"Miracle story of the week"

Email #13
Area: Grange area of the Firle Zone
Companion: Elder Hamilton

Excerpts from Mom's email:

So this week has been absolutely crazy and busy. So a little about the investigators at the moment. First off, we have M......, who is basically a dry Mormon at this point. He is going to be baptized on June 3 for sure as soon as he is married to his partner. She is a member, so everything there is going as well as you could ever ask for. Next there is D...,  who is a slow process, yet has amazing potential. Elder Hamilton has been teaching him for four months and when they first met, he told them to get lost basically. However, my companion is relentless haha. He ended up getting the foot in the door and now we have seen him ever since. D... is amazed on the fact that we have helped him as much as we have. Months ago he said he would never enter a church again, but actually we had him in the church yesterday! It wasn't during church hours, but we did a church tour. One step at a time. He even said that even though they have been small steps, he has grown more then any of us could really explain. I have a feeling that he will be baptized in the future, there really is no way he won't be, but it may be a ways away.

Now for the miracle story of the week. It all started when we went out on our bikes about 6 at night to go finding on Tuesday. A couple K's (kilometers) down from our flat, we see a car just sitting in the middle of the road. Apparently this couple had drove all the way from Melbourne to here and their car died ONE STREET down from their home, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! So we helped them move their car out of the road and guess what happened. They said thanks and were on their way... Don't worry, it doesn't end their though haha. So we were pretty shocked that God stopped them like that for no reason at first. Then we moved on a couple of meters and this kid comes around the corner right when we get to it. If we had been going on our bikes at the pace we were going before we were stopped, we would have been Miles away by the time he got to that corner. Anyway we start talking to him and he says "Aren't you the Elders?" Turns out his mom when he was very young saw the missionaries and was baptized. He is now fourteen, his parents are separated, and he lives with his Dad. He said he would be happy to talk to us, but he didn't think his dad would be into it. So we just told him, ask your dad about it and give us a call if we can stop by. Guess what, he called and we went by:). Now here is the miracle. They both are about the most prepared people either of us have ever seen in our lives! The Dad's name is D.... and the son is B... I'll have to continue this in Dad's email so stay tuned.

So yesterday I was able to do the confirmation for A...... It was an amazing experience! At first I was a little nervous, but as soon as I started talking, the spirit flowed. So that was a great experience in itself. Again, there is just so much I could talk about, but I'll have to save some of it for another time.

Love ya Mom!
Elder Bryner


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

So I was telling mom about B.. and D...., so read hers for part one. So D.... has served in the army for 20 years and has seen a lot. He has always had a belief and God, but from things that he has experienced, his faith has really diminished over time. The biggest thing that has been a testimony to his belief is his son B... He is everything to him. He was telling us that things in his life recently have been leading up to this moment where we met them and said if we are going to "catch them" now is the time. I have never seen an investigator like him. When we first start the lesson, he starts asking such great questions, but they are kind of all over the place. We teach people not lessons, so we answer them all right way. He has so many questions though that match up with the lessons that we are going to try to just teach the lessons and try to answer questions at the same time. The coolest thing is that he TAKES NOTES! The entire time we are teaching, he is taking notes on this tablet. That is a rare thing. Also, B.. is super interested the whole time as well and he is only 14 years old. They are so great and we are just so excited about them. They have a lot of concerns, but nothing that the gospel can't fix.

Love ya Dad
Elder Bryner

Program from baptism

Elder Hamilton & Elder Bryner's Cooking Show

First baptism and visit to Temple in Australia

Email #12
Area: Grange area of the Firle Zone
Companion: Elder Hamilton

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Hey Momma!

I really loved the email that you wrote me so thanks for that. I'll try to get the name tag picture soon because we are going to the peer for finding tomorrow. The baptism went super well. A..... is a good kid and he is super smart too. It is really great to see the fruits of your labors especially when you are working so hard. I am a little nervous for this Sunday, because I am going to be doing the confirmation. It will be my first time doing that, so I am a little nervous for it haha, but it will be good. I can tell just by the knowledge that he has at 12 years old that he will be a really active member of the church. When he bore his testimony, it told us how grateful he was for Elder Hamilton and I because when the Sisters were teaching his Mom, he really hated it. He felt that they were forcing his mom to be baptized, but then we had a chance to begin teaching him and as soon as he heard the message himself, it made him feel happy. He is especially looking forward to receiving the priesthood in a couple of weeks and becoming a deacon.

