Hot, Hot, Hot

Email #58
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Downs

Hey Everyone,

Not much to report on, but I am writing this before I read your email. So we had a pretty good week. Had good lessons with everyone, and unexpected people came to church without their fellowshipper so that was interesting to see. Haha something crazy on Friday, we went to district meeting and it wasn't too hot, but we got back to our flat and it was way hot. So we wanted to see how hot it actually was. So we set a temp thing outside and it got to 110 and more, but we brought it back inside because that was hot enough to make us freak out and take a pic of it!!! We went into the area a little bit later so it wasn't as hot then, but luckily had and umbrella with me so I was shaded don't worry, I know you might ask if I wore sunscreen, no but had an umbrella and sat in the shade. It was too hot to even be in the sun for a minute!! Never experienced that kind of heat before and luckily it wasn't humid either and usually it is so that was nice! It is just going to get more and more hot and humid here especially in January! Haha it is quite hard to sleep at night and sometimes I am wondering to put my g's in the freezer and swap out middle of the night haha!! Yeah Sis Campbell is the nicest senior couple and Elder Campbell too of course. There is one couple that is awesome that we don't really see that often. Yeah she is a sweet and sincere lady and I was hoping to hem my pants in my last area, but I am glad I didn't, I trust her more than anyone else! We take water everyday, I've always done that since I have been on my mission I don't trust people's water anywhere! We are there until 6 to 6:30, we leave before it gets dark, either senior couples take us and there is a couple that teaches English in our area so they usually take us home, but like once a week the other guys pick us up and no we don't get the car any day haha! The other guys pick us up and take us emailing and shopping. But skyping might not be too long because there are 8 elders plus the senior couple and time zones are some that are the same like 3 of us are from the states, but as time gets closer I will let you know for sure. The night before I will call and set an exact time with you or something like that. Haha it isn't that hot at night I am exaggerating a little much, but there has been a couple nights where it is hard to sleep. I have a fan so most nights it is nice! Yeah I got word that I have a package so we will see which one it is hopefully my hump day that would be sweet, but yeah they will probably bring mail up when the conference is. Hope that you have a good week!!!!

Love,
Elder Bryner

Excerpts from Dad's email:

We go emailing a lot sooner here haha. Yeah I am getting used to the area now and loving it so far! Just to walk and see all the people and what they are doing and their lifestyle is way different than what I have seen and yes for sure the poorest in SA. It is definitely humbling to see what these people put up with and have to do just to get by. Yeah I am more scared to come home now that it grows closer because of real life. now I dont know any different and I know that is was like that when I came out but it is different than that. Yeah there are things I miss but this is more fun than anything and yeah for sure there are days I just want to lay down and die cause of the heat haha. But like you said, in the end it is worth it and it is the best thing that anyone could do and it for sure beats having to go to school and work. Now it seems to be that I need to go back to school haha!! Well people here are a little different, they think we are devil worshipers and have things in our back packs that we use to suck people's blood. I was on exchanges when this happened, but someone wanted to look in our bags because of rumors of that stuff. The stuff just keeps getting more and more weird, some of the people yell fire at us when we pass so that is a little annoying, but funny at the same time!! So taking pics of the area and at people house is going to be a bit hard, but I will at members houses well try to! Yeah service projects can be dangerous, but normally we just help people carry their water to their house so that isn't too bad. Yeah I will be cautious! So that is pretty much what I had for you this week. It will be nice to put up the Christmas tree together next year and the next one might be Jaren's turn to miss haha but we will see!!

These pictures are from one of the couple missionaries in his area.

Hahah yeah I know some of them, but the chapel looks different I think that it was at a different place. It is about the same as the one we have now.

