Email #95
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Kosi-poku
Excerpts from Mom's email:
Yeah sorry I didn't have time to send them, but today I did and I sent some from when I left Kwaguqa. We went with the Campbells and the Butlers as well and yeah they both still feed us. The referrals were kinda of a let down, but we had a new guy come to church and we saw him yesterday and it was his second time coming to church, his name is Solomon. I'm not really sure about going to the temple with them if I'm still here I would assume I could, but at this point I'm not really sure. Yeah I think it is expired but I don't think I will be going to the temple until I go home.
Excerpts from Dad's email:
It has been a great journey and I have so many wonderful memories that I will take with me for the rest of my life. The teaching is going well and we found some new people and we had a new person come to church yesterday and she is a sister to a recent convert named Julia. We also had two other investigators come to church and we went and saw one of them that we have never taught before his name is Solomon. He was invited to church by his sister who isn't a member, but she told him that he should come and visit and yesterday we sat down with him and 4 other people in his family, one of the members came with us that is an older man so that was nice to have him there with us. Things are turning around slowly right now but they are turning. A lot of families have fallen apart over the past few months so we're trying to bring them back together. Kruger was so sweet and I got a lot of pics. we saw elephants, monkeys, buffalo, and some others that I can't really remember but you can see them pretty well in the pics I sent. I am so happy that I chose to come on a mission and that I have stuck it out this long and made it this far. I definitely won't regret the decision I made and now that it is almost over I see now that life is about to start but 2 years in God's work has been a huge part of my life and I am so blessed with everything I have ever been given.
Love,
Elder Bryner
Monday, August 31, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Working with less actives
Email #94
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Kosi-poku
Excerpts from Mom's email:
Well I'm just peachy haha! We went to Kruger national park yesterday so we are emailing today well me and my comp. I took heaps of pics so I will try and send some of them, I changed the setting on the camera so some of them are higher quality to I will send as many as I can because it will take some time for them to send. Well last week was good and unfortunately Pinky told us that she will be out of town for the next 3 weeks at her moms place so that is a buzz kill. We got some referrals this past week so hopefully those will go somewhere. Not really too much to report on, but at church yesterday was quite funny. We don't really have a pianist so when the Meldrums were here they taught piano so now the kids that took the class are now playing the piano in sacrament meeting so you can imagine how that goes haha. So this Sunday one of them, a boy named Phetole, was playing high on a mountain top and basically having some trouble so in the end me and my comp were the only ones singing the hymn haha. It was so funny, but hopefully the group will get better as time goes on. The less active lady is still well less active and we haven't been able to find her at her house. She is actually the relief society pres I think I told the story, but yeah we're still trying with her. They are preparing to go to the temple here in about a month and one of the recent converts that was baptized the week before I got here, the first time, will be a year shortly and so she is really excited about the temple and everything about it. Things are good with my comp I really like him we really get along well and have common interests like soccer and sports and stuff. You know I am not really sure who my favorite comp is I don't really have one. Time with Elder Kelly was good and I learned a lot with him. His story is unique and it was more of encouragement and that things will work out for him were things we talked about, but it was nice. Io ideas on last area unfortunately, but most likely here because my comp has been here now six months. Favorite area is Cosmo and Kwaguqa, but they all have left a mark on me forever. Yeah I guess I'm excited for the most part, seeing you and the family will be nice.
Excerpts from Dad's email:
Yeah so Pinky went to her moms place for 3 weeks so now we haven't seen her for awhile so hopefully when she gets back we can start where we left off. It seems to go like that when you get a good person they just go somewhere for a time and return a different person so we'll see how she does when she gets back. I told mom most of the stuff that happened this past week but its hard to think that in less than 3 months I'll be home. To think of the amount of people I have met in just two years is weird and I just want to keep that relationship with as many as possible.