We have a total of 8 in our teaching pool at the moment and a lot of potentials as well. We definitely are super busy all the time doing the Lords work and I have had to learn the ins and outs of missionary work really quickly. I really think that I have got a hang of it now and I am super grateful for my companion right now, because him and I have such great unity. At the same time we both can make this work a lot of fun. Their is so much joy in this work and it kind of surprises me how much I like it. I thought that since it is such hard work that I would really just start to dislike it, but I love every second of it. Maybe it is because I have lucked out with such great companions so far or maybe with the great investigators IDK, but none the less I am super grateful for my experiences so far.

To answer your questions, yes we have a washer and dryer. We keep the bikes locked up nice and tight, so no worries there. Yeah the mission office has my passport. Yeah we will be Skyping on Mother's day so that will be pretty cool. I will let you know the details of that as the day gets closer. No worries though we will be Skyping at a members house for about an hour each.

I love talking to ya.
Love Elder Bryner


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Pops!

The work is going super great! We have a ton of area to work with, so we are always busy. Yeah I have been thinking a lot about what others have told me and what it says in my patriotically blessing. Every day I feel closer and closer to God and can really feel a connection with him when I teach. I have seen some pretty amazing miracles by following the spirit. We have been doing what I call praying by faith. It is where you pray and as where we should go finding for that day. As soon as you decide as a companionship what area to go to, you then pray separate and ask what specific streets we should go on and write down five streets each that we feel inspired to go on. Then we compare what we wrote and every time, we have a matching street so we start there. I have seen that by doing this, we are showing our faith in the Lord to guide us. I have seen that wherever we go, we always end up finding at least one person to begin teaching. The hardest part is being able to visit all of them. We have 8 right now in our teaching pool meaning 8 that we consistently are teaching, but we have a ton to follow up with and many potentials that we need to get around to seeing. That is the hardest part in finding the time in the day to do it all. It requires a lot of sacrifice of personal time sometimes to be able to accomplish it all, but we see the blessings.

So in California, a senior companion came to me with tears in his eyes and told me "I felt impressed to tell you what the spirit had told me when we first met. I saw a young man who at first glance had a young charm to him, who seemed to love everyone. I then heard the spirit say that this young man one day would stand at the pulpit of general conference. I know not what position he will hold, nor why I was told this but I know he is a wise man and we should one day follow his council." He wrote this in my transfer journal as well so then I may always remember it. This was a lot to take in that he would even tell me this. He then told me to later on search in my patriarchal blessing for guidance to listen to the spirit to guide me.  It is a lot to live up to, but at the moment I need to focus on this work and do my best to fulfill my calling right now.

Here in Australia Adelaide mission, the rules are pretty strict and concrete, much much more then in California. There is much urgency here for the work and I can feel that I was called here to this mission for a purpose. I know that this is the mission that God has called me to.  It has been really cool to see all the different cultures here. The Aussies are all really nice people. There are also many other cultures here that I never expected. So much cool wildlife to that I have never seen before. I can't imagine what it will be like up north later on in my mission.

Love ya Dad,
Elder Bryner

Elder Hamilton & Elder Bryner outside the Adelaide Australia Temple

Looks like pancakes

Picture he drew and sent home

Elder Hamilton, new member & Elder Bryner

First email from Australia

Email #11
Area: Grange area of the Firle Zone
Companion: Elder Hamilton

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Sorry about not being able to email on Monday, so that might happen on occasion. My time so far here has been really really good. I can definitely say that this is the mission I was meant to be in. It is so different from California in so many ways I couldn't even name them all. Pretty much the basis of missionary work is the same, but everything else seems/feels different. The people here are not what I was expecting either. They are a very nice people, but they are not accepting of religion most of the time. They will want to talk about literally anything else except for religion haha, but that's okay we find our way around that. The culture here in the city is a lot of Aussies, but there are a lot of Chinese, Indian, and other cultures from around the world. Something very different than in California is that we do door knocking. That takes some practice, because they just open the door and then bang, you have to try and have a conversation on the spot and try not to bring up religion right away. Everyone we talk to we try and build a relationship first and then slowly bring in the gospel. We have much better results if we do it like that, instead of jumping into preaching to quickly.

