In two days we leave Ukarumpa to start living permanently in America. Because we’re leaving, I was asked recently to speak at a ladies’ gathering here on our mission center about my experience of living overseas. Honestly, I didn’t feel qualified to speak because I know all of my shortcomings and struggles, but then I remembered that it’s not about me, it’s about God and what He’s done for me in spite of my struggles. The following is a story I shared that reminds me of that truth:

It was 1999 and we were preparing for one of our very first trips out to the village in the Solomon Islands. Grant was two and just a couple days before we were to get on the ship to take us to our village, he had a severe asthma attack. We had to take him to the hospital for oxygen and then the next day we went to see a doctor and he prescribed medication. Over the next week and a bit Grant slowly got better but he was still wheezing and not able to breathe normally. We went back to the doctor again, and he told us he thought that Grant was improving enough that it would be alright for us to go out to the village.

We came home and wondered what we should do. Should we keep to our plan and go out to our remote village? Or should we stay in town to make sure Grant was really okay. We decided to go.

On the ship we noticed there was a young European couple. It was highly unusual to see other expats on the ship, so we wondered where they were going. Then, when the ship arrived at our village, they too got off! What?? Come to find out they were visiting the Solomon Islands and while they were in town they met a Bughotu man from our village and had arranged a visit to experience village life. And the amazing thing was they were both doctors! And pediatricians at that! It was like God saying to me, “Brena, I see you. I know what you need and I’ve brought these two people to Sigana just for you. I love you.”

And that was the start of God showing me in more ways than I can count how He was with me. He was with me when we had to go home a few years later because I was really struggling with something I would later learn was OCD. He was with me through the many long (and often boring) days in the village, through the many moves from town to the village and then back, when we came to PNG and had to start over, and when we had to pack up again and live in transition in America for our furlough months. Through my struggles I have come to know deeply how much God loves me. And it isn’t dependent on how much I do or don’t do, or how much I struggle. I don’t have to have it all together. I can just BE and that is enough.

Now that I’m about ready to finish living overseas, there is some sadness, excitement, and also anxiety about the future. But I know without a shadow of a doubt that just as God has been faithful to me all these years overseas, He will also be faithful to me in America.

Here are some pictures of recent “lasts” for me and also some prayer requests at the end. But check out our last newsletter where we shared how John will continue working in Bible Translation and making trips back to the Pacific.

Thank you for your friendship and prayers all of these years!

Brena

The two last cafés

The last time to host friends in our house and Grant when he’s on a work trip!

Just some of the last meals and coffees with friends

PRAISE & PRAYER

• We are so thankful that our last weeks of packing up and saying goodbye have gone so smoothly. 
• We are so grateful to God for allowing our house to sell (especially when there were almost 20 other houses for sale here on our mission center)!
• I feel so blessed and privileged to have lived overseas for all these years. I’ve learned and experienced so much and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
• On our way home to America, John and I will spend four nights in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. We’re looking forward to the time to rest after the busyness of leaving PNG and before the busyness of establishing ourselves in the States.
• Please pray for us as we settle into our apartment in Dallas, TX, on the SIL (Wycliffe) center. November will be a full month of meetings, visiting, and getting used to things. We are looking forward, though, to spending the holidays with all of our kids.
• John has an appointment with a doctor on November 12th to schedule surgery for the broken bone in his wrist. Please pray that God will give the doctor wisdom and also that John won’t further injure his wrist before his appointment.
• Please pray that God will show us clearly where we are to settle down and then guide us in buying a house. I am so looking forward to putting down roots and not moving again.
• Pray that God will show me what to do with my time in America. I may end up doing something similar to what I’ve been doing here. We’ll see.
• Even though John will continue his work with Bible translation and be making several trips a year to the Pacific, pray that God will help him adjust to a different work schedule and setting.

******PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESSES BELOW!

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@tsco.org

brena_bruner@wycliffe.org

Temporary Address: 4807 Ruidoso Dr., Arlington TX 76017

WEB ADDRESS FOR PARTNERSHIP:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

MAILING ADDRESS FOR PARTNERSHIP:

Send gifts to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, PO Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862-8200 (The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators and include a note that says preference for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner.)