Love,
Elder Bryner
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Kosi-poku
Excerpts from Mom's email:
Well I'm just peachy haha! We went to Kruger national park yesterday so we are emailing today well me and my comp. I took heaps of pics so I will try and send some of them, I changed the setting on the camera so some of them are higher quality to I will send as many as I can because it will take some time for them to send. Well last week was good and unfortunately Pinky told us that she will be out of town for the next 3 weeks at her moms place so that is a buzz kill. We got some referrals this past week so hopefully those will go somewhere. Not really too much to report on, but at church yesterday was quite funny. We don't really have a pianist so when the Meldrums were here they taught piano so now the kids that took the class are now playing the piano in sacrament meeting so you can imagine how that goes haha. So this Sunday one of them, a boy named Phetole, was playing high on a mountain top and basically having some trouble so in the end me and my comp were the only ones singing the hymn haha. It was so funny, but hopefully the group will get better as time goes on. The less active lady is still well less active and we haven't been able to find her at her house. She is actually the relief society pres I think I told the story, but yeah we're still trying with her. They are preparing to go to the temple here in about a month and one of the recent converts that was baptized the week before I got here, the first time, will be a year shortly and so she is really excited about the temple and everything about it. Things are good with my comp I really like him we really get along well and have common interests like soccer and sports and stuff. You know I am not really sure who my favorite comp is I don't really have one. Time with Elder Kelly was good and I learned a lot with him. His story is unique and it was more of encouragement and that things will work out for him were things we talked about, but it was nice. Io ideas on last area unfortunately, but most likely here because my comp has been here now six months. Favorite area is Cosmo and Kwaguqa, but they all have left a mark on me forever. Yeah I guess I'm excited for the most part, seeing you and the family will be nice.
Excerpts from Dad's email:
Yeah so Pinky went to her moms place for 3 weeks so now we haven't seen her for awhile so hopefully when she gets back we can start where we left off. It seems to go like that when you get a good person they just go somewhere for a time and return a different person so we'll see how she does when she gets back. I told mom most of the stuff that happened this past week but its hard to think that in less than 3 months I'll be home. To think of the amount of people I have met in just two years is weird and I just want to keep that relationship with as many as possible.
Love,
Elder Bryner
Monday, August 17, 2015
Teaching new people
Email #93
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Kosi-poku
Excerpts from Mom's email:
Yeah its nice to be back in Motupa and to see familiar faces and everything. Yeah it was a miracle to be able to confirm her and see that. Well in my last area they were planning to do helping hands and everything, but I am sure that it went well and we didn't really do anything special or big for women's day. Yeah I am going to miss all these people and I know I won't ever forget them. The week was a little hard, because it's difficult to find people to teach but the part member families are our best bet for teaching people so those will bring some good things. I told dad the story about the lady we taught this past week. I can't even believe how old those two are it just blows me away how big they have gotten and to think how long I have been away. Its crazy and I am happy I will be able to see Jaren's graduation and everything. I hope that the plans that I have to come back next June will go through because I really want to come back. But yeah time is short and it still hasn't hit me, it still feels like I have a long time left. I do have mixed feelings about coming home and it makes me really sad actually I mean of course I love you and the rest of the family but these people really have made an impact on my life and to have to leave them not knowing the next time I will see them hurts. I hope I can stay in contact with most of them. yeah I came back right as the heat is about to hit hahaha, but yeah having the truck makes a huge difference and not having to walk in the heat is nice.