Now the Australian accent... Haha that has been so fun hearing all the time. I hear it so much now that I think some of my words are changing slowly, its very weird. I have a feeling I might talk differently when I get home for sure. Maybe not a full blown Aussie accent, but an accent for sure. Maybe even come mothers day, I might have some changes. The biggest relief I have had is that the spider problem here is not as bad as I thought. It is pretty rare to see a huge spider around, especially in the city where I am at. I have seen a pretty decent sized spider compared to what they were at home, but not even close to some other well known ones here look like. Another new thing to me is driving on the opposite side of the road. My companion, Elder Hamilton, is the driver so I'm safe for now. I did have a chance to drive my first day here on my driving test and I passed with flying colors, so I might drive in the near future. For now though, Elder Hamilton will drive and most of the time we will ride bikes. The main reason we ride bikes is to talk to people on the street. That is a lot of fun actually. I thought I would hate riding bikes all the time, but I actually enjoy it. I wish I could track how far I am going everyday because we definitely do a lot of K's (Kilometers).

Don't worry about me here because trust me, I love it here. I know there are some challenges, there definitely is, but nothing I can't handle. The Lord knows that, that is why I am here in the first place. I am happy here way more then I thought I ever could be. Doing the Lords work, especially in Australia, is a joy beyond words.

I love you so much Mom and I'll talk to you very soon on Monday.
Elder Bryner


Excerpts from Dad's email:

My birthday was really good, my companion bought me lunch and we went out for dinner.  Later the sisters also brought me a cake.  Plus we picked up a really super solid investigator, so it was a good day.  We have a ton of investigators in our area that used to be two last transfer, so we are always busy. So we already went to the temple and went to the mission office to pick up a few things.  After emailing we are heading to the shops then to tea (dinner) and then out finding.  Oh we might go bowling or to the park for basketball.

Something cool is Adelaide is known to be the city of churches, because there are church buildings all over the place.  The weird thing is that not many Aussies are religious any more, I hope we can change that haha.

Love you dad so much!
Elder Bryner

Dinner on the way to Australia

Adelaide Oval

SA Athletics Stadium in the distance

One of the churches in Adelaide, St Francis Xavier Cathedral

Elder Hamilton

Ocean Sunset drive-by

We made it to the pier by the Grange Jetty Cafe

Elder Hamilton

Jaren Arrives in Australia

Area: Grange, Firle Zone
Companion: Elder Hamilton

Jaren was finally able to get to Australia.  We received an email from Sister Wilson that works in the mission office with a letter from President Parker.

Excerpts from President Parker's letter:

Dear Family,

Elder Jaren Robert Bryner has arrived in the Australia Adelaide Mission safely. Sister Parker and I are mindful of the great trust you have placed in us by sharing your son. When he arrived, we met him at the airport and he was taken to the mission office to be introduced to the Senior Couple office staff and Assistants to the President for orientation and photographs. Our interview was followed by dinner and testimonies at the adjacent church building with the other arrivers and Senior Couple office staff.

Elder Bryner’s companion is Elder Ryan Colton Hamilton from USA. They are serving in the Grange area of the Firle Zone. We are including a picture of Elder Bryner with President and Sister Parker.

I am aware that the Lord blesses, in many special ways, the families of missionaries. As your son serves, you will find that to be very true. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Warmest Regards,
President R. Jeffrey Parker
AUSTRALIA ADELAIDE MISSION

Elder Bryner, President Parker, & Sister Parker in front of the mission office

Arriving to the Australia Adelaide Mission, Catch the Wave in Adelaide!

Area: Mission Home
Companion: Elder Hamilton

Jaren arrived at the Australia Adelaide Mission.  Sister Parker has a wonderful blog http://parkersaustraliamissionyear2.blogspot.com that we borrowed :-) some pictures and captions from.  Thank you Sister Parker.

Introducing this great missionary, Elder Bryner from Holladay, Utah.
This is a great Missionary and we are so excited to see what the Lord
has in store for Elder Bryner. When you can make this long
flight from the USA and still have a great smile like this-
You are awesome! We love you!

After getting the last group of missionaries in the van,
we headed back to the airport, We rushed back to pick up another
great group of missionaries coming in from the USA.

Elders ready to eat and find out who their trainers will be!

Elder Bryner, Elder Riding and Elder McDonald
having some pizza, salad and fruit.

Another great senior couple, Elder and Sister Rohlfing
here getting acquainted with these New missionaries.

Elder Anderson, Elder Maddock and Elder Bryner
are very hungry and very tired.
But still anxious to see who their trainers will be!

Just about ready to start the announcing of Trainers.

