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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Weighty Work?



Well, Rayna is now baptized and it was great! Her mom is Michelle who we are teaching and we really think it motivated her to get things moving so that she can be baptized as well. So Saturday was awesome! Missionary work doesn't get more exciting than a baptism! That's where the joy comes and the motivation to keep working.



 
Oh, so one thing I forgot to put in my email last week is last week was Gunner's third birthday!!! So I hope you all gave him that extra scratch behind his ears!
 
This last week we had a stake zone meeting and district meeting with President and Sister Miller. It was good! Cool thing about those is you get to have an interview with President Miller and those are just nice. He just knows what ya need to hear!

We had another great lesson with Ted Ortiz and his family this week! We also had dinner with them last night and he is just growing each week. Catherine Christensen who is one of our more solid investigators is doing great as well. We hope to set a baptism date with her tonight actually. 

We did have a sweet experience with a media referral last week though! We got a referral from SLC headquarters to a man who wanted to know more about our religion because Romney might be our next president. Well, we have now met with both him and his wife three different times and they are reading the Book of Mormon! We taught them the restoration last night and it was a great lesson; they are way legit. Only they are going out of town to get their boy to college for the next two weeks and we won't be able to meet with them... They are awesome though!
 
It was a good week though and the work is moving forward here, no doubt! Thanks for the pic, Dad. I loved it! Winning is in the blood too for sure. Thanks for the emails. I love to hear how everybody is doing! Keep the faith!
         
  Love, Elder Turnbow
 
PS.... Uh.... so I hope the scale in our bathroom is wrong but Sunday night I weighed in at 191.... :)    Help? haha


 

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Happy 24th!

Howdy!
     Sounds like you all had a pretty good 24th celebration! There is nothing going on here... haha "Pound The Rock" I love it! Coach Moser is inspired for sure!
      This week was a pretty good week for Elder Weston and me! We are going to have a baptism this Saturday. You remember Michelle and Mario? Michelle is an investigator but she and Mario aren't married so she can't get baptized yet.. She was supposed to get baptized this Saturday with her daughter. Her daughter Reyna will still be getiing baptized this Saturday though so that is awesome! Ted Ortiz is still doing great! At the beginning of our last lesson with him he told us that he wants to get baptized on the 21st  of September. That's a ways away, but it's when he wants to do it as of now, so hey it's pretty sweet!! Sadly we weren't able to meet with Joey this last week because her daughter who lives in El Paso had an unexpected water break 2 months early before the baby was due, so she rushed down there and is not back yet.
        Yesterday we were driving back from the church with two other elders after playing basketball, and there was a car that had died in the middle of a busy road right by an intersection. It was raining pretty hard and all the cars were just honking at him. So when we figured out what was going on, we pulled over and all ran over and pushed him up the road into a turn off area.  It was fun! Good workout too. He greatly appreciated it and thanked us many times. I love doing little acts of service to help somebody out. They are the best.
       With it being the 24th and all I recently read the story that Mom wrote to Grandpa called "IT"S IN THE BLOOD" and all the history that I have with me about our ancestors. My heart burned as I read their stories and all that they went through for us. Wow, it really is in the blood.  We come from an amazing family and I am sure they are all wondering what we are doing or going to do with their name, so we better not let them down!
                          Love ya!
 
Elder Dallas Richards Turnbow  *NMAM*
 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

National TV?

Transfers are actually today and Elder Weston and I  are still together for at least another transfer! (fist bump) We are pretty excited because we both feel like Albuquerque will explode this transfer! So about 19 missionaries went home this transfer and not very many new ones came out. So we actually lost a companionship in our district and they combined two areas. Which kinda stinks, but hey, it's ok. Oh ya, So Elder Foster is now here in the mission! He's from Aberdeen. I have not seen him yet, but Elder Duffin (also from Aberdeen) has seen him. I am hoping that he gets put into our district! We need some more guys from West Side to come here so I am not outnumbered by the Tigers!
Albuquerque North Valley District

So cool that Elder Willden came to visit. I miss that fool! Sounds like you guys had a good ole time with all the family too. It's crazy that my best friend Mr. Brady Bingham gets married this Saturday! I'm excited to hear how the boys come together this year as a football team. I feel like a domination season is in the making. Dylan-- not bad that you weighed in at 181! That's about what I weigh in the mornings before I even eat anything... You probably have a lot more muscle than I do though... haha!


