Ready for Pickin'! November 12, 2013

Hey!    

Hatch, New Mexico

So I have this habit of starting my emails by telling you something I have been looking at. Well, right now we are in El Paso Texas, and the cotton fields are about ready for pickin! I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's super cool. I'm hoping to see a big machine at work before we leave!

It sounds like Dylan did a stellar job with his talk! I'm super pumped for him to come join the ranks! Good work in football Matt, 2 more!! 

The big news for this week is from now on all of our PDays are on..... Tuesday! We did this because there are many libraries and business closed in Mondays where missionaries email, so they would email on Tuesday and it's just not as effective. Just for a heads up next week we start transfer planning, so I'm not exactly sure when we'll get to emailing. We'll shoot for Tuesday though!

We had a great week for our area, and for the mission! We are seeing so many miracles!

We taught Randy the word of wisdom this week and it went great! Randy is the coolest guy ever. He catches on to things really quickly. I am pumped for him!

Monica is doing great. The sisters in our branch had a baptism Saturday and Monica was able to come. We invited her to picture herself getting baptized during the service and imagine what it would feel like. We promised her that she would feel the spirit that comes with baptism. After when we talked to her about it she said that she could see herself getting baptized! She said "I think I felt the same thing that Lindsey did when she was getting baptized" 

We had our monthly mission leadership council at the mission home with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders on Thursday. It is my favorite meeting of them all!

Well the El Paso missionaries are getting ready to play some basketball and soccer, so we better go join them! This morning we went to down town El Paso right on the border, and they have a ton of super cool little Mexican stores. It was fun to walk around and look. It's a crazy place. 

Have a good week everybody! 

Love, Elder Turnbow 

It's hard to complain when you have a name tag on your chest!

Hi!

Lots of really good things happened this week! It sounds like a good week in Idaho too. Another W for the football team! That is music to my ears. The pumpkin blow up sounded like fun as well. I told a couple of our members about it and they loved the idea. The next time I talked to them they had youtubed it and were amazed! Now they really do know how redneck we are. Good luck with your talk this Sunday Dylan! You'll have to let me know how it goes. 

Halloween was pretty uneventful for the most part. We got the usual jokes our way and people thought we were regular people dressed up as Mormon missionaries, that is always funny. It was a fun day!

Wednesday was awesome. We spent an hour or so on campus and contacted like crazy! It's such a blast, man I love it! We got quite a few phone numbers and made some good contacts. We have a couple return appointments this week, hopefully good things come from it! 

Randy is still doing great, and preparing for the 27th for baptism! 

We are teaching some other cool people right now that we are hoping to have baptism dates with by the end of this week. Rebecca has a baptism date but is living with her boyfriend, so we are still working with that, but we are very hopeful! 

Yesterday we had a miracle happen at church. We were standing outside greeting everyone as they walked in, when a new kid walked up in a good looking suite and sharp hair cut. He introduced himself as Kevin, and right off the bat we both thought returned missionary who is new to the YSA branch. We got to talking and asking the usual questions, when it became very obvious that he wasn't a member! We got pretty excited. So we talked to him for a bit before, and then sat with him during sacrament. He liked it a lot, and our branch did a good job coming up and introducing themselves. Most of the members thought he was a member! At the end we talked and taught him some more, and he told us he had worked with some Mormons in the past, but just googled us to see where he could go to church, he just happened to come to the right place! The reason why he looked so clean cut is because he is in the Air Force, and the base is really close. We go his information and are going to teach him this week! It was a tender mercy, because of various reasons all of our other investigators weren't able to make it to church. (Randy had film/practice) 

So things are rolling right along here in New Mexico! It's impossible to complain when you have a name tag on your chest, I don't see how you could. We're having the time of our lives out here, even if it is super hard sometimes! But hey, a wise man once said, "if it ain't hard... It prolly ain't worth much!" 

Know that I love you all very much! Thank you for the prayers, and everything you do.

Until next week!

Elder Turnbow

"Many... have been prepared by the Lord." PMG p. 177

Hello!

  

   This week was a good week! Lots of great things happened. Monday, Tuesday, and most of Wednesday we were down in El Paso doing exchanges with the zone leaders and visiting missionaries who needed a "pick me up" It was a successful trip. I really wish I spoke better Spanish. The Mexicans love it when you try though, so they get a kick out of it.

