The missionary quiz, round II

After the success of the first missionary quiz last year, I thought I'd try to pry a few more answers (funny or informative) out of Ryan. All of his answers are in red.

1. I have lost/gained 8 pounds in the last year.

2. Describe your roommates/companions in exactly 3 words each:

Elder Holloway: ginger Alaskan friend

Elder Shepherd: really, really, Deaf

3. The strangest thing I’ve been fed by a member is: a Taiwanese New Year's treat

4. My favorite interesting food here is: some of Elder Holloway's cooking

5. Draw the amount/percentage of pizza in your diet as a chart or graph:

6. I haven’t eaten cafeteria food in a really long time.

7. I have now learned to cook a mean quesadilla.

8. Strangest thing I've tried to translate in ASL: stake 2nd counselor talk in which he explains exactly how to construct

9. M&M World or Hershey’s store? Neither -- they are in Times Square (aka Sodom and Gomorrah)

10. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being super fluent), I’d describe my fluency in American Sign Language as a 8.

11. Summer in New York City, in three words: hot and sticky

12. Winter in New York, in three words: freezing cold snow

13. I am running low on: subway stations I have yet to hit

14. It’s a funny story now, but I felt really annoyed when rats were harassing our apartment last year.

15. Weirdest thing a street vendor has been selling: I try not to look too closely ... Most unique: Woman selling "advice" for 25 cents in Union Square

16. Number of times attacked by butterflies: 0 (sorry, inside joke between Ryan and me)

17. People still writing me semi-regularly, not including family or general weekly e-mails: Jesse Miller, Heather McKendrick (friends serving missions)

18. Draw your favorite tie’s pattern:

19. I miss cheap prices from Arizona.

20. Most supportive member missionary: Pedro Martinez because he's aided in the baptisms of many NJ members.

21. Today I read Mormon 4-6 in the Book of Mormon.

22. My mother is absolutely nuts for writing a second quiz.

And three became five!

The last 24 hours here have been hectic and exciting for us here in the ASL program. Yesterday, the three of us here traveled to Scarsdale and picked up our two newest members -- Elders Bell and Tipiani! They are both from Utah and excited to serve here in New York, and already have decent signing. We enjoyed a wonderful evening and morning with President Smith and his family, and recently got driven back down to our Harlem home. Elders Holloway and Shepherd are training Elder Tipiani together, and I am training Elder Bell. He is slightly taller than I, and talks with a rich, deep voice when he isn't signing.

To prepare for their arrival, we shifted up some of the rooms, so now the trio has two rooms for sleeping and study, and me and my companion got sent to the smaller back room, where we have cozily fit in our bunk bed, two desks, and a dresser and drawers. It all fits perfectly, though the bed was remarkably difficult to assemble as it is nearly the same width as the room. It will be a bit tight, but should work just fine.

The work should hasten, as now we are back to two companionships. I am excited to impart of my wisdom with Elder Bell, and know that I will learn a lot from him as well. I'm sure that as I see him learn and figure things out I will be reminded of when I first came to this city of everything. There is work for us yet!

Elder Ryan Turner

New York New York North Mission

American Sign Language

Times and signs

We are already halfway through the cycle as a trio companionship. However, it won't stay like that for long, as next week we are getting two new ASL elders fresh from the MTC. We know all three of us here will be involved in training, though not exactly how we will split it out. Either way, we are super stoked to get some new energy into the program. That, and I've also been in NY for more than a year now, and about 13.5 months on my mission total.

Some signs vary from east coast to west coast. It's always fun to figure out which variations people used, as here in the city of everything there is no uniformity whatsoever. The younger generation tends to be more educated, and uses more to the west coast signing, whereas he older folks who grew up in the east use the older, more eastern ways. Still, it is all ASL -- or at least we hope it is.

