Exchanges

Hey Everybody!

This week has been pretty great, and pretty busy. We had to take care of the rest of the exchanges for this transfer. On Tuesday I stayed in the area with Elder Michaud, and on Thursday I went to the Lakeview - Sunset Heights area with Elder McGowan. They were both pretty fun, and great learning experiences! There were a lot of big hills in Elder McGowan's area, and we played basketball with a bunch of other people on Friday morning, so my legs were super sore the rest of the week!

I was supposed to go back to Alpine on Saturday for a baptism of someone I taught in that area. You might remember him, his name is Troy. It had to be pushed back a few weeks, but it'll happen soon enough, so all is well! On Sunday the Orem Stake had their Stake conference. There were a lot of great talks! One of my favorites was by one of the High Councilman. In his talk, he compared keeping the Sabbath day holy to body building and "gains".

Later that day, we helped teach a gospel principles class about the word of wisdom. One of the biggest things I took away from the discussion was why we live the word of wisdom (and any commandment, for that matter). Many of the guidelines we follow in keeping the word of wisdom have obvious effects on our health, while others are not so apparent. Sometimes its hard to reason why we're told not to do something. But I have a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and because I know he is a Prophet, I know that the commandments that we live are direct instructions from our Heavenly Father. When we do what our Heavenly Father has instructed us to do, not only does it keep us physically and mentally clean, but it also keeps ups spiritually clean. When we are spiritually clean, we can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost in our life to teach us and comfort us. This is reason enough for me to live any of the commandments given!

One last bit of information is that we had transfer calls this morning. I'll be staying in the area, and Elder Sorensen will be going to American Fork. My new companion will be Elder Amari. I've served around him a little bit, he's an awesome Elder! It's going to be a great next transfer!

Elder Orchard

Enjoying 92% of the eclipse last Monday

Our last picture as a district for this transfer

Solar Eclipse?

Hey Everybody!

I hope you all had a great week! Mine was pretty good, and a lot of good things happened. Last Monday we had our district activity. We went and played blaster tag, which is like paintball but with this line of Nerf guns that are like little yellow balls the size of paintballs. We also did a lot of service this week. We helped dig up some weeds Tuesday morning. Our biggest day of service was on Thursday. It was move in day at Wolverine Crossing, one of the student housing apartment buildings near UVU, and our zone leaders invited everyone to come and help out. We didn't have anything planned for the day, so we ended up being there from 9:00 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon. We moved a lot of people!

The highlight of the week was the mission tour we had on Friday. Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. of the Quorum of the Seventy came and trained us for a couple hours. We talked a lot about finding people to teach. He focused on three points of how we can be successful in our finding efforts: 1) Have faith, 2) Put in work, and 3) Follow the spirit in all things. I feel that these three points will help us be successful in any and all situations in life. As long as we put our faith in Jesus Christ, work to do our part, and follow the promptings of the spirit, we will be strengthened and guided to happiness. I'm excited to see the success that comes as we follow his counsel!

We've only had a few opportunities to teach this week. We met for the first time since I've come into the area with a family that is coming back into activity. They are an awesome family and super devoted to progressing in the church! The Husband actually received the Aaronic priesthood in church yesterday, which is awesome! We're still working on finding people to teach, and I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts!

I hope everyone has a great week! For those of you within the path of the solar eclipse, enjoy it while it lasts and stay safe!

Elder Orchard

The district after our district activity

Doing some service

The cutest little dog you've ever seen

At first, we thought the cardboard cutout of the guy in the window
was an actual person just staring at us

Hey Everybody!

This week has been alright, not too much going on to talk about but I'll do my best! We started off the week Tuesday with some more exchanges (and we'll be doing more tomorrow). I went to the Lakeridge - Stonewood area with Elder Hatch while Elder Benner and Elder Michaud stayed in my area. We had a great time in Elder Hatch's area. We were pretty busy all day just contacting people, and we saw a lot of success because of it! We had at least one new investigator because of it, and we were able to set up several more teaching opportunities. I learned a lot from Elder Hatch, and I hope I was able to teach him at least something.

On Wednesday we had our district leader's meeting. It was really fun because I was able to get some ideas from some of the other district leaders in the mission. I'll be able to take some of the things I learned and help those in my district be better examples of Jesus Christ. In all honesty though, the best part of the meeting was the chance I had to see some of my missionary friends and a couple of my past companions. It's always a fun time when we get together!

