I am loving the MTC!

Email #2
Area: MTC
Companion: Elder Riding

Excerpts from Mom's email:

I made it to pday! It is soooo crazy how much I have learned in just a week. I don't even know where to begin... First off, I am loving the MTC! The first day was a little scary at first but after things got going, it became like second nature to me. I thought waking up everyday at 6:30 every single day would be difficult, but honestly it isn't. The hardest part of the day is going to bed on time because we are having so much fun.

My district is amazing and I've been blessed to be the new district leader of 41A. A really do love them all so much. We all became close on the first day and ever since we can basically talk about anything with each other. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them in two weeks, because they are almost like family to me now. I'll be sure to send pictures so you can see them all. Even all the Elders and Sisters in our zone are awesome. We don't see them as much mostly just at lunch and in our residence area, but we have a blast at that time. My companion's name is Elder Riding and he is a pretty cool guy. We are growing together and have become good friends.  And my companion, three sisters, and myself are going to Adelaide and the rest are flying with us to Sidney.

So what is my life like in the MTC? Well my schedule starts with scripture study until breakfast at like 8:00am I think. Then after breakfast, we all head to our first class with my district where I conduct our first meeting. We normally have an outlined lesson that always consists of something from the book of Mormon. We have that up until 9 then our teacher (either Sister Simson or Brother Potter) come in and we have class for a couple of hours. Then we head to lunch which is an awesome part of the day because we always are laughing so hard when we have to relax a little. No joke, half of the missionaries in our zone have a huge sense of humor and its just awesome. I laugh my butt off half of the day, even in class sometimes haha. It's safe to say that I'm enjoying life here. It can get a little tough at times, but everyone here is there for each other so its kind of hard to get sad. After lunch we typically have exercise time for an hour. We can play basketball, volleyball, lift weights, ect. It's at the perfect point in the day to have because we can wake up again and be refreshed for the rest of the day. James better watch out, because we lift pretty hard here and I'm already getting bigger ;). After that we have TRC's where we get to practice teaching investigators. My two investigators are Theo and MaKelle. Theo is a tough one, but we are starting to get through to him and Makelle is the sweetest girl ever! The scary part of it is some of the investigators are actors and some of them are REAL INVESTIGATORS! We don't know who is who, but I think Theo is a real investigator. He is to himself most of the time, but yesterday Elder Riding and I got through to him by teaching the Plan of Salvation. It was a big moment for us when he opened up. For the next hour and a half after TRC's we prepare for our next meeting with the investigators. After that we go to dinner then to class again for like 3 hours. Then to our residence at 9pm for a short devotional with our Elders in our zone. We pretty much can do what we want to until 10:30 after that. We always have a blast at the end of the day, probably more fun then we should honestly hahaha. I always end the day with reading the scriptures for a bit and a prayer. Well that's my typical day. I think I got that all right haha, but it really switches up every now and then.

The days are long, but the weeks are short. It's so weird how that works and I can't really explain it. I haven't gone one day yet without having a crazy spiritual moment. There is always one time during the day where the spirit hits my like a freight train and when it hits me like that I can admit I get a little emotional. It will normally be the same moment for others in my district, so we all cry together at least once a day LOL. Don't worry mom its more of a happy cry. I can't express how much I love these guys.

Sister Perkins started writing down the funniest quotes throughout the day and she is reading it back to us right now. It's crazy how funny we all can be while at the same time be so spiritual. I'll try to send you a couple quotes every now and then.

Here are a couple:
"I was so excited to get a letter form my family, but it was just my tax form." -Sister Wirthlin
"WWEED= What would Elder England do?"
"Are you guys happy...? You need to notify your faces." -Pres Hall
"Kansas City, Missouri? Is that even a real place?" -Elder Heaton
Elder Riding asks the class how he can teach better and I answer "Try to have the spirit involved.... I guess."

They might not sound as funny reading them but in the moment these were soooo funny. So know I'm doing just fine, better then fine. I have the lord with me 24/7. Love you all so much! Have a amazing week!

Second Email
Hey mom we just got back from the temple. We did an endowment session there. So I forgot to explain the pictures. So a lot of them are of my residence hall and us just chillin. The group photo is with my district. On the top row that is Elder Britonba, Brimily, Riding (my comp), me, England, and Heaton. On the bottom that is Sister Wirthlin, Perkins, Nybo, Jackman, and Washburn. Then the sister in the purple shirt doing the peace sign is my favorite haha. Her name is Sister Smith. As you can see on the pic of my desk, I got a lot of packages haha mostly just candy and stuff. Anyway I'm headed to dinner at 5:10, so this is the last time I can email you. Email me before then if you can. If not, see you next Thursday mom!


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!! Dude I can't even express how much I've grown in the past week. I really hope you are proud of me. You and James are my role models. It was through your example that I learned that a mission was right for me. Now I have to gain a testimony for myself. I want you to know that I know that God lives and that I do has a testimony. That is why I am here. I won't really have a chance to write you a lot in this email, but I told mom in her's about my week so that's for the both of you this week haha. If I have time later today I'll try to write you a bit more because I really do have so much to talk about already this week.  Anyway I want you to remember you are always in every one of my prayers. Idk what I would do without you. The only time I have time to be homesick is right now writing and I'll admit, writing right now is hard emotionally. It's the only time I have time to even get that way though haha, so its no harm it kind of is refreshing.

Love you pops
Your boy, Elder Bryner

On the top row that is Elder Britonba, Brimily, Riding (my comp), me, England, and Heaton.
On the bottom that is Sister Wirthlin, Perkins, Nybo, Jackman, and Washburn.

Looks like he didn't make his bed