Vina Del Mar

Everyone, I don't have much time to write today, but this past week was pretty rough, but I still have my head up. :) Transfers are next week so I think I'll write on Tuesday. Just so you know. I was sorry to hear about the passing of Pa, but I know we'll see him again. Death always makes us reflect on where we are and what our priorities are. It has almost been a year since the 2 missionaries moved on from the McAllen mission. That was an event that helped me see things more clearly and motivated me to be better. How grateful I am for the knowledge we have of the Atonement and the Resurrection. I appreciate all of your prayers on my behalf. I miss you all, but know I am well! I love this work and can't escape the feeling of gratitude that fills my heart, just being able to be here in Chile serving the Lord. Hope you all have a great week!

Chile week 2 no pics

Dear All, This week was pretty good here in Vina del Mar and General Conference was great! We had a couple of amazing lessons this week. We are teaching an 18 year old named Jean Franco, we left him a Book of Mormon and the assignment to pray and when we went back a few days later he said he had received his answer. We knelt down and prayed at the end of the lesson and he gave God thanks for the answer he had received and he said "I testify that I have felt that this book is true." It was amazing. It is always great to see your investigators receive their testimony before your eyes. We also had an amazing lesson with an older lady named Roxana. She is probably about 60 or so, but she is very active. We only had the one lesson with her, but she talked about her faith and how she had overcome breast cancer. We talked to her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Book of Mormon and a little bit of the Restoration. She had previously heard some good things about the church from a good friend that was a member that she had when she used to live in Santiago years ago. When we handed her the Book of Mormon she hugged it and was so happy. I marked her a few paragraphs in the introduction and also 3 Nephi 11 (we talked about Jesus Christ visiting the Americas). At the Sunday afternoon session we didn't see anyone until after it ended I walked into the chapel and she spotted me and came up all super excited saying how she had loved it! She is a very special lady with so much love and excitement for the Gospel. The Lord truly gave us a miracle this week. Anyways, I loved conference! I don't have my notes so I'm left to what's in my mind right now, but I loved the talk about having a testimony and being converted and how they are different, but how they go together. I truly have felt my conversion happen within these last 3 years, though I did have a testimony. Conversion takes living the gospel and having it change your heart and your desires to those of God. I love the Gospel, I love being a missionary, and I love my life! Mom and Dad- thank you so much for everything you've taught me and your amazing examples. You have raised a great family. Siblings- you all have inspired me so much and have shown me the way to or back to the path. Thank you. I love you all very much and I'm so grateful for these experiences the Lord is allowing me to have as one of His representatives. I truly have been blessed. I love you all! I hear Pa isn't doing well. I'll keep him in my prayers. I just want you all to know that I know this gospel is true! I have always truly known, but I hadn't really been living it until these past few years, which thus was impeding my conversion. I can truly say today that I have been converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that I have felt to sing of his redeeming love. I hope every one of you have felt that or can come to feel it, because it is the best thing that has happened to me. I also loved Elder Holland's talk. Let us be true followers of Jesus Christ. I don't have much else to say and I need to head to go sign some paperwork! I love you all! Have a good week and please write me about your favorite conference talk/experience. Love!

