Things do happen in the deaf branch!

Though the workload this week wasn't the greatest, we did actually see a little progress in the branch. Elder Holloway and I have served in this branch for most of our missions thus far and still only finally contacted two inactive members that we haven't seen or met our entire time here. One of them told us just to come back in a week, but the other accepted our invitation to attend church and actually came on Sunday! We met her as we were calling through strings of phone numbers and stumbled across her videophone, and she has since given us her new address. Elders Bell and West will be working with her more, as she is now in their area.

We also found a former investigator that has investigated off and on for years and has also moved around a lot. He had been to the branch a couple years before, so our branch president recognized him when we took him with us to teach. The lesson went well, President Bond helped explain the Restoration in clear terms, and we set a baptismal date for June 5, something we haven't successfully done for a while. Hopefully he keeps on the path this time.

I also learned a new phrase this week -- "An empty can makes the most noise." A man on the subway leaned over and told me this as another clearly drunk/high/crazy guy loudly sang/rambled in the subway and threatened to break the jaw of anyone who stepped on his sneakers. I love Elder West's question of "Why does the weird stuff always happen on the subway?!" I then gently remind him that there are plenty of weird things that happen in public as well, but do agree that the subway has some pretty odd things. What better place to perform/beg/solicit/preach/panic/sing/be high/be drunk/sleep/shout than a place with a captive audience? Oh, how I will miss this city when I return to the west this summer.

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

Transfer week

Transfers happened yesterday, and the ASL program is staying exactly the same for a transfer for once! This means Elder Holloway and I are still together and Elders Bell and West are together, though they are moving to a new apartment which we are going to go see this afternoon. We are still in our 125th street apartment. However, one of our roommates has returned home, and the new elder in that area is none other than Elder Arines, who both Elder Holloway and I have both been companions with in Newburgh. Living with him is going to be fun.

We've picked up a couple of former investigators recently, though we'll see if anything really comes from it as they were both a bit iffy about firm appointments. Work still isn't the greatest around here, but we are making it work. As summertime is hitting the city, people are out more, and that makes all the bad stuff that much worse and public. That's the fun part of serving in the city.

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

Splits (No Bananas Included)

Probably the most significant events of this week have been doing a couple of splits, otherwise known as companion exchanges, which last for a day at a time. On Sunday I went with Elder West up to a ward upstate that has requested short-term interpreting help. We went there for a while every week last year to help the member interpreters there, and now one of them is having shoulder surgery soon, and the bishop there has requested our help again for the next couple of months while she heals. It was nice being upstate once more.

We also did a split with the zone leaders yesterday which was also a nice change of pace. Elder Buckley and I were up in the north part of Manhattan trying to contact some former investigators, many of which live with Dominican family. Really, the whole area is Dominican, and it's a good thing Elder Buckley is fluent in Dominican Spanish even though he's white as all get out. He really enjoyed being up there again.

My honest guess for transfers next week is that I will be with my mission "grandson" Elder West over in the ASL east area. We've been on splits, but not actual companions yet, and if we aren't comps this next cycle, I'm pretty sure I'll close out my time here with him. I only have two transfers left!

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

Mom: The reason I heard at the beginning of my mission for Wednesday p-days is that for most museums in NYC, Wednesday is donation day, which allows you to enter the museum for any contribution. We've always paid $1 each when we go.

Playing hooky

That's what Mother Nature and our investigators have been doing for most of the week. Just as spring was about to break, Mother Nature in essence said "I don't like big cities, so I'll give you a mild winter, and then just as you are all putting your coats back into storage, I'll give you a week's worth of that winter again! Haha!" Thus, I've been using my big coat the past few days.

We haven't been able to contact one pair of investigators for a week now but we managed to get a lesson with one of our newer investigators. She is willing to meet, and has actually been looking for a church ever since she came to New York, but we are also getting the feeling that she wants help with getting a green card as well. She has already been asking all the deaf people she knows where she can go to a deaf church, and they all keep telling her "the Broadway church" (Catholic) without specifying where it is or offering to take her there. We know which one they are referring to, but we gave her our deaf church card and explained how to come. Hopefully we will see her this Sunday.

