Week 39

Hello Everybody :)

So we had a very exciting week! And a lot of news going around on about Tacloban. It's straight up cray and at the same time such exciting news. But first I want to talk about the stuff going on in good 'ol Pajo ward...... 

I will not lie, this is my favorite ward to have been assigned to work in so far. This ward is amazing! They are always so continually supportive of the missionary work, we have days set apart just to contact referrals with members! Hahah, we are no longer visiting teachers to the les active members :) Jokes Lang, but it did feel like that just about all the time. So needs to say, that we have so much fun contacting all these members friends. You can totally tell just how much the gospel means to these members, and how much they desire their friends to enjoy this happiness as well. Me, Sister Ande, and Elder Koroinamua gave talks this Sunday on missionary work and hastening the work this Christmas season. It totally gave the members even more encouragement to share :) At stake conf. about two or three weeks ago, a member of the stake talked about sharing the gospel this way, "I have a gift for you. And I want you to read it." Talking about the Book of Mormon. And what greater way to give the gift of Love, Happiness, and the 'Jesus is the reason for the season". :) 

The ward as well was so very supportive of welcoming our new member this last weekend :) Little miss gwapa, Rosely Ann, was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. The ward planned everything for the service and was prepared to welcome her. I have had the greatest blessing by being able to meet her and share the gospel with her. Again, there is no doubt in my mind, she is one of the elect members in Heaven. Sister Rachel, our ward mission leaders wife gave a talk at the service, and said, "There are angels here. And they are smiling at you." Her family was totally there and so happy that they are all one step closer to being together forever :) I testify that that is true. That Rosely Ann will bless her family for eternities. Her deep desire to live the gospel and to have it in her life is so amazing! She will continue to "Pagpadayon sa hasta ka hasta" for sure! 

Now for news on Tacloban.... Y'all remember my first ward? Tanauan. How we always had a max of 50-60 come to church each week and were a ward of about 600..... A member from Alang Alang told me some amazing news about Tanauan on Sunday. They have an average of 600 come to church each Sunday since the typhoon. Bishop Cabe has his hands full :) I can't even describe my emotions when they told me this! Do you know how hard we worked to get people to come to church, and now basically all of Tanauan is coming to church! It is so amazing to see how quickly people turn to God. There defiantly times in life when we feel the world will answer all of our troubles, make them go away. When the baguio hit I saw more people turn to God. Some that even didn't believe in Him, or hadn't even prayed before turned to Him, because they knew He was the only hope they had. And more importantly because they knew He would answer. 

Another exciting news, pero more of a "daw" (or the word on the street) from all the Tacloban missionaries and from the massive email chain going on.... We are going back next month or February! They say all will be well by then. President Andaya and two of the office Elders are over in Maasin in Leyte right now. We will now be Philippines Maasin Mission :) Hahah, one mission call, three missions :) 

Well, I love you all and hope that you all have a great Christmas next week :) I will be skyping y'all, so be sure your phones have a chime or something so you can get my email and get to the computer! Hahah, and make sure Rubs is there :) I gotta meet my niece! Hahah, LOVE YOU!!!!!

SISTER BRAY

Week 38

Hello Everybody!!!!!!!!

This email may be a little short, but know that it is meat with love....

This week I learned a lot from the Spirit. A lot of things with Claire, and with Sister Bray. Things in need of improvement an things that I have grown into. Hahah, and physically grown into as well :) I am now being told, "Halaa, tambok ka na Sister Bray!" (Wow, your fat now!).... Thanks. I eat rice. Hahah, but in all seriousness, I have grown more since being here. I have noticed my maturity increase and how it will prepare me for after mission life and furthering in Heavenly Fathers plan for me. Minus, the continuous jokes I make :) I am grateful for everything though. For the way that I have been lead and for the life I have been given. Who I am and how I am able to help these people to recognize their worth. We have a baptism this Saturday! Her name is Rose Lianne, and she is WARAY!! She is from Leyte and we speak Waray with each other. And it makes me so happy! She is amazing! She is so prepared by the Lord and knows her worth as his daughter. And I am so grateful for the opportunity to help her to come closer. And for the trust Heavenly Father has in me to help his children.

Well, I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all the love you continue to show and share. Please keep it up, especially this Christmas season, and share it with others :)

SISTER BRAY

Week 37

Hello Family!!!! 

So our Pday was switched this week so that we could attend the temple today! Grabi, I can't even begin to tell you how big of a blessing it has been to be able to go to the temple! I was able to go in Manila and now I have a temple in my Mission!! Thanks number 1:Temples! It has blessed and helped me so much throughout my life, and especially now. Being away from all the temples, it felt different! Hahah, but now I have filled up again and I am totally ready to go and do! It is such a great place, every temple is, but Cebu is gorgeous! And the experience I had today is one I will always cherish! It helped me resolve personal matters and as well get the peace I needed to carry on.

