Stay Happy April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014

The title of this email came from some good advice given on Friday night. I have no idea who gave the advice, but it was perfect. It was exactly what I needed, and I have been reflecting on it all weekend :)

This week has been a crazy one to say the least. Not terrible, but not altogether amazing either. The weather here could have been a perfect representation. It just couldn`t decide what it wanted to be. There were some good things. Such as interviews with President, Stake conference with Bishop Causse from the Presiding Bishopric, and I even finished The Book of Mormon. We also have Kimberly wanting to move her baptismal date up to the middle of May. Then we had Calvin telling us he wanted to have a blessing...what he meant was that he wanted to be baptized. Which is a miracle in and of itself, because he is a very stubborn old man and he has come a very long way. He told us, "you two morons have done more for me than you know". Haha I took that as a compliment. He could call me a lot worse things...I will stick with the pumpkin, hot shot, and moron :) Another neat experience came on Friday night before I received the advice. President texted us asking if we could go give a blessing to a non-member in one of the downtown area hospitals. Of course we agreed, and I am glad we were able to do it. The spirit was so strong in that room. And not only did we give him a blessing, but we talked to him about The Book of Mormon and we were able to share a copy. I really hope that he looks into it further after he is released from the hospital like he said he would. So yeah, lots of good things. We also encountered a lot of different and not so good things. We had the normal stuff. Like appointments falling through, people not coming to church, etc. There were some different things that happened though. The shoulder strap on my bag broke as we were walking down the street, we had someone we were working with have an emotional breakdown and disappear off the face of the earth, investigators drop us. Just crazy stuff. I guess that is what I get for focusing on patience this week. The thing that carried me through was the advice. Stay Happy. In everything we do, we have the choice as to what our attitude will be The ward mission leader here tells us to enjoy the sucky moments. They are bound to come. We just got to stay happy. I am thankful for that for sure. That is the lesson I learned this week. Keep your head up. :)

Other than that...I am not quite sure what else to tell you. Like you all have mentioned, time continues to fly by. I am still in shock that this is week 5 of this transfer and that May will begin this week. Woah.

Dad- Well you are already talking garbage to me about the NFL season. I am glad nothing has changed ;) I will admit the Seahawks-Chargers game will be a tough one for my team, but I will back them up all day long :) I think it would be cool to go to the Arizona-Seattle game for your birthday though. :) That is cool that Hayden did well in his race. We never had like...winners. We just had participation awards. Lame sauce. I hope that all goes well with your interview and that you have a fun weekend up in Spokane. I appreciate all the updates. Maybe one day I will be the NFL Commissioner... Yeah right :P I love and miss ya Dad! Have a good week :)

Mom- Well it sounds to me like you had a fairly similar week to me. Stay Happy! :) I think it is funny that we kind of set up our emails in a similar way. I thank you for all that you shared with me. Everything happens for a reason! I love you and miss you Mom! I hope that you can have a better week with not as much opposition :)

Jeri Lin- You sure do have a funny kid. Talking garbage to his uncle...haha I love it. I am looking forward to seeing that kid and going to Disneyland with him, I hope he knows that :) It is good to hear that Tony is doing well. I hope and pray that Lindy starts doing better. :) I am also glad that you are doing well and that you are enjoying being a Mom. I love and miss ya Sis. Have a good week!

Keila- I hope you are feeling better from last week! I love and miss you. Have a good week :)

Sydney- Thanks for the quick little email. Thanks for the Harry Potter stamps as well by the way. Love and miss ya! Have a good week :)

Leslie- Happy Birthday! I am sorry I am one day behind, I was thinking of you yesterday though. I hope it was a good one. I also hope that you have a good first week of being 14 years old! I love and miss ya :)

I love and miss all of you! Have a great week!

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother

Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle :)

 Group FHE 4/14/14