Family!!
Hello there! It's another wonderful Wednesday here at the computer (yes, it now kills my eyes to sit at a computer for 1 hour....not used to it anymore) and I am just so happy to be emailing all of you :) For the last half hour or so my companion and I read about all of the new 58 (YES FIFTY-EIGHT) missions being created. We also read Dad's name under Texas McAllen and I just felt so sad. I don't know why....I guess it's just hard to believe Mom and Dad's time is almost up (which in return means my time is almost up too). I can't believe how fast the work is hastening and I just feel the excitement....my goodness!! The excitement of all this missionary work is just pumping through my veins!!!
Anyway, we had a great week here in Dumaguete/Tanjay areas. We spent about 3 days in Tanjay working with the sisters there....we had only scheduled to be there for just 2 days or so but then one of the sisters had a dental problem so then we had to come back to Dumaguete and then rescheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Tanjay is soooo beautiful. I am excited to come back after the mish....I will just drive around here in Negros, it is so beautiful!! We worked with two sisters, Sister Delacruz and Sister Neri. It was fun but we are TIRED. Haha all of the work and travel is exhausting. But it is so fun.
Our area is doing great. For some reason like none of our Less-Actives came to church on Sunday which was really disappointing. They all had different reasons but it was kind of disappointing. We've hit kind of a hard spot in our area as far as teaching-wise and with our new responsibilities as "Coordinating Sisters" (We are SO official) we are so busy but with faith I know we will find those people who the Lord has prepared for us to teach. Tonight Sister Houston will travel to another area, Sibulan and I will stay here with a sister coming from Sibulan and we'll work in Dumaguete. We are excited.
The Senior Couple assigned here in Negros did a Home and Visiting Teaching workshop for our branch leaders which was great. It was in english and the next day at church the leaders came and told us they didn't really understand that much....so yeah....it was a great workshop but now they have asked us to do the workshop again for them in visaya. You know, just to add on to the work load....but that's okay! Then the Croppers (the senior couple) took us out to dinner to a REAL restaurant....yeah I felt like this uncivilized jungle lady walking back into civilization. It was a shock and the first time in over a year that I"ve eaten some true Italian food! LAMI!
I hope that all is well back at home. Each week is just flying by. I love my mission!!!! I am hoping to do a round #2....do you think President Monson would give the ok? Haha. But really I am so grateful for these experiences I am having on my mission and I am so thankful that the time has finally arrived that more young women will be able to serve full-time missionaries. Sister Houston and I were talking the other day and I just hope Nate and Josh know that I will literally BRAINWASH their daughters to go on missions. This is the best decision I have ever made and I know that this is what I needed in order to help me on my path to exaltation. Missions are great. The Lord watches over me each day and I feel His love and His care for me and for the people we teach. I never thought as a little girl I would serve a mission ("sister missionaries are weird and grungy looking" attitude), let alone serve a mission in the freaking JUNGLE of the Philippines with all the lizards and frogs and spiders! I often look at my surroundings and think, "how did I get myself here?" The truth is that the Lord put me here. And how grateful I am that I have been assigned to these places that I am serving. That attitude I once had is true--- I am now a weird sister missionary and grungy!! Haha! But I couldn't embrace it more. Being a sister missionary is the best! The Church is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. We have a loving father in Heaven. There is a true and living prophet! These things have been engraved on my heart as a full-time missionary. If I had not served, I am not sure if those things would be engraved on my heart.
I love you family. I think of you often and I am so grateful for your love and support!! You are the best. Keep up the hard work Presidente y Hermana Trayner!! Ikaw pod Elder Trayner!!!
Good luck Rach with your interview. Love you Nate,Meg,Josh,Britt, Madeleine, Owen, Mercedes, Tyson, Jaxson!!!! You too Nana, Forrest, Grandma, Grandpa!!!!
Love
Nicole
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Crazy things are happening in the Cebu Mission!!!
Hello to my dearest family!
