One Month In...

Mom,

Thank you Thank You Thank You

I am glad to hear that you were able to share my own personal experiences in your talk yesterday. I am happy to know that they helped. It is crazy to think a month has gone by...but honestly...time is weird out on a mission. In the MTC, days felt like weeks, but weeks felt like days. Sometimes I feel like I have been out here a whole lot longer than I actually have. I want you to know that I am trying to be a better missionary today, than I was yesterday every day. Elder Prescott by the way lives like five minutes away from BYU-Hawaii. He had some names he wanted me to ask if you knew...but I dont know where he is at the moment...so I will ask you eventually. He told me today that he loves this haoli boy. He is so awesome...he also was telling me about one of his white friends that should be polynesian, and then he looked at me and said "Like you". I love him. I also love Elder Chatterton from Pocotello Idaho...which I believe I told you in a letter I just sent the other day. He is such an awesome guy though.

I apologize for you having to pack up my room. I miss listening to some good ol owl city some days...it is nice when I walk into a store or something though and it is playing. Tender mercies of the Lord :) As far as shirts go, I would like my ASU, fear the fork and ASU football shirt, My Weddle Chargers shirt, and....my penguin shirt. Also a couple hats. With that...I would just like to share an experience I had the other day.

So...Elder Hayes and I, along with our ward mission leader went out the other day to the other side of our area that we cant really get to by walking...it would just take to long. So we went out to make some visits with less active members. We only ended up making one visit...but it was a good visit. We spent a long time looking for their home, because they lived off in the boonies of Spark Nevada. Up on a hill off a dirt road. Just when we were about to move on to the next person, we found the turn off. We went in...and just started visiting with them. WE came to find out that they had started off the 2013 year very rough. Just those...one thing after another type of deals. We then offered to give them blessings of comfort, which they then accepted. I gave my first blessing as the mouth piece to Brother Dale Fritter. It was an awesome experience. The best part is, they were at church on Sunday.

I love the people here. I am happy to be where I am.

I am glad to see that Hayden is still a goof.

I am thankful for you Mom.

I love and Miss you.

Your Son, Your Missionary,

Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle

 Elder Hayes

Elder Chatterton

First P-day

January 7, 2013

Well here I am in the library, writing you all an email on my first pday. I love this place so much, besides the cold part, I could do without that. These first few days have been full of walking and hard work, but holy moly, we have a lot of fun. We are planning to go play some ultimate frisbee with our district later, and President Hermansen may join us. Then we are gonna go get our shopping and everything done later. Then we have a couple lessons and then dinner at the bishop's house later tonight. We haven't had to provide dinner for ourselves once since I have gotten here. Last night we had sweet pork tacos and cheesecake at the Metcalf's. It was so yummy. Then we played a game of apples to apples. The people in my ward are so awesome.

Yesterday, I was able to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting and meet lots of people in the ward. It was a good Sunday. Most of you want to know about my trainer, Elder Hayes. He is quite the character. In fact, he is known as the turkey around the mission. I once again got paired up with a marching band kid from the east coast, but he is a really good guy. He has only been out three months, but we work hard. A lot of our work has been with less active, in active, and part member families. But we do have a 17 year old kid who just is waiting on his mother's permission to be baptized. He is super cool. Another thing that we have been working on is updating the area book. It hadn't been updated since about June...because Elder Hayes Trainer did not believe in using the area book. From what I have heard, the guy basically taught Elder Hayes everything that he shouldn't do. So we have had a lot of catching up to do, but it is good because it keeps us busy, and we have already started to see results. Last night we went and visited a home of someone that we found in the area book. They let us right in and we found that they are a part member family, and the dad who is not a member travels a lot for work. He had been taking the lessons in the past, but he is interested in starting up again in February after some business trips. WooHoo! That is exciting.

Jeri Lin, my teacher who is in Vocal Point, his name is Landon Peay. He is super cool. I really want to get the all hymns CD that he told us they just released.

Also, could you guys send me a couple more of my tshirts? I would really appreciate it! If you can.

Dad, thank you for getting me the bike. That will be nice to have...maybe a little colder, but faster. I heard that the Seahawks won, I was pretty excited about that. They better beat the Falcons.

I think that is all I have for now. I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle

First Area!

January 2, 2013

Hey everyone!

Well here I am. Living in Nevada now. There are plenty of mountains and rolling hills, kinda reminds me of back home a little. Except for the snow and ice. It was like 6 degrees this morning when we went to drop some of the Elders off at the mission office who are going to the area that is like 6 hours away...I am lucky, I am just here in Sparks in the Sparks North Zone for my first area. It is a biking area...so I am yet to get that all figured out. President Hermansen is looking into it a little more.

I have been told that the ward we are serving in is awesome, according to my trainer, Elder Hayes. He is from North Carolina and has been out here for 3 months. He is a pretty cool guy...a total nerd though. They call him the Turkey...and that is exactly what he is. I think we will have a lot of fun and hard work ahead for us though. We live in an apartment with two other Elders. Elder Prescott, he is a big guy from Hawaii and he also happens to be my district leader. He is super cool. His companion is Elder Davis, from Utah. He is also a total nerd...but is a really good guy and he really knows how to cook. We have had a pretty good time so far.