                    Let me share a very powerful experience that happened while on exchanges with Elder Rosales in Sunland Park. It's a city that is right on the border of Mexico. We were in a lesson with a new investigator, and of course it was in Spanish so I couldn't do much, but I could follow enough to know that it was going super well. Elder Rosales got to the first vision and I started praying for the spirit to touch this man. As he began I immediately recognized that wonderful feeling come into the room. The investigator could feel it as well, and at the close of the first vision we sat in silence as the spirit penetrated his heart. It was the longest silence I have ever had in a lesson, and it wasn't awkward at all. It was a powerful moment, and though I don't speak the language, it was a lesson I will never forget. The next words that were spoken were about baptism, and he accepted the invitation and set a date for November 16.

We taught Randy the Plan of Salvation this week and he loved it! We set his baptism date for November 27th! It's the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving. His Fiance comes into town on Sunday, baptism Wednesday, Thanksgiving Thursday, Friday the team travels to Idaho, and they play Boise State on Saturday! You all should go. haha Sunday after church we went with Tyson and Randy and we walked around the temple grounds. I love that place. We asked him how he felt and his words were. "I feel at peace, I think I am feeling the spirit"  It was a great walk around the grounds.  You might even say it was a walk to remember...

Saturday morning we taught a new investigator named Monica. A few weeks back she felt the need to go through her old bible study stuff. She realized she didn't have a King James version of the Bible, so she ordered one, and two Mormon missionaries showed up at her door with a bible! The Elders handed her off to us and we taught her for the first time Saturday, and she came to church Yesterday! Over and over again on my mission I have been reminded of a sentence in Preach My Gospel on page 177 that says "Many of the investigators you teach have been prepared by the Lord."

Our new branch presidency is awesome, and hilarious. Their first Sunday was great! 

Congrats on the district championship Matt! Way ta be. Good luck this week!

I'm glad Dylan had a good experience in the temple, it's a great place!

Have a good week everybody! Thanks for the pictures of my new niece! She's a cute one! 

Elder Turnbow 

Fast Lane!

Hey family!

I don't have much time because right now we are with all of the new missionaries. They flew in this morning and it has been a fun day. It has been fun to talk to Elder Pope and reconnect with him! He will be a good one, no doubt about that.

It was a good week for us. Randy came to church yesterday! We were super pumped about that. He is doing great, the hardest thing is scheduling because he is super busy with football and going to school to be an engineer. 

One of the soccer girls we taught last week came to church too! We found out that she lives in the sisters area so we passed her off. Of course we were a tad bummed, but they will take good care of her. :) We also passed off another investigator this week who we set a baptism date with during our first lesson with her. She is way cool. This was a week of passing off amazing people. No worries though, I love passing off referrals to help out our missionaries. 

Transfer meeting

We transfer planned all week. It's pretty stressful, but I really enjoy it. We make it fun!

Things are good here in New Mexico. Tomorrow is transfers and Wednesday is departures so It will be busy. Busy is the 

best, if only we could slow time down though. 

I have a niece!!! She looks great! 

Sounds like it was another good week for football too! Good stuff.

Thank you all for the great emails and pictures! They are always fun to read and the pictures are great to see. Have an awesome week!

Love, Elder Turnbow

Balloons and Conference

BALLOONS!!!  

     Well it's that time of year here in ABQ when you wake up to hundreds of hot air balloons in the sky! It's super cool to see. Right now as I write this I can see multiple balloons hovering over the Rio Grande. 

It sure was fun to see the pictures of Court at the airport! I'm sure it has been a fun week with her at home. Sounds like the football game went well too! 

So i accidentally sent you the wrong picture last week, that bball player is Alex Kirk, he is 7 feet tall and a stud. Their point guard Hugh Greenwood is awesome too! 

So this week was full of good stuff. Thursday we had our mission leadership council, and it was one of the best ones that I have been to. The theme was Elder Bednar's talk becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary, and baptizing! All of the new missionaries are now gaining experience and figuring out how to do missionary work, and our mission is starting to explode. It's so cool to see and be apart of! 

