Boys/Elders of Fall

Good morning, and greetings from El Paso Texas! It's a crazy place down here let me tell ya. We ate at a restaurant the other day this week and our waitress didn't speak English. My food came out with what I thought I ordered, so hey it was fun!  Still not sure what it was though...

       We had another amazing week in the great NMAM! 

Wednesday we had leadership training in the north of our mission. All the zone leaders, district leaders, sister training leaders, and first 6 week trainers were there. President had me do a 30 minute training on Elder and Sister relationships. With the words "throw down." Was it fun? You know it! I had some fun with it. I used the scripture... No man having set his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven. I then put the picture you sent me of the John Deere tractor frank flipped on its side last winter up on the projector. I think they got the point. When I got to the mission it was about 8% sisters, and it's now 36%. times are changing! It really is inspired, we are seeing so many miracles. We just need to make sure we respect the sacred nature of our calling and rise to a higher standard of conduct. Our mission is so amazing, as I sat in the room with so many strong leaders Wednesday, I knew I was in a room full of consecrated missionaries. 

We went on three more exchanges as well, one of them was with my old companion Elder Ashworth. He goes home next week, boy it was great to be with him again for a day. He has a full ride to BYU for track, so we will all have to go watch him jump! 

Wednesday night was also a very special day. Jessica received her patriarchal blessing, and she invited Elder Ballif and I to be there. I will just say that she is going to be amazing. She left for home in Las Vegas yesterday to go back to school and UNLV, we are praying her spirit will be able to soften her mothers heart so she can accept the gospel. Our other recent convert Desiree got her patriarchal blessing as well! Happy days. All of our recent converts in this branch now but one have gone and done baptisms in the temple, they are doing well. Things are getting wild on campus with school starting this week, it's awesome! More people to teach!

Friday morning we woke up super early and took the long drive to El Paso for a district meeting down there, and exchanges with zone leaders. We drove up to ABQ for church Sunday, had a cottage meeting with all of our investigators, and we are back in El Paso for more exchanges and leadership training for the south. I will be on exchanges in Las Cruces tomorrow. There are a ton of big dairy's there, mmmmm smells good! We will be down south until Thursday morning most likely. I am getting really good at living out of a suit case. 

Our investigators are doing well, we have some big events happening on campus this week that LDSSA is doing, including a huge dance. We are really trying to get our foot in the door with UNM. Our branch president is amazing, and has a big vision for the missionary work here, it's a great place to be right now! 

Well, keep on keepin on! Keep me updated with Dylan's papers! Good luck with school starting Mom.  You will be amazing as always!  This is a special time of year, there is a sense of urgency everywhere! Boys/Elders of fall! Have a great week!

Les quiero todos! 

Elder Turnbow