THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS as we made the journey back to Papua New Guinea. After several flights (about 20 hours total), sitting in airports and a two night layover in Australia, we arrived back July 10th. Besides seeing friends and reuniting with Joey, the adjustment to being back here has not been easy. Cleaning, getting personal things out of storage, figuring out the house’s unique pipe system for clean and unclean water, starting the process of cooking three meals a day, hanging laundry, etc. are some of the things we’ve been experiencing.

Please PRAY for us as we continue to settle and get into a routine. John has started back to the translation desk getting ready for his trip to Solomon Islands at the end of August. The boys start school on Wednesday. Luke is starting grade 9, Joey grade 12, and Kairu grade 12. Yes, you read that right. Kairu is living with us for the upcoming year while his parents live in another town. We’re glad he’s part of our family again!

*The owners of our house just went on furlough so we can live here for a year. We have the use of a little beater of a car which is nice when it rains! The boys have named it the Zucchini Mobile :).

*the side view of our house – you can see our rain tanks which we use for drinking. The toilets, shower, hot water, and washing machine all run off the not-so-clean river water.

To Be In Touch:

PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

john_bruner@sil.org

To Give:

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

 

TONIGHT WE LEAVE on our journey back to Papua New Guinea. We would appreciate your prayers:

• for safety as we fly
• and as we get set up again in another rental house, unpack, stock up the kitchen, and then get into a routine of work and school. The first couple of weeks back are not ones I (Brena) look forward to, so please pray for me especially that I would take one day/minute at a time.

We’ve had a great two weeks here in California catching up with supporters, friends, and family members. We’ve met the newest member of the family, my step-niece, Audrey Donley. We’ve also been able to share in three group settings about our work in Papua Guinea. I wish I could post every single picture of every single person we saw, but of course that would be a little bit over the top :). Here are just a few.

(our good friends, the Burtons)

(a surprise visit to my teacher from junior high days, Yolanda and Chris Osborne)

(John and Luke catching a wave. Luke has been a good sport with all the visiting we’ve been doing. A fun day for him was boogie boarding with our friends, Keith and Lois Anderson, and his cousin, Kenzie)

(Cousin time – Luke and Kenzie Peters, both 14 years old)

(Catching up with three high school friends, John and Sheri (Smith) Valadez and Heather Holt)

(An afternoon with my dear Aunt Judi (my mom’s sister), cousin Kimberly and family, my brother and family, and my parents)

(My step-mom, Jane, and baby Audrey)

We appreciate you all!!

To Be In Touch:

PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

john_bruner@sil.org

To Give:

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

 

THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS as we’ve finished up our time here in Texas. Tomorrow we leave for our two week stay in California enroute to Papua New Guinea on July 6.

Thanks for praying for Joey. He made it safely to PNG and is having a great time with his friends. We’re thankful he had smooth flights and made all his connections, and also for our friends, the Nachtigals, who are hosting him until we arrive.

We have successfully packed up and moved out of 2515 Blue Quail Drive! Whew. The house we were renting from my (Brena’s) parents is now completely empty with boxes stored in my sister’s shed. Thanks for your prayers for strength. Another move accomplished!

Grant seems to be doing well in South Carolina. He’s getting lots of hours at Chick-fil-A, spending time with his cousins, attending a great church, and working out to stay fit . We are so thankful for how God is taking care of him.

Prayers Needed:

• Although we weren’t able to see everyone we would have liked, we are thankful for the people who have been a part of our lives this year. God has been good and we trust Him now as we begin our transition back to PNG and settle back into life there. Please pray for us.
• We are looking forward to seeing those that we can in CA. Look back to our previous post if you’re interested in coming to our Open House. Pray for our time in CA that it would be special as we spend time with friends and family. Pray too for Luke who is having to hang around exclusively with his boring parents. :)
• And finally, please pray for the loved ones we are leaving behind.

To Be In Touch:

PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

john_bruner@sil.org

cell # 817-300-5601 (until July 6)

To Give:

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

IT’S ALMOST TIME for us four (below) to leave Texas. Joey heads to Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, June 9th, on his own and we follow soon after – June 22 from Texas and July 6 from California. Grant is staying with his Uncle Dave and Aunt Ceil in South Carolina and working at Chick-fil-A. He will return to John Brown University in Arkansas in the fall.