Elder Willden visits Gunner in Weston!
 So this week was another good and fun week! We found an awesome family to teach! Mom and two kids. It was actually a referral from a member who lives in a different area but the referral lives in our area. Her name is Joey Green. We met with her once and it went great. We are meeting with her again tonight to give her a church tour and teach her. So excited for that lesson!
Oh ya guess what!!??? Elder Weston and I have a shot at being on TV this week! Yes, it's true. So Bryan Baker has his championship fight this Friday night at 6 on MTV2. (Ya'll better find a way to watch it!!) So for his introduction and everything, they had to film a ton of stuff about him like everyday life and stuff. So we got filmed reading scriptures and teaching him. Cool, huh? It was pretty fun that's for sure. So watch for us! I hope I look ok. haha
Bryan Baker
So we had an awesome lesson with Ted Ortiz this last week. (He is the guy who has come to church for the past 2 years but wouldn't let the missionaries teach him) His wife is a member and they have 4 really young special needs kids that they adopted. Very amazing story. We went in with a lesson plan, but the spirit prompted otherwise. We ended up just sharing spiritual experiences, and we got him to open up and the wife told a very spritual experience. We felt prompted to ask him the question why he now wanted us to teach him. After a pretty long pause and the spirit working on him, he responded that he wanted us to help him know how to become a member of the church! Wow, it was powerful! Then at church Sunday his wife told us that they had watched the Joseph Smith DVD that we left them, and that he got real emotional during it. We are super excited to go back and teach him this week. Not to put any pressure on us or anything, but every member keeps telling us that if we can pull this one off, Elder Weston and I will go down in North Valley history. Let's do it!!!!!
I wish I could tell you every little thing that happens because it's awesome. But I know it would take too long and you would all probably get bored :) Just know that it is all worth it! All the hard times that happen every day are always made up for with even greater experiences throughout the week. I would be lying if I said it was easy. But I can say it's worth it.
I love and miss you all! You are always in my prayers and I think about you often. (Not too often though :) ) Thanks for the emails and all the love!!!
Elder Turnbow  
PS. We went bowling for Pday again. Still got it, Frank! Not as good as you though, Dad...

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Preach Teach Repeat! Throw in a flood and a huge hike too!

Wow sounds like the trip to Oregon was a huge success! Thanks for emailing the pics too, I loved them all!
       This week was a pretty crazy week-- that's for sure. 4th of July was pretty fun (as fun as we can get anyway). We had probably 2 dinners and then a bbq with a less active family. Then that night a less active who lives in our apartments had us come over for a bit as well.
         So we are now in the middle of monsoon season! It rained a ton the other day. Everything was flooded, it was crazy! Describing it cannot do it justice so I will be sure to send some pictures.

         Sunday Elder Weston and I were both asked to speak in sacrament meeting. We showed up ready to talk thinking we would each speak like 10 minutes or so. Well, we found out that there were no youth speakers, so we had to take up the entire time! It turned out great though. Elder Weston spoke on trials and tribulations, and I chose to speak on finding hope through Jesus Christ and the Atonement. It was a way fun topic to study and learn more about. That night we received a phone call from a less active sister in the ward who is going through a nasty divorce and sickness. She went on to explain to us how she felt like for some reason she needed to come to church that day.She then thanked us for our talks and told us what we said was a message from Heavenly Father given through us to her. It touched us both to hear that. That really is what being a missionary is all about. Just a tool in the Lord's hands that he can use however he wants. Boy, I am thankful for this opportunity.
         So P-Day yesterday... Drum roll please... We hiked to the top of the Sandias! Ben, Brittin, you guys rode the tram up last year, Well myself, Elder Weston, Rudy, and Weber decided to one up ya and climb it! It was insane!! Total it probably took us 3 and a half hours to get to the top, but we went off trail a ton and climbed whatever looked cool. It was gnarly though. It was a blast.
We rode the tram down though so we could get back and finish our Pday things we have to get done. If you want to look up the trail on google maps or anything the trail was called La Luz, I think. We hiked to the Cress and then over to the tram. Nobody liked it when I was in the lead or set the pace because they said I hike too fast. I learned that from my man Brady Bingham over the years. I'm positive nobody can cover as much ground as we can!