Chile Po

Dear all, I made it to Chile! The flights were long, but I had some pretty interesting people next to me on the flights so it wasn't too bad. haha. President Kahnlein picked me up at the airport and then we picked up the assistants from the temple in Santiago (they got a special exception to go because one is leaving at the beginning of next week) and then headed to the mission home where I proceeded to eat lunch with the Kahnlein family! Haha- it was really funny because I've never had a mission president with children. It's pretty fun. Then my comp came and picked me up. His name is Elder Rivera and he is from Guatemala. He is super cool guy! Another missionary (From Ecuador) and I arrived randomly this past week so they actually just put us both with the zone leaders here in Vina del Mar and we split the area until transfers in 3 weeks. Splitting the area didn't go very well for us just because it is all mountainous!!! My legs are really sore and I've got a couple gnarly blisters, but I'll be fine. haha. We're back to the good ole days of being late and running to the apartment. I'm sure I'll lose plenty of weight. I'll try and get some pictures of the giant hills we climb soon. They say it is worse in Valparaiso... haha... I'm sure I'll get used to it. The members seem to be super cool... I'll go ahead and answer dad's questions now. 1. What does the language sound like in Chile? They sound like Argentines but with no sh sounds. They use a lot of different words though, but most are for slang things. Other than that basically the same vocabulary as Argentina. Elder Rivera always laughs at my Mexican spanish because it is pretty much the same as Guatemala. 2. Any strange foods yet? Nope, I've only had 2 meals up until this point. One at the mission home which was cheese burgers and another with a member yesterday that was like a 4 course meal (they live in a really nice area)/ 3. Any signs of mountains or is it all flat like Texas? As I said, it's like all mountains. Or super big hills... whichever you prefer. But then you can definitely see the beach and everything. It's super pretty. Definitely a lot better looking place to go on a reunion visit than Buenos Aires... haha. Definitely nothing like the landscape of Texas. 4. What was your first Sunday like? It was good. They had me share my testimony- it went well. There are 10 missionaries in the ward right now actually with us 2 newcomers.. haha... so in that aspect this ward reminds me of texas, but other than here there are generally 2 elders in each ward. We just have 4 office elders, the assistants, and us 4. 5. Have you used any of the words you got from Elder Cañas yet? Haha, yup, I impressed many Chileans with my chilean vocabulary. All of them are very confused about how I speak Spanish so well. haha, I just say I lived on the Mexican border to make things simple. 6. What about all those ties, did customs let them in without a tax? hahahaha, yep. My roommates were bewildered when I took them all out. So funny. Mom- I forgot you put those dried mangos and nuts in my bag! I just hurried and ate them all on the flight to make it simple and not have any problems. haha. What else? I forgot how ghetto the housing for missionaries is down here. They say ours is one of the best. haha. I've successfully impressed many people with my Spanish. President Kahnlein gave me a "10." haha. The work is quite a bit different here, and they've been struggling. On average they've been baptizing about 60-70 a month. When I left Buenos Aires we were baptizing 130-140 a month and in McAllen about 70 as well. Soo, the mission needs some help and I'm happy to be here to be able to help out! In other news- i just realized I forgot my big coats and my winter boots... haha.... but it should be warm the whole time I'm here. Right now it is kind of chilly in Chile. haha... sorry... so we wear sweaters (stupid call packet...), but I'm just wearing short sleeves because it feels so great coming from texas. haha. I don't really know what else to say! I love you all! Hopefully I can send some letters out soon to the friends and everything, but it might take me a couple weeks to get settled and find the post office and all, and then I'll probably be transferred... haha. I appreciate all the letters, even though it seems mom and dad are the only ones who love me this week! haha, j/k, i just talked to most of you anyways. Love you all! Take care and thanks for your support!

CHILE!

All, Welp, if you haven't heard... I'm heading to Chile on Friday! Haha... I'll be serving in the Chile, Vina del Mar mission. They say it is kind of like San Francisco geographically. Pretty mountainous and yet close to the coast as Chile is such a skinny country. You can research a bit if you want by looking up Vina del Mar or Valparaiso. Anyways, I'm super excited! Haha- I never thought I would go out of the country again, but the Lord surprised me. Haha. Even better is that my Mission President is from Buenos Aires. Not going to lie, I am a bit trunky- but it isn't bad to be trunky to go to your mission, right? haha. Anyways, I spent a good week with the Zone Leaders in the Mission Zone (Alton, Tx). We had 10 people at church and helped 2 people accept a baptismal date for this Sunday (they've already been learning and attending)! Pretty exciting stuff. I don't have much to say... I'm sure I'll have plenty to say next week! Haha. Someone send me another good list of questions and I'll respond. That seems to work best. I love you all and appreciate your support. Keep me in your prayers and I'll see you sometime next year! :) Oh- also, I won't be using this email anymore. Please write to the following email or the following address will be the mission office address. zachary.trayner@myldsmail.net Elder Zachary John Trayner Chile Viña del Mar Mission 4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 Viña del Mar Valparaiso Chile

