Utah is on Fire!

Hey Everybody!

This week was good, as always! We were able to get a lot done and do some productive stuff this week. Some exciting stuff happened as well! We started the week off good with a trip to the Timpanogos Temple. I love going to the temple so much! I always feel so peaceful and calm while I am on the temple grounds. Not to mention the food in their cafeteria is pretty good!

The next day we did some service where we moved a huge load of dirt for some less active members. We moved wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow, but it looked like we were barely even making a dent! Finally after about an hour and a half of moving dirt we were done for the day. We'd only moved about half of the pile, but it was enough to fulfill their purposes. We also helped them move some big rocks, but that wasn't as strenuous.

On Saturday a fire somehow caught in American Fork canyon, and since it is really dry here in Utah, it spread like crazy. It was pretty cool to see, but kinda scary because it was so close to our area. Luckily nobody's property was damaged, and I don't think anyone died, so that's good. The coolest part was seeing the big carrier planes dropping gallons and gallons of flame retardant. Now parts of the mountain are dyed red from all the retardant (I bet all those Utes fans are happy about that).

The only other really eventful thing happened on Sunday. I had the opportunity to conduct my first (and second) interview for baptism as a district leader. The really interesting thing was that neither of them spoke any English, so we had to have a translator help out. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear their testimonies at the end, even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, I could still feel the spirit so strongly!

That's the majority of what happened this week, other than just trying to contact people and find work. I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the nice summer weather!

Elder Orchard

Our District at the Timpanogos Temple (I like the call it the "Timple")

The fire in American Fork Canyon

The view from a house we visited this week

A video of us driving down the driveway of the same house mentioned
in 3, the video isn't even half of the driveway

A video of a plane dropping flame retardant on the mountain to
prevent if from spreading farther north on the mountain

Just Another Ordinary Week

Hey Everybody!

I'm gonna be honest with you up front, this week was pretty slow and not a whole lot happened. I'll try to make it interesting and I've got some good pictures, so hopefully everyone enjoys!

One of the highlights from this last week was our interviews with President Killpack. I always look forward to the opportunity to meet one on one with President! Even though we usually have to fast track some of the interviews due to getting behind, including mine because I'm pretty easygoing and almost never have any problems, the five or six minutes we had together were still very beneficial and uplifting! I'm glad that we have this opportunity every transfer!

Sunday was a pretty typical Sunday for us. We got to spend from 7:30 to 2:30 in sacrament and other meetings. This last week, one of the stakes we covered had their stake trek, which is where all of the youth that sign up to do it get to go to some remote place and pull around a multi-hundred pound hand cart in the blazing heat, all while wearing really old looking clothing. I'm sure you're probably wondering "Why in the heck would anyone do that?", but it really is an awesome experience. The purpose is to give the youth a sliver of what it was like for the pioneers to cross the plains back in the 1800s. While we didn't go on Trek ourselves, all of the testimonies and experiences that people shared really made me reminisce back to when I went on Trek and had such an awesome experience. The friendships I made there are some of the stronger ones I have to this day!

This morning we got to go the the Killpack's home as a zone for breakfast, then we went to a nearby park and played games for a while. Some of the things we played were Kuub, which is where you have wooden blocks that you throw at your opponents wooden blocks. The best way I can describe it is a mix between bowling and chess. We also played volleyball and Frisbee. It was a great time all around!

That's all I got. I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the nice summer weather!

Elder Orchard

1) Our district this transfer from left to right: Sister Quinteros, Sister Solis, Elder Yoshida, Yours truly, Elder Halliday, and Elder Williams
2) A picture one of my brothers made for my dad for Father's Day. I liked it so much I had to include it
3)-5) We got to play with some Boas at one of our dinners this last week

Our district this transfer from left to right: Sister Quinteros, Sister Solis, Elder Yoshida, Yours truly, Elder Halliday, and Elder Williams

A picture one of my brothers made for my dad for Father's Day. I liked it so much I had to include it

 We got to play with some Boas at one of our dinners this last week: 

New Area - Alpine

Hey Everybody!

This week has been interesting, there have been a lot of changes! First of all, I got transferred to a new area. I left Herriman after being there for four months and took my talents to the city of Alpine. I spent most of Monday night and Tuesday packing my stuff up and trying to say goodbye to people in Herriman. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch everyone I wanted to, but maybe I'll be able to go back sometime, and if not, there is always after my mission! The transfers happened Wednesday morning, and I began the next phase of my mission. My new companion is Elder Yoshida. He is from Tokyo, Japan. He's 27 and a convert to the church, so he's got a really strong testimony. He also really likes Michael Jackson. He really just likes music in general, but Michael is definitely his favorite.

We spent a good part of Wednesday through today just trying to get me introduced to the new area. It's a beautiful area, we are way up in a cove sort of, so there are mountains pretty much surrounding us. It's awesome! I still don't know hardly anyone in the area, but I still have at least six more weeks to figure it out. I've already met several people that have connections to back home, which is crazy to think about. The world is already a small place, and the church just makes it smaller!

We were only able to do a little bit of service. We helped put up some retaining wall bricks for a lady. They were these brick mold pieces made by one of our ward members that works at The Home Depot. They had put an earlier model up a few years ago, but they were falling apart and didn't look all that great. The replacements look really good though! We also helped a family move in to their new home in our area.

Well, that's about all I have this week. We're trying to build up the area right now, so there isn't a whole lot going on yet, but hopefully we'll be able to find some more work! I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Orchard

A panorama of most of our area

The donkey of a lady that we are trying to teach

Utah has some pretty decent sunsets

Elder Yoshida and me

Service

Hey everybody!

This last week has been good, a little slow, but it's still been awesome! We did a lot of service this week and a few other things as well. We were able to find some productive things to do though!

The first half of this week was interesting. Since it was the end of the month, we were running out of miles. On Wednesday we had about 20 miles left, and it takes 10 miles just to drive our area and back, so we had to be really careful. At about 3:00 we parked our car and walked around all the rest of the day. It's really refreshing to be able to walk around and enjoy the nice summer weather! Plus it's a lot less awkward to talk to people when they're already outside rather than driving up to them in a car. It has its ups and downs, but overall we enjoyed it.

On Thursday we had the first official "Combined District Meeting", which is just a fancy way of saying Zone Training Meeting without actually calling it a zone meeting because zone meetings aren't allowed to happen anymore. I had the opportunity to conduct the meeting, which was really easy but it still stressed me out because I like to make mountains out of molehills. It was a really great meeting and I learned a lot!

Another way we were able to spend time this week was by doing a lot of service! We spent a couple hours painting toy cars for a charity that donates them to kids in need. I was a bit low on creativity at first, but I just started painting and he creativity flowed through me! The Friday after that we helped a nonmember move out of her apartment. She is relocating down to St. George, so unfortunately we won't be able to help her unpack everything when she gets there, but we made sure that the missionaries in St. George were there and able to help out! Hopefully we were able to plant a few seeds and she will accept the gospel into her life!

Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot that we did this week. We put in a lot of work and we are starting to see the fruits of our efforts! I hope everyone has a great week and I hope I hear from you all soon!

Elder Orchard

A flower I made out of play dough

Our zone this transfer

Our zone again

A rainbow we saw