The only other thing that was exciting was our district meeting on Thursday. We had the opportunity to have President Killpack attend our meeting. We did a few role plays about talking to strangers in a lot of different situations. It was great having President there to support us and give insights on how we can improve. It was a bit of a surprise for us that he even showed up. We though Sister Killpack would be coming because she had texted earlier that morning saying she wanted to come, and then President Killpack showed up! It was a pretty great experience!

That's about everything exciting that happened to us this week. I hope everyone has an awesome week, I look forward to hearing from you!

Elder Orchard
 

Got to see the Provo City Center temple this week

Some dumb picture Elder Benner and I took

Dramatic dog

When You Reach for the Sacrament, You Reach for the Savior

Hey Everybody!

This week has been great! We were able to do some pretty fun things! On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the MTC open house and help with the tours. We basically just stood there and told people where to walk. They showed us around a bit afterward, so that was pretty cool. On Thursday we did exchanges with some of the other Elders in the district, I stayed in the area with Elder Aisea. The next day we had our Combined District Meeting. I had the opportunity to give a training on how to better find people to teach by working with members and leadership. On Sunday we were pretty busy. We taught sharing time in primary in one of our wards, then we taught the teacher's council in another ward, then we went to a ward walkabout in the same ward we taught Primary and got to interact with some of the members in that ward. We totally schooled a bunch of Primary kids in some pickup basketball, haha!

One of the more interesting things I did this week was crash my bike twice. Luckily the only thing that was hurt was my pride. I didn't get any holes in my pants or shirts! The second time I was in my suit coat and just rolled through the crash. I was totally fine, and so was my suit! I sent my bike in today to get it worked on a bit. It's probably the best, the back brakes weren't working and the front brakes were about on their last leg.

One more thing I'd like to share were my thoughts during one of the Sacrament meetings this last Sunday. The day before, I had gone to the church's website at lds.org, and one of the stories on the front page had the title "When You Reach for the Sacrament, You Reach for the Savior". This had a really big impact on me and it helped me to appreciate the sacrament more. The Savior not only gave us a way to remember Him through the Sacrament, but when we take the Sacrament we are able to access the power of His grace and accept it into our lives. When we take the Sacrament, we reach up to the hand that he readily offers to help us up and cleanse us of our mistakes. I'm so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Orchard

The new addition to the Provo MTC

Training to be an umbrella model

Some of the murals from the MTC additions

Some of the murals from the MTC additions

Our zone after our combined district meeting

Our zone at our zone activity today (we played nine-square)

Things are looking up!

Hey Everybody!

This week has been pretty long, lots of biking and learning about the new area. We did a lot this week and made a lot of progress in helping others come unto Christ!

We did a pretty good amount of service this week! On Wednesday morning we helped a nonmember move a bunch of rocks and make a makeshift retaining wall/garden box wall. It was pretty fun, almost like a puzzle to get them to fit together right. On Friday we helped some other Elders help a nonmember move out of his home. We took a trailer full of stuff and had the task of fitting it all into a tiny storage unit. One again, it was like a big puzzle, but we figured it out! The guy was super grateful too! The next day we helped clean out the gutters of a less active lady. There was a bunch of gunk clogging them up, and some birds had nested there recently making it worse. Luckily the birds had flown off already, so we didn't have to deal with them. We had lots of opportunities to help out those in need this last week!

We also had lots of interactions with members this week! Last Monday night, we attended a Pioneer Day block party. There were only a few families involved, so it was really local, but it was still a great opportunity to meet people! There was another similar gathering last night, but it was for no particular reason other than it was the last Sunday of the month. Ward parties are great because we get to meet lots of people. In addition to those we taught a lot in church meetings yesterday. We helped teach two combined 3rd hour lessons, both on missionary work, then in another Ward we gave 15 minute talks each, then after that we talked to a class of youth for a bit about covenants! I was starting to lose my voice by the end of the day!

The only other significant thing that happened was when we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Tuesday. I got to spend the day in our area with Elder Singleton. It was really fun because he and I have served around each other a lot before, so we get along pretty great! It was an awesome opportunity to learn as well!

I'm looking forward to another great week to come! We have some pretty promising things planned and it's starting to look up here in Orem! I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Orchard

Sorry, no pictures is week :(