Happy Halloween

Hey Everybody!

Another Monday, another week gone by, and each one feels like it’s going quicker than the last. We stayed pretty busy this week. We had interviews with President Killpack on Wednesday, those are always great experiences. I don’t think I need the reminder every transfer, but it is always nice to know and feel President’s love for me and for the other missionaries.

We also did a ton of service. We counted up the hours, we did about 9 and a half hours of service for people in our area. We saw a miracle through service too! We were raking a member’s leaves, and someone we’d had dinner with a week or so before drove by and told us about a completely inactive member who was getting kicked out by her ex-boyfriend on really short notice. We were able to run over and help her move stuff out and just be there for some support.

We’ve had a lot of teaching opportunities as well. We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators named Paul, his testimony is so strong and he would’ve been baptized months ago if it weren’t for a predicament he is in. We also met with a girl named Dannit and a guy named Fabian, both people we started teaching recently. Dannit accepted a baptismal date for November 18th (another miracle there!), but Fabian said he’d have to think about it some more first. Pray for him to feel the spirit! We’ve got a lot coming up this week too! We’re going golfing here before too long, so I’ll have to wrap this up. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! Don’t eat too much candy!

Also, shout out to my good friend Elder Clayton Redding, he just finished his first week in the mission field, serving in the Monticello area of the New Mexico Farmington mission. Good luck man!

Elder Orchard

We met some of the cutest puppies this week

 Elder Amari wrecked his bike, as a result we had to make a trip to the urgent care center:

I don’t think that’s a missionary-approved jacket, but it sure looks nice

Hard Work Brings Blessings!

Hey Everybody!

This last week was pretty exciting! We got some good work going, and we've definitely seen blessings for our hard work!

We did a lot of service this last week! We helped the same lady we helped with yard work last week again, this time we pulled some more plants out and raked up some leaves. We then helped another lady move a ton of big, heavy rocks from the back of her house to the front. We weren't really sure why we were doing it, but it was still service and we're always willing to help! We also helped some people move on Saturday morning, so we definitely put in some good work this last week!

We also had a lot of meetings, which is never fun. But we were able to balance it out with a good amount of teaching! And some great investigators too! Fabian is a new one we've been teaching recently, he's from Peru and is living with his aunt, who is a recent convert. He already committed to reading 10 pages a day from the Book of Mormon! We also met with the Baeza family again, and they were able to make it to church this week! I'm so excited to keep meeting with them and see the influence of the gospel in their lives!

We had a few miracles this week too! First off, at our correlation meeting on Wednesday one of our ward mission leaders told us about a less active family with an unbaptized daughter that decided to come to church all by themselves. They said they wanted to come to church every week! They didn't make it yesterday, but I'm not losing hope! Also, the blessings we've been receiving and the people we're able to work with is a miracle itself! I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Orchard

Only picture this week is of these way nice cars we saw parked

outside a collision repair place.

Had a Great Week!

Hey Everybody!

This last week has been a great , as always, and a lot of things happened. We had a busy Monday night last week, we ended up teaching two Family Home Evenings. Family Home Evening is a time set aside on Monday nights where a family will get together and spend time with each other. Typically it consists of a short gospel message, some kind of an activity (typically a game), a snack, and just time to hang out. They were both uplifting Family Home Evenings!

Transfers occurred Wednesday morning, but since Elder Amari and I both stayed in the area we didn't really do anything. We were still able to go transfer shopping because we weren't smart and didn't plan enough time in our schedule to go grocery shopping last Monday. There are two new missionaries in our district this transfer, both of them just got into the mission on Wednesday. We had our first district meeting of the transfer and I realized that once again I am tied for the oldest missionary in the group. It's definitely a weird feeling!

Most of the rest of the week was spent doing normal missionary things. We helped do some yard work on Tuesday and cleaned out a garage on Friday. We knocked on a lot doors, unfortunately without much success. We did begin teaching a family, they are all less active and they have a daughter who has not been baptized yet. We are looking forward to working with them further and helping them get back to activity!

That's the gist of what's gone on this last week, I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Orchard

A quote I really like.

When you have to get up early on P-Day and your companion is having
none of it.

General Conference

Hey Everyone!

These past few days have gone by pretty quick, like most of them seem to be recently. We've been doing a lot of finding and trying to get in to teach people, but it seems like everyone is either stubborn or forgetful because of how often they miss lessons. It's no problem though, they will come unto Christ on their own time and on the Lord's time, not on mine!

General Conference this last weekend was incredible! I got to go to the Sunday morning session live. They also did Music and the Spoken Word, which is always a great experience. There were so many great talks given, I don't know if I can narrow it down to a favorite. Two that were really good were Elder Zwick's talk about miracles, and President Eyring's talk from the Sunday morning session. I'm not very good at taking notes, so I'll have to wait until next week to give some of my favorite quotes. I would encourage everyone to go the lds.org and read or watch the talks from conference again, or for the first time. They will be a powerful and uplifting messages that will bless your lives.

I was also really sad to hear about the passing of Elder Hales. He was an amazing apostle and he will be missed. I know he completed his work here, and he's helping the Lord with the work in the spirit world!

A few other things happened this week. On Thursday we had our Zone Conference, which is basically an 8 hour meeting with a lunch break and a few other breaks sprinkled throughout the meeting. One focus was retraining us on Online Proselyting, which was a new training because the rest of the missionaries in the world who have devices will be able to use tools like Facebook and Skype for online proselyting. It was also my birthday this last Friday, I turned the ripe old age of 20. I'm now the same age I will be when I get home. It was nice, my companion insisted on telling everyone we talked to. He also wanted to take me to Outback Steakhouse, but I wouldn't let him. I got a nice package from my family, I love them so much!

I hope everyone has a great week! Go out and do something to serve someone today and the rest of the week. Love your neighbor, be a nice person in general, and most of all, try to be like Jesus Christ!

Elder Orchard

Pictures from General Conference: