Wow, what a week!

Wow what a week. I have no idea where to start!

      Well my new companion is Elder Webb! He is from West Point Utah and has been serving for 20 months. So yes, another old missionary. It's pretty awesome we are companions though because last Monday we played basketball for P-Day as a zone and I walked up to Elder Webb and said hey, it would be cool if you came up to Santa Fe with me. Well sure enough! We don't have too much in common actually, but we get along good so far. I have him addicted to the basketball drills I do in the morning.

Elder Webb and Elder Turnbow

     So our very first day in Santa Fe together was amazing!!! Our very first lesson was with Mike and Savannah Banolly. Have I talked about them? I am sure that I have but here is some back ground. She is a member but he is not, when Elder Willden and I first met them they weren't married but living together. After a few weeks they dropped us.... then halfway through the second transfer we got a random text from her that said something like "Hey, we're getting married next week!" Needless to say I about fainted with happiness. So Elder Willden and I began teaching them again but only really had one lesson with them before transfers. So I brought Elder Webb back to Santa Fe on Tuesday and we had a lesson with them that afternoon... We had no idea what we were going to teac,h but somehow the spirit took over and it was incredible. He accepted a date for the 19! We taught them three times this week and another cool part was when we taught the Word of Wisdom. We ended up walking out of their apartment with all his coffee, it was great! He would also smoke weed every now and then but fully committed to quit. SO COOL! It's a huge miracle. ALSO, he always works on Sundays but asked his boss if he could switch days and yup, it happened, he can come to church now!

     Another amazing lesson. You remember Laureen and Maureen Lomahaptewa right?? Maureen got baptized in September. Well we set up an appointment with them too and wow it was incredible, you would not believe what those two girls have gone through. They are twins, both 28 and both have three girls, no dad. Somewhere in the middle of the lesson we got talking about baptism, but the subject got changed, Maureen was bearing her testimony to her sister  but just kept saying give it time, keep investigating, read and pray, and all that good stuff, and during that I thought, "Well, I guess it's not the right time to invite her to be baptized then."  Lets just say after thinking that, I spiritually got punched by the spirit! It almost hurt I swear. So I flat out said, "Laureen the spirit is telling me to invite you to be baptized." So then I invited her and she got this look on her face like I thought you'd never ask! Words really can't describe the feeling. Her sister starting crying, I'm pretty sure Elder Webb and I both did, but man, I am not ashamed of it that's for sure. I'm just grateful for that spiritual throw drown. Her date is for the 26, but it may move to the 19 because even though they aren't blood related, the twins and Mike and Savannah are pretty much family, and Laureen might want to get baptized on the same day as Mike. All Native Americans are pretty much family, that's why I love it so much, I just feel like part of the family.

     Also this week the Spanish Elders had been teaching a Lady Named Mary Quintana in Spanish, but she wants to go to church in English so they gave her to us. We've only taught her once but she is awesome! She has a baptism date for the 26. She didn't come to church like she said she would though...  Also Jim Johnston, he still wants to get baptized but he's been really sick lately so he hasn't come to church, and he has a beer every now and then... we will work hard on him still.

     needless to say, Incredible week! Funny side note... remember David Sullenberger? the really smart one? Well.... in between lessons he found the facsimiles in Abraham. Oh boy. That's all I have to say about that. He is way sincere still. Last lesson we taught him how to pray and he gave a really sincere prayer at the end of the lesson. He's great.

    But to sum up Elder Webbs first day in Santa Fe... It went like this. We set 3 baptism dates, got hugged by two different drunk guys, tried talking to a crazy drunk lady in Spanish and then watched her jump in some random guys truck. A cop came, threw her to the ground and arrested her. It was amusing. Also we talked to a guy who we are pretty sure is a murderer, He was creepy. But hey that's all normal. It's great!

     So I learned something this week, well not really learned it because I knew it, but it now just has new meaning. So I have always had a good work ethic, but why? Well for basketbal,l football, and track it was "For the Love of the Game!" I worked hard because I loved it. Well this week, working with Mike and Savannah, Laureen and Maureen, I realized how much I love them. I realized the driving force behind missionary work really is love. This work would be down right impossible without love. That's why we work our hardest every single day, that's why we be exactly obedient, because we love to do it!  You can't win without losing. When you lose yourself, that's when you win.  You know one thing I don't like? There is just simply not enough time in the day to get all the work done!

Tell Cullen and Caleb how excited I am for them! I love those two. Can't wait for them to be serving! Have a great week family, love ya!

    

               Elder Turnbow

Elder Turnbow and Elder Willden