We would appreciate your prayers for Joey as this is his first time to travel solo and also for us as we finish up packing and cleaning and then have some last visits with people.

For those of you who live in Southern California, we would love to see or talk to you while we’re in the area!

You are Invited to an Open House

on Sunday, June 28

at the home of Betsy Creswell

1521 Sierra Vista Dr.

La Habra, CA 90631

From 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

(*We will give a short presentation at 3:00 and 5:00)

Please RSVP to Betsy if you can make it:

562-697-9590 (home)

562-217-4205 (cell)

jbcreswell@verizon.net

If you can’t come to the Open House, you can give us a call at 817-300-5601 (our cell #) to chat or maybe we can squeeze in a time to get together with you. We will be staying with my parents, Warner and Jane Peters, in Riverside.

To Be In Touch:

john_bruner@sil.org

(until June 22) 2515 Blue Quail Dr., Arlington, TX 76017

(after June 22) PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

(until July 6) cell # 817-300-5601

To Give:

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

Click on the link just below this paragraph to see our latest newsletter about our year in the States and what’s coming up next. It’s 4 pages long but has mostly pictures. :)  Thanks for your prayers as we finish out these last 4 weeks in Texas before heading to Papua New Guinea via California.

Bruner May 2015 Newsletter

 

To Be In Touch:

(until June 22) 2515 Blue Quail Dr., Arlington, TX 76017

(after June 22) PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

john_bruner@sil.org

cell # 817-300-5601

To Give:

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

We had the AWESOME privilege of witnessing the wedding of Don and Anna Bruner in South Carolina this past weekend. Since we miss so many big family events because we live overseas, this was one of the highlights of the year. Not only was it wonderful to witness two young people in love with the Lord but also great fun to hang out with family. We also appreciated the southern hospitality of our friends, Jim and Helen Schroer. Their home was a peaceful oasis for me (Brena).

My sister (in photo below) and I were able to get away for a couple of nights to a fancy hotel to have some concentrated sister time. It was very fun. Watching movies, eating out, and seeing the Dallas Blooms were a few of the things we did. I’m so thankful for my wonderful sister and for the special time we had together. These times don’t happen very often!

Thank you for praying for John and me when we went to Colorado to visit friends, supporters, and a supporting church. It was SO nice to catch up with people we hadn’t seen in years and get to know people we had never met. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see more people that we know in Colorado, but time was short.

The church, Grace Church of South Park, is small but what generous, loving people they are. We felt honored and blessed to share about Bible translation with them. The beauty of the landscape and seeing wildlife were added bonuses!

(Sue, Greg, and Dave Linton shared their mountain home with us for several nights)

Prayer:

• We are thankful God kept us safe while we were in Colorado and that we were able to see some supporters and share about Bible translation.
• This coming month is our last full month left in Texas. Please pray for us as we continue to prepare for our return to Papua New Guinea.
• We will have one week in May with Grant before he heads off to his Uncle Dave’s house in SC for the summer. We’re thankful God brought him through his first year of college and that he has a place to stay this summer.

To Be In Touch: 2515 Blue Quail Dr., Arlington, TX 76017– john_bruner@sil.org — (817) 376-9783

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

It was great fun to be able to see Grant play Ultimate Frisbee with his JBU team, Ironfist, this past weekend! They were playing in a tournament relatively near us so we were able to drive down and watch. What a FUN sport! Lots of running – kind of a mix between basketball and soccer. AND they won the tournament! Way to go, Ironfist!!

So grateful Grant can be involved with this great bunch of guys. So thankful for the school God has placed him in this year. This weekend was good for this mom’s heart. :) Now I can picture him playing when we’re overseas this coming year.

Thank you for praying for John’s three week trip to the Solomon Islands. He and the five Fataleka members of the team all stayed healthy and were able to finish the checking of six New Testament books and print out trial editions for the men to take back to their villages. The Fataleka New Testament is now about 80% completed and the target date for finishing is 2017. Jeffrey Iro hopes to have the drafting of all the remaining books completed in the next few months. While John was in the Solomons the weather was unusually cool and rainy because of Cyclone Pam which ended up causing major damage in Vanuatu. Please pray for the people there who are trying to put their lives back together.

