Officially fall

The second fall of my mission has officially begun! I still remember last fall in the city last year, which is super weird. The weather hasn't been as bad these past few days, and hopefully it stays that way.

Getting groceries for five is fun. We recently changed how much we spend each week (it was double the first week of every month and then normal the other weeks) into a little more each week. We found we go through food fast, and so this is an overall better way, as we are now replenishing more expensive items more frequently. Elder Bell and I got $150 worth of food into our Bronx cart and a large carrying bag, and had fun slugging it home. That Bronx cart and large Costco bags save us a taxi each week, which is a huge blessing. The axles are looking a bit strained, though ... If it does break, the mission will reimburse us for a new one, which is nice. We recently got an email from the mission office saying that they have a lot of extra supplies with the closure of various apartments due to a decrease in mission size. 

The NY NY Stake had stake conference this past weekend, which I helped interpret for along with the other ASL missionaries. Some speakers are just super hard to do, like President Buckner. Elder Bell was interpreting him, and just gave up halfway through. The investigator we picked up again last week came to stake conference as well, and enjoyed it. We visited her last night, and now she has a baptismal date set for Oct 18th! She says that she wants church more in her life, and has a good friend that is a recent convert who we are using to help us teach.

We were stopped various times this week by random guys who wanted to know who we were and what we did. Some of them had some odd views on the church, like the one guy who heard that Joseph Smith got lost in Arizona and found the gold plates there. We correct myths as pleasantly as we can, and then invite them to find out the message for themselves by reading the praying about the Book of Mormon. I know that those who pray with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Jesus Christ will know of its truthfulness! I have seen it time and time again.

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