Excerpts from Dad's email:
Yeah it was a good week, it is hard to find new people to teach for sure and the part member families are a slow, but a effective process. We met a lady this week her name is Pinky, she is around 30 and has 3 kids. She was given the Book of Mormon by the senior couples when they were here and she read it, not the whole thing but parts of it. We went over the Godhead and up to Joseph Smith and the priesthood and she asks really good questions, she also thought that God was a spirit and most people do here so its nice to see the look on their face when we tell them that He has a body like we do. We explain that if we were created in the image of God and your children are created in the image of you and they look like you and if we are children of God then we should look one in the same. Some disagree, but she understood and it made sense to her that to have a relationship with God he must be a person. We talked about how the spirit will testify of truth to her and she opened the Book of Mormon to a scripture that says that an evil spirit teaches men not to pray. A good spirit teaches to pray, and we looked at each other like wow she knows that scripture haha. But it was nice to see that people take part in teaching themselves and the spirit showed her that scripture so when we meet with her this week we will see how the praying went. Other than that its hard to teach people in this area but we're trying. I took some pics before I left, but I didn't bring my camera with me today so hopefully I remember next week. That guy has been investigating the church for a long time and now I'm not sure how he is doing and I hope that the missionaries that are there will see him. I am having fun and hopefully we can plan some cool pdays here in a few weeks, but we'll see most of them have done everything already or don't have the money to do anything. Yeah service has worked for us as well especially fetching water for people, that's the main source of service that we can do here. Otherwise I am doing good and it hasn't quite hit me how much time I have left, but it will when I am down to about a week so it still feels like I have a long time.
Love,
Elder Bryner
Area: Motupa
Companion: Elder Kosi-poku
Excerpts from Mom's email:
Yeah its nice to be back in Motupa and to see familiar faces and everything. Yeah it was a miracle to be able to confirm her and see that. Well in my last area they were planning to do helping hands and everything, but I am sure that it went well and we didn't really do anything special or big for women's day. Yeah I am going to miss all these people and I know I won't ever forget them. The week was a little hard, because it's difficult to find people to teach but the part member families are our best bet for teaching people so those will bring some good things. I told dad the story about the lady we taught this past week. I can't even believe how old those two are it just blows me away how big they have gotten and to think how long I have been away. Its crazy and I am happy I will be able to see Jaren's graduation and everything. I hope that the plans that I have to come back next June will go through because I really want to come back. But yeah time is short and it still hasn't hit me, it still feels like I have a long time left. I do have mixed feelings about coming home and it makes me really sad actually I mean of course I love you and the rest of the family but these people really have made an impact on my life and to have to leave them not knowing the next time I will see them hurts. I hope I can stay in contact with most of them. yeah I came back right as the heat is about to hit hahaha, but yeah having the truck makes a huge difference and not having to walk in the heat is nice.
Excerpts from Dad's email:
Yeah it was a good week, it is hard to find new people to teach for sure and the part member families are a slow, but a effective process. We met a lady this week her name is Pinky, she is around 30 and has 3 kids. She was given the Book of Mormon by the senior couples when they were here and she read it, not the whole thing but parts of it. We went over the Godhead and up to Joseph Smith and the priesthood and she asks really good questions, she also thought that God was a spirit and most people do here so its nice to see the look on their face when we tell them that He has a body like we do. We explain that if we were created in the image of God and your children are created in the image of you and they look like you and if we are children of God then we should look one in the same. Some disagree, but she understood and it made sense to her that to have a relationship with God he must be a person. We talked about how the spirit will testify of truth to her and she opened the Book of Mormon to a scripture that says that an evil spirit teaches men not to pray. A good spirit teaches to pray, and we looked at each other like wow she knows that scripture haha. But it was nice to see that people take part in teaching themselves and the spirit showed her that scripture so when we meet with her this week we will see how the praying went. Other than that its hard to teach people in this area but we're trying. I took some pics before I left, but I didn't bring my camera with me today so hopefully I remember next week. That guy has been investigating the church for a long time and now I'm not sure how he is doing and I hope that the missionaries that are there will see him. I am having fun and hopefully we can plan some cool pdays here in a few weeks, but we'll see most of them have done everything already or don't have the money to do anything. Yeah service has worked for us as well especially fetching water for people, that's the main source of service that we can do here. Otherwise I am doing good and it hasn't quite hit me how much time I have left, but it will when I am down to about a week so it still feels like I have a long time.
Love,
Elder Bryner
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