Elder Jaren Bryner A LDS Missionary Down Under in Adelaide Australia: We found him as we we're riding bikes

Email #64
Area: Mildura South Pickers of the Marion Zone
Companion: Elder Fala & Elder Siaosi

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Hey Mom!

This week was another great one! T... is doing really awesome! We have had daily contact with him this week and are almost done with the lessons! He came to church and is keeping every single commitment! He is the man! We have a lesson with him today again which should be awesome! Yeah V..... came to church as well! We need to follow up on that one for sure, I think we will be tomorrow.

We had a ward activity this week that went really well! There was a talent show and some singing and things going on. The culture here is really strong islander, so there are different things that is completely new to me sometimes. Trying new things is always really fun and I even tried horse meat for the first time:). Tasted pretty good actually! It's a Tongan thing haha. They eat dog too, so I hope to try that soon as well. We had it at a members home, Kiwi. They are Tongan and they love to feed the missionaries! They had this huge pot of meat just cooking in the middle of the kitchen! There was heaps of food! Then on Sunday we went to a members home and they had just the biggest table full of food because their family is in from all over Australia for a baby blessing. They feed well here that is for sure!

The work is going strong here! We decided to do a transfer action plan for the zone which is basically a list of things each of us is going to do to accomplish each indicator. Our goal for the month behind is is 5 baptisms and since we set these "Action Items", the zone is more united and we are so blessed for it. There are now 5 baptisms scheduled in the month of may! Miracles are happening right now! One of our "Action Items" is to follow up with all potentials we find within 24 to 48 hours. Well we did that just yesterday and we have a very prepared new investigator who is now as well on baptismal date! He is from Africa in Kongo! His name is B........ We found him as we we're riding bikes we just talked to this man, which is always a bit weird at first when you just ride up to a person and start talking to them. Anyway, he has not been here in Australia very long, but he is here with his family. We followed up the next day, taught him the Restoration, and he loved it! It is all really new to him. He is Christian, but he has always wondered if there is one God, why is there so many different beliefs about him. When he came here, he realized just how many beliefs there are. He committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true! I'm really excited about him, because he has the most real intent to know! After the lesson he asked if we would go next door to meet the rest of his family. He just led us straight into the house and before you know it, we met this huge family, not many of whom speak English. Elder Fala is really funny, he got really excited and just asked if we could take a picture with all of them. I mean we just met these people and we are taking a photo with them, but haha that is just my companions for ya. Just the most open and friendly people haha!

Love you heaps!

Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

Yeah we don't have the smart phones yet, it was announced in MLC that just the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders will be getting them at first to trial them. It is a process I guess but we will get them soon I hope. I think zone conference will be when we will get them but I am not sure. Every missionary in the companionship will have one, but I don't know how that will work with my companions TBD haha. No renovations yet, I don't know when we will be doing that.

We have two investigators that are progressing! The rest of them are doing okay, but it is just a process for sure. T...'s baptism is coming up on May 19th! He is pretty golden! Then we have another 4 in the zone this month as well! Smashing it here! We teach T... at the chapel usually. He walks all the way from his home, even for church and it is a pretty long walk! We taught him many of the lessons this past week and the really cool thing is when we were teaching him the Law of Tithing he said "Yeah I already know about that one. I have been paying that for a long time now to the church". His ex partner is a member, so he learned about that a while ago and he started paying it and has felt it bless him so he just continued to pay it! That was a miracle of itself! It is interesting for me to teach him because much of what is said, I don't understand. In fact I only can really keep up with the subject they are talking about in the lesson haha. I share what I can in Samoan, but a lot of the time Elder Fala will translate for me. He is really good at that! It works, it just has took time to adjust and practice doing that. I am so used to leading the lessons because my whole mission I have been the senior companion, training and things so usually new missionaries have a hard time directing the lesson. Both my companions are fairly new missionaries, so I still do in English a lot of the time but in Samoan I can't. They have both stepped up really well!

The other pickers have been hard haha. We drove out last Monday to their place which is about a 30 min drive one way to see them and because they are in the middle of no where, they never have visitors. So we knocked on the door and we hear them all getting really scared hahaha. I get it, because they are in a new country. Living in the middle of no where, they go a little scared. They wouldn't open the door and where even to scared to see who it was. They said in Samoan "What do you want? DO you want to eat the horse ball?" Haha I didn't get it either, but I guess from what my companions were saying, when Samoans get scared they act tough. They thought we were ghosts, they said and tried to scare us off haha.

Love yours!