Week 1 - Leland, North Carolina

Hello everyone!

So, this has been a crazy week so far. As you all know, I flew into Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon. All of my flights went well. I was a bit worried, because I've never flown by myself before, but it all went well. I even met some other missionaries on the flight to Raleigh, and get this: one of them was a sister missionary who is Elder Ward's cousin! If you don't remember, Elder Ward was my companion in the at home MTC. He told me that I might meet her, and he was right. 

After we got into Raleigh, the Assistants to the President (APs) were there to meet us at the airport. Normally the President would be there to meet us, but he was stuck in meetings, which was understandable. That same day that we came in, around 10 or so missionaries were going home, so he had to take care of that. However, after we got to the mission office we got to meet President and Sister Maurer (pronounced more-uh). They are super nice, and they are from Australia, which is super cool! We got some training, and some dinner that night, and then we went to a hotel to stay the night.

The next day, we got to meet our new companions. My companion is Elder Alexander. He is pretty cool, you can tell that he is dedicated to the work. He will be a great trainer. We got placed in Lelend, NC, which is about as south as you can go, and only about 15 minutes from the beach! I knew I wanted to see the beach, and that is a very real possibility now! However, Elder Alexander and I have to whitewash the area. This means that they pulled the two Elders that were here before, and placed two new Elders (us) here. Normally, when someone gets transferred, one person stays, so that there is always one person that knows the area. Because we are both new here, when we got here we didn't know anybody. It has been hard, but I know that we will get through it.

The best part of North Carolina has definitely been the people. Everyone is so nice here, and I can attest that southern hospitality is real. The members of the ward were all so kind and inviting, and it was a nice welcome. We have already had meals with 3 different families of the ward, and we've been here less than a week. That part has been awesome.

Hopefully by next week we will be teaching more people, and I will have more to share.

Elder Orchard

 

 

 This is the view from our apartment. We are on the third floor.

 

There was a Christmas tree set up when we got here. Not sure whu, but we'll probably leave it up.

 

Here is kind of an overview picture of my apartment.

 

This is my desk, with all my study materials.

 

Here is my bed area.

 

 

Preparing for NC - Weeks 4/5/6

Bonjour!

Comment va tout le monde aujourd'hui?

Well, I said that I would try to send out an email at least every other week, and I failed at that. There just hasn’t been much to write about that’s new, with the same things going on everyday, but I’ll write what has been going on.

So, since I’ve been preparing to go to North Carolina, there have been some things that I’ve had to get that I wouldn’t need in Africa. For example, we had to get me a new suit. I’ll add a picture down below, but I really like it, and it fits me well. They recommended two suits, but only required one. We figured, since it’s just a reassignment, we’d get me just one suit, and send me out with one of Coleman’s old suits, which fits me well enough. I also had to get a smartphone, which is unfortunate, since my Africa mission did not require me to get a smartphone, and since North Carolina is only (hopefully) a reassignment. Plus, they have all these requirements with the specs, storage, make, model, a whole bunch of stuff. However, we did end up finding one, for a pretty good price.

So, this last weekend was General Conference. For those of you who don’t know, General Conference is basically when all the general authorities of our church meet to address the members of our church. It is held on the first weekend of April, and October every year. Normally, people can go watch the conference in Salt Lake City, but obviously due to Covid, that didn’t happen this time. However, it was still a great experience to hear from them! I’ll share some of my thoughts/favorite talks. Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared probably my favorite talk of the conference. Basically, he talked about how God has prepared us to live in this time, and that he hasn’t forgotten us. That really resonated with me because of my reassignment, and being a missionary for Covid. It really made me realize that God has planned on me going to North Carolina, and that there are people there who need my help. 

I could talk all day about what I learned from General Conference, but I’ll just share one more insight. Another talk I liked was by Gary E. Stevensen. He talks about how we can be blessed, even if we are facing afflictions. He shares the story of Nephi from the Book of Mormon, and how one of the first things he says is “having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days” (1 Nephi 1:1). The first thing that Nephi writes is that he endured many hard things, but he has also seen many blessings. I think this can be applicable to anyone, knowing that we can go through tough times, and see many hard things in our lives, but that doesn’t mean that we are stripped of God’s blessings. Those are just a few of my thoughts.

As most of you know, this past week was my last week in the MTC. Just yesterday, Friday, was my last day of classes. I am definitely not fluent in French, but I am getting better quotidien (everyday). Plus, I am going to an English speaking mission first, so that will give me some more time to polish my French. These past six weeks have definitely flown by, and I did not think they would. I still remember my first day of classes, and how stressful it was. I remember thinking that these six weeks would drag on, and I would never leave the MTC. One reason it has flown by is definitely because of the people I met here.

Now, you probably don’t know these people, but I’m going to say why I am thankful for each and every one of them. Starting off with Elder Ward, for being my companion, and being an awesome friend. Elders Comer, Albertelli, and Wright for always goofing around, and making me laugh. Elder Woolston for sharing jokes, and talking about Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and other cool stuff. Elder Weyand for being basically fluent in French, but not rubbing it in our faces, but using his skill set to help us out. Elder Woodbury for his wit, and for his epic photoshop skills (I’ll attach a photo below). Sister Schnebly and Sister Howard for their infinite wisdom, and helpfulness for when it comes to French. Also, Sister Schnebly put together this awesome video of all of us bearing out testimony that I shared on my Facebook page. Sister Royall for having an amazing testimony, and always inspiring for me to become a better missionary. And finally, Sister Reed, for always encouraging me when I am down, and for always making me laugh. Like always. Also, my teachers, Soeur Sorena and Frere Lerohl, for always believing in us, and for just being great teachers. I love and appreciate everyone in my district, and these six weeks would have gone so slow if they weren’t here.

Now, I am just ready to hop on that plane to North Carolina on Tuesday, and get ready to teach the gospel to those who need it. I can’t wait to get out there and meet my new companion, mission president, and everyone else there. It will definitely be an interesting experience, and I’ll try to keep up on my emails. Hopefully, I’ll have more to write about once I get out there, and I can keep a weekly email. I feel bad for not including much, but like I said before, it’s been more or less the same thing everyday. I’m certain that will change here soon.

Au revoir,

Elder Orchard

Here is our “District Photo” Elder Woodbury Photoshopped us all in there.

-Top Row (Left to Right) Sister Royall, Sister Reed, Elder Albertelli, me, Elder Ward, Soeur Sorena, Elder Weyand

-Bottom Row (Left to Right) Sister Howard, Frere Lerohl, Sister Schnebly, Elder Wright, Elder Woodbury, Elder Woolston, Elder Comer

Here is a little throwback, in honor of the start of October

Here is my dapper suit

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!