Ulan, ulan, ulan

Rain, rain, rain. That is the weather here in the Philippines. The
rain is never ending!!! But I have counted my blessings that at least
it isn't snow ;) Sounds like you Utahns have had quite the
winter...global warming, maybe?

We have had a great week here in Dumaguete. I really like this area
and my companion is also great so I'm a happy sister missionary :) We
have seen great progress in our investigators and less actives this
past week. Sister Crisencia is still pressing forward with her
baptismal date of February 16. She is so great. We taught her about
repentance this past week and in the next lesson she told us her
experience of repentance and the impact of her true repentance. It was
a great moment to have as a missionary and it's been a blessing to
teach the gospel to her and watch her accept it- without any questions
and complete obedience. She is a gem.

This week we taught one less-active, Sister Antinero. She is in her
mid 70s and unfortunately, she is the leader of the
we-left-the-Mormons pack in her area. We finished the first missionary
lesson and she had lots and lots of questions. At the end when we
testified about Joseph Smith, the Spirit was so strong. She then
whispered, "I know this is true. But it is too late for me to go back
to the Church. I have dragged too many people away and I can't go back
now." She also explained that her daughter had become a pastor in the
church they now participate in and how she couldn't leave that church.
As I sat there and listened to her and after we exhorted her to return
to the Church no matter what, I learned one of the biggest lessons of
my mission. I learned how powerful our choices are. How our choices
have an effect on so many people- especially our posterity. The moment
Sister Antinero decided to leave the Church and take others with her,
she automatically affected the happiness of those people and their
posterity. As I ponder about her situation, I just feel so sorry for
her. I feel sad she doesn't have the courage to do what is right no
matter what the consequence. I feel sorry for her the day she faces
the Savior and tells him she didn't have enough courage to follow Him.
Every choice we make in our lives is very important, especially those
concerning if we will or will not keep the commandments of Jesus
Christ. If only we could see our futures I know we would always keep
the commandments.

We also have another golden investigator, Brother Raynald....the
problem however is....that there is no divorce in the Philippines
which leads to people living-in with each other. Brother Raynald has
been living in with his member "wife" for 3years now and if they could
be divorced to their previous spouses, they would be. But...the
Catholic Church has a strong hold on the government here and they are
anti-divorce. (I'd love to throw some marriage and family research at
them....it's better to be divorced and have the chance to be remarried
than to be forced to live-in) Anyway they both kind of know that he
won't be able to be baptized immediately. Elder Oaks has set a rule
here in the Philippines that the living-in couples must be together
for a minimum of 5 years- with complete and total fidelity- before
they can be baptized. However, they will never be able to enter the
temple. So disappointing.

We will be moving to our new house this Friday!!! OH YEAH!!! so excited.

Okay well I can't think of anything funny to tell this week. Besides
the fact that we are getting soaked walking in the rain everyday and
loving every moment. I am so grateful for all of your emails and
prayers! I know when the hard times come on my mission I have your
prayers to help me keep going. I am so grateful for such a wonderful
family and I always think about how great it is that I have 4 other
family members working for the same great cause. The time is flying by
so it's time for me to take advantage of every single moment.

I love you all so much!!!
Sister Trayner

I wish this email was "sent from my iPad"

I dedicate this subject line to my parents and siblings. It appears as you are all moving into the future as almost every one of your emails ended with the following words, "sent from my iPad". My family is so tech-savvy and I'm walking around in jungles with frogs and lizards! I love it!

We had a great past week and I can't believe it is already Pday. Last week we committed one of our investigators, Sister Crisencia Macario for baptism! She is Tagalog-speaking (yes I NEED to learn Tagalog ASAP) but understands English. I can't remember if I already told you all about her but she came to Dumaguete to visit her sister (who is a member) and as she was getting ready to return to Manila she suffered a stroke. It has been a very humbling experience for her. We have watched her physically recover but it has been a blessing to see how the gospel has blessed her to heal spiritually. She has such great faith and it has been rewarding to watch her keep commitments and feel the Spirit in her life.

