The land northward

The first real snow of winter here in New York finally came last night! Some it it has stuck, giving color to the otherwise bleak countryside that is in the dead of winter.

This weekend, Elder Jeffery R. Holland visited our mission as he was here in NYC. He was a very inspiring speaker, and even very humorous and witty. Of course, we got some of his characteristic authoritative shouting. All in all, it was a neat experience.

Elder West has been doing well so far, and I got to spend some time with him on a split. In just the few days he was with Elder Bell beforehand, I can already see the positive impact he has had on Elder West. Their new place in the Bronx is with some other elders and is frankly kind of ghetto, but it's the Bronx.

In a mess of events and other stuff that is really too complicated to discuss fully, I have been transferred a little bit early. Real transfers are next week. I am back upstate in the area I so love -- Newburgh, NY. I am currently in a trio with Elders Arines and L'Esperance, this because Elder L'Esperance's companion had to fill in for another missionary several weeks ago, and we are like this until the cycle turns next week. So, we are currently working in both the Newburgh and West Point areas, and there is much to be done.

I was informed about coming back upstate with very little notice and had some conflicting feelings about it, but I am happy to be here again. When I was here before, we worked with sister missionaries as well, but now we are the only ones, so all the work for the eastern half of Orange County, NY (where Orange County Choppers are really from) is in our hands. The fun part is that I'm the only American-native-English speaker: Elder Arines is from the Philippines and speaks Tagalog and Elder L'Esperance is from Canada and speaks French. They both have good English,  but sometimes sound slightly broken. But, the cool thing is that we can proselyte in four languages!

Until next time,

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