February 3, 2014
Well the quote came from our special training that we had this past week on Wednesday. I am happy to report on a great week. We beat good this week. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl and Elder Anderson and I had a winning week.
The special training this week was on applying the fundamentals from Preach My Gospel. It was an amazing help. They gave us a booklet that gave us ideas for application in our everyday work. So fast forward to Thursday morning, study time. I decide to take a quick gander at the pages and what they have to say. Move forward a couple hours...Elder Anderson are doing our weekly planning and we decide to give a call to a less active family and try to set something up for this week. Elder Anderson is talking to him...blah blah...and then he hangs up? What did he say?? "Come over today or don't come at all". Then he hung up. Kinda rude...but I guess we gotta head over there. So we move our plans for the day a little bit. Come to find out, he is not feeling well. That is why he is rude on the phone. We met with her though. Shared a scripture, then scheduled a time to come again. Before we left I asked her if she knew anyone that would be willing to listen to a brief message. She then gave us the names of two of her neighbors. So we stopped by. The first one, Carrie and her family. Pretty cool. We gave a blessing on her home and I bore testimony of families and the gospel. Now we have another appointment set with her and her whole family on Saturday. It was an amazing experience and it really helped me realize something. I applied as many of those fundamentals I could when we met Carrie, and...they worked! That's when the realizations came. This truly is the Lord's work and I know I have been called by him and that President Hermansen is called by him as well and he receives the needed revelation for exactly what we need. That was just the start of Thursday. We then had a lesson with Brother Urenda that night. We were planning on teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and tying in the word of wisdom. As we started our discussion, he told us that he no longer even has the desire to drink. Woah. Talk about miracles. He is still on track for being baptized on the 14th of this month. Which will be the Friday before transfers. I definitely hold this place of Spring Creek in a very special place in my heart. I feel like I have done so much growth here and seen so many miraculous things. There have been slow times, but it always seems to pick itself back up again. I love it. :)
Other news. Well Kelly came to church yesterday. That was great. :) Nancy emailed me today. Also great. We also committed Brother Brown to come to church at least once a month. Definitely an improvement from three times a year. Love that man. :) And then! We walk into gospel principles, just a little late. And then the door opens and we get called out. There is a young man, sitting in the chapel and he just came from the gym and some members of the ward want us to talk to him. So, we go into the chapel and introduce ourselves to Joe. Get to know him a little bit. Come to find out that he prayed and promised Heavenly Father that if he passed his test for nutrition, he would go to church every week, and he felt like that was the church he was supposed to be at. Super cool. Explained what we do as missionaries and briefly taught The Restoration with Tyler Knudsen. Right there in the chapel. One of the most spiritual lessons I have taught. At least it felt that way. Maybe because we were in the church?? I dunno. I do know that it was an awesome experience. Joe will be in the singles ward, so we gave the referral to those missionaries. The opportunities we had to teach though this week were great and we will are looking forward to another great week :)
I also just have to say thank you for the testimony that I received from you two (Mom and Dad) this morning. I got a package from my Hagler family. I just have to say that the power of a sincere, simple testimony is incredible. So thank you for sharing that with me in the form of a letter through my valentines day package :)
I have some pictures to send, so stay tuned :)
Dad- Well I was telling everyone here that Defense wins championships. No one believed me though. What happens? The Seattle defense does work, and wins a championship. Granted, football is a team sport and it takes everyone. But it sure helps a lot when a defense creates four turnovers. I had some bragging rights as well :) I have seen some pictures of the temple and it truly is amazing. I am glad you have been able to have those opportunities. I think that temple is in my top four favorites now :) Good job on your workouts. You are in better shape than me, that is for dang sure. Keep it up :) I am also glad that Grandma is doing better. Thanks for keeping me in the know on how you are doing. I love and miss ya Dad. Have an awesome week :)
Mom- I missed you again this week. I did get your letter last Monday though. So thank you for that. You probably have already got the one from me. I just want you to know that I love and miss you. Let me know if there is anything you need me to help you with. Thank you for your testimony. :)
Jeri Lin- Well first of all, it is exciting to hear of your missionary opportunities. I guess you could call me a professional missionary, but there are days I still feel like a rookie though. My advice for that situation though. One, just remember that no effort is wasted. Don't get frustrated. The only thing we can do as missionaries is invite. Others have to make the choice, and we have to remember that it is all part of the plan. Another thing we do as missionaries is to try and figure out what peoples concerns are. Figure out what is holding him back, if he will open up to Lindsay, that would be good. But like you said, you have to have those prayers, fasting, etc. Just love him. As a missionary, I do my best to build friendships first and foremost. One, because I like friends. Two, because friends trust each other. So...trust and then open up to figure out the concern. Lindsay is probably best for that. That is all I can think of though. Besides the things you already mentioned. Other than that, it seems like you are doing well. You and Tony and your kiddos are always in my prayers. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for ya. I love ya Sis. Have an awesome week! :)
I love and miss you all! Have a great week.
Love,
Your Son
Your Brother
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle
Mattress Forts
Gotta throw some fun in somewhere! ;)
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