I am glad you all had a great Thanksgiving and were all able to enjoy the blessings of love and friendship. We too were able to have such a blessing. I thought for sure, I would never have a Thanksgiving on my Mission. Just like Halloween or the Fourth of July. But, President and Sister Tanner would not have that! The four zones nearest the mission home were invited for a Thanksgiving Feast! And for most of the missionaries, it was their first! We had potatoes, turkey, gravy, homemade rolls, apple crisp, and just for the pinoys, RICE :) Hahahah, it was so great! And such a blessing to be reunited with everyone and enjoy the blessing and the beginning Christmas cheer! We all gave our thanks and our gratuity and definitely slept great that night :) It was a great day!

Things which I have definitely learned and grown from this week, would definitely be the love of the spirit. How the spirit loves each and every single one of us, that it is able to touch each one of our hearts and help us to come closer. This Sunday we had our stake conference and our 2nd councilor shared directly to the YSA of the stake and the ym and yw as well and preparing to enter the temple. It was great to recognize the steps I have made in my life that have helped me to come closer to the Lord by entering his holy house. He shared a story by a Young Women’s President in the 80's, I wish I could be able to find the story to give the full feel of it, but sadly I cannot. So I will summarize. There is a little boy who gets lost and finds his way to a YWs porch. The Yw calls the police and waits with the boy on the porch for his mother. Her and the little boys friendship grew so much in the small time they were able to spend together.  They sang Primary songs together, colored pictures, played games, and when the boy’s mother arrived the little boy asked her, "Are you Heavenly Fathers wife?" This YW was shocked by the question, but even more overthrown by the response that left her, "No. But I am His Daughter." We are all examples of our Heavenly Fathers love for all of us, His children, and should continually strive to help others to recognize their worth in His plan and our own as well. This I so dearly pray for every day. That I may be able to help others to know just how great a love their Father has for them and how dearly he wants us all to return to Him and our Heavenly Mother someday. That's a big purpose I came here on my mission, to help others to realize the great love that He has for them. 

Well, I love you all and I am so very grateful again, for the time I have been given to learn and to grow and help others to come closer. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SISTER BRAY

Week 36

Maayong Hapon!!!!!! (Cebuano ko na) :)

Well, life in Cebu is progressing :) My Cebuano improving. This is my first area that is Cebuano and I miss Waray-waray soooooo much! But, I will continue! Because I know that I am needed to learn all these languages for a reason! And to share the gospel with these wonderful people. Throughout my mission that has been something I have noticed. I need these languages to help specific people with specific problems. I can testify that it is really hard, but all worthwhile when you see the Light of Christ grow in someone’s eyes. 

This still is a pretty big city coming from Tacloban. I had my first ever lesson on a couch this last week. It was the weirdest sensation ever! Hahah, I am used to dirt floors and swatting my legs every minute to keep mosquitoes away, even though I still have to swat the mosquitoes :) they just love that foreigner blood! I am like a five star buffet here! But, throughout my whole stay here in the Pines, I continue to grow and recognize even further the beauty if this place and culture. These people are amazing! And are eager to hear what we have to share. I don’t care if it is just because I am white, it gives me an opportunity to plant a seed in someone’s heart that will eventually grow. 

I am still working on reading everyone’s emails since the storm, so please be patient! It has been pretty crazy. But I would love to continue to hear from you all, so I will put my new address at the bottom. The President Aban, the stake Pres of Tacloban, evacuated with his family to my ward, so it has helped with my waray-waray hunger :) They shared with us this week that most likely, everything will be back by January. Here's hoping! Hahah, I love this place, don’t get me wrong, and I know that I am needed here for a purpose, but I miss my home back in Tacloban. I miss the people, I miss my friends, and I miss the culture there. Trust me, one island hop and it’s a whole new world! For example... you never saw people holding hands or being lovey-dovey anywhere, here... it's like an LOC problem everywhere! Hahah, but, adjustments are key to every new thing. 

I am so continually grateful for this blessing to serve the Lord, and for this call to help all that I come in contact with recognize the great plan that our Father has for him. I know that through every trial comes something to help and bless our lives. I can testify of that and the great happiness that comes from following the commandments. I hope that you all have a great week and that you all will continue to pray for those who are devastated by the storm. I love you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much :)

SISTER BRAY 

Philippines Cebu East Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints Compound
Bajac, Liloan, Cebu 6002
Philippines 

PIC: My companions: Sister Diongco and Sister Ande.....They are amazing!!!!I 

Week 35

Maupay nga udto nadto tanan,

So we were evacuated to Manila last week, and it was a crazy week up there. Full of emotions, full of just about everything.It took about 2 days for us to get up there. A ferry ride and a very long bus ride. But we made it! And immediately ate some yummy pinoy MTC food! Then had a meeting with the area presidency. They shared with us about the devastation. coping, and moving on and the safety of others. Sister French, the area Mental advisor shared some very profound things with us of we chose this in the Pre-existence. That we didn't want others to go through this and offered up ourselves. That we are of the Elect and were needed for that specific reason. I am grateful for her and her sharing that, because I don't know how most of us could have coped without that. WE were still waiting for two zones to arrive! WE still had very little contact with them, but knew of their travels and that they should be arriving within the next day. Our stay there was fun, it was amazing to be with all our friends again and joke to get it all off of our minds, but at the same time, it was rather sad. Because we kept having flashbacks, thinking of all that were lost, thinking of it all, and then finding out that the 204 MISSIONARIES would be getting reassigned. That our PTM family would be getting separated, and that the Elders and Sister assigned to go home in the next 4 months would be going home now, was pretty insane. And then that we probably wont be going back for 5months+... IT will be entirely different from now on. Most of the Foreigners were assigned in Cebuano Speaking areas, and the Pinoys in Luzon areas, where there is Tagalog. 18 of us came to the Cebu East Mission, and again it has been the gnarliest adventure yet. We keep hearing of the church and all they are sharing about us right now and even non members and the help we have been  receiving, so many blessings.