General Conference this past weekend was amazing, and helped fortify my testimony of the divine calling of our church leaders. I especially liked Elder Stevenson's talk on priesthood keys, and know that official authority from God is required to run His church. President Nelson also had a wonderful priesthood session address on magnifying our priesthood power which gave me much to think about. This is the last one I have here in the field, and for all I know I could be sitting in the conference center for the next one in October.

Probably our most effective teaching skill is figuring out the language someone is using, and then using those same terms back to them. There are often times when someone is signing about a concept or using unique signs, that when we sign with our standard New York accent, they look like they get it, but really don't. You really have to match them as best you can. It is also rather hard to connect with many deaf people because most missionaries are white, from the west, hearing, and lifelong members, so we get credibility by telling them we have a full deaf congregation of converts where they can come and actually see the church in action. Always fun.

Love you all,

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

Easter weekend

How wonderful it was to remember the death and resurrection of Christ this weekend. And, how blessed we are to hear from church leaders and a modern-day prophet this coming weekend at General Conference. I'm really looking forward to it.

Church this past Sunday went well and had some good attendance. I taught gospel doctrine class with Elder Bell about trust, and it went over very well. The investigator who was baptized last week was also confirmed on Sunday, but because the elders who taught him were in the hospital, he chose me last-minute to perform the confirmation.* Now, I have performed one baptism and one confirmation on my mission, and I'm just fine with that. Always have to be ready to help out where needed, and I'm glad I can.

With things warming up, I hope you all have brighter days ahead (sorry for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere).

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

* Ryan's Dad asked him about performing ordinances for deaf members: "You place your hands on their head, and then remove them to step back and sign the prayer. Then, at the end, you place your hands back on their head to seal the ordinance. Deaf baptisms work by the same concept of assume the position, break away to sign, then reassume the position."

Somos misioneros para de mudo

For those of you who don't read Spanish, the subject line means "we are missionaries for the deaf". For my friends who are serving Spanish-speaking right now, don't judge my attempt. Serving in New York City, which has cultures and languages from all over the world, by far the second-most common language to English here is Spanish. Pretty much the entire top of the island of Manhattan is Dominican central, and large parts of the Bronx and Harlem have heavy Hispanic populations as well. Many of our investigators and members live with Spanish-speaking family, so we in the ASL program have had to pick it up a little. Luckily, Elder Holloway can actually kind of carry on a conversation, so we aren't completely stuck when dealing with these family members.

The weather dipped a bit this weekend and we even got a dusting of snow on one night. One of those nights we were walking around the Bronx in about 40-degree weather -- I had my coat and beanie and gloves, and my Alaskan companion only had the beanie and gloves. He takes great pride in showing the world that he isn't from around here. As we walked, one woman who knew who we were and what we did stopped us and tried to offer him her jacket right off her back. They went back and forth a bit warmly, but he didn't accept the jacket, claiming he was fine. Some Alaskans and their pride.

The elders from the South mission had a baptism on Sunday, but other than that, nothing much else to report.

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

Bonus: Ryan sent me a short separate email with this library selfie, "Thought of you when I came."

Keep your phones to yourself!

Really nothing too significant happened this week. I do love my district of four that I'm with, and my companion and I get along well. Life in the big city is going alright.

As I may have mentioned in previous emails, NYC subways are an interesting place. Sometimes the ride is relatively quiet and boring. Other times beggars, preachers, solicitors, or performers interrupt people's Facebook scrolling and sometimes get a reaction. Sometimes people just do weird stuff, like when some guy tried to get my companion to play Candy Crush on his phone. He didn't talk at all, just kind of showed him the screen and tried to offer it. Maybe he was wanting to trade it for his iPad, I don't know. Like blood streams that connect the whole body together, so does the subway system keep NYC alive -- which means the good, the bad, and the plain weird all flow together.

Life in the branch has its twists and turns, but the branch is still alive and not doing too bad. We just had stake conference this week, and Elder Worthen -- an area seventy and BYU President -- presided and gave wonderful talks.

The funny thing about our work with the branch is that we haven't had a branch mission leader for a year and a half, so the branch president is filling in for that. We just really don't have any other qualified, stable members that don't already have other important callings to fill it right now. The branch council also really hasn't been super involved in missionary work, so that makes things harder. And, even though we do fill in sometimes for classes, talks, and the sacrament, the branch is capable enough to run Sunday meetings without us taking over, so that's good.

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