Transferred to Motupa Limpopo

Email #57
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Downs

Hey Everyone,

Here I am in Limpopo, It is so hot here haha, but a few times during the week it has been nice and cloudy and a little rain which helps with the heat but not the humidity. I email at a shop, so I am just checking how the computers work and everything before I start plugging all my stuff into them and making sure I don't get viruses and stuff. But my area is called Motupa and is a village. We walk everyday and we get dropped off in our area and takes about 30 minutes to get there from our flat. This is the nicest flat I have stayed in since I have been here so that is nice, but at night sometimes it is a little rough trying to get to sleep because it is too hot. We walk on average 3 to 5 miles everyday and the people thinking that we are satanist, haha some of them. The members are way cool and we have a group. There are 40 people on average at church, but 20 of them are primary age haha!! We stay in the town Tzaneen so it is pretty nice here. The internet is pretty fast, but we will see how pics will go next week.

My comp is from Kansas and just got done training last transfer. So this is my second time doing follow up training so I could be with him for 2 transfers. We have 4 senior couples and 8 missionaries in our district. There are only 3 from the states, one from Czech Republic, One from New Zealand, other from Netherlands, Port Elizabeth, and Malowi! Very unique district. I think that I am the oldest on mission in the district, so that is definitely weird!!! We have about 5 really good investigators and we just had a confirmation yesterday so they baptize here haha! People listen, but they get prosecuted for joining the church so staying active is sometimes hard for them. We have about 10 less actives that we work with. We work with a really sweet member named Bongani and he is about 17 and is going on his mission next year. He goes out with us everyday. They don't speak Zulu here, so I have to learn another language haha it is called Spedi. So a lot different than Zulu, but I got the hang of it so far. I can greet everyone and even say "stay well" and "thank you". So I will be speaking it fluently in no time. The chapel isn't like Cosmo City, but is a small building and a tin roof. Next week I will send pics of it. Haha my companion looks like Clark Kent, his name is Elder Downs.

It was a sure change coming here and it took about 5 hours from the mission office to get here, so don't send letters for awhile. There are two areas being white washed, but mine is not one of them. The town Tzaneen and a village called Modjaji. We have the heaviest village you could say, or the most village you can get haha so it is very interesting how people are here. Just like you would see on the tv. Old magogo's (grandmas) with big bags of water on their head as they walk. Kids playing in the street. Mango trees every where, which I love mangos now haha! So far I love it and it will be a good time here. I definitely sweat like no other, so I will be slim pretty soon! My comp is pretty cool so far. I will for sure miss Secunda and the people there and even members were telling me that I better invite them to my wedding. They would definitely come so I can't forget that!!!!! Well that is pretty much what I had for you, not much else happened. I am pretty content, but I still think about my last area a lot and wonder why I left. I do like it here so far, so that is good at least. This past week was just the longest week of my mission so far. I am sure I will say it again haha, but we will see hopefully it goes faster but not too fast! Next week I will send pics. Have a good week!!!

Love,
Elder Bryner

Thanksgiving dinner with the district

Getting transferred

Email #56
Area: Secunda
Companion: Elder Going

Hey Everyone,

Yeah I am leaving Secunda, I am so mad and just confused! I actually just started to love this place like my own home and family and then just get ripped out of here. Everything was getting good with all the members, investigators and just was loving it with Elder Going. I even called Pres to ask if I could stay. But he said I would love my next area, he says that about every area.  It doesn't make sense to me why, but hopefully I will see why soon. It just wasn't expected and I thought that Elder Johnson would leave, because he and Elder Holmquist have been together now for 4 1/2 months and that doesn't usually happen! But this time I got to say goodbye to everyone that I wanted to and got so many pics. I will have to send some next week, not enough time this week.  It took us forever to get the internet to work this week and I am the first one and the other two still have to email.

The talent show was so much fun and everyone had a great time and did some cool talents. We did the Haka. Wendy and Gugu, they are cool girls! It was a really good week with them. Bethal is about 30 kilometers away from Secunda and so we decided to go out there awhile ago! The other less actives girls even came to church this Sunday and got a pic with them, they are really cool! I didn't get the chance to make the bread. The chicken feet aren't that bad, but yeah cow brain I won't touch.

Saying goodbye wasn't easy this time either. In the mission call packet they never said anything about leaving your family more than once, but I guess it just comes with it! Wish me luck in my new area and with a new comp hopefully I like him!! BTW, mamako is Zulu for mom!

Love,
Elder Bryner