         So we currently have 5 investigators with a baptism date. We aren't sure how solid most of them will be though. We pray hard and work hard so hopefully they will happen! We tracted into this awesome lady last Sunday (June 1) and then taught her later that week. Her husband passed away in a car crash and he was Mormon but she is not.  He was less active though. She raised the kids by herself with help from the inlaws who are all Mormom, so she knows a little but for some reason has never been too exposed even though she lived in Salt Lake for a long time. Anyway, she is very open to learning and there is a very special spirit in her home that we can feel. Our first lesson with her was great! 
         Oh yeah! Another pro MMA fighter/trainer in our ward who works with Bryan is Travis Marx. He went on a trip to Rirey, Idaho, this week and he wanted me to give him your numbers because he is going to drive right through Preston on his way home. Has he called yet by chance? He's way awesome you would love him and his boys! 
         Well, I am going to try and send some pics here in a bit after I email President Miller. Transfers are next week so Elder Weston and I are hoping we get at least another transfer together. I am glad to hear you at least missed me a little bit on the trip. I think about you all often. I miss this time of year being dirty all the time and working. It's ok though, I guess my hands can get soft for a couple years and my belly can expand :) Love you all!!
                                                        Elder Turnbow
PS We had dinner with a couple the other night who's grandson is serving in Bulgaria! He's wrapping up his mission and has been serving in the office so maybe court knows him. It's Elder David Bennet. Cool to make that connection though. I brag about my sister all the time!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Bryan's Baptism

Bryan is now baptized and wow it was incredible!!! To answer your questions Mom... yes, his wife is a member, and no, he does not have a kid but he has a son on the way! And yes, he is a stud! His baptism was amazing, right before he got baptized he bore his testimony to us all on his journey here and everything.  It was powerful. Brother Cole then baptized him and right after his wife bore her testimony and it too was powerful. It was a great baptism. After the baptism we went to Bryan's for a BBQ and we were surrounded by MMA fighters and I felt like a little freshman again looking at all the huge senior football players. They are so yoked it's not even funny! They told us that they will put us through a workout some P-Day...um... yipee? haha no i really want to do it!

Elder Turnbow, Bryan Baker, Elder Weston
If you don't know who Bryan Baker is, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZAX63EHxQI&feature=share

So quick cool story... My second week here in this area we went to a part member's home for dinner (the father is not a member) and the last time Elder Weston and his other comp had challenged him to pray.  When Elder Weston and I were there, we found out he hadn't prayed yet. So we basically threw down on him for a while and we both left extremely frustrated and pretty much thought there was no hope for him. Well this morning during comp study we got a call from his wife and he wants to hear the lessons, and she says he is now open and humble!!!! Lets just say I had little to no hope for him, wherefore can I doubt?? Well, I doubted. Lesson learned! The Lord can soften ANY heart. Needless to say we are so pumped to go teach him!
A ride on a jetski sounds mighty nice right about now..... it's hot!!! So cool that you got one though! Send a pic! Also the letters from Sunday night icecream are the best!! Icecream is what i live on now, no joke. We went and bought two big things of icecream and that's what we eat. Also the quote you sent me from Lord of the Rings pretty much made my day. Thanks mom!
Yesterday we went bowling for P-Day! A member in our zone owns it so it twas free! We bowled for 3 and a half hours. My shoulder is so sore! My best game was a 143... so not very good. Most of the time we were goofing off and seeing how hard we could throw it (Hence sore shoulder) It was a blast!
Have fun in Oregon this week! I bet it will be a blast. Oh and Dad, when you have the missionaries in our home you better make sure they live the morning schedule and are obedient! haha that will be sweet! Make them milk the cows!
Dad you wanted to know more about the district. Well the Zone Leaders and Assistants are doing great of course. Three areas in the district are really slow right now though. One is seeing improvement and doing lots better though a missionary is training there and they are working really hard. We are still working on the other two areas... We need to get them going. For the most part the missionaries are obedient. Things are going good though! Thanks for the emails and updates with everything, I always love to hear how everybody is doing. Have a great week! Be safe in Oregon and take advantage of not having to pump your own gas! Love ya'll mucho!
Elder Turnbow