Scrab the Beetle

Bonjour!

This has been quite the week.

First of all, on Tuesday we had District Council. Our district changed a little bit a couple of weeks ago, with the addition of Elder Osime, and his trainee. His trainee is coming straight from Online MTC, so he didn't get a reassignment or anything, which is crazy to think about, with almost everyone in the past year getting reassigned. However, I have heard of a lot more places opening up, which is good! The Zone Leaders came down to join us for district council, which was good. They shared some training, which is always good.

On Wednesday night, we found out that the next day we would be having a conference with Elder Martinez, the President of the Africa West Area, and his counselor, Elder Kacher, of the Seventy. Apparently, Elder Martinez was just flying through Togo, and had a long layover, and decided that he would call a last minute conference. He shared his conversion story, and how the power of the Holy Ghost impacted it. It was a really great teaching, and I got a lot out of it. Mostly because Elder Martinez doesn't speak French, so he gave it in English, and a translator provided the French haha. So, I definitely understood the English. Then, Elder Kacher, who speaks French, gave a teaching/question and answer, mostly about the importance of following rules.

Some good news this week, we got two people on date for baptism for next weekend! One of them is Godwin, who is Djo's son, the man we baptized about a month ago. When we asked the question, on Wednesday, of when he wanted to be baptized, he responded ''um, Thursday?'' So, I would say that he's pretty excited to be baptized. The other is Amasi, who is pretty elect, to say the least. She came to church last week, by herself. Then, when we taught her on Wednesday, for the first time, we put her one date to be baptized. She is super receptive, and I can tell that she really believes, and wants to be baptized.

Nothing too crazy happened this week, except something yesterday. So, when it was about time to leave for church, it started raining. I thought, ''no big deal, I'll just grab my umbrella.'' Welp, turns out I left that in North Carolina. I did have my rain jacket, but that didn't really help. We walked for 30 minutes in the rain to church, and by the time we got there, we were soaked. However, when church started, the rain stopped. But then, right as church was coming to an end, it started raining again. So, we walked back home for another 30 minutes in the rain. Fun times. I guess we are starting to enter the raining season here, so I'm guessing that will happen more often.

That's about it for me for this week. Hope everyone has a great week. Oh, and I actually have pictures this week!

Elder Orchard

 

 This is the edge of our area haha

 

My friend Scrab, the beetle

 

Elder Kazadi and I

 

 

6 Months and My Birthday!

Hello Everyone!

So, this was a pretty monumental week for me. First of all, last Tuesday, the 2nd, I officially hit 6 months on my mission. Only 18 left. Also, yesterday was my birthday! I turned 19, but I'm sure you could have guessed, it was like any normal day. My parents said that they'll bake me two cakes when I get back, for the two birthdays I'll have on my mission, so I've got that to look forward to haha!

It's been two weeks since I've updated you guys, but not too much has happened. A couple of weeks ago, I went on an exchange with one our zone leaders, who is American. It was awesome. He told me before the exchange that we were going to try to speak only in French, but that definitely didn't happen haha. We spoke in English the whole time, and that was nice. It was also nice to learn from someone that has been in the same situation that I'm in, and he was able to give me some great advice, in terms of learning French, and everything else.

Also, last week we had zone conference again. For zone conference, we had two elders staying with us, just for one night, because they're too far away to make the trip in the morning. They are the same Elders who stayed with us for last zone conference, so it was nice catching up with them. Zone conference was pretty good too. I didn't understand a ton of it, but I actually understood a lot more this time than I did last time! It was also nice to catch up with all the Elders that came in the same time as me, and see how they are doing. Also, they fed us lunch, and that was pretty good too haha.

As far as the people we are teaching, they are doing ok. We have a lot of people we are teaching, but not a lot that are progressing. Nobody wants to come to church for some reason. We did have a couple at church yesterday, so that was good. One of them is a younger girl, and she asked me yesterday ''When is your birthday?'' and I said ''umm, today'' and she didn't believe me because usually when you ask someone when their birthday is, they don't say today haha. 

Other than that, things are pretty normal. Sorry, I don't have any crazy stories from Africa this time, maybe next time. I hope everyone has a great day and a great week!

Elder Orchard

 

 

 

 

 Here is a picture of our apartment, from the front. Its pretty big haha

 

This was my birthday present this year. I'm starting to stock up the African style ties.

 

 Here is a screenshot of me getting to talk to my family on my birthday!