Elder Bryner's new trainer is Elder Hamilton!

First day of Arrivers Training for all new missionaries and their trainers.
Such a fun and exciting day.
Introduced to "Catch the Wave in Adelaide!"

Texts from Ken in Cali

Text from member in Cali
Area: Ironwood Ward in Moreno Valley
Companion: Elder Smith

Got more texts from a member (Ken) that takes care of the missionaries in Jaren's area.  This guys is an amazing man.  He is like our guardian angel that watches over Jaren.  I truly wish every missionary had someone that took care and watched out for them like Ken does.  He is a wonderful, caring man. Once Jaren gets home, we will go and visit him.  If we all could be like him.

Text 3/29: "Just gave it to him. He is now about to leave for a lesson.
He says hi and that he loves you!"
We sent a package to Jaren via Ken

Text 4/6: "Outback steakhouse right before he goes to the outback"

Text 4/10: "Hi it's Ken, Just dropped him off and he's on his way to ONT airport! YAY!
He's a little nervous about the trip... but excited too!
He said he'll call from the airports​.
I wish him and you the best, he's an awesome guy.  Enjoy!!"

Last email from California

Email #10
Area: Ironwood Ward in Moreno Valley
Companion: Elder Smith

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Hey Momma!

This last week in California has been amazing. We have had to get so much done since most of us are going to new areas. It just so happens that my new area is across the world though haha. Members at church would ask "So were is your new area" and everyone would say somewhere in Cali and as soon as I said Australia, their eyes would get big and say "What?! That's awesome!". I am super excited to go to Australia, but it is like I'm leaving home for a second time. I care so much about everyone here so it will be a little hard to say goodbye in a few hours. We are having journal signing as soon as everyone is done emailing. I head to the mission office at 4:30 and then the journey begins.

So a little about my last week here. So we actually had one of the investigators I taught get baptized yesterday. His name is C... and he is like 70 years old. He has been really close, but he never committed to baptism until a few days ago. He called the other Elders and said that he has some great news, that he knows that he wants to be baptized now. So that was a surprise, but I was so excited for him! We have also been teaching the R.... family and I think they will be the investigators I miss the most. We have only taught them three times, but each time the spirit was there more then any other time. There are teenagers in the family and two little girls. They are all very receptive and were even way excited to start reading in the BOM. I really hope they get baptized. K.. is well on his way, but we just found out that he has a Word of Wisdom problem. He promised that he would quite, but that set us back a little. J.... is actually getting baptized next Sunday! I wish I could be there for it because he is so cool and I have taught him all the lessons. It really sucks that I will miss it, but the only thing that really matters is that he is doing what he needs to. Luckily Elder Alland is taking over our area, so he said he will send me pictures and updates of all my solid investigators and all the amazing people that I have taught.

So something that I have kept forgetting to mention to you is that there are a ton of Cowboys fans here. It's funny because I used that as a seeking tool and it really helped on approaches. So just wanted to tell you that I have talked about your excitement you and grandpa have in Cowboys games a lot haha. Also I need to mention that I have got to know an Elder who knew Curtis and Chayse back at home. His name is Hunter Dall. I just thought that would be cool to mention as well.

I have learned so much that I know that I can use for the rest of my mission and the rest of my life. I have more then anything learned real Christ like love for those around me and those I teach. Not only that, but I have grown my testimony more then I have ever thought I could. I can't wait to see what else I learn while I am out on my mission. Going on a mission is the best decision I have ever made!
I'll talk to you in a couple of hours!

Love you so much mom!
Elder Bryner


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

Everything I have learned here I will take with me for the rest of my life. So last night was our time for goodbyes to all my investigators. It definitely is hard to do. I am going to miss Bro S...... so much. He is a member in the Samoan ward and we have got really close to him. He said he thinks of me like a son and it was definitely hard to say goodbye to him and his amazing kids. They are so cute, I'll send you a few pics I think. I don't have to much time because we have a ton to do, but I will call you guys at the airport for sure.

Love you dad so much!
Elder Bryner

Mission Map

Zone Conference and heading to Australia

Email #9
Area: Ironwood Ward in Moreno Valley
Companion: Elder Smith

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Hey Mom!!