Supporting the UNM girl's soccer team members and invesitgators

Friday night was a great night. So there are a few members of our branch who play on the UNM girls soccer team, and they have been trying to share the gospel with their teammates for the last little bit. So.... Last Saturday after the tailgating with our wrist bands, the members roommates who are all on the soccer team came home wearing the bands and saying "Mormons are so cool!" That was our in, it peaked their interest. Cassadee Hansen (the member) had us over for dinner Friday night, and about 9 girls from the soccer team were there. We got all of the normal questions to begin with, but then after dinner we were standing up in the living room with all of them gathered around us as we taught the restoration. It was awesome! The spirit was strong as we bore testimony, and they had super good questions. My favorite comment of the night after teaching prophets "you mean he's a real guy!?" We invited them all to conference and handed out some copies of the Book of Mormon, and we walked out of there knowing somebody was prepared because the spirit was strong. Somehow you can just tell when it is there for somebody. We almost jumped for joy when 2 of them came to conference! 

Mattie at the half

We had a really good lesson with Randy this week! he is the d end for UNM. He wants to get baptized, but his girlfriend who is a member is going to school in Pittsburgh and isn't coming home til thanksgiving, so right now the plan is to wait for then to get baptized. He is super busy with football (understandably,) so we only get to see him like once a week. UNM destroyed NMSU Saturday so he was pretty pumped! Randy is so cool, I love teaching him! 

This week is transfer planning week, so it will be super busy. President told me that I will be staying here for another  transfer, which I am totally fine with! Sometimes I wish we could spend all day every day in our area, but we have many important things to do. The Lord blesses us so much with the time that we do have that we are always being humbled. 

Well you all have a great week! 

Love, Elder Turnbow

PS. General Conference > Super Bowl. 

Seven Days of Miracles!

How do you sum up 7 days full of miracles and amazing things in just one email home? This was a week never to be forgotten!

            It is crazy that Court gets home today, give her my love and give her a hug for me. I was in North Valley with Elder Weston when she went into the MTC, and that seems like it was just yesterday. I was able to see her picture in the New Era! That's my Sister!!! 

            The only days we had in our area this week were Monday night, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday, but those days were full of miracles! We've started to teach some cool people that we are really excited about. Randy, Kim, Jesus, and Lucas. Lucas has been around for a bit coming to activities, but he would never let us teach him. He has now come to church twice in a row and he is going to let us teach him this week! 

            Wednesday-Friday we were down south in Las Cruces and El Paso for our last zone conferences. They went really well! It is always fun to be down there, it's nice and hot! After our last zone conference we took President and Sister Miller and the McBrides to what is called scenic drive. It's in El Paso and you go high up on the mountain and it overlooks Juarez Mexico. It's super cool! The Mexico lights go on forever! The game is to try and count all the cop cars you can see in Juarez, it's pretty insane. 

           We drove back up Friday night and got ready for our amazing weekend.

Saturday..... It was a great day. Saturday morning we went to a couple baptisms, one was of a lady that Elder Ballif and I referred to some Elders so that was really cool to see!

Alex Kirk

Saturday afternoon was simply insane. It was homecoming week for UNM and they played UNLV. Home football games are great because campus is a mad house. So our branch did a huge tailgating party for the game, and we had 2000 wrist bands that say GO LOBOS!! And on the other side mormon.org with our phone number. When we first walked into the parking lot outside the stadium where everybody was tailgating, we got some pretty nasty looks and people were saying some crude things. Then we started handing out free food and stuff, and we were everyone's best friend! We gave the wrist bands to the entire cheerleading squad, and all of the pep and marching band. one of the highlights was when the boys UNM basketball team was walking by, I recognized many of them from billboards and things, so I grabbed Elder Vial and we ran to talk with them! They were super cool, and by the time we were done they all had on our bands! We took a picture with Alex Kirk and met Hugh Greenwood who is their main guy and super good. It was an amazing three hours of contacting, and we gave away all 2,000 of the bands. everywhere you looked people had them on! we talked to soooo many cool people. When we first walked in you could have played "Master the Tempest is Raging" and by the time we left you could have played "In Our Lovely Deseret" :) 

The night just got even better after that. As you know we had the privilege of going to dinner at 5 Guys with Elder and Sister Richards, and Jenny and Jake, and then we got to listen to Grandpa speak to a lot of our missionaries in the great NMAM! I know how lucky I am to have had my grandparents in my mission. I was able to conduct and introduce Grandpa and Grandma, and it was a special and sacred experience. Every missionary we talk to just loves Grandpa! He spoke with power and the spirit, and was truly inspired with what our missionaries needed. President Miller is trying to think of a way to get him back so he can go to El Paso and talk to all our missionaries down there!