 

 When the other elders stayed at our apartment, we visited Sr. Aimee, and she wanted to arm wrestle lol

 

 

Some Bad Fish!

Hello Everyone,

This week was pretty normal as well. On P-Day, we didn't really do much, and by that I mean we literally did nothing. That's alright, it was nice to just relax, especially since we've been working really hard.

On Tuesday, we started off the day by going to Sr. Mariame's store, and doing some service for her. She own's a little washing/dry cleaning place, and she also sells some clothes as well. We washed her display windows, as well as just talked with her. She has a really awesome story! Also, she speaks a little bit of English, which was nice because she was able to help me out with my French, which I needed. After that, we had a normal day of proselyting. In the evening, we went to buy some sauce for FouFou, which had fish in it. They tell us to always be cautious when buying food here, but for the most part we've been ok. Well, I went to bed on Tuesday night feeling a little bad, and needless to say....I got sick. I was only sick for a day, but it was pretty awful. We didn't go out at all on Wednesday, and it made for a really long day. But, we were able to get back out on Thursday!

Friday, and Saturday were pretty normal days of proselyting. We had a ton of lessons on Saturday, and we have some people that are really close to baptism! On Sunday, we went to church, and that was normal. I still have no idea what was said in sacrament meeting. Then, after church, we went out with the Elder Ndasi and Elder Oler, who are in our district, because that night we had a devotional to watch at the stake center. The devotional was by Elder Neil L. Anderson, and his topic was about believing in Christ, and preparing for his second coming. The whole thing was in French, except for one video they showed in English, which was awesome. I understood that part. Haha, but I actually understood for the most part what the devotional was about! Obviously, I didn't pick up every word, but I got the general meaning. I think I'm progressing with French, which is good.

Welp, I don't have many pictures this week, and by that I mean I don't have any haha. Sorry, I know I'll regret not taking many pictures in the future, so I'll try to be better!

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Elder Orchard 

Frère Djo and Sœur Bernadette

Hello Everyone,

Welp, it was another hard but rewarding week!

To start off, last week on our P-Day, we went to the beach. It was super cool, and a great experience. At the edge of the water, the breeze was coming in, and it was kind of overcast, so for once it wasn't super hot, and it actually felt really nice. We went there with our district, so it was also fun to hang out with some other missionaries as well.

This week, it rained a couple of times, so everything was just flooded for a couple of days. After the first day it rained, I put on the sandals, and now I can say I have that classic foreign missionary story of tracting in the water, haha just kidding. I'll attach some pictures below of what it looks like when it rains. 

This week was the preparation week for our friends Djo and Bernadette to get baptized, and yesterday they did get baptized! I was super excited for them. On Saturday night, Elder Kazadi asked me "Hey, do you want to do the baptisms?" and I said "sure." I was a little scared, mostly because I had to do it in French, but it wasn't too bad! Other than having to redo Sr Bernadette's baptism once, and only baptizing in a foot of water, everything went well. 

Also, we got transfer news this week, and I'll be staying in Attiegou for at least another 6 weeks, with Elder Kazadi. I am excited about that, because Elder Kazadi is a great missionary, and also I'm not so sure that I'm ready to run the area haha, but I'll have another 6 weeks here to get everything down, and hopefully improve my French a little bit.

Well, that is pretty much it for this week! Talk to you all next week!

Elder Orchard

 

 

 Djo and Bernadette

 

 The beach

 

 After the rain

 

French is Hard

Hello Everyone!

Another week down in Togo. This week went by a lot faster, and we got some great things accomplished!

First of all, we have two people on date for baptism this Saturday! The first one, Djo, we have been teaching for not very long. My first day here we had the second lesson with him, and this past week we challenged him to baptism. The second one, Bernadette, I think has been taught for a while. I just met her last week, and she is already getting baptized on Saturday, so that's super cool!

This past week was another hot one, but I think I'll be saying that a lot. Hopefully I'll get adjusted to the heat after a while, or its gonna be a long two years haha. It also rained in the middle of the night, and it was raining so hard, and it was so loud, that it woke me up. After I went back to bed, and woke up again, I looked outside and the streets were just flooded. Most of the roads here are dirt, so it was just a muddy mess.

We had our first district council this past week, and its safe to say that I had no idea what was going on. Actually, its safe to say that I never know what's going on,  because of French. I'll get the hang of it eventually, but right now I don't know what anyone says. I think I'm improving though. I've started to be able to say more and more things in the lessons, and I think it's getting better.