Yeah I am very excited for Australia, because I know it is where I am needed at this time. It definitely will be a big change, but so is a mission in general. I have been able to adjust to the missionary life really well so I am confident I can do it in Australia to. I really will miss everyone here. It will be so cool to be able to come visit the Ironwood Ward in the future. I don't think I will ever forget my time here. I can't express enough how grateful I am for God sending me here at this time. I can truly see exactly why he did now that I have experienced it. That is what life is all about. When God asks you to do something, even when you aren't sure how it will turn out, you still act in faith and you will surely be blessed for it. Australia is going to be another act of faith not just for me, but for you. It is a mystery what lies ahead in the coming months, but just always remember what comes after the act of faith. I tell this to investigators all the time. Those who just aren't sure they want to commit to anything, but they want to know if what we are teaching them is true. It is all about taking those first steps and then after those steps, don't stop there. Continue forward because we already know what the destination will be if we keep moving forward on the correct path.

During the Sunday afternoon conference, there was a talk by Joaquin E Costa. This talk was just perfect for our investigators that we brought with us. I can tell that this talk really struck K.. especially. At the end of conference he told us that talk stood out so much to him. He is preparing to be baptized. I am really praying that he will on April 9, so I can attend his baptism. At this point in time we really don't know if it will happen or not, but we will find out probably later tonight if he will go through with it.

My favorite talk in particular was by Elder David A Bednar. Holy cow, it was as if he was speaking directly to me. I went into conference with a couple of questions that I needed answered. One of those was if I am called here to California and also Australia for a reason. Does it really matter where I was called of is it just a matter of putting me somewhere to serve. What Elder Bednar stated was the best answer I could have been given. First off, a missionary is not called to a place, you are called to serve. Secondly, where you are called to serve is not a coincidence, it is not random. I really liked how he said that calling a missionary is one of the best things the quorum of the twelve get to do. There is true revelation that comes when they call each missionary. Even reassignments like mine are done the same way. It is an amazing thing to see revelation in action. Don't take my question I had the wrong way. I had this question because I have heard that it doesn't matter where you are called, you will have a great experience anywhere. That I think is partly true. You will have an amazing experience where God has called you because he knows us each individually and he knows the best place in the world for us to serve.


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

J.... and K.. are really moving along. They both are on date, J.... for sure on April 16, but K.. we are hoping for April 9.  So I can go to it, but we'll see. We have picked up a lot of investigators and all of them are moving forward with everything really well. The members are especially great because we never have issues with fellow shipping. Bro S...... is especially good about it. He comes out with us all the time to help fellowship. Yeah all the Samoans are teaching us some of their language, but it is really hard to remember it all. So I just wrote it all down for now. I study it a little in the morning so maybe I'll retain a lot of it when I get home. There are Samoan Wards in Aussie too, so we'll see if I get the change to be in another one.

We had a multi zones conference this week and that was really cool. I learned a lot from it and we were trained on a bunch of new things. The church has now put out the new video for Easter, Prince of Peace. Check that one out it is really cool. We use it quite a bit now. They taught us how to use it in a contact on the street and it has been a really easy one to use. We just ask how they calibrate Easter. There is an easy transition from that to Jesus Christ. Just yesterday we went to a families home and shared the video with them. The Mom, S......, is the only one who isn't baptized yet. Missionaries have been trying for a really long time, but she for some reason has never gone to church enough to be baptized. Even Elder Smith has tried in the past and she was so close, she committed and everything, but it fell through. So we are going to try again. Her family is so nice. The dad is a return missionary, so he already knows everything we are talking about. We are going to follow up with them on Wednesday.

I learned something really cool this week that I never realized before. Heavenly Fathers pain will be greater then the saviors when he has to turn his children away at judgment. Did you know that? His pain that he will feel when his some of his children can't stay in his presence will be greater then the pain Christ felt when he took on the pains of the world. President told us this and then said that what we are truly doing as missionaries is preparing God's children to see heavenly father again so that they don't have to turn away. That will be a moment in time full of love for us, but also painful for Heavenly Father. This never occurred to me that his pain will be that great, but it makes sense now. Something to think about when you see someone not accepting the gospel. They are not just hurting themselves, but our father in heaven. That makes me want to work even harder as a missionary. I really don't want to take no for an answer. Agency sucks sometimes as a missionary haha. When people are rejecting you, they are really rejecting God. Something for all of you to think about to. Anyone you know that is not living how they should, make them realize that are not just making Christ suffer for their sins, but if they don't repent and change, they will also be making God turn them away. Always be striving for the Celestial Kingdom.

Here is a scripture for you to look into. Mosiah 4:27

Love ya dad! have a good week!
Elder Bryner