The storming Northeast

The view of what the storm left at 7am yesterday morning. The roads were all even plowed before we got up! I love this city.

As most of you probably heard, there was supposed to be a huge snowstorm that hit NYC Monday night into Tuesday morning. And, as many of you probably heard, the city was saved last-minute. Instead, it dumped in Boston and Long Island, and a good amount in some other places. NYC got MAYBE two inches overnight, and by morning the roads were all cleared. It was a big letdown after the city went into a frenzy stocking up supplies and shutting down public transit for a while. But now, everything is back to normal.

The work is still pushing along. We had a good number of less-active members at church on Sunday, which means that people that haven't come very often or for a long time came to church! It's interesting to see how being away from church can skew one's perception on certain doctrines and teachings. One of our main focuses in working with these people is to clarify and correct these misconceptions. We have had to fix some of the craziest things.

A focus we have right now is cleaning out our branch records. There are around 300-350 people on the records, but there are a number of them that have moved out of the branch and never informed the church. So we are taking the steps needed to get their records moved so that we don't waste time trying to visit them at the apartment they left 10 years ago. We are hoping to find other less-active members this way that we can bring back to church.

Through the cold and snow and deaf we continue forward. This mission is definitely the most unique and life-changing experience of my life. I love being here and growing to know myself and my Savior better.

Elder Ryan Turner
New York New York North Mission
American Sign Language

Weird weather

Apparently, the winter this year is not normal in terms of snow and cold. Compared to the past few years, the city has gotten very low amounts of snow and the temperatures haven't been as low. Yes, the weather is still around freezing, but should be somewhere in the 10's and 20's most of the time. I'm not complaining, but have been adjusting rather well.

Sunday was my first experience with freezing rain, which isn't fun. This is when up in the clouds it is above freezing, and ground level is below. That makes the rain that hits the ground turn to ice, and it is everywhere. My companion and I almost slipped four times walking one block to the bus station. I heard that upstate is was even worse, and some churches cancelled services because of black ice. But, the branch still ran as normal.

We decided to change out most of the yellow lightbulbs in our apartment and replace them with white, natural spectrum lightbulbs. It makes such a difference, especially as the days are shorter. Something about having more light keeps our spirits higher as we plow forward. We also got another couch, so now each of the four of us has a comfortable spot to sit, and makes the apartment feel more like a home. Ever since I've been here, I've seen a lot of improvements made to our living space.

There are a lot of difficulties to teaching deaf people here in NYC. Written English is difficult for them, so you can only imagine how hard it is to read the Book of Mormon in Old English. The Book of Mormon ASL DVD is done in the purest form of ASL (or Utah ASL as my companions call it), and most of it still goes over their heads. I have heard a couple of success stories of deaf members here learning pure ASL and English better by struggling with the Book of Mormon, but for the most part people aren't willing to exert the effort to really figure it out. We do a lot of summarizing and explaining the scriptures. It is also hard to teach over videophone as some people's connections and screens aren't the greatest, and it is impractical or impossible to face-to-face teach them outside of church (ex: they live in Yonkers or NJ). We have to make sure we are teaching very simply, or else they don't get it.

But, there are so many awesome things involved with my work. When we get someone who is really motivated, it brings me true joy. This is the case with Ariel, my only baptism so far. He is active, continuing to learn more and more, and on his way to receive the Melchizedek priesthood in the coming months. The deaf at church are naturally very accepting of others. We had a hearing girl from our ASL class come to the branch for the first time, and though her ASL was limited, everyone seemed to accept her. Most are a very humble bunch, and have pure faith in Christ. Working with them has been a great blessing to me.

The work is still moving slow for us right now, but we keep on going and praying that more people will be open to our message. But, we are learning so much about ourselves and each other as we work. Missions are truly awesome experiences.

Elder Ryan Turner
New York New York North Mission
American Sign Language

As the temperature falls ...

It has been consistently colder and colder as the year ages. I don't think it has gotten above freezing all last week or this, and I hear that it isn't going to improve. Luckily, I have very good snow and cold weather gear, so I am doing alright.

I just hit my six-month mark on Friday, making a quarter of my mission complete. Oh how the time has flown, and how it will continue to fly faster and faster!

With the plunging weather, our teaching has gone down as well. When I became companions with Elder Aston, his area wasn't doing too well, and hasn't really gotten better yet. Church attendance is down, as it typically is in the winter due to colder weather. For some reason, deaf people aren't as willing to come to church when it's cold outside, and a few think it's even closed because of the weather. It would have to take another hurricane to not have church, and even then, we still might. It has been a struggle to teach, but I have been learning a lot about my new companion and about myself.