Well, if you'd believe it, this was actually a pretty uneventful week here in Togo. I'm sure I'll have many more things to write in the weeks to come though.

I hope everyone has a great week, and stay warm Nebraska!

Elder Orchard

Some ties that Elder Kazadi and I are making from a fabric that some members gave us

Some streets in Togo

Some streets in Togo

10 Years, I Mean Days, in Africa

Hello everyone!

Well, as I'm sure you all know, I made it to Africa! After many flights, security checks, and customs, I finally made it to Benin...just to find out I'd be going to Togo, on another flight, with more security checks and customs. 

We got into Benin late on Friday night, and some of us got taken to stay at the mission home, while others went to different places with different elders. Little did we know, the Elders that got taken to the mission home would be assigned to Togo, I being one of them. We stayed the night there, and the next morning we got breakfast, and some training. After training, the Elders that were assigned to Benin went to their assignments right away, while the Elders going to Togo had to wait. See, when we got into Benin, we had to get tested for Covid, and they took our passports until our test results came back, and we weren't able to go to Togo until Monday. So for Saturday and Sunday, we would get to stay in the mission home, which had AC, and hot water, and they made us three meals a day. Also, we went out proselyting on Saturday and Sunday, with the AP's and Office Elders, because there are no restrictions in this mission! We can go out proselyting, knocking doors, and inside peoples homes, because for these countries, Covid hasn't been an issue. 

On Monday, we flew out to Togo, which was pretty hectic. After finally making it, on a very long 24 minute flight, we went to the Stake center, and met our companions, and went to our new areas. I am with Elder Kazadi, who is from the Congo, and our area is called Attiegou. We are in Lome, the capitol of Togo, which is where most of the missionaries are in Togo. Elder Kazadi speaks pretty good English, which has been such a blessing. My French is not as good as I thought it was haha.

After we got settled it, we started proselyting right away. We spent all of last week out in the city teaching lessons, and getting to know people. Everyone here is so nice, and receptive to our message. In fact, we found like 6 new people in two hours, which was pretty awesome. I can't really understand what they say to me, but I kind of just smile and say ''Bonjour'' or ''Bonsoir'' depending on the time of day. Also, all the little kids here love me. Whenever I walk by, they sing ''Yovo, Yovo, Bonsoir'' which, Yovo is what they call white people, and bonsoir for good evening. I just smile, and wave, and say bonsoir, and they love it. 

Other than that, things are pretty normal. It's taken a while to adjust to the different culture, and everything else they do differently here. It's also so hot here, all the time too. I'll get up at 6:30, and it's already hot outside. It probably doesn't help that I came over here in January, where it was a lot colder in North Carolina. But yeah, things are going pretty well.

I hope everyone has an awesome day, and an amazing week!

Elder Orchard

We were walking home one night, Elder Kazadi felt a raindrop and looked at me and said ''Run'' and this is what I looked like when we got home!

Elder Kazadi and I doing service.

Elder Kazadi and I at Zone Conference.

Getting Prepared for Benin

Hello Everyone!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. So, I'm not sure who knows this and who doesn't, but I am headed out to Benin on January 21. Yep, that's this Thursday! I am super excited, and it's way earlier than I thought that I'd be going out, that's for sure! 

Transfers happened this past week, and because I am headed out to Benin soon, I got transferred up to Raleigh. I'm super sad to leave Leland. The members there were so awesome, and the missionary work was starting to take off. I'm sure that Elder Alexander and his new companion will do great though! It's super cool up here in Raleigh. The only downside is that I'll only be here for about a week, which stinks because the members here are so awesome! We got to meet a bunch of them yesterday at church, and over the past week, as some of them have been signing up to feed us. I wish I could stay longer, but I am also super excited and ready to get out to Benin!

I'll only end up spending about three months in North Carolina, but it has been a blast so far. I've met so many wonderful people, and had some weather that I can't complain about. But in all seriousness, it has been an awesome couple of months, but I am ready to head to Benin, and serve the people there. I have some tough challenges ahead of me, but I know that as I rely on the Lord, that I can get through those challenges, and I am so ready for them.

I'll try to keep y'all posted as much as possible from Benin. 

Au Revoir

Elder Orchard

 

 I finally got to see the ocean before I left the Wilmington area!

 

This is where I'll be going in Africa