The boys and I survived our time here without John. I kept busy being the taxi driver to the boys’ sports practices and games :). The boys experienced some snow and no-school days, and we also shared some meals with my sister and niece, who were also alone without their husband/dad (Pat was in the Solomons with John). It was nice to have someone to keep us company.

We have now officially switched gears from “settling in” to “getting ready to go.” Some of those things include: buying clothes and shoes to take back with us (there are no stores like Walmart or Sports Academy in PNG!), planning our itinerary for the upcoming weeks and months, setting up times to meet with people, getting our visas and work permits, buying plane tickets, going to the dentist, etc., etc. We have just three months left in the States as we plan to arrive on July 10th in Ukarumpa!

In the midst of that, we’re still maintaining “normal” life. Luke is now competing in Track meets for his school and playing soccer on a recreation league team. He has a great coach and is learning a lot. Joey is finishing his season of soccer with his school varsity team and they are currently in the playoffs. It has been a good experience for Joey and he has made some good friends on the team.

(Luke in the long jump)

(the Martin High School soccer team – Joey is in the back row, second to the right)

Grant and his roommate, Absiez, were able to come home for their spring break from John Brown University. We so enjoyed our time together and are thankful they have survived their first year of college (just one month to go) and adjusted to life in America. This summer Grant will be living with John’s brother, Dave and his family, in South Carolina. We are so thankful for their generous hospitality. Absiez will be staying in Siloam Springs and working for his host family.

Praise and Prayer:

• We are thankful that God kept us all safe and sane while John was away and that the Fataleka team accomplished everything they had planned.
• We are thankful for the sports opportunities the boys have had this year and the friends they have made.
• We are thankful that Grant and Absiez are doing well and have survived their first year of college in America.
• I have been seeing a Wycliffe counselor to get some new perspective and tools for my OCD, which many of you know I’ve had for about 15 years now. God knew exactly who I needed to see. She has been so empathetic and wise, and has given me new things to think about and do. I am very thankful for her. While I’m very thankful for how God has used the OCD to help me grow, I would appreciate your prayers as I continue to deal with it on a daily basis.
• And please pray for us in these coming months as we prepare to go. Pray for us physically and emotionally. Leaving is always a big basket of mixed emotions!

Coming up This Next Month:

• John and I are making a short trip out to Colorado to see some supporters and a supporting church. The boys will be staying with my sister.
• John will be traveling up to John Brown University with Joey and his friend so they can participate in a soccer “tryout” day. Joey is thinking ahead to college and would like to play soccer if possible.

To Be In Touch: 2515 Blue Quail Dr., Arlington, TX 76017– john_bruner@sil.org — (817) 376-9783

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

 

 

I (John) leave tomorrow for a three week trip to the Solomon Islands. I will be working with the Fataleka translation team to check Revelation, James, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon and Hebrews. After this trip about 80% of the New Testament will have been checked! I’m looking forward to my time with the Fataleka team as it is always encouraging to see their dedication to working on the translation. It will also be nice to have my brother-in-law, Pat Andrews, there. He is working with men from the Baeggu language and they are also nearing completion of their New Testament. Please PRAY that my time with the Fataleka team will go well and that we will be able to finish the checking we have scheduled. We would also appreciate your prayers for Brena, Joey and Luke as they stay here in Texas.

On the family front, February brought us another great four day visit from my parents, Fred and Dorothy Bruner. We had a good time going out to eat, attending one of Joey’s soccer games and just lots of sitting around and visiting. My parents also let me use their air miles to go see them and my two East Coast brothers, Dave and Brad, in Florida the week before! We had a great time catching up (and playing golf) :).

Our time in the States seems to be rapidly coming to a close and Brena and I have been talking and praying about our plans for the coming months. After I return from the Solomons, we are planning a trip to Colorado for a few days in April to visit a church and some friends there. Then in early May we are going to South Carolina for my nephew’s wedding. Following that there will just be a couple of months to prepare to head back to Papua New Guinea. We would appreciate your PRAYERS that we will have good visits with family and friends in the coming months and that we will be able to make all the necessary preparations for returning to Papua New Guinea in July.

To Be In Touch: 2515 Blue Quail Dr., Arlington, TX 76017– john_bruner@sil.org — (817) 376-9783

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