Origin -September 22, 2014

September 22, 2014

This week sure has been full of its ups and downs. At times, I felt as high as a kite and at other times I felt pretty down. I will explain some of those times.

Tuesday morning at about 9:30 I received a call from one of the Assistants to President. He called to tell me that they were doing some last minute transfer arrangements. The companion I was told I was originally gonna be with stayed in his area and I have given the opportunity to be companions now with Elder Katoa. I was super excited! My companion was born in Hawaii but grew up in Tonga! This is as close to Tonga as I can get on my mission, which is where I always wanted to serve. It is a lot of fun. He is still working on learning English better, but we have had a good first week together. Other missionaries are always saying, "I dunno how you do it, you are so patient". I just have fun. That's it, that's all. There is my secret. :)

That was one of my ups. Now for one of my downs. I have been riding a bike for so long, that my back tire finally gave up on me. I rode it down to the tube, and before that I got about 5 flats within a couple of hours. I ran out of patches, so I was cutting up old tubes and using rubber cement to patch my tires. If that isn't frustrating, I dunno what is. However, there is a positive to this story. Someone here was generous enough to buy me a new back tire. Without me asking. I am very blessed, because I was very unsure about what I would do for the next few weeks without one.

I will now end with a positive note. Yesterday, my companion and I were able to speak in Sacrament. I was left with about 25 minutes to fill. I did it! I was pretty proud of myself haha. Anyways, I would just like to share a little bit of what I spoke about yesterday. That is where the title of this email comes in. I was asked to give a background of myself and how I have received my testimony. I explained to them, I am an Arizona boy, with a big Mormon family, blah blah blah. The good stuff. Then I explained the three major aspects of how my testimony has developed over the years. It comes from the three simple "primary answers" I guess you could say. Church, Prayer, and Scripture study. My testimony has taken time to develop. I haven't always been the best at doing those three things, but the little things here have lead me to the point of where I am at today. On my mission, it has only increased more. I have improved in those areas myself, and seen the effect is has on others lives. They are true and powerful principles. A few weeks ago...maybe it was this week...I dunno. The time is running together. Anyways, I prayed to have the feeling of truly loving and wanting to be a missionary. As I have seen my friends now complete their missions, I see that desire that many of them have to continue doing what they are doing as missionaries. I enjoy being a missionary, but I feel like I didn't have that...fire I guess. I dunno. So I prayed for that fire. As I was sharing how I received my testimony and as I was out sharing that testimony yesterday afternoon. It came to me. I really enjoy doing this. I enjoy sharing what I know to be true, as it has become part of me. It has taken some time, but it is there, and I was able to recognize it. It helps me keep pushing forward now. It is my drive. Even if people decide to throw pizza crust at me from there car as I am talking to people on the street. I am grateful for my testimony. I am grateful for all of you. Each one has played a part in helping me develop that testimony. I know that this work and this church is true. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know he has restored the Gospel on the earth today through modern prophets in order to bless our families. The way it comes is through our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Which is developed through Prayer, Church, and Scripture Study. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Here is one of my absolute favorite Mormon Messages

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages/topics/prayer?v=2505987918001

I am going to enjoy these last 11 weeks!

Remember to keep going to Church, reading, and praying!!

Dad- I still haven't gotten anything from you this week. Just know that I love and miss ya, muchly. I saw that your Seahawks beat the Broncos, good work :) I also got a tire, so if you haven't gotten one already. Don't worry. :) I hope you have a good week. You are awesome :) I love you and miss you!

Mom- Thank you again for your pictures and the email. I always enjoy the report of a good week :) That is cool that Sydney and Leslie were able to compete against each other. I think it would be fun to compete against a sibling. :) Thank you for sending me the Gibbons gazette as well. It is good to be updated :) I am just glad you and everyone are still doing well. I love and miss you Mom, and I hope you have another good week :)

Jeri Lin- Well it looks like I have missed an email from you this week as well. Don't feel bad, it is all good :) I think Mom mentioned some sort of big news though? You will have to get me updated on that as soon as you can. :) I hope you have had a good week and have a good one this week! I love and miss ya :)

Keila- Mom also mentioned to me some big plans that you have as well! All this big news and I still haven't heard anything :) Haha I love and miss ya, and hope to hear soon! :)

Sydney- Well I am glad you enjoyed your week! I am also glad that you had a good time on your date and that you were able to make good friends with Lisa, weird to think she is getting married. That is what happens though. Thanks for keeping me posted. I hope you have another good week! Love and miss ya!

