11 Months!!

Bonjour,

How is everyone doing? I'm doing pretty good. Not a lot has happened, but we got some big news this week, so I'll fill you in on that.

As for the sector, not much has happened. We just got a bunch of work done this week, and found some new people to teach, as usual. Also, today I have 11 months on the mission, which is crazy! The time has for sure flown by over here. This next transfer, I'll hit my year mark, which is crazy to think about. I still feel like a new missionary haha.

As for this transfer, it has come to an end this week. We got our transfer calls on Saturday night, and got some exciting news. So, I am getting transferred to the Hedzranaweo Ward, and getting a new missionary from the Congo. He is not a new missionary, but new to the mission, so I'll have to show him how this mission works. We are both going to be new to the area, which should he fun. In our apartment, we have another companionship as well. One elder from the Congo is staying there, and he will be training a brand new missionary from the United States, so that should be fun. I'm a little worried about the move, but I'm sure it will be fine.

As for my companion right now, Elder Mahoungou, he will be staying in this area, and training a new missionary. That means that he will be in this area for about 7 months in total, which is why I was surprised that I was getting moved, and not him. Nonetheless, I know he'll be a great trainer, and he shouldn't have any problems. 

Other than that, things are going pretty good so far. I'm enjoying the work, and time is flying by, so I can't complain. I hope everyone is having a great summer, and a great day. 

Peace and blessings, 

Elder Orchard

Ça va aller

Bonjour!

How's everyone doing? I hope everyone is doing alright, and summer is going well! This week has been kind of rough, but we'll get into that. 

First of all, this week has been pretty good, weather wise. I don't know what it's like back home in Nebraska, but over here it's been pretty cool. For example, today it is overcast, with a breeze, and I'd say it's about 70°. I'd even say it's a little cold! It's been pretty nice to get a break from the sun, and 90° weather, that's for sure.

On another note, this week has been pretty bad with our friends. It just seems like none of then want to progress, and come to church. Sometimes it feels like they just want to talk, to talk to us. It gets pretty frustrating, especially when they promise to keep commitments, and promise to come to church and everything. When they don't do those things, it gives us a false sense of hope. I'd rather them be direct with us, so that we can focus our time on other friends, but at the same time, I know that the mission isn't easy. We're gonna have difficulties, and the mission is gonna be hard no matter what. That's why I titled this email "ça va aller" meaning, it's gonna be alright. I know that I'll look back on this time, and be grateful for the difficulties I've had, and how I've learned from them.

On another note, the transfers are coming to an end soon, and I have no idea what's gonna happen. This Saturday, we will get the transfer call, and see what is going to happen. Elder Mahoungou has been here for 3 transfers already, so he could easily leave, but there's also a chance that we stay together. The only thing I'm pretty sure about is staying here. Whatever happens will happen though, and I'm good either way. I'll update next week with what happens.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week, and a great last little bit of summer. These past couple of months have flown by for me, as I'm sure they have for all of you! 

Take care, and I'll try to update this more frequently. 

Elder Orchard

A couple photos of me and my companion, and a photo of this cool open field that we found, while exploring the sector.

Bonne semaine à Kpogan!

Bonjour!

How's everyone doing? How is summer? I hope everyone is doing well, and staying safe. It's been a while since I updated this, but I'll try to inform you on everything that's going on.

First of all, I'm in my new area, Baguida 2, with my companion, Elder Mahoungou. We meet in the Baguida ward building, but we work mostly in another sector, called Kpogan. It's kinda far, and we take a taxi to the sector everyday. On the day's that we don't have church, weekly planning, or district council, we will spend the whole day in Kpogan, eating lunch and everything there. It's hard for our investigators to come to church, because of the distance, but soon here there will be a split in the ward, and we will have a building in Kpogan.

My new companion is awesome. We get along great, and are having an awesome time together. He's a hard worker, and super positive, which has been a great change. He just got out of training, but he is already an amazing missionary. The days and weeks have gone by, and I can't believe that it's already been 4 weeks since this transfer started. 

The work in the sector is pretty good. My first week here, we had two baptisms, but obviously that was Elder Mahoungou, and his last companion, Elder Fowers, who did all the preparation. Cool story though, so, Elder Fowers took my place in Attiegou, and I took his place here. Well, he baptized one of my investigators, and I baptized two of his, so we actually got to go to each other's areas for the baptisms. So, we did a mini-exchange that day, so I got to go to my investigator's baptism, and he to his.

