My Life in the Biggest Little City June 30, 2014

June 30, 2014

My life in the Biggest Little City continues to move forward as the temperature is picking up. It has been a pretty good week this past week. Mostly because I was able to attend the temple with Juan on Saturday
evening. Let me tell you about some of the events that kind of lead up to that part though.

On Tuesday, Elder Reynolds and I were tracting. You know, the normal missionary life. We usually set aside at least one hour a day if possible for strictly tracting or street contacting. Well, we come to this one door and the guy living there had a security camera in his window of the door with a sign next to it that said, "Smile, You are on camera!". Haha ok, whatever. We knocked, and he answered. He looks at us for a sec and then says, hold on, I gotta go grab something. I was just hoping it wasn't a gun. It wasn't a gun. It was a camera. He took a picture of us. Super weird. He then proceeded to tell us that we had interrupted his dinner hour, and that we aren't the first of our "buddies" to do so. So, now that he had a picture of us, he was planning on pressing charges on us for trespassing. Then told us to immediately get off his property. Haha. It was quite possibly the most ridiculous thing that has happened to me while tracting. Don't be surprised if there is a warrant out for me ;)

Now we move on to Wednesday, and my Wednesday experience is much better than my Tuesday experience. I don't recall on whether or not I told you about Brenda. She is a woman we met on the street and said a prayer with her a few weeks back. Last week she called us up and asked if she could come to church. So we got her a ride for church last Sunday. She enjoyed it. Then we set a lesson up with her for Wednesday. We taught her at the church, and it was quite possibly one of the best first lessons I have ever taught. It helps that she is open to the knowledge of having a prophet on the earth today. Well in that lesson we set her with a baptismal date of the 26th of July. She was a church yesterday as well. Things are continuing to look up. :)

Thursday and Friday were pretty normal days. We are continuing to work with Kimberly as well as Calvin. Those two are a real test of my patience, but I love them to death.

That brings us to Saturday. We were busy all morning and afternoon. Doing service for a less active sister and then running to and fro for lessons. We almost didn't even get to have any lunch. It worked out though. Then we headed up to the temple with one of the members in our ward and we brought Kimberly along to walk around the temple grounds with her. We figured since we were gonna be up there anyways, we should make it a little more productive. It went really well and Kimberly showed an increase in desire to change her life around. Hopefully we can help her remember the feelings she felt there and that we can help her act on those desires. After doing that, the member took Kimberly home and we stayed for the endowment session for Juan. It was truly one of the absolute highlights of my mission. I am grateful that he allowed for me to join him and experience that with him. He is going to be an incredible missionary. Just you wait :) After the temple we all went out to eat. The Haglers, The Smiths, and The Jimenez family were all there and joined with us. It was so nice to be able to catch up with them all. I haven't seen some of them in like a year! A few of them thought I was already was home and that I had come back just to see Juan through the temple. Not quite. We had lots of good laughs :)

Saturday eventually came to a close and brought us into Sunday. I was once again a little frustrated as a lot of the people who said that they would be there stood us up again. Oh well. Gotta try again next week. Then, our plans for after church began to slowly fall through. It was looking like it was gonna be a slow day. We just kept going though, and we ran into a lady by the name of Meredith who was just about to start working on pulling out some old rose bushes in her yard. We offered to help her out, and surprisingly, she accepted. I pulled my tie off, rolled up my sleeves, and we got to work. It was so much fun. She was really cool. We were able to get to know her as we sweated and got to work. She is now a solid potential investigator and she gave us a few names and addresses of people we could also try and visit. It was probably the best way we could have ended the week. I felt as if I truly was a representative of Jesus Christ, because those are the kinds of things he would do. We may have not exactly been resting on the Sabbath, but that service allowed for Meredith to rest a little and it relieved a burden she had. Service is awesome. Especially when they are unplanned moments and opportunities that make someones day :)

Those are the highlights from my week. Oh!

Sometimes I try to kick rocks into storm drains and it makes me feel like I am playing in the world cup. It is kinda a big deal when I make those in. I might as well have kicked a game winning shot :)

Dad- Well thank you for sending me the pictures of the super bowl rings. The one part I do like is the score of the game inscribed on the inside. Poor Poor Broncos ;) I think it is cool that you can relate to me with serving in a downtown area. We sure do get yelled at a lot, but we also get told that people have our back down here on the streets. I don't think I have ever felt like I have been in huge danger here in this area. The Lord definitely plays a part in that I believe. I also appreciate that example you shared with me about basketball and running. How true that is. One quote that has been shared with me on my mission that I always remember is, "There is no growth in comfort and no comfort in growth". As for the 4th of July. We don't have anything planned as of right now...but we just got the guidelines from President, so I am sure we will figure something out :) I don't think I will be an assistant...that is a responsibility that I am definitely not envious of. We will see what the future brings. It is coming quick. I love and miss ya Dad. Have a great week! :)

Mom- Well it looks like I missed you this week. I just want you to know that I do love and miss you. I hope you have a great week this week. :)

Jeri Lin- I am getting the sun part here. Kinda missing the water part though. I am glad you and your kiddos are enjoying it though. Along with your reading activities. Your children are gonna be geniuses like yourself. I can see it already in Hyrum.,,how in the world did I not think of calling them Rubby ducks? ;) I am glad you are all doing well and that Tony enjoys his job. Seems like it can't get much better. You can't tell me that Tony is working on my Christmas present, you crazy! haha. I will be looking forward to it. That is definitely suspenseful :) I love and miss ya. Have another good, fun week in the sun! :)

Keila- Hey you. I miss ya and love ya! Have a good week :)

Sydney- Thank you for your quick email :) I am so glad that you had a good birthday and a good date :) I hope you have a safe trip to Washington. You will have to keep me updated as much as possible on how it goes. :) I love and miss ya! Have a good week. Oh, and always, always Stay Happy :)

Leslie- Well I will be looking for the letter that makes the picture make more sense! I love and miss ya. Have a good week! :)

Brooke- Guess what? I still love you and still miss you :) Have a good week!

Hayden- Stay cool my dood :) Have a good week! I love and miss ya man :)

Well I have some pictures to send your way. For now though, that is all I have. I love and miss you all! :)

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother

Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle :)

 Me and Fajardo

 Flake, Sister Waterman, and I

 Juan at the temple

BELIEVE