Okay so much is happening here in the Cebu Mission. Let me just start off by saying that I misread the transfer text last week and I'm not training. Instead I was informed that my new companion would be Sister Houston (from Roosevelt, Utah! Also, my "twin" in the mission) would be my companion. When I found this out I was SHOCKED. Because with so many new sisters coming in the mission I just thought it was so weird that two experienced sisters were placed together. But I was really excited and figured since it would be Sister Houston's last transfer, President was just trying to end her mission the right way (which you know...I am the best way to end any mission, haha). Then the Zone Leaders told me I had to go to Cebu to be interviewed by President Schmutz and I was like, "what???? It is soooo far away!" So then one of the APs was texting us, kind of teasing me and finally he just called and told me, "You and Sister Houston are breaking ground in the Cebu Philippines Mission....You two are becoming the first coordinating sisters of the mission....you are going to travel all around Negros Island training sisters." I was even MORE shocked after he said that. Anyway, long story short I met my new companion in Cebu and we had a quick 12 minute meeting with President Schmutz where he told us, "You two will write the handbook for this new assignment." and gave us no further direction other than, "go back to your area and have some fun!!" So yeah, Sister Houston and I are seriously having the time of our lives!!! If only you could see us, it's so great. She and I were both companions with Sister Brand (shout out!) and we owe our missionary-greatness to her. (haha just kidding, I sound so prideful.) So yeah. Once a week we travel to the different parts of Negros and go on splits with the sisters. Later today we will travel to Tanjay. But I just laugh because I traveled 12 hours in order to talk with President Schmutz for 12 minutes....so tiring.
SECOND BIG NEWS: OUR MISSION IS SPLITTING!!! What the???? It will split this July 1 and I am just praying I get to stay in the same mission as President Schmutz for the last 16 days of my mission. Crazy things are happening. Seriously.
THIRD BIG NEWS: our baptism was great and now Sister Crisencia is an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her baptism went well (of course it started an hour late- Filipino time) but she was so happy and her testimony was so wonderful. She is the cutest lady ever and I love her a lot.
Okay that is about it. I just feel like this past week has been one of the craziest/most exciting of the mission. I have gotten little sleep but I am loving my missionary life right now. I am so excited for our new responsibilities and I know I'll be the one to keep it going as Sister Houston will be going home this next transfer. I feel so blessed to have been given this assignment and I know that through diligence and prayerful, hard work Sister Houston and I will be able to help and train the sister missionaries here.
I AM SO HAPPY TO HEAR about Rachel's interview at BYU. Rach, I'll keep you in my prayers. Hopefully your nose is okay now, haha that is like the funniest/saddest thing I've heard. I hope Nate and Megan are doing okay--in fact the whole Hullinger clan. I've thought about you often this week. Josh and Britt, keep sending those videos. I love seeing your kids. The other day Sister Houston and I were talking about eternal families and this feeling just swept over me. How much I desire that I will be with all of you forever. I then realized how much work it will take on all of our parts. That it won't always be easy. But siblings, keep the faith and keep doing what is right every moment of your life. I can't think about the next life if my 4 best friends aren't there too. How blessed I am to have each of you in my life!
I know this Church is true. I know that we have the fulness of the gospel and we are so blessed because of what we know. I know the scriptures help us through the hard times and keep us going. I know we have a Savior. Even though we live in this imperfect world we have a Savior who has paid for our sins and gave us the gift of repentance. Each day of our lives we have the opportunity to evaluate ourselves and rid ourselves of our sins, our bad habits, and our natural man tendencies. I know that as we each are diligent in our repentance, we will become better people- born again.
I love my mission. I'm so grateful for these experiences I am having and the lessons I am learning. To be completely honest, looking back to who I was before my mission, I was a good person who wanted to do what was right. But my mission has changed me. It has shown to me the path leading to our Father in Heaven and all the things I must do in order to return to him. My mission has blessed lives of others but it has taught me lessons I couldn't have learned any where else. My understanding is so much more complete now- I know what I must do to gain exaltation.
I LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!
Love
Sister Trayner
Okay so much is happening here in the Cebu Mission. Let me just start off by saying that I misread the transfer text last week and I'm not training. Instead I was informed that my new companion would be Sister Houston (from Roosevelt, Utah! Also, my "twin" in the mission) would be my companion. When I found this out I was SHOCKED. Because with so many new sisters coming in the mission I just thought it was so weird that two experienced sisters were placed together. But I was really excited and figured since it would be Sister Houston's last transfer, President was just trying to end her mission the right way (which you know...I am the best way to end any mission, haha). Then the Zone Leaders told me I had to go to Cebu to be interviewed by President Schmutz and I was like, "what???? It is soooo far away!" So then one of the APs was texting us, kind of teasing me and finally he just called and told me, "You and Sister Houston are breaking ground in the Cebu Philippines Mission....You two are becoming the first coordinating sisters of the mission....you are going to travel all around Negros Island training sisters." I was even MORE shocked after he said that. Anyway, long story short I met my new companion in Cebu and we had a quick 12 minute meeting with President Schmutz where he told us, "You two will write the handbook for this new assignment." and gave us no further direction other than, "go back to your area and have some fun!!" So yeah, Sister Houston and I are seriously having the time of our lives!!! If only you could see us, it's so great. She and I were both companions with Sister Brand (shout out!) and we owe our missionary-greatness to her. (haha just kidding, I sound so prideful.) So yeah. Once a week we travel to the different parts of Negros and go on splits with the sisters. Later today we will travel to Tanjay. But I just laugh because I traveled 12 hours in order to talk with President Schmutz for 12 minutes....so tiring.