Probably the most interesting day was Friday. That evening, we went to the restaurant Max Brenner's for our 6-month mark, which had some amazing Mac and cheese and flatbread pizza. Then after teaching a youth group some ASL, we discovered a pipe burst in the women's changing room of the font in the basement. It wasn't horrendous, but it was even slowly filling the font. We got a mechanic from the hearing Ward over to fix the problem, and rolled out at around 10 pm. We then got on the subway with a drunk guy who said some not nice things about us and the church at us. We just signed to each other and feigned deafness.

Hope you are all doing alright, and keep being awesome.

Elder Ryan Turner
New York New York North Mission
American Sign Language

Winter in the City (plus December photos!)

Winter is really setting in here in NYC. Both yesterday and today are below freezing, and the rest of the week looks the same. We got a good amount of snow yesterday as well, and for the first time all winter, it stuck! Many parts of the city were white and frosty, though the city does a good job of keeping the roads clear. Got to shovel it for the first time off the walk in front of the chapel.

Transfer meeting is today, and we have probably the most boring change of everyone -- the four of us are flip-flopping companions! That means I will be with Elder Aston, and Elders Fotheringham and Holloway will be together. The fun part is that we aren't even switching beds or study desks, as we all sleep in the same room and study in the same room. That, and after our rearrangements last week, we have a legit living room now, which is super nice and open!

So, for this transfer the only things that really change are my full-time companion and the people I am working with, as I am technically going into his area. But, I will still go to the branch and do a lot of the same things with the other two as usual. Yeah for ASL transfers!

I am writing this on the subway on my way back up to the Inwood chapel to help some sisters with their luggage, which we did this morning as well. We don't get many service opportunities, so we take every one we can get. Also, I will hit six months on Friday, making my mission a quarter of the way over. Only 18 months to go.

Otherwise, the work continues. The apartment has been more tired and sick than usual lately, but I am staying well. We have our struggles, and we are finding ways to overcome them. I appreciate your continuing support, and love you all.

Elder Ryan Turner
New York New York North Mission
American Sign Language

Pictures from December!

Apparently even missionaries take bathroom selfies!

Wonder what Ryan asked the famous Macy's Santa for? More investigators? Did he share a pass-long card?

The New York City missionaries were very involved in the church's "He is the Gift" campaign during the Christmas season. There were giant billboards in Times Square and the missionaries and members were encouraged to hashtag #ShareTheGift and post photos of themselves with how they would share Christ's gift to the world.

They also caroled outside the New York Public Library. Love the wreath on the lion!

One of the many Christmas markets around the city, this one in Columbus Circle near the temple

Some of what Ryan received for Christmas. I am grateful so many people remembered him.

January 1, 2015

Happy New Year Everyone! You may be wondering why I didn't send this email out yesterday, as I typically email on Wednesdays. This is because our mission president changed our P-day to today, so that we aren't out and about doing random stuff in the city where New Year's Eve is known for. We did normal missionary work, but had to be inside by 7 pm. That, and we had to avoid Times Square like the plague. Didn't see the ball drop, but that's alright. We all slept through the holiday festivities, which was a good option. Still went to bed at 10:30, and still awoke at 6:30. 

This calendar year for me is what missionaries in the mission refer to as our "ghost year" -- the year a missionary is completely in the mission field. So, that means that I will stay in New York for this entire year, from today until New Year's Eve this coming December.

Don't have a whole lot of time, as we are currently rearranging our apartment. Since I got here, we had the beds in the main room and used the bedrooms as study and videophone rooms, and we decided to change it. Once we are done, the beds will be in one room, all our study desks in another, and the main room will be an actual living room. That should be fun and a nice change.

Transfers are next week, and we have no idea what to expect. I've now been with Elder Fotheringham for over four months, so it's about time to change. That, and there is a chance of opening a new ASL/English area in the town of Ossining. For years, a few members have interpreted for the few deaf members in that Ward, though they are all getting burned out. So, two weeks ago, President Morgan called to tell us that each week, one of the two ASL companionships will travel up to Ossining via the Metro North railroad to interpret for church. The other two did it a week and a half ago, and we did it this past Sunday, and it was a neat experience. However, the Metro North is rather expensive, and we aren't able to fellowship our people we work with at church if we are gone, which leads us to speculate that one of us will get sent up to work there, just like in Newburgh. President
hasn't said anything concerning the matter, so we are eagerly awaiting transfer calls on Saturday to see if our program gets messed up or not.

Hope you all have good goals and plans for this year, and make the most out of everything!

Elder Ryan Turner
New York New York North Mission
American Sign Language