Some of these missionaries again are just lost now. They will not be the same again. Along with the 3 batches that the church asked to go home to accommodate for all of us, many other missionaries went home from trauma, depression, injury, and worry. Since being transferred here in Cebu East, those feelings have started to creep in, but I don't want to go home yet. So I am still fighting on.

This Mission is entirely different than PTM.... I will set it up in ways for y'all to understand. So the Philippines for the church is set up into regions. We were region 8 (District12 from Hunger Games), and moved up to region 7 when we got transferred to Cebu East (we give it a District 4)(With Manila being the Capitol of course) It is entirely different here and for some who have been Waray their whole missions, switching back to the 6weeks of bisaya that we slightly remember adds on to the weird factor. Hahahah, Ok I just have to share what I said when we got to the mission Home... "Guys, I'm not even kidding.. It feels like I was livin' in West Philadelphia and moved to Bel-Air, right now." It seriously does though!! Hahah, everything here is so different. Psh, and in Tacloban, you rarely saw white people, and when you did, you honestly questioned "what are you doing here?" We come here and see a bunch of Joes! They are everywhere and it freaks us out! Its a really big adjustment so far and I hope that It will continue to be at least ok. Because we are all kinda home sick... We want PTM back. We keep crackin jokes about going back to region 8 and how use we are to poverty and bukid. There is no bukid here! Hahah, but we love it too. Especially the Tanners, they are amazing and when the Area presidency told us of our new callings they specifically said that it was to our mission presidents, and we are needed to help them and those we are now called to serve. I know the Lord will help us through this time and wew will be able to bless so many through this time. 

I love you all so much and I am so very grateful as well for this great experience to come closer to my Brothers and Sisters through this experience and as well, My Father and Kuya. Please continue to pray for those devastated by the storm and that all will be well in the Leyte and Samar..

SISTER BRAY

PS D&C6

Week 34

Maupay nga udto sa aton tanan

So I am not sure if everybody heard about the signal 4 super typhoon that hit the Philippines recently... But our mission is gone. Everything in Tacloban is literally gone and has been washed out. There is no more mission head quarters. No more chapel there. Everything is gone. We keep hearing different counts of how many have died. As of right now, we hear that it is 10k.....and mostly the homeless children that live around the church... I still can't wrap my head around it, or come to fathom that my last area there, my friends there, could be dead.... I'm starting to cry in this small computer shop so lemme change he subject....

So, as of right now, here is all the we know... We will have a 2-3 month brown out(no power at all, no water except for the boomba that is all rusty. Thankfully the drinking water place has a generator). There is only one computer shop here that has a generator and it is in UEP(university of eastern Philippines). We see all the videos of the devastation did to and actually how bad it is. All of us are accounted for, though. We are all alive. My area is an 8 hour drive from Tacloban and on a different island. So we were not hit at all. It built up here like a plane landing, and then it landed in Tacloban.

 We went to our Zone activity this morning, preparing to get it off our minds, and President Andaya called, and we have had no contact with him the for the past 3 days. We finally got signal on Saturday night and found out more news, but still were not able to find out how Tacloban was. President called with news from the Area of the Seventy and told us what we needed to do. That plan changed 3 times within the next hour. We were to go to Allen, which is 2 hours away and get on a ferrie and go to Bicol, and from there a flight to Manila and stay there for who knows how long. Then, that changed to trying to get an airplane to land here in Catarmans airport, but that didn't work either... So now we have been asked to wait in our areas for 3 days and then we will know what we are supposed to do. And when we are all to be transferring. That's all we know so far.... And other than that, we are lost. No one can focus and get their minds off all that has happened.... We are all just basically here. And everyone is accounted for!

It still breaks my heart to know of all the pain that has just hit, ans knowing that we can't do anything. Even the bridge that is required to get there, is broken. So we have no way to get there! But, we do have the Lords promise that all will be fine, that everyone has their own plan to return safely to Him and receive eternal happiness, His eternal promise, "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold, I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."Moroni 7:41...The psalm of Nephi has brought great comfort to all of us here and knowing that the Lord will never forsake us, His children. And that we will continually receive his comfort. 

I love you all so very much and hope that all is well in all the places you are. I'll be sure to keep you posted on everything that we are doing and where we are really :) LOVE YOU

Typhoon Update

Sister Claire Bray called this morning. She is safe and doing well. She and other missionaries were moved to a safer location before the storm hit. The area she is currently serving in was hit pretty bad. She worries for her friends and is ready to get back and help. I am not sure when she will be emailing again but we will continue to post her emails to her blog.