SECOND BIG NEWS: OUR MISSION IS SPLITTING!!! What the???? It will split this July 1 and I am just praying I get to stay in the same mission as President Schmutz for the last 16 days of my mission. Crazy things are happening. Seriously.
THIRD BIG NEWS: our baptism was great and now Sister Crisencia is an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her baptism went well (of course it started an hour late- Filipino time) but she was so happy and her testimony was so wonderful. She is the cutest lady ever and I love her a lot.
Okay that is about it. I just feel like this past week has been one of the craziest/most exciting of the mission. I have gotten little sleep but I am loving my missionary life right now. I am so excited for our new responsibilities and I know I'll be the one to keep it going as Sister Houston will be going home this next transfer. I feel so blessed to have been given this assignment and I know that through diligence and prayerful, hard work Sister Houston and I will be able to help and train the sister missionaries here.
I AM SO HAPPY TO HEAR about Rachel's interview at BYU. Rach, I'll keep you in my prayers. Hopefully your nose is okay now, haha that is like the funniest/saddest thing I've heard. I hope Nate and Megan are doing okay--in fact the whole Hullinger clan. I've thought about you often this week. Josh and Britt, keep sending those videos. I love seeing your kids. The other day Sister Houston and I were talking about eternal families and this feeling just swept over me. How much I desire that I will be with all of you forever. I then realized how much work it will take on all of our parts. That it won't always be easy. But siblings, keep the faith and keep doing what is right every moment of your life. I can't think about the next life if my 4 best friends aren't there too. How blessed I am to have each of you in my life!
I know this Church is true. I know that we have the fulness of the gospel and we are so blessed because of what we know. I know the scriptures help us through the hard times and keep us going. I know we have a Savior. Even though we live in this imperfect world we have a Savior who has paid for our sins and gave us the gift of repentance. Each day of our lives we have the opportunity to evaluate ourselves and rid ourselves of our sins, our bad habits, and our natural man tendencies. I know that as we each are diligent in our repentance, we will become better people- born again.
I love my mission. I'm so grateful for these experiences I am having and the lessons I am learning. To be completely honest, looking back to who I was before my mission, I was a good person who wanted to do what was right. But my mission has changed me. It has shown to me the path leading to our Father in Heaven and all the things I must do in order to return to him. My mission has blessed lives of others but it has taught me lessons I couldn't have learned any where else. My understanding is so much more complete now- I know what I must do to gain exaltation.
I LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!
Love
Sister Trayner
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Maganak ko pag-usab
FAMILY!!!
Thank you for all of your emails this past week. It was great to hear from all of you!! Thanks for your emails!
So the subject line=I will bear a child again......meaning yes.....transfer calls came today and I am going to be training another new missionary! So Friday morning, bright and early (yes, 3 AM....yikes....) I will get on a bus and make the looooooong journey to Cebu. My cute current companion, Sister Abundo, will be transferring to Bohol.....I am so sad that we will be separated but I kind of saw it coming. Some things are too good to be true.We had a great 12 weeks together and I will really miss her. She is one of my dearest companions and I will miss her.
We had a great week. I really love this area! We had 7 investigators attend church (BOO YA!) and we are seeing great progress in many of our less-actives. Yesterday night we were able to share with one less-active family, the Tulabing family. They were offended by a missionary but the mom has already come back and I know the rest of the family will just follow. We shared about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was so strong. In those moments I just think to myself, "Missions are amazing. I will never forget these moments! I just met these people but yet I already feel such a love and strong desire to help them." Like I always say, Mission are Miracles.