I had my first real encounter with Jehovah's Witness ministers the other day. Stereotypically. This involves a very refined but heated argument over the Bible and Book of Mormon, usually resulting in neither side winning and frustration all around. When Elder Shepherd and I came across ASL JW's, he and the man started "Bible bashing" a little. Rather than doing that myself, I instead bore my personal testimony about the validity of the Book of Mormon through the Holy Ghost. My companion did the same, and while I noticed a slight change on his face, he proceeded to try to argue more. Neither side "won," but we won in the fact that we didn't become contentious about our
beliefs, and I enjoyed a spirit of calm during the exchange (see 3 Nephi 11:29).

Love you all,

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

Same old, same old

Well, not a whole lot has changed in NYC in relation to the work. We did have a rather good zone conference yesterday. Too bad I and Elder Holloway had to interpret the whole thing for Elder Shepherd. It's especially difficult when missionaries speak either really fast or really soft.

One project I have been working on is something we call the green book. Our area is comparatively large, and travel takes a while. What the green book is is groups of deaf people -- members and non-members alike -- that missionaries have found over the years, grouped by general geographic areas (for example, there are four within Harlem). This makes it so that lookups are more efficient, and shows us people nearby a person if they end up not showing up to a lesson, allowing us to use our time more effectively. The last green book was compiled around 3-4 years ago, and it was left in paper format in a binder in our apartment. For the past long time, I have been digitizing, updating, and improving it. It's something to keep me busy in spare moments and is helping in our finding.

Love you all,

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

P.S. (in an e-mail soon after this one) Just got confirmation of two new ASL elders coming to the North mission in the next week or two. The three of us here will be training them. How exactly it will work, I am unsure. I am sure President Smith will be in more contact with us. The thing we have to figure out is how to add another bed to our current layout. ... Maybe we will form another pentanionship! My real guess is that Elder Shepherd and one of us will train a new guy together,  and the other of us will train alone.

Trio life

It has been going alright so far in the trio. As both our areas are merged, the work has gotten better. On occasion two of us may have a disagreement and the third acts as a mediator, but overall things are going well. I have especially enjoyed working directly with Elder Holloway, my MTC companion, again. We were on edge with one another for the first seven months, and then after we humbled ourselves and forgave one another our trespasses, our relationship skyrocketed. He is my best friend in the mission and a powerful servant of the Lord.

One of the new Spanish elders in the zone told us he met two ASL elders in the MTC headed to our mission. We still haven't hear anything else about them than that, so I am making a few email inquires to various sources seeking more information.

We're going to the temple in a little bit, which is always exciting. Other than that, not much to report. New Yorkers are still weird, and the gospel is still true. Love you all!

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

Photos of July

Pictures from Ryan's memory card, taken in July 2015

The huge Mormon Tabernacle Choir is dwarfed by the field at Yankee Stadium

Ryan and Elder Shepherd at the Yankees game

Apparently, this means "halfway there" in American Sign Language -- Ryan hit his one-year mark on July 9

I don't think there's been a memory card sent home without at least one turtle, real or museum

New York City sights, clockwise from left: Empire State Building, Kingsbridge Armory, Bronx tunnel graffiti

And then there were three!

Transfers recently finished, and we said goodbye to Elder Hill. He is going upstate to work with the office elders, who help the more physical side of things in the mission; like delivering mail, moving things, getting supplies, etc. That leaves only three of us here in the ASL program, which means we are all companions now. Elder Holloway has joined Elder Shepherd and I. Elder Holloway and I haven't been companions for almost a year, and I know we will do good work together. We've both grown a lot since then.

Now with only one companionship in the program, I suspect things are going to get a little more difficult. The good thing is that both our areas haven't been doing so hot, so combining the work should give us more to do. But, now there is only one companionship in this mission to support the branch. Also, tasks that two typically shared -- example: one (companionship) goes food shopping while the other cleans on P-day -- the three of us have to do together. It should be interesting seeing how things move forward.

I will have more on how the three of us are working together next week!

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