Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and is preparing to start the new year. 2021! That's insane! 2020 has been an insane year, to say the least, and I'm sure that we are all ready to start 2021. It's crazy to think that a year ago, I was only halfway done with my senior year in high school, and now, after this week, I will have been on my mission for 4 months already! Time really does go by too fast.
As I'm sure you all knew, this past week was Christmas! I got to call my family on Christmas morning, and we even got to open presents together! I got to see Amara open the presents I got for her, a toy Baby Yoda, and a Dr. Seuss book. She cuddled the Baby Yoda gift, and it made me so happy to see that! Isn't it so awesome to give gifts and see the reaction of those you give the gift to??? It made me think of the gifts that our Savior gives to us, and how happy he is when we appreciate those gifts. I had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our savior, and really pondering the gifts that He has given us. Jesus Christ has been a great light in my life, and I can never thank him enough for the gifts that he has given us.
A couple of weeks ago, the Assistants in our mission gave us a challenge: Teach 15 lessons, whether that be member or non-member, in a week. My companion, Elder Alexander, and I thought about what kind of message would be best during this time, and obviously we decided to find a Christmas lesson. We could have gone with the Christmas story from Luke 2, or the prophetic message of Samuel the Lamanite in Helaman 14, but we decided to go for something different. We decided to share the prophesy given by Alma in Alma 7, verses 10-13. As we studied these verses, I gained a greater appreciation for our Savior, and all the things he truly suffered for us. We decided to share this message because it not only prophesies about Christ's birth, but his life, and all the things he would do for us, to fulfill the atonement. If you haven't read those verses, I highly recommend that you read them.
About a week before Christmas, my companion and I were exposed to Covid. In order to take a precaution, we quarantined until we got our test results back. Neither one of us really got sick, and our results came back negative the day before Christmas, however, we still had to quarantine during Christmas. As much as it sucked being in quarantine, I learned a couple things. First of all, the people of Leland, NC are seriously the nicest people in the world!! When we got quarantined, we reached out for some help with groceries, supplies, etc. and we got such a great response!! We definitely had a ton of food, cookies, and other things! Secondly, I learned how to better manage my time. This has always been something that I struggled with, but I guess it took being stuck inside to learn that haha. Lastly, I gained a better appreciation and knowledge for our scriptures! It's truly amazing that we have these books, and that we can read them so conveniently. It's also amazing how these scriptures were written thousands of years ago, but they can guide us through today's challenges! Also, I learned how to solve a Rubik's cube haha.
I can't wait to start 2021 as a missionary!! It's so crazy to think that 2021 will be the only year that I dedicate fully to missionary work, so I better make it a good one!
Happy New Year!
Elder Orchard
My companion and I with our awesome Christmas tree the Weaver's gave us
My Christmas decorations
The cube
Another thing I did in quarantine was buckle down on my French and make a thousand note cards haha