This coming Saturday, Sister Cresencia will be baptized!! YEAH!!! She is such a great investigator and SO committed to live the gospel for the rest of her life. It is so rewarding to see someone's life change so much. It was cute when she pulled out her phone and showed us that she had made a picture of Jesus the background of her phone. I am excited to see her enter the waters of baptism but sad that Sister Abundo will miss out. But that's just how the mission works. I guess my new companion is pretty lucky....first day in the field and BAPTISM! haha....
Everything here is going great. We had a fireside for our branch last Sunday and taught them how to give referrals. So....let's just hope the members will step up and give us some more referrals!
I wasn't bitten by red ants this week.
Anyway I love you all, I hope you are happy and healthy. Time is FLYING by so I will make sure to take advantage of every moment. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
Love
Sister Trayner
Thank you for all of your emails this past week. It was great to hear from all of you!! Thanks for your emails!
So the subject line=I will bear a child again......meaning yes.....transfer calls came today and I am going to be training another new missionary! So Friday morning, bright and early (yes, 3 AM....yikes....) I will get on a bus and make the looooooong journey to Cebu. My cute current companion, Sister Abundo, will be transferring to Bohol.....I am so sad that we will be separated but I kind of saw it coming. Some things are too good to be true.We had a great 12 weeks together and I will really miss her. She is one of my dearest companions and I will miss her.
We had a great week. I really love this area! We had 7 investigators attend church (BOO YA!) and we are seeing great progress in many of our less-actives. Yesterday night we were able to share with one less-active family, the Tulabing family. They were offended by a missionary but the mom has already come back and I know the rest of the family will just follow. We shared about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was so strong. In those moments I just think to myself, "Missions are amazing. I will never forget these moments! I just met these people but yet I already feel such a love and strong desire to help them." Like I always say, Mission are Miracles.
This coming Saturday, Sister Cresencia will be baptized!! YEAH!!! She is such a great investigator and SO committed to live the gospel for the rest of her life. It is so rewarding to see someone's life change so much. It was cute when she pulled out her phone and showed us that she had made a picture of Jesus the background of her phone. I am excited to see her enter the waters of baptism but sad that Sister Abundo will miss out. But that's just how the mission works. I guess my new companion is pretty lucky....first day in the field and BAPTISM! haha....
Everything here is going great. We had a fireside for our branch last Sunday and taught them how to give referrals. So....let's just hope the members will step up and give us some more referrals!
I wasn't bitten by red ants this week.
Anyway I love you all, I hope you are happy and healthy. Time is FLYING by so I will make sure to take advantage of every moment. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
Love
Sister Trayner
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
AGAY!!! gipaakan ko sa amigas
Hello my dearest family,
Thanks for those of you who emailed me this first week of February....(insert feelings of guilt trip here)
Okay so I have stories for you! In fact one just happened like a half an hour ago. But I am short on time so I hope I can fit this all in.
So the subject line....translation: Ouch!!! I was bitten by ants!!
Story: We just moved into our new house. I went to take a shower. My towel was hanging on the towel rack (yes this new house is so fancy it has a towel rack!!) I stepped out of the shower, wrapped myself in the towel. Then it felt like I was being bitten....lo and behold my towel was COVERED in red ants. Of course I could not see them as I am basically blind with no contacts or glasses. So yes, my approximate guess would be that there were 30 bites. And since my body is super sensitive to insect bites they got SUPER huge and my body was swollen all over in random places and it really hurt. 3 days have passed and I am still itchy. Those darn ants.
I love falling...I mean HIKING.....
Story: Last week it was POURING rain....it was like a small tsunami with winds and all of that stuff but our district decided to continue with our district activity of hiking in the mountains to a japanese shrine. Anyway we got SUPER wet and actually it turns out there aren't good views on the tops of mountains when it's raining and foggy. As we made the descent, I totally slid (in typical Nicole style, of course) and was COVERED in mud. My underclothes (hahaha) were even brown. When it comes to hiking in mini tsunamis all I can say is: Oh, be wise...what can I say more?
The companionship t-shirt of Sister Trayner and Sister Abundo....
