Elder Jaren Bryner A LDS Missionary Down Under in Adelaide Australia: Amazing experience finding a new member

Email #5
Area: Ironwood Ward in Moreno Valley
Companion: Elder Smith

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Talofa Mom!

Wow I don't even know where to start. This week is so packed with stories I don't think I will be able to tell you half of them. First off, I love it here so much in Riverside! My companion is so awesome. His name is Elder Smith and he has been out for 19 months so he knows what he is doing for sure. I've learned so much from him already and I love him like a brother. We share a four man apartment with two other missionaries (Elder HolyOak & Aland). They are really cool as well and we all have become really close. We have a car so that's good. We listen to talks a lot because my comp has some really funny talks on his USB that are also really interesting.

I'm in the Ironwood Ward in Moreno Valley and guess what! I'm in an all Samoan ward haha! It's sooooo awesome you don't even know! They are all so nice and we get fed every single night with amazing food, so don't worry about me starving any time soon. I even am learning some Samoan language. Talofa means hello by the way, but I've learned more then that. Patriarch& Kio is teaching us a lot and even is giving me a Lava Lava sometime this week, so I'll send pics of that next week.

It's so cool on Sunday in this ward, because it's a pretty big ward and everyone is a great singer so hymns are cool to listen to. I have already had some crazy experiences so far in Cali. One of the cool things was my second night out. Our last appointment fell through so we decided to stop by this new member in the ward and welcome him since we got a message about it. We knocked on the door and this guy answers the door with his hood on and kind of intimidating at first so we said "hey is Jeffery here?". He looks at us all confused and asked how we knew where he lived. Apparently he just moved here from out of state and nobody knew he was even moving let alone where he lived. Then he closed the door and came back wearing a button up shirt and said "lets go for a walk". He ended up telling us that he was just praying to God asking why he isn't in his life anymore and yelling to him to send him a sign. Next thing he knew we knocked on his door. While he was telling us this, he started to cry and just had to hug us. He said that this was a sign that he just could not deny and came to church with us yesterday. It was really cool because we asked around about how we got this guy's address, but nobody knew. God words in mysterious ways I guess.

A few nights ago the youth in one of the wards put on this dinner for the missionaries. They put on comedian acts, sang and danced for us, and we even had one of our own impressions. It was a really fun night. It is crazy to me just how nice these members are to us. Just last night one of the members who had us over told us to really stop by anytime if we don't have a dinner planned. We have a couple of members who have told us that. There are a few rough areas around, but luckily I don't go in those areas. Most of the area that we cover is very safe and the people 90 percent of the time are nice. There are a few here and there that tell us to beat it and stuff like that, but not really a big deal haha. I really am starting to love it here and I think it might be hard to say goodbye and go to Australia eventually.

I really do love every missionary I have met so far, especially my comp and my roommates. We have a lot of fun and we still get a lot done. I never have known as much as I do now about the gospel. We talk about deep doctrine every night and we study every morning, so at this rate I should be a pretty knowledgeable missionary here soon. I want to go to the bookstore later today and buy Jesus the Christ and other books like that so I can read them. We have a pretty good amount of free time at night, so I could finish those at some point. Oh, I'm also learning how to do some pretty funny things from my roommates. Elder HollyOak is teaching me some cords on the guitar and I guess it's a thing in this mission to know how to do a Rubik cube. I know that's a little weird, but I guess its just a thing you have to learn here idk why.

Well I need to write everyone else, so read there emails for more haha. Love you mom so much! -Elder Bryner

Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

So this week has just been crazy. I'm in the Samoan ward so kind of got what I wanted if you remember. They are the most loving people ever. I've really come to love the scripture Joshua 1:9. It has brought me much comfort while I've been out.

Yesterday during sacrament meeting, they asked me to bare my testimony and I told them about my favorite thing I have learned so far and that is the character of Christ and how I can strive to be more like him. The Christ like love that you start to have for these people is just amazing. I didn't even know that it was possible to care for people that you just met. I've always been a loving person I guess, but this is a whole different story. I really love being a missionary. My companion was even talking about how scary it is to think that he is going home in a couple of months. It might sound weird, but it is making me nervous about going home too and I just got here LOL. Out here, I can focus all my time on missionary work and just feel happy all the time. I feel like this is the only time in my life that I will be able to feel the way I do 24/7. I want to use all the time I have to its fullest. I heard that this mission has a pretty high baptism rate. My companion even thinks I might have a few before I leave which is a totally crazy thing to think about.

Being out in the field is a totally different thing then being in the MTC . The days feel a lot faster then they did a week ago and we are getting a lot more done. Some of the funnest things surprisingly is the service assignments. They can be really hard, but honestly we always find a way to make it fun. It also helps that our service assignments are freaking awesome. So get this, a couple of days ago we went to this army base and this display area where they fix up old planes and helicopters from like WW1 and WW2. We got to sand this fighter jet so they could repaint it. We also put these rivets in this chopper's propellers. I don't know why this is a service activity, but it was one of the coolest things ever. It was even right next to the base where jets were taking off ever 20 min. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Even the sanders that we got to use were high tech looking haha, its hard to explain. I'll be able to send pictures of it next time, because I guess we get to go there once a week so I'll bring my camera next time.

Since we are in a car a lot of the time, we like to listen to talks. Curtis Jacobs is actually my favorite so far. We listened to a talk about the second coming and it really makes you think if you are prepared for it or not. It really could come at any time and I use to be afraid for it, but now I'm actually really excited for it. Think about it, even when everything goes bad for a bit, it will soon after be as the Terrestrial kingdom, so great that we can't even imagine the glory. Talks like that really interest me and I have leaned a lot just from them. Somehow my companion is super knowledgeable in deep doctrine, so I learn a lot from him as well. I also get to ask president one question per transfer. It literally could be about anything at all and from what I hear, he has an answer for pretty much any question you could think of. I need to think of a good one for him so if you have any deep doctrine questions I could ask, let me know. Mine right now is a kind of dumb one, but nobody seems to have a good answer for me yet. Its basically about the dinosaurs and there purpose.

Love you Dad soooo much! I miss you! Take care of everyone at home for me and hang in there!
-Elder Bryner

Ward Elder Bryner is serving in: Ironwood Ward