Elder Hayes and I just finished up visiting with some people that they have been teaching. We met with Juan. He is SO close to baptism...he just needs the final approval from his mom...and I am going to help him go over the Word of Wisdom on Saturday. The people we have met are so kind. I am excited. We have a dinner appointment tonight with a couple in the ward tonight and I will be meeting the bishop later tonight as well. So...everything is going pretty well!

I just have a short story to tell. So...yesterday was busy...and very exhausting. With all the anxiety, nervousness, and exhaustion, I started to feel pretty sick...it was like I had Flu like symptoms...but you know me...I dont like to make a big deal about things, and I just pushed pass the upset stomach and aches. I then kneeled to pray last night after companionship prayer and just asked for a good nights rest and feelings of relief from the sickness, because I didnt want to start off being sick. My prayer was ansered. I feel absolutely fine today. Heavenly Father answers prayers. I know that to be true.

I love and miss you all.

All my mail can be sent to the mission office, which you should have the address for. So just let people know. I love mail.

Love,
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle

P.S. The mission office address is

Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle

Nevada Reno Mission

1146 Prater Way

Sparks, NV 89431

Arrival in the Mission Field

My flight was changed and ended up being a direct flight to Reno.  My friend, Elder Fajardo, couldn't fly due to his immigration status and had to leave a day early to drive.

When we arrived in Reno we had a luncheon at the mission home.

 I met my trainer, Elder Hayes (more about him in my letter).

My mission president is President Hermansen.

There were 16 other new missionaries that arrived with me on January 1, 2013.

The Last of the MTC

Here are a few more pictures from the MTC before I jumped into the mission field...

Mom and Dad drove me up to Provo.  We were able to stay with my aunt Sherra.  We spent a little bit of time at Temple Square in Salt Lake with one of Dad's old mission buddies, Elder Cabral.  My cousins Kristi, Chase, Shayla, Samantha, Chayne, and Brittney took me bowling and then out to dinner at Red Robin.  Chase paid for me to go bowling and Chayne bought my dinner.

The next day I reported to the MTC at 1:00.  Before Mom and Dad dropped me off we had to do some last minute shopping because I realized I didn't have a towel.  We also bought a sketch pad and some pencils.  We ate lunch at a noodle place.  I had a small bowl of Macaroni & Cheese.  I was so nervous I was shaking.

I froze in Provo...

...met lots of new friends.  It's amazing how quickly you can make friends when you spend so much time with people every day.

I really liked my branch presidency at the MTC...

 ...and playing with light sabers.

I learned how to work in a companionship with Elder Anderson...

 And got to work with some awesome teachers, one of which is in Vocal Point (BYU's a capella group).

Bryton's First Update

As of today, Bryton has been gone for two weeks!  Here are a few things we've learned from a few letters and emails...

1.  The food at the MTC is pretty good, but he wishes they served chocolate gravy with their biscuits like Mom does.

2.  His companion is Elder Anderson, from Virginia.  Bryton is the senior companion.  He talks a lot about doing his best to make them both better missionaries.

3.  He loves the elders in his district.  They have lots of fun playing volleyball and finding Narnia holes (we're still trying to figure out what he means by Narnia holes).

4.  He has become really good friends with Elder Fajardo, who is originally from Peru, but grew up in Las Vegas (and is now going to Reno).

5.  He had an opportunity to participate in a priesthood blessing and said it was a really neat experience.

6.  He reports to Brother-in-law Tony that the BYU chocolate milk is delicious.

7.  He received his Christmas package in time for Christmas.  Whoop!

8.  Elder Russel M. Nelson and his wife had a devotional at the MTC on Christmas morning.  Bryton was in the MTC choir so that he could get a better seat. :)

9.  Bryton leaves for Reno on January 1st (including a layover at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport).

10.  He sent pictures!

We are so proud of Elder Shinkle and the awesome job he is doing.  You can tell from his letters that he is very positive and excited to be serving the Lord.

The Renown Republik

That is the name of my company that I am starting. The line of T-shirt designs. And well...I have had a lot of questions asked  about the name. Like..."why  that name?" or "what does it mean?"..."where did it come from?" Well time to put it in black and white for ya. So here it goes...

Q: Why that name and where did it come from?

A: Honestly...I don't really know. I guess I just used my noodle and did the noodle dance..and well at first I was just gonna call it Republik. However, as I was designing the logo, I thought it would look better with two R's. Hmmm...I was in need of  an adjective. Renown! First thing  that came to  my head...and well it fit my criteria and...well just stuck.

Q: What does it mean?

A: Literally, it means Famous. Well known. Etc. Republik. Or in other words a well know society. But I think the meaning of it really started to come together after my first design. Because, you see in the Renown Republik,




The Giraffes are King.




The Penguins run the streets.




There are little Mischievous Monsters always getting into trouble.




And spiders? No worries, we just cut them out of the picture.




And after all that, there is still...

 So there you  have it. I hope I was able to clear things up for you a little bit. I want to thank all of you that have given me feedback and advice, have believed in my crazy dream, and have straight up just helped me start getting this off the ground. I have been steaming away with creating designs (the fun stuff) and figuring out the whole business part of it (the not as fun but still fun stuff). I especially like to thank Mr. Chase Kerr for all his help and support. I am excited to have him as my business partner. He is a huge help. I will continue to keep you updated with new designs, and I will definitely make sure to let you know when the printing begins so that you all can officially be part of the Renown Republik. Thanks again! :)