Battle Born December 8, 2014

December 8, 2014

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes. It came so quickly, but I am now 21 years old. That is pretty crazy in and of itself. It has been a good one so far though. Just been packing mostly, but my good friend Austin Arevalo from the Highland Ranch ward, (remember him?) came and picked us up and took us shopping. Elder Katoa needed to get some new food as he is preparing to have Elder Flake as his new companion. He is pretty excited and I am excited for the both of them. :) Haha and I took the liberty to get myself a little birthday gift. So far so good :)

The last week of working here as a missionary has been a good one. As a mission, we have a standard of doing our best to teach 20 lessons a week. Some areas are a little harder to accomplish that. Here in our area, we get very close week in and week out, but I could never make it quite there for some reason or another. I was able to accomplish it though here in my final week. I feel like I just did everything I could to just lay it all out there. With spokes on my bike tires breaking and being soaking wet from Nevada's cold winter rains. I can say that I have no regrets. It is weird to think about heading out on Wednesday, but I am happy with what I have been able to do here on my mission. Through the good times and the hard times. Sometimes it was a battle to just get out and work or talk to people. But I made it through and maybe now I can say that I am "Battle Born" just like this great state of Nevada. It holds a dear place in my heart, and I am sad to leave. I am however, looking forward to what comes next. Looking forward to applying the things that I have been able to learn and experience here. I am grateful for each and every one of you and the support you have offered me over these past two years. Couldn't have done it without you. :)

I love and miss you. But I will see you soon enough :)

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle

Ps. I am gonna be on for a little while longer so if you want to email back and forth for a bit, we can :)