Reassignment! - Week 2/3

Bonjour toute le monde!

First of all, sorry to everyone for no blog post/update last week. There’s just not much to report on, especially since we are basically doing the same thing everyday, with the exception of what we are learning. I might just do an every other week blog, until I enter the field.

However, I do have some BIG news. So, as most of you know, I pretty much knew that I was going to get reassigned. With Covid-19 still looming, and the pandemic still in effect, I knew I wasn’t going to go to Benin right away, and get a new calling in the United States. Well, this past Tuesday, I got that reassignment. Sometime in mid-October I will be reporting to the North Carolina Raleigh mission, which is just crazy! I was hoping for Hawaii, and I got about as far away from that as possible, but I guess that’s how that works haha. However, I am still very happy with that, and I know there are people living in North Carolina that the Lord needs me to serve. 

Other than that, things have all been going the same. I guess I never really shared a schedule of my events, so I can do that here:

Monday-Friday

6:30 - Wake Up

6:30-10ish - Workout, breakfast, personal study, some language study

10ish-1ish - My first class taught by Soeur (sister) Sorena

1ish-3:15 - Lunch/other studies

3:15-6:15 - My second class taught by Frère (brother) Lerohl

6:15-7:15 - Companion study, with my companion Elder Ward

7:15-9:30 - Dinner, studies, relax

9:30 - Try to get to bed, and get ready for the next day

I say “ish” on the times because our morning class time changes, but our afternoon class is always the same time.

Saturdays are my Preparation Days, where my schedule is at my discretion. For example, last week I helped with a church highway cleanup, then zoomed with my district, and did some studying. I also do personal study, companion study, and language study on this day.

Sundays are the Sabbath day, where I go to church, and ponder on the impact Christ has had in my life. I usually like to spend these days with my family, and still do companion, personal, and language studies.

We started doing TRC (Teaching Resource Center) lessons. The TRC is where we can teach members of our church, acting as non-members, sort of like a mock-lesson. My companion, Elder Ward, and I have been teaching this man named Josh. He is awesome. We taught him the first lesson, which was prayer. We taught him prayer because he was having trouble believing in God. I was so nervous going into the lesson, but afterwards I felt so good about our lesson. He agreed to meet with us again, and so we met him again the other night. My companion and I prepared a lesson on the Book of Mormon. We got into the lesson, and Josh asked if we could teach him more about prayer. We did not prepare a lesson on prayer, so I was a little worried, but I don’t think we could have prepared that lesson as well as we taught it. I felt so good about it, and Josh asked us to meet again, not the other way around. If this is what it feels like, just by teaching a mock-lesson, then I cannot wait to teach real people.

Other than that, not much new has happened. My district is still awesome, my companion, Elder Ward, is pretty great. Soeur Reed and Soeur Royall are my best district friends. They’re pretty awesome. We match sometimes. I know that I am doing the right thing serving this mission, and I couldn’t be more happier. Yes, French is difficult, and everything is difficult, but I know that it will all be worth it.

À la prochaine, 

Elder Orchard

Here is a flower I picked during a highway cleanup.

 

 Here is my very cluttered desk setup.

MTC Week 1

Bonjour tout le monde!

This has been a crazy week so far! So, as most of you know, I started my mission this last Wednesday, but not as a normal mission would start. Under normal circumstances, I would be in Ghana right now, preparing to speak French and teaching the people of Benin and Togo. However, because of Covid-19 and the worldwide pandemic, everyone is doing the Missionary Training Center from home. Even though I was disappointed in not going to Africa right away, I was still excited to get started!

My first day of classes went by both fast and slow. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit scared to click that zoom link at first, but I was still excited to meet the missionaries in my district, and one of my two new teachers. One teacher teaches the morning class, and the other teaches the afternoon class. Most of the first day of classes was just kind of getting to know each other, and learning what it will be like to be a missionary. Also, in the afternoon we had a mass zoom meeting/seminar that was basically a “welcome to being a missionary” meeting. There were over 400 missionaries in that meeting, which means that there were over 400 missionaries starting that day as well!

The second day of classes was a lot more language study, with a little bit of scripture study. I’m not going to lie, French is a lot harder to learn than I thought, but i’m sure that I will get it eventually. It will take some time. We also had a seminar that morning about our purpose as missionaries. It was so uplifting, and I can’t wait until I get into the field, and teach those in need!

The third day of classes was more of the same, with a seminar that morning for all those learning new languages. I knew I was struggling to learn French, but after this seminar I realized that it will take time, and not everyone gets it right away. 

I think the hardest part for me so far is all the free time. We have 3 hours of class in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, and some days we have one-hour seminars. On top of that, we have an hour to do language study, an hour for personal studies, and an hour for companion study. That sounds like a lot, but it’s at our discretion when, or even if we do it. I think i’d rather have a set schedule, but in the end it will probably be better for me.

My district consists of 12 missionaries, four sisters and eight elders. Of those people, all the sisters and two elders are going to Tahiti, two elders are going to Madagascar, two elders are going to The Republic of Congo, and my companion, Elder Ward, and I are going to Benin. My district is pretty awesome. A lot of us will just hop on a zoom call, and talk for a while most nights. It’s nice that we get along, because we’re stuck with each other for the next 6 weeks. Sister Reed is the best, but she told me to say that. But don’t tell her.

I don’t know if I will be keeping this blog every week while i’m in the MTC, mainly because I will be doing the same things for the next 6 weeks. As of right now, I’m waiting on a reassignment, which could be anywhere in the United States, for a short period of time, until I can go to Africa. I’ve heard of missionaries getting reassigned to Hawaii, and others getting reassigned to places like Wyoming. Let’s hope for Hawaii haha. But in all seriousness, I will go anywhere the Lord calls me.

That’s it for this week. Feel free to email me, i’d be happy to respond to anyone :).

This is some of my district that wanted to hang out one night.

This is my entire district, during one of our classes.

This is the large group seminar. Over 17 pages of people.

Over 400 people in the seminar!