Another Transfer of E Trayner

To All, Well I just got transferred again. It was a long morning of riding in a truck, but I made it in one piece back down to McAllen. I'm in the Mission zone now with the Mission Zone Leaders, Elder Maldonado and Elder Sanchez. I'm excited to work here, but I'm getting antsy for the reassignment news. I suppose it should come soon, but as we know there never really are time expectations for Zach Trayner. Haha. Well the baptism for our friend Jillian went well yesterday. Her family was sad to hear I was leaving, but that's just how the mission is. I would send pictures, but these library computers aren't letting me :( Anyways, I heard about the BYU vs UofU game... Lame! I guess they're just saving it all until I get back next year. Everyone should send in their guesses on the reassignment! I already have a couple to Florida and California, and some random guesses like New York, Montana, and the Carolinas. Haha. Anyways, I love you all! If you want to mail me something it is probably best sent to the mission offices at 200 w La Vista Ave, McAllen Tx 78501, Have a great week, until next week!

The Big News

A Todos, Hello everyone. This week was pretty decent. We taught a new investigator whose wallet was still wet, love it! He went to church with his brother who is a permigator (an investigator forever). Other than that our good friend Jilly (she is a 9 year old in a part member family that we've helped reactivate) passed her interview and will be baptized next Sunday! The big news, however, is that we got news from the Missionary Department!!!! But the news isn't my visa. haha- they just said I could choose if I wanted to count some of this time I have served here in McAllen, and also if I wanted to get reassigned or what. So after much prayer and fasting I decided that I would like to be reassigned now while still waiting for the visa and that I want to finish in mid May/early June. Sooo they should be reassigning me shortly to somewhere until my visa comes. I think it will be the best because if I end up not having much time left before May then they won't send me to Argentina, so I figure it's better to reasssign now rather than later and just doing a couple months. I love the Texas McAllen Mission, but I think it's best that I get a little further away from home haha- plus I don't think the General Authorities will reassign me to somewhere where I'm not supposed be. Haha, so I'm excited. It's also good to have a end of service date, I think it will help motivate me a little bit more. Anyways, this past week I finished the Book of Mormon again! I love it! It's always a great feeling to finish it and realize how much stronger your testimony grows each time. I know it was written by ancient prophets of God and that Joseph Smith was the Lord's instrument in bringing it forth and translating it. I know that whoever will take the time to read it, ponder it's teachings, and pray with an honest desire to know will come to know of it's truth and validity by the power of the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for having been into such a supportive family that has taught me priniciples of light and truth. I am grateful for opportunity to be a missionary and for the desire God has wrought in me to be better than I have been before. I have learned that if we put God first, everything else will turn out, and that in the process of passing through trials the Lord is able to refine us if we turn to Him. The mission has been a refining and defining experience up to this point and I know the Lord only has greater things in store for me ahead. I pray for you all every night! Thank you so much for your support and love! You all are part of why I am here and why I am who I am. Thank you for your examples that have spoken much louder than your words and I hope I can emulate your example and continue to bring more people to the truth! I love you all! Until next week.

Laredooo

Yo, This week was a pretty good one. We're working with a couple part member families who have a child each that need to be baptized that are progressing well. We dropped a few investigators this past week and so we'll be looking to find more new investigators and families this week. I keep waiting for the visa, though I've been praying and thinking about it and I might have a change of plans soon, but we'll see. Hopefully the visa will just show up this week :) haha. Anyways, I don't have too much to say! The mission is great! It's always sad getting transferred because you come to love the people so much, but I've learned that no matter what happens there are always great people that you can come to love if you serve them. The mission is so great to prepare you for life. I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity the Lord has given me to be a missionary and to serve Him at this time. I know I'm here for a reason, so I'll keep working as hard as I can to help Him bring to pass His work. Love you all! Until next week!