Leslie- You are awesome. Just thought I would let you know that. Also, wanted to wish you a good week this week! Love ya and miss ya!

Brooke- Mom told me that you had to spray the weeds this week. Good work! I hope school is going well! I love and miss you :)

Hayden- I love ya man! I will see you soon!!

I love and miss you all!

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle :)

Sweet 16 - September 15, 2014

September 15, 2014

Well I am sitting here. Yep. Enjoying all the good news I have received via the emails. Thank you for that. I am also sitting here, feeling terrible, because I ate entirely too much for lunch this afternoon. A footlong, Italian BMT from Subway (5$ Sub of the Month) and then I had 16oz of Frozen Yogurt from U Swirl. I suppose it is a good thing that my transfer call from last night told me that I will be staying in the area, and I will just continue biking. I am sure that is not much of a surprise to anyone.I had been hoping this week that I would get a call to train a new missionary again, but I didn't even get one of those. I am getting a new companion though. Don't know him all to well, so I guess more details will come next week. I do believe that he is a Spanish speaker, which will be a huge help here in the area. It seems that just about every person I try to talk to here only speaks Spanish. So..yeah. That is the transfer news as today marks the beginning of Sweet 16. It is my 16th transfer here in the mission field. How crazy is that? :)

As for this past week, it actually has been quite slow over all. My companion caught a bug. Not like a cricket or ants, but like a sick bug. I guess it just has been making its way around. So, he spent a lot of time resting. Meanwhile,I drew pictures, read the scriptures, just anything to keep me busy.It was kinda rough, but I survived. Just because it was a slow week does not mean that it was an unsuccessful week though. The biggest highlights I believe are that we now have two people set with a baptismal date. Both set for the 11th of October.Things are moving right along :)

Speaking of things moving right along, my trainer is going home in a couple days. Along with a few other very good friends of mine. Including one of my very best friends, Elder Stevens. I remember feeling like the first 12 weeks were an eternity. Now, that is all I have left.Things surely are just moving right along.

So...I am trying to think of a good story for the week. Hmm. Well yesterday, after sacrament meeting, our ward mission leader came up to us and said that he was worried about the man we baptized just a couple weeks ago, because he went to go pick him up for church, but there was no answer.He asked us if we would be willing to go with him during the Sunday School hour to go check on him. We agreed. We got to his apartment. No sound. Not even the dog was barking. This was worrying us, because of the health condition he is in. So...we tried seeing if the leasing office had an extra key. Nothing. Next option, check with his wife who has been in the hospital for pneumonia. We drive there and she tells us to try going around the back and knocking on the window. Luckily we were able to do that and everything was alright. It was an adventure,going back and forth around town. What I got from it all? Some tree sap in my hair. Haha lucky me. Just to make a comparison, I think that may be how Heavenly Father feels when he doesn't hear back from us. Communication is key. We are extremely blessed to have the ability to communicate with one another. I look forward to it each and every week. We are extremely blessed to be able to communicate daily with our Heavenly Father. Don't you forget that :)

Dad- I am happy to say that I was surprised to hear about the loss of my Chargers to Arizona, but pleasantly surprised about our win against Seattle. That gives me great hopes for the rest of this year. I am just sorry that it had to come to the expense of your team. I am glad that you were able to have some fun at the pool this week. I hope you have a good time with Hayden at Cabela's this week too :) Just keep doing your best. I continue praying for you to have the opportunities that you want and need and that will be best for you and the family.Just put yourself in a position to succeed and it will all work out :) I love you and miss you Dad. Have a Great week! :)

OH! ps. I need new tread for my bike tires. I have been riding bald for a few months now, my personal debit card doesn't seem to work any more though. Would you be able to order some, or what is the plan of action I should take??

Mom- Well thank you for your email.It is always nice to have updates and pictures. I am glad the kiddos are all doing well and that you all were able to have some fun,celebrating Brooke's birthday. It sounds like fun. I am also glad that the kids are doing things that help you out. That is something I definitely wish I was better at while I was there at home. I am glad you are doing well Mom. Keep it up and have a good week. I love and miss you :)

Jeri Lin- I was wondering when I was going to get that news. It looks like my prayers have been answered! Thank you so much for all you do. You are a huge help :) You said you had a pretty boring week, but it doesn't seem to me to have been all that boring. Bed Frames, Birthday, and fun kids. Sounds good :) I hope you have another good, "boring" week ;) Smile! I love and miss you!!