We had a multi-zone activity last week, and because there are only 2 zones in Togo, all the missionaries in Togo were there. It was nice to see a bunch of my friends from the other zone, that I haven't seen in a while. It was a pretty great day. We played Spikeball on the beach, played cards, caught up with each other, and just enjoyed the day on the beach. The beach we were at was super nice as well, and we got free food. It was an awesome day. Except that, since it was overcast, I thought I didn't need sunscreen, and got absolutely fried. However, the reason for the activity was the 10 year anniversary of the Benin Cotonou Mission. It's crazy to me that Benin and Togo have had their own mission for only 10 years. It's awesome seeing the growth here, and helping build up the church. 

Speaking of that, it's crazy to see the growth of the church here in Togo. I know someone, Brother Haycock, from back home who served in this same mission less than 10 years ago. I was catching up with him, and told him I was going to Baguida. He told me that he served in Anfame (pretty far from Baguida), and Baguida was part of their ward boundries, and there was one family that lived out there. Now, Baguida is almost ready to split, and expand the church over into Kpogan. It's crazy to me how much the church has grown in less than 10 years! It definitely shows that the work that missionaries do is working, which is awesome!

Other than that, not much else is going on. Just working, and enjoying my time out here so far.

I hope everyone has a great week, and a great summer so far! I'll attach some photos of my time over here!

Au revoir,

Elder Orchard

Me at the beach

Last zone conference for Elder Pace, our ZL

My companion, a magician

Selfie with a cute kid

My companion and I at the mountain of bottles

The statue of liberty, of Togo

We have the coast in our area, which is pretty cool

Moving Areas

Bonjour,

I hope that everyone is doing great, and having a good summer so far. Luckily, we are in the rainy season here, so it's a little bit cooler, instead of it being 95 and sunny everyday. I heard it has been hot back home, so sorry about that.

Things have been going pretty good for me these last couple of weeks. As you know, Elder Osime got transferred mid-transfer, so I had Elder Kouadio as my companion these last three weeks. I was a little worried, because he doesn't speak any English, and I didn't think my French would be good enough. However, things have gone pretty good, and communication hasn't been a problem. These last three weeks have gone by quicker than I thought they would. 

A couple of weeks ago, we had Zone Conference and interviews. Zone Conference was pretty good, and I learned a lot of things. President Proudfoot talked about the importance of teaching the first lesson, in the right way. Too many companionships will take too long on each principle, especially the first half of the lesson, and not be able to finish the lesson in one visit. He stressed that the core of our message is The Restoration, the Book of Mormon, and Prayer. He stated that the first five principles of our message are important, but not as important, because other churches teach a lot of those same things, like prophets, and the ministry of Jesus Christ. I thought it was a great teaching, and will be a great tool that every companionship can use.

As for other news, we had a baptism this last weekend. We baptized a 9 year old girl, whose parents are members, and active. I don't understand why she wasn't baptized when she was 8, but once she turns 9, it becomes our responsibility to teach, and baptize her. It was a good service, and I am happy for the decision she made. Also, we got the transfer calls this last Saturday. We got the call early in the morning, and I answered it. Elder Kouadio was in the shower, and I told the AP's that, but they decided to give me my transfer news, and call him back later. I got the news that I'm being transferred out of Attiegou, and going to work in Baguida, with Elder Mahoungou. He is from the Congo, and doesn't speak any English either. Also, he just got out of training, so I will be the senior companion, which will be a new experience for me. Elder Osime knows him very well, and said that he is just the coolest guy, and hardest worker, so I'm excited. Also, in Baguida, we will have 4 missionaries in that apartment, so I'm excited for that as well.

Well, that was my biggest news this week. I'm finally leaving Attiegou after over 5 months here. I've loved the sector, members, and the work, but it was time for a change. I mean, I am almost at a year, and just now moving the my third area haha. But, other than that, I am doing good, and things are going well for me.

I hope everyone is doing great, and having a good summer so far.

Elder Orchard

Elder Osime is Gone

Hey Everyone!

How is everyone doing? I'm doing alright. I don't really feel like writing an update, but I figure that I'd better, since it's been a couple of weeks.

Well, I had Elder Osime as my companion, and things were going great. We were getting along, and having a really good time. Then, we learned about something that happened in the mission, and we knew that some emergency transfers were going to be happening soon. So, on Friday night, after working in our area, Elder Osime and I bought some things to make for dinner, and headed back to the apartment. After about 5 minutes, we recieved a call from the President of our mission. He was going to transfer Elder Osime, and give me a new companion. So, just like that, he left the next morning. It really stinks because we got along really well, and worked together really well. I've been in Attiegou for 4 transfers, so I figured that we'd only get one transfer together, but we didn't even get that.

Now, my new companion is Elder Koadio. He is from Ivory Coast, and he doesn't speak any English at all, which will be fun. We've only been companions for one full day, but things are going good so far. It will be nice to speak only French, to make sure I still remember it. With Elder Osime, it was all English, which probably didn't help.