Elder and Sister Richards with Elder Turnbow and Elder Vial

We drove up to Santa Fe with President and Sister Miller Sunday evening and we were able to listen to Grandpa speak again! I was just soaking all of this up the entire time. It was a great two days.

Yesterday was missionary Monday! They opened up the ABQ temple for all of the missionaries to come. In the past we have been able to get all of the missionaries on the same day, but because we have so many now we were only able to do half of the mission yesterday, and we will do the rest next week! I love the temple. What a special place. After our session we went into a sealing room, and the temple president spoke to us for a bit about the temple. It was a really neat experience. 

I am super excited for general conference this weekend! Missions are a spiritual feast, and I love it! 

Have fun with Courtney this week! Love you!

Elder Turnbow 

Runnin' Gunnin' and a Little Preachin' on the Side!

Wooooo eeeeeeee!  What a week. 

Elder Vial, Jake, Dallas at the Epic Cousin Sleepover
Dallas and Elder Vial stayed at Aunt Jen's in Santa Fe to prepare for the zone conference the next day

We successfully did three zone conferences this week, and it was a blast. The theme for these zone conferences are REMEMBER THIS the back page of Preach My Gospel. President asked Elder Vial to train on plan every day and focus on key indicators, and work effectively all day, every day. He does a great job with it. President asked me to train on the last two bullet points... 1. Help everyone you teach make commitments that will bring about repentance and will strengthen their faith in the Savior. And 2. Love The Lord and serve him the very best you can. I have a lot of fun with it, and I couldn't think of anything else I'd want to train on.  I use Coach Browns 32 minutes to play, a life time to remember. but I changed it to 2 years or 18 months to serve, an eternity to remember. I have reached a point were I love teaching and training missionaries almost as much as I love teaching investigators, there is a lot of power in a room full of missionaries. 

So... Yes we did three zone conferences this week, and we were super busy with that, but the highlight of the week was Saturday! I love Saturdays! Lynsie was baptized! What a miracle she is. I still remember one of her first texts to us. "I want you to know right away that I have no interested in converting, I just want to know what my mom is learning." This miracle started many months ago when Elder Haueter and I knocked into Lynsies mom on exchanges. The Elders there started teaching her mom, Lynsie got home from study abroad, and then we started teaching her! To put it simply, the Savior is the master of His vineyard. I will send pictures later hopefully. 

Lynsie's baptism

Yesterday was a good Sunday. We met with three stake presidents because President Miller was in El Paso for a stake conference. We discussed the work in their respective stakes and made plans to increase the efforts.  Sunday night we taught a missionary prep class in the mission home for the Albuquerque stake. That was super fun! Three of them who came were from our YSA branch so that was super cool. We trained on being interested not interesting, and being able to contact someone. 

Friday night was insane! Our branch and the LDSSA hosted a huge dance on UNM campus. It was awesome! Between us and the Sisters in our branch we talked to a TON of people. The dance was a hit. Our eyes and ears were full of Babylon with the music and everything, but I experienced a small tender mercy, the next day I could 't remember the music that was played at the dance. That was very nice. We spent the night serving pizza and drinks. Right before we left the DJ had us up on the stage and introduced us. It was super cool! We were a hit! 

This week we will be in Las Cruces and El Paso for a few days doing zone conference and exchanges. Good stuff. Tonight our branch is doing a big Matanza (pig roast) at President Browns house. We have a couple investigators coming that we are super excited for. We recently started teaching the defensive end for UNM Randy Williams. He's huge! Haha he is dating a member and has been to church a couple times. We are pumped about him. He is super nice and very smart. 

I swear I blinked and this week was over. We are so busy we don't know what to do with ourselves sometimes. Our branch President shared this scripture with us and it has helped me a lot. Psalm 46:10. "Be still, and know that I am God." 

Well we just got a text from a potential investigator we contacted in Panda Express (yes Dylan I like Panda Express) and he wants to go to lunch today! Yes! Time to hop back in the saddle! Love you all! 

Elder TurnVial