Keila- Well I hope you have had a good week!! I sure love ya and miss ya. Hope school and work are going well :)

Sydney-I hope you are having a good Monday so far! I also hope that you have a good week! :)

Leslie, Brooke, and Hayden. I love and miss you all too! Have a good, fun week!

I love and miss you all!

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle :)

All Leads to Sunday September 8, 2014

I was thinking about this last night. What is "this" you ask? Well the title of this email of course. In my head, I make many comparisons of this missionary work to sports. It makes the tough times a little more bearable. Anyways, with football season starting up again here again, I realized that on a mission, everything comes down to Sunday. All the work and preparation from the entire week comes to that day. You are able to see if the ones you have been teaching and committing to come to church will actually be there. If you have had a baptism, the confirmation happens on Sunday. And of course, we have the weekly call in report on Sunday night where we evaluate how we have done and see the areas where we could use some improvement for the next week. Interesting how football works in a very similar way. :)

As it came to Sunday, I realized that we had a very good week. In my books, we could put up a W at the end of this week. Now let's take a look at the highlights for the week. I went on exchanges on Wednesday and I was with a missionary who has been out for just about a month now. It was fun teaching with a youngster. Kinda makes me want to train again. It was a good day. On that day, we found two new investigators and a potential investigator and taught four solid lessons. It was enjoyable :) Then we move to Saturday and Brother Flanigan was indeed baptized. It was a simple baptism. Not too many people. It was a good one though. I was asked to be a witness. I also talked and taught the Restoration of the Gospel by myself during the time while they were changing into dry clothes. That is something President has encouraged us to do, as it keeps the Spirit there. Then I was asked to also say the closing prayer. It was a busy baptism. Like I said though, it was a great one. There is nothing better than being able to see the joy and the change that comes into peoples lives after they make that covenant. That joy then continued on into Sunday as I was asked to confirm him during Sacrament meeting. That was another great experience for me :) Then after sacrament, we were invited into the Bishop's office and were asked to participate in his Priesthood ordination. Awesome. :) Now we will move to Sunday night. The stake has been preparing a missionary fireside for about a month now and last night it all came into effect. It was about how families can be together forever. My companion and I probably gave out a little more than 30 invitations over the past few weeks, and we had a total of 1 person show up. Worth it. I was able to see a few people from the good ol' ward I served in at the beginning of my mission. The best one though was as I was sitting there during the meeting, I leaned back and looked to the row behind me. And who did I see? Raina. I dunno if you all remember her, but I baptized her just before I left Sparks. I was so incredibly happy to see her. Of course after the meeting, I rushed as fast as I could through the crowd to find her and say hello. I was just super glad that she recognized me. It was an awesome reunion. :) Like I said, it all leads to Sunday. And this week was a success :)

As for our all of the others we are teaching. They all are doing pretty well. The progression is just kinda slow at this point. Mostly all of them just have struggles here and there that are holding them back. Which is nothing new, and nothing we can't handle. Just gotta continue to be patient and continue to find others to teach :)

Dad- I didn't get an update of the Chargers and Tards from ya. Haha. I am glad your team did well though. That is way awesome. That is crazy about the rain too. Some people had mentioned it too me, but I didn't realize that it was that bad! That is crazy. I miss all the craziness. I missed the snow last year and then this crazy rain. Oh well. It is starting to cool down quite a bit here. Which I am not too excited for. Gonna have to be busting out the thermals here pretty soon. Time is just flying by. It is unreal.Thanks for all your love and support. I sure do miss you and love you. I hope you have a good week. :)

Mom- I think I missed ya this week, but I want you to know that I don't love ya any less. You are the best Mom I could ask for :) I just hope that you have had a good week and that you have another one this week :) I love you and miss ya!

Jeri Lin- Time sure doesn't pass the same as it used to. I remember the first 12 weeks in the mission field were like an eternity and I was wondering if I would ever make it to the end. After this week, I will only have 12 weeks left. Woah. It is really crazy stuff. I am glad to hear that you and the Tony and the kiddos had another good, fun week :) Jumping fish and all. I remember being a Fremont Flying Fish back in the day when I was trying to be a Michael Phelps. Anyways...haha. I hope you have another good week. I love and miss you :) Also! Happy Birthday to Tony!!