As far as our area, it is doing well. We are preparing a couple differnet people for baptism, and will probably have about 4 more baptisms this trasfer. Keep our friends in your prayers, that they'll be able to progress well, and move towards baptism. 

Other than that, nothing much new to report. I'm doing well, and my sector is doing well. This week I'll hit 9 months on the mission. If i was a sister missionary, I'd be halfway done haha. However, I cherish that I still have 15 more months to serve the Lord here in Africa.

I hope everyone is doing well, and has a great week, and a great summer!!

Elder Orchard

Welcome to Attiegou!

Hello Everyone,

How has everything been? I hope all is well with everyone. Things have been pretty amazing this past week, so I'll fill you in on that.

First of all, transfers were this past week and I got a new companion! My new companion is Elder Osime. He is originally from Nigeria, but has grown up in the United States most of his life. He has about a year and a half on the mission, and he is an awesome missionary. Also, he's like 6'9''. I'm super excited to spend this transfer with him, working here in Attiegou.

So, I do have a pretty awesome missionary story from this past week. On Tuesday night, Elder Osime's first night here, we met with one of our friends. I was just introducing my new companion to some of our friends, and also asking them if they needed any kind of service. Usually they say no, and this friend in particular always says no, but Elder Osime convinced her to say yes. She eventually did say that she needed some help, so we came back the next day. When we came back, we weren't completely sure what we were going to be helping with, but we were ready to do anything. However, we were a little surprised when she said that she needed help to move some logs that were at her other house. We were guided there by her son, to a house not too far, but probably like 200 meters away. Also, we were in our proselyting clothes, so white shirts and ties. I started with a pretty big log, and it was easy at first, but the house was a lot farther than I thought. We continued doing this service for about an hour, and then helped their neighbors with some tree branches. It was really awesome to see how joyful they were after we offered our service. After this, our white shirts were just wrecked. The logs were pretty dirty, and they had tree sap all over them. However, it was awesome to offer our service, even if the stains won't come out of my shirt. It will make for an awesome souvenir.

Last night, we were at a members house, and we helped cook dinner. Elder Osime and I made a sauce, and pate. I tried helping, but every time I tried to do something, I did it wrong haha, and the member did it for us. I'm sure that I'll learn one day. Other than that, we are continuing to work hard in the sector, and inviting people to listen to our message. We had an awesome week this last week, and it has been awesome to work with Elder Osime. I can't wait for what happens this transfer.

I hope everyone has an awesome week, and I'll be sure to attach pictures down below!

Elder Orchard

Pictures:

- My shirt after Service 

- After service

- Elder Osime and I

- Some pictures of the sector

Baptisms!!

Hello Everyone!

It's been an awesome week! So many things have happened, so I'll try to fill you in. 

So, I'll start off with a little bit of a funny story. So, a couple of weeks ago we had Zone Conference. Well, before Zone Conference, I knew that I needed to get a haircut. I have clippers and some scissors, but I'm still too scared to do it myself. However, I was talking to the same guy that gives my companion his haircuts, and he said he could cut my hair. I asked if he knew how, about 100 times. He assured me that he did, and then I asked him if he had cut hair like mine before, and he said yes 3 times. Plus, it was only gonna be 1000 cfa, which is a little less than $2. So, I figured I'd try it. I get there, and I'm asking again, just making sure. I even pick up the scissors, and asked if he knew how to cut the top with them. Anyways, he starts on the sides and back, and is doing a really good job. Then, I see him change the guard on the clippers, and to my horror, he just goes right off the top. I didn't even say anything, it was too late. I just accepted it at that point haha. In the end, the only thing he used the scissors for was to cut some stray hairs. Overall, I don't think it looks too bad.

Anyways, I don't know how many of you saw this, but we had a collective baptism session this last Saturday! Elder Kazadi and I had four of our friends get baptized! Overall, between us, our district, and a couple other sets of missionaries, I'd say we baptized around 30 people in one day, which is insane. In fact, two Elders from our district had 12 people get baptized in one day. It wasn't all easy getting there though. The meeting was supposed to start at 2 PM, but because of some communication errors, and other things, we didn't even get there until about 2:30 PM. Also, when we got there, already late, only 2 of our friends were there. Thankfully, the other 2 showed up shortly after, and we were able to start the meeting. It was so awesome to see so many people get baptized!

Other than that, I have no real big news. We are in the last week of the transfer, and I wouldn't be surprised if Elder Kazadi gets transferred. He's been here for 4 transfers, about 6 months, and I've been here for about 2.5. I'm excited to see what happens.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Orchard 

- pictures from the baptisms

- some pictures of our area