Feed My Sheep

Well guys, I don’t really know where to begin this week. It’s not like its been particularly exciting, I just feel like there’s been a lot of growth and learning, and set up for success in the future. As far as teaching goes, we’ve got a few people we’re working with. One is a lady from a polygamist background, named Cheri, and her son, Xander. They both want to be baptized, its only a matter of going through some big long interview process and making sure they’re getting to church. They’re golden! We also started meeting with these two kids named Justin and Kylie. Both of them want to be baptized and we even set at a baptism date for early July as a goal. The only problem is that neither of them are too excited to sit for the lessons and aren’t too fond of reading scriptures, saying prayers, or going to church, the small and simple things that are like the most important things anyone can do in this life. So if y’all could pray for them, anything is helpful. There’s one more woman we’re trying to teach. Her name is Dominique. She wants to meet, but is always so busy working that it’s hard to meet. But I’m optimistic!

There were other things that went on this week, namely lots of service and finding, but the thing that really stole the show this week was the Jordan River Temple Dedication on Sunday and the Youth Cultural Celebration that preceded it on Saturday. Starting with the celebration, it was just a really awesome opportunity to learn more about temples and specifically the Jordan River temple. I have to admit, I was really jealous at a lot of points because I never had the opportunity to participate in a cultural celebration like it, and I was kind of jealous of all the youth who were so talented at things I could’ve been talented at but never took the time or worked hard enough. The Spirit kept prodding me with the same response to those thoughts that was honestly really comforting, and I hesitate because I don’t want to make it seem like you don’t need to develop talents or anything, no please work hard and keep working on your talents and skills that you can use to bless the lives of others. The impression that I kept getting was this: in the end, after all is said in done and in the judgement at the last day, it isn’t going to matter what skills I did or didn’t hone or if someone was better than me at something. The salvation, exaltation, and eternal life that I receive won’t be any less glorious than anyone else’s, at least as long as I am faithful. I am just as eligible for all of the blessings of heaven because Christ’s atoning sacrifice is infinite and God is no respecter of persons. The only thing we should be worried about in this life is how faithful we are to are Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.

The next day during the temple dedication the session was really special. I won’t go into too much detail because it is a sacred ordinance, but I will say that President Eyring bore one of the most powerful testimonies I’ve ever heard of the sealing power of temple marriage and the promise of resurrection. It was all the more real when he mentioned the fact that his wife is in failing health. I won’t say that it made me cry, but I was honestly so close. Guys, the message and importance of temples is really so simple. We can be with our families forever. For those of you who have lost loved ones, I know what it’s like and I know it hurts now, but the “sting of death” is really, honestly, truly, and completely “swallowed up in Christ.” (Mosiah 16:8). I promise you that you can have greater peace and happiness through learning more about these things, so please let me know if your interested, we’ll get you set up. I’d love to hear from you, but until then peace out!

Elder Orchard

“Feed my sheep” -John 21:17

Happy Mother's Day!

Hi there friends and family, it’s good to get to talk to you all again. Well some of you. Kind of. I guess with these I’m the one doing all the talking. But anyway, its been a good and busy week, which is always nice. Transfers happened and I’m up in Riverton now. It’s a zone, but it’s also small enough that it’s only one district, so it’s been interesting getting used to that. I did my Mother’s Day call on Saturday evening since it worked better for my family, so Sunday was kind of just like every other Sunday, hour after hour of church. I did get to give a talk in one though! Well, it was more of a testimony by the time my turn came around. I was told to prepare for 12 minutes, but after two testimonies from former members of the relief society who got released, four youth speakers, a special musical number from the primary, and my companions talk, we were already over time and I didn’t want to take too much more. So yeah, another week in the books. They keep going faster and faster. It’s crazy whenever people ask me what my plans are after the mission. I’ve been able to say that I’m going to school this fall, which is still crazy to think.

