampo), reading (pagbasa), and churching (pagsimba). I hope that each of you are taking the time to do those 3 because they are SO IMPORTANT. You cannot have a testimony unless you are doing all 3 on a regular basis. I know this to be true. So if you are lacking in something, just DO IT.

Well I love you all a lot. I think of you often. Also I will be able to skype!!! I am getting on the computer at 8 AM on Monday. Which means...I'm pretty sure...7 pm for mom/dad in TX SUNDAY night and 6 pm UTAH. But you should just check for me, okay? Just know I will be on waiting for you.

Ok I love you. Oh also I went to the temple today. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!
Sister Nicole Trayner

Duha ka Americana sa Balamba

My dearest family (and friends who are loyal readers of my beloved blog),

Wow. I have survived 6 weeks here. This is so great. So first, I LOVE MY NEW COMPANION!!! Now don't get me wrong, I love Sister Gumayao to infinity and beyond as well! I just feel that I have grown so much this last week than I have my whole mission. Leading the area....after 6 weeks....and we haven't gotten lost yet! Sister Brand is awesome. She is 5'11, beautiful, and smart. This is her last transfer and then she will return to the Land Bountiful. We also have a couple of common friends. One of which is Josh Stapley. So Katherine or Laura if you are reading this, you need to go find him (he might be hiding). I just wish she could stay with me for 6 more weeks! When we were at transfer meeting, President Schmutz came up to us and said, "This companionship is just too perfect. People won't be able to handle it!" Haha! I have learned so much from Sister Brand! I feel like 100000 more times confident with her here. She is super outgoing and it's so much easier for me to talk with people because she has set such a good example for me. She is also super helpful with the language because she can explain the grammar and such. The branch has accepted her so quickly because she is so kind and her Visaya is WOW.

I have grown a lot. Before I kind of just hid behind my Filippina companion and I guess I didn't know how much I was capable of. Now the branch is forced to talk with me because I am the familiar face and I feel much more included and my Visaya has improved so much.

We have an investigator who right now is refusing to pray to know if the Church is true. He has been listening to the discussions for 6 months and it has been good to have Sister Brand here because she is not afraid of directly addressing his questions about the gospel. Anyway we go there 3 times a week, he and his family feed us, he goes to church every Sunday, he reads the Book of Mormon so honestly I have no idea what is goin on. But we are going to reteach the Restoration and strengthen his testimony about Jesus Christ. I hope that you are all praying. It is seriously the only way we can know truths from Heavenly Father. If it wasn't for prayer I wouldn't be here right now. I have prayed more times in the last 6 weeks than I probably have my whole life combined. I am praying SO much. On the trisikal, on the bus, while we are walking, you name it. I am always praying. I have such a strong testimony that if we will pray the Lord will help us through any of our trials. I am evidence of this!

We are trying to locate more Less Actives which is pretty hard seeing that people don't have addresses here. We get told the general area where they live and we just wander around asking people if they know them. I am loving this. I love bringing people back into the gospel. To see that light in their eyes. It's amazing.

It finally rained yesterday. IT IS SOOOOOOOOO HOT here. But I am still so thankful I did not get sent to Russia. Haha.

Anyway life here is great. Thanks for your prayers, I know they have given me so much more strength.

Just so you know, I'll be emailing about this time from now on...so yeah....it's time that y'all stop complaining that I am emailing to early...haha

I love you all so much!!! It sounds like things are going well. Continue to endure to the end. If you stop that is when you will fall away.

The Church is true!!! Stay awesome
Sister Trayner