Last Friday we had Zone Interviews so President and Sister Schmutz came! It's always great to see them. President gave a great workshop about Joseph Smith and I was reminded of the sacrifices he made for the Church. It turned out that I was the only missionary out of the whole zone who had visited Carthage Jail and I was so grateful that I have been there. I was reminded about the sacrifices he made for the Book of Mormon. I remember times before my mission when my scriptures would just sit on my desk- I'm sad to say it-but there were times they would sit there for 4 or 5 days without being opened. I was so caught up in my own busy-ness that I forgot how precious the Book of Mormon is. So many prophets gave of their time to write their histories in the Book of Mormon and to add upon that, Joseph Smith gave his life. So many of us forget just how valuable the Book of Mormon is. How applicable it is for our day. We make excuses, "I'm too busy...." "I'm too tired to read..." "Reading scriptures is boring...." "I have only 15 minutes to read so it's not worth it....I won't learn anything." We make these excuses because we forget the sacrifices that were made so that we can have the Book of Mormon. We forget that Joseph Smith gave his life so that truth could be restored through the Book of Mormon.

I realize I just ranted but I hope you all know that reading scriptures is important. It doesn't matter how busy you are, there is time to read every day. Take advantage of the writings of ancient prophets. Read the book! If you only have 15 minutes, read. Read 5 verses and try to apply what you read to your life. I know as we all do this, our lives with change. We will become better people and come closer to the Spirit. The next time you complain about reading the Book of Mormon just think about what you'll say to Joseph Smith on the other side of this life!!

I hope you all know that my mission has changed me. I am still Nicole but I am a better Nicole. I am so grateful for these experiences I am having. As I looked at a picture my friend sent me of a bunch of my friends and longed to be with them, the Spirit confirmed to me that this is what I am supposed to be doing. My time couldn't be used for a better purpose. We had amazing experiences this last week challenging Less actives to keep the Sabbath Day even when they have...well "dumb" excuses. Both families came to church and they have testified to us about the change in their lives and the blessings they are receiving. EVERYONE KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!!!

We also had a great service project last week where we weeded the garden of a member. We off-roaded it in the van of the ZLs and it was fun. I just love serving a mission in the Philippines.It is FULL of adventure and sometimes I look around and think "how did I get myself here?!" Just like Dad said in his email, I will have so many crazy and funny stories when I get home!! But hey dad and mom....just say no! to gettin' trunky :)

I hope all of you in Ut are staying warm. Sounds like it is nice and chilly. I'll think of you as we sweat away here in the Philippines!! I love you all. You all wrote me this week! I couldn't be more proud of you! Haha. I love you all.

LOVE YOU
Sister Trayner #2 (hehe)

Malampusong semana dire sa Dumaguete!

Hi family!!!

Looks like my siblings are busy busy (you know...moving to New Zealand, going to Disneyland and all....) but I am happy Mom and Dad had a chance to write me :) Dad's experience with Elder Holland sounds great....one thing for sure that man is not afraid to get in your face-or in Dad's case- grab your face....haha!

Congrats to Zach on his new assignment as Zone Leader. Very exciting and very deserved, I am sure.

Okay so honestly I am at a loss for words right now....I am not sure what to tell y'all about. We had a great week. It started off with a great Zone Training where our zone leaders really inspired us to be more effective and dedicated missionaries. On Friday we had a meeting with our new landlord who happens to be an owner of this huge resort just outside of Dumaguete. He asked us to come to his office so we could discuss the contract. So the ZLs came and got us and off we went to this amazing resort at the top of the mountains! It was incredible!! I'll just say the 20 year old elders were a bit nervous while doing the "business deal" with our new landlord, haha...It was cool though to leave our area and to go somewhere so awesome. Saturday we had an Area Broadcast from the Area Presidency and it was good. They have made new goals for the area (such as...getting the young single adults married! ha) and reported on the successes of the Rescue Mission. We still have so much more work to do here and they really stressed that members need to step it up. Reactivation is not an easy thing, especially when it requires so much to be done by members (who often times lack motivation). Our new goal for our area is to help them get started with Home and Visiting Teaching...In PEC the Elders Quorum President was prettyyyy defensive about their Home Teaching when we asked him to make some improvements (such as assigning all active members families to home teach). He got pretty quiet when the branch clerk came in the room with the HT report and told him that for the whole year, they had only reached 3%. OUCH. Haha, it's a problem in all of the Philippines. Anyway we are working really hard to establish the Church here. I just wish the leaders would all jump aboard!

It's been pretty rainy, in fact it rained ALL DAY yesterday....it's nice because the weather is nice and cool and you get great sleep :) 

Anyway, things are going great. THANKS MOM FOR THE PACKAGE. It was great and I have missed my clothes. Haha it was a happy reunion. And the shoes are great too. They are just what I needed- black dress shoes. I love Target. I think that's the first place I'll go to when I get home....I will cry happy happy tears when I am reunited with Target, best.store.ever.

Okay family, have a great week. DO YOUR HOME AND VISITING TEACHING. There are no excuses! I know that we all play a role in helping and strengthening others. We have been so blessed to have such a great family so it is our turn to strengthen others. I hope all of you are doing your scripture studies and saying your prayers! 

LOVE YOU
Nicole

Magone-year ko karon Huwebes!!

Hello there my beautiful family!!

How's everyone doing? I hope all is well and everyone is happy!! Sometimes I forget it's January because it's still suppper hot here in the Philippines! When the weather is the same year-round it seems that you forget what time of the year it is and time just flies by!

We were busy this last week finding a new apartment due to some problems in our current apartment. We are so excited to move!! And the best part of our new apartment- there is a water heater in the shower!! Haha, but I will probably never want to take a hot shower when it's already so hot! It'll be like living in America...luxury!! 

We taught a really great lesson to an investigator, Sister Crisencia yesterday. She is living with her sister who is a member while she is recovering from a stroke. She is in her 50s and is receiving therapy due to the effects of the stroke. We taught her about the Restoration (also, she is Tagalog speaking!! ahh...so I just speak simple English to her!) and our Branch mission leader came along. It was so powerful to share about the First Vision and to hear the testimonies of members. Each time we teach about the Restoration the Spirit is so strong and my testimony of Joseph Smith is strengthened. I am so grateful for his true desire to know the truth and for his world-changing prayer on a quiet spring morning in 1820. How blessed we are to have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! So many people are confused by the world today and I am so grateful to know about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know Joseph Smith was called of God and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

We are still seeing success with our Less Actives and our schedule is SOOOOO busy that we don't even have time to visit them all in one week! Hopefully next transfer another companionship will be put here to help with the workload here. I wish we could do more finding but we are just too busy with our Less-Actives. With another companionship here we will be able to do both- less actives and finding new investigators.

I don't know if any of you realized but this Friday I hit my one-year mark!! Isn't that the CRAZIEST thing ever? I feel like I just entered the MTC....I can so vividly remember those feelings as Rachel and I drove to Provo! so many unsure and nervous feelings but boy am I so grateful that I decided to go on a mission! This is the greatest experience of my life and I am grateful for my call here in the Philippines. I have learned so much about church organization due to the rescue mission and I have truly learned the importance of visiting and home teaching and fulfilling callings. I have learned so much about how one  becomes less-active. I have learned about how to be easily offended and let one small thing ruin your testimony and affect your temporal and eternal happiness. I have learned to love and be patient with people who are of a completely different culture and race. I have learned to love people for who they are and who they can become regardless of the mistakes or sins they have made.

The Church is true. I hope all of you know that. I know we have a living prophet here on earth today, President Thomas S Monson. I know this is the Lord's work. These are the last days. We must prepare! And we must do so through our personal prayer, scripture study, temple attendance, and going to church. Just like Joseph Smith said, we are our own condemners. We must work out our own salvation--no one else can do it for us.

I love you all and think of you often....time has already gone by so fast and I look forward to these last 6 months when I can focus on the will of our Heavenly Father and bring others unto Him and His son Jesus Christ.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Sister Trayner