So for my talk, we were asked to share about the influence that the Spirit of Motherhood has had in our lives, or something like that. While I was preparing, I decided that the spirit of motherhood, at least to me, could be summed up in three characteristics: love, nourishment, and example. All three of them are important things I saw in my own Mom growing up, both in spiritual and physical ways. I’ve also seen them in my step-mom Lisa as she’s taken on the role of mother in our family since my Mom passed away. From Lisa’s example, I also noticed that motherhood isn’t reserved to those with biological children. Motherhood, in my opinion, is determined by a desire to care for and cherish a son or daughter of God. Because of that, I am deeply grateful for all of the Mother figures in my life, both before my mission and my mission. I’ve changed and grown so much from the influence of those women in my life and I am forever indebted to them for their selfless services to me. I hope that I can at least in some small part repay them through my service to others.

That’s it for this week folks, remember to go out and hug a mother or two and make their day. Even if you don’t know them. Just make sure you get their permission first. Have a great week!

Elder Orchard

Only picture this week is a Nativity LEGO set I found in our apartment and built. Sorry guys, I’ll try to have more next week!

Shakin' Things Up

Hey there boys and girls, it’s Monday again. That means another week has come and gone, and let me tell you what, it’s been a riot. Forget the formalities, I’m just gonna jump right into the details.

First off, we started the week strong with MLC on Tuesday. It was a really long meeting and lasted from 9:00 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m., but really the only part that mattered was the first hour and a half. To be honest, I didn’t really pay that much attention to the rest afterwards. Elder Brian K. Taylor of the Seventy came and gave a training about being bold and giving both the blessings of obedience and the negative results of disobedience. He used Doctrine & Covenants 33:1 a lot and even had a real life sword to get his point across. Needless to say, he made a big impact on all of us. I just wish I would’ve heard that training 21 months ago because now I feel like I’ve been doing missionary work all wrong. We even got a sword ourselves to use in our Combined District Meeting, so we got to have a lot of fun with it.

We did a lot of service throughout the week, things like weeding a garden and building a chicken coop. We built the coop on Saturday before going to one of our ward’s Cinco De Mayo parties, which was an event you’d have to be at to truly appreciate. Not because the chips and salsa were special at all, but because of our new friend Josh. Josh was visiting his sister that lived in the ward. He’s from somewhere in the southeast United States. Josh stopped attending church a while back, and since it was a holiday, Josh had had a few drinks. After talking to him for a while about how he believes there’re more than one Savior and a pretty entertaining game of pickup basketball with members of the ward, we decided it would be best to walk Josh home. The whole way back he was giving us a pep talk about how we need to make sure and do something meaningful with our lives and how the church has truth, but not all of the truth. He was very adamant about us searching for more truth. He kept using the logic of “Do we know who killed Tupac? No, so we don’t know everything and we need to keep searching. Don’t stop flipping searching!” (Disclaimer: He didn’t actually use “flipping”, I just figured it’d be best not to use his actual words). That whole experience was an adventure, and I will cherish it forever as I continue to look for who actually killed Tupac.

To wrap it all up, we got our transfer calls on Sunday night. Sadly, I’m getting transferred out of Saratoga Springs, and out of Utah County completely. I’m heading up to Riverton, which will most likely be my last area since it’s the start of my second to last transfer. I’m pretty pumped about transfers, but a lot of other missionaries aren’t. President Killpack is shaking a lot of things up, whitewashing a lot, moving people around, and a lot of people aren’t real happy about their new companions. But oh well, life goes on and we continue serving the Lord, not ourselves. I’ve been reading a lot in the New Testament, and the early apostles, especially Peter and Paul, suffered a lot for the sake of spreading the gospel. Those two considered themselves lucky to suffer for the Lord, and while I don’t think I’m quite there yet, and I’m not really suffering that much, I still like to think that I’m getting there. I hope everyone tries to get to that point, because anything we suffer for the Lord is only a token sacrifice to Him who suffered everything for us. Think about that this week. I hope y’all are able to be a bit more Christ-like, cause I’m trying to be myself and I need some accountability buddies. That’s all I’ve got for this week, enjoy the extended edition and God bless!!

Elder Orchard

“Hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword” -D&C 33:1