Story: I received revelation one night coming home from a long day of work. We had been thinking about the design for our companionship t-shirt (it's like the thing to do here in the Philippines...make matching t-shirts...) And I received pure revelation. The Filipinos have a hand sign, your thumb and index finger extended in the shape of a "v" and when you place it right below your chin it means you are gwapo or gwapa (good looking). So....our Branch Mission Leader made us a design for the t-shirt....which the hand shape and then it says....."Oi! naay gwapa!" Meaning---Wow! there is a pretty girl!!---as we were walking to this internet place we wore them because we are on our way to play sports with the Zone, this man called us over to him. I thought he was a member or something but long story short....he's not......but he LOVED our t-shirts and introduced us to all of his friends. Then he ended by trying to give me "besos" hahahahahahahahaha.....I guess funny t-shirts might spread the gospel message faster than pass along cards ;)
Okay enough storytelling. We had a great Sunday with 5 investigators coming to church and SO MANY LESS ACTIVES!!! I was sooooo happy. We have been working so hard to get them back and they are coming. Oh, the tender mercies of missionary work. It was one of the most successful and happy Sundays of my mission. We moved into our new apartment which is really nice and it's close to the market which is great! Fresh fruit and vegetables just in walking distance :)
I am learning so much on my mission and I am so grateful for the experiences I am having. I have developed a love for the scriptures and reading. I know that we need to become a more scripture reading people. If ever we have questions or decisions to make, we just need to read. As we show our faith to our Heavenly Father by prayer and scripture study, the words of Christ will tell us all things we should do (2 Nephi 32:3) Time is flying by but I am loving every moment of it. Missions are miracles! I am so eternally grateful for this chance to spread the gospel message.
I love all of you. Write me next week...Valentine's week!! So give me some love!!!!
Love
Sister Trayner
Thanks for those of you who emailed me this first week of February....(insert feelings of guilt trip here)
Okay so I have stories for you! In fact one just happened like a half an hour ago. But I am short on time so I hope I can fit this all in.
So the subject line....translation: Ouch!!! I was bitten by ants!!
Story: We just moved into our new house. I went to take a shower. My towel was hanging on the towel rack (yes this new house is so fancy it has a towel rack!!) I stepped out of the shower, wrapped myself in the towel. Then it felt like I was being bitten....lo and behold my towel was COVERED in red ants. Of course I could not see them as I am basically blind with no contacts or glasses. So yes, my approximate guess would be that there were 30 bites. And since my body is super sensitive to insect bites they got SUPER huge and my body was swollen all over in random places and it really hurt. 3 days have passed and I am still itchy. Those darn ants.
I love falling...I mean HIKING.....
Story: Last week it was POURING rain....it was like a small tsunami with winds and all of that stuff but our district decided to continue with our district activity of hiking in the mountains to a japanese shrine. Anyway we got SUPER wet and actually it turns out there aren't good views on the tops of mountains when it's raining and foggy. As we made the descent, I totally slid (in typical Nicole style, of course) and was COVERED in mud. My underclothes (hahaha) were even brown. When it comes to hiking in mini tsunamis all I can say is: Oh, be wise...what can I say more?
The companionship t-shirt of Sister Trayner and Sister Abundo....
Story: I received revelation one night coming home from a long day of work. We had been thinking about the design for our companionship t-shirt (it's like the thing to do here in the Philippines...make matching t-shirts...) And I received pure revelation. The Filipinos have a hand sign, your thumb and index finger extended in the shape of a "v" and when you place it right below your chin it means you are gwapo or gwapa (good looking). So....our Branch Mission Leader made us a design for the t-shirt....which the hand shape and then it says....."Oi! naay gwapa!" Meaning---Wow! there is a pretty girl!!---as we were walking to this internet place we wore them because we are on our way to play sports with the Zone, this man called us over to him. I thought he was a member or something but long story short....he's not......but he LOVED our t-shirts and introduced us to all of his friends. Then he ended by trying to give me "besos" hahahahahahahahaha.....I guess funny t-shirts might spread the gospel message faster than pass along cards ;)
Okay enough storytelling. We had a great Sunday with 5 investigators coming to church and SO MANY LESS ACTIVES!!! I was sooooo happy. We have been working so hard to get them back and they are coming. Oh, the tender mercies of missionary work. It was one of the most successful and happy Sundays of my mission. We moved into our new apartment which is really nice and it's close to the market which is great! Fresh fruit and vegetables just in walking distance :)
I am learning so much on my mission and I am so grateful for the experiences I am having. I have developed a love for the scriptures and reading. I know that we need to become a more scripture reading people. If ever we have questions or decisions to make, we just need to read. As we show our faith to our Heavenly Father by prayer and scripture study, the words of Christ will tell us all things we should do (2 Nephi 32:3) Time is flying by but I am loving every moment of it. Missions are miracles! I am so eternally grateful for this chance to spread the gospel message.
I love all of you. Write me next week...Valentine's week!! So give me some love!!!!
Love
Sister Trayner
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