Keila- I am glad you are excited. :) Haha Thanks for the update. That is way cool that school was cancelled. Who would think that would ever happen over there in the good ol' AZ?? :) I hope you do get to work and that it goes well and that you have another good week! I love and miss you Wei :)

Sydney- Well I let Hailey know that your hair looks good, so I will let you know. Your hair looks good :) I am glad swimming is going well. :) Thank you also for sharing the essay you wrote. That is good. It is weird, but sometimes I miss writing :) I hope you have another good week and are able to stay as dry as possible! :) I love and miss ya Syd!

Leslie- Well I hope you got my letter this week. I also hope you are still doing well in Swim. Stay awesome and keep working hard :) I love and miss you :)

Brooke- I hope you are having a good day! I hope you have 7 more good days until I can send you another short little note. Your Birthday is in like 5 days. So Happy Birthday to you :) I love and miss ya!

Hayden-I hope you are still doing well little brother :) Have a good week! I love and miss ya :)

That is all I have for now. I love and miss you all!! Have a good week :)

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle :)

Jesus Loves You September 1, 2014

September 1, 2014

Labor day. I hope you all had a good one. I really don't like it all that much as a missionary. It makes things get all thrown off. That is why I am emailing you today. I did not forget about you all. Moving on from Labor Day to the rest of my week. Thankfully there is no correlation between the two.

This week I have had more confirmations of that I am where I need to be. One of our investigators stopped me in the middle of reading a verse while we teaching him and just went on to tell me the amount of respect that he has for me. Just knowing that I am appreciated goes a long way. In other news for the area, we are having a baptism this coming Saturday. It isn't a convert baptism, but it is a man that we have been teaching who is coming back to the church. We are also working with his wife and she will be a convert baptism. We are working for hers to happen within the next couple weeks as well. :) Things are going well in the area, but always trying to find more opportunities to teach.

On Friday we had Zone Conference. In this Zone Conference we focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. During the opening remarks by President we were just discussing just how vast the Atonement truly is. After all, it is infinite. For a moment I felt really small in comparison. Then I got this amazing feeling of peace as I remembered the prayers and answers and relationship I have been able to develop with our Heavenly Father. I know that he knows me personally. The Atonement is for each one of us as individuals.

That brings me to an experience that I had previously in the week. We were riding around and we stopped to talk to a few people. Most of them weren't very interested. However, there was one guy that we started talking to. Just a genuine conversation between me and him about art. He busted some art out of his backpack and then some sharpies and a plank of wood. He drew me a picture and then flipped it over and told me to draw him something. A blank canvas is intimidating. I took the challenge and began making a quick sketch of a portrait of the Savior. While doing so, my companion began talking with him about the Gospel. He began telling him or us about how he was mad at God for a variety of different reasons. While listening, I decided to just top off the drawing by writing "Jesus Loves You". As I handed it back to him, the smile and excitement was priceless :) It is a simple testimony, but I know that Jesus Loves You.

Dad- I am glad you enjoyed your Labor Day :) It is super weird to think that we were in New York two years ago. That was a great time. Some of my very most favorite memories for sure :) I am glad that you are still doing well. Just keep in mind that Jesus does love you and have another good week! Also remember that I love and miss you as well :)

Mom- I am glad you all are home safe from Luna now. I am glad that you were able to have some good experiences though. Surprised by Jeri Lin and all. I found it interesting that we both were focused on the Atonement this week. Thank you for sharing that story with me. There is no doubt that the Atonement is here for each and every one of us to change. I have experienced it myself on this mission and seen others experience it :) Thanks again! I am glad you and all the kiddos are doing well too. Thanks for the pictures and updates. Have another good week Mom. I love and miss you!

Jeri Lin- I am happy that you were able to go have some fun up in Luna. Surprises are always fun. Good work :) Tell Hyrum that I am also excited to be at Christmas. It is going to be a good time :) Thanks for the quick update! I love ya and miss ya and your familia. Have a good week!

Keila- You told me how your first day of college was...how has it been since then? Better I hope :) I am doing well myself. Can't complain too much. I love and miss ya too. Time is going quick. I will see you soon enough! Have a good week!

Sydney- Thanks for your quick email. I hope swimming and school are continuing to go well. I love and miss ya! Have a good week! :)

Leslie- I got a letter headed your way, so be on the lookout :) I love and miss ya! Have a good week and work hard in swimming fast :)

Brooke- Hope you are still doing well! Stay happy and cool! Your Birthday is coming soon! :)

Hayden- Mom told me that football is starting soon. That is super exciting. Play hard and score lots of touchdowns for me! I love ya man and miss ya :)

That is all I have for now. I sure do love and miss you all. Have an awesome week! :)

Love,
Your Son
Your Brother
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle :)