Spiciest Noodles Ever!
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| Me with my two England jerseys that I acquired this week. |
Wednesday: I didn't have an extremely eventful day. We had district meeting and then we got home ate some lunch, and then got out to continuing looking for people to teach. Tonight as we were eating dinner and winding down for the night we watched the restoration movie about Joseph Smith and it just really made me ponder and think about the faith and testimony he had to endure so much trails and adversity but he never once denied anything he saw. That is testimony enough that he is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true and not made up. I have a firm belief since I have been out here on my mission about just how special Joseph Smith truly was, and how special we all are as children of God.
Thursday: We had a really great day today! This morning we had amazing weather once again and we met 2 new people to teach today which was wonderful. Then tonight it was mutual and they were doing a project called "Love-in-a-Box" where we put things in a box for kids in different countries that may not get anything for Christmas and we had a lot of fun. We also helped move some furniture for an older lady in the war and she is super nice. All in all I had lots of fun serving today!
Friday: Today was our 3 week meeting where all the new missionaries got together in the mission office for another interview with President which is always magnificent. Then we had pizza for lunch. As I talked to President I was able to learn that he knows Jerry Jones (the Dallas Cowboys owner)! Haha he had some funny stories about him as well. Man I love President so much he is so cool and so interesting. Also he has such a strong testimony and spirit and I look up to him so much. Since we are so far away there is lots of travel involved so we didn't do much else today although I did read about President Eyring's talk called Try Try Try. It was great. I enjoy reading from conference talks and the Book of Mormon everyday it is so amazing to start off my day like that. Also we were walking around the street tonight and fireworks started going off which was crazy! We still have no clue but it was like a 15 minute long firework show.
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| Of course, me sleeping on the way to the mission office. Best naps ever! |
Saturday: This morning we went to Tunbridge Wells to find some people for the sisters in that area to teach. WE then came back and taught a guy named Harvey. He was super nice and he even bought us hot chocolate but he is just not willing to change his beliefs which seems to be a trend here in England. This weekend is also stake conference but it is almost a 2 hour train ride to the Stake chapel so we stayed with the zone leaders tonight after the Saturday session since they live a lot closer.
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| The view from the zone leaders flat of the Thames river. |
While having dinner that night they challenged me to eat some of the so called "spiciest noodles ever" so I did and wow that was the spiciest things I have ever eaten in my life!
Sunday: Stake conference was marvelous today. They had all the young men and missionaries sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth" and man it is so powerful when you sing that song at a time in your life when your whole purpose for 2 years is to literally bring the world his truth. The spirit hit me like a truck and I cried while singing! It was awesome. We then got a ride back from a member in our ward so that was great. Then tonight we taught a man who's a Muslim by the name of Rashid. It was a decent lesson and we are seeing him again on Saturday. But when we got out of the lesson we checked for a bus back o our flat and there wasn't one since it was Sunday. So we were about 3 miles away from home and it was nearly an hour walk so we just started jogging to get home faster. It is tough to jog in dress pants and shoes but hey, we just sent it and were able to get home in half the time. Well worth it.
Monday (today): The reason why I am writing later than usual is because we taught 2 lessons before now. One of them was to a guy named Mohammed and he is great.
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| Our friend Mohammed who we committed to baptism. |
From the very beginning of the lesson he just kept telling us how he feels so happy when he thinks about Jesus Christ and while we talked he kept saying he feels so happy. The lesson went great and we extended a baptismal date for December 22 and he said yes! Now it is just a matter of keeping him focused. We will see him again tomorrow so we are looking forward to that. Then we taught a guy named John who calls us "his brothers in the Lord Jesus" haha we always try not to laugh when he refers to us like that. Then tonight we are going to be having dinner at the bishops house which will be great!
I had a pretty good week but all throughout this week I was having temple withdrawals because I want to go to the temple so bad but I can't. So this week I challenge each of you to make time to go to the temple at least once and I can promise you it will be worth it. That is all from me this week! Hope everything is great for each of you. Much love!
Elder Orchard
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| A beautiful sunset on the coast of Hastings specifically requested for by the lovely Amelia. |
Some bonus pictures I got from Elder and Sister Phillips who are from my childhood ward where my parents still live and are serving as a senior couple in Stockton's mission.
Stockton also sent this picture to me, his mom:).
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| I forgot to tell you. Today when we went shopping the granola bars that we always buy 2 boxes of that are 2.50 pounds each were on sale for 1 pound so we bought a large supply of 10 and are set for a month! I figured you would be proud. |
Other stuff we learned:
Stockton: Sounds like another great week! Wow Christmas season is approaching fast and Thanksgiving is in 4 days! We have tried nonchalantly have someone invite us over but it just isn't going to happen. Elder Stoddard said last year he had a proper Thanksgiving meal at a members house but sadly we don't have that and I am a little bummed.
When is new money loaded onto your card? Do you get to roll over your money from the last month? New money is loaded on the first of each month and I think that it rolls over. Let's hope.
How do you check your emails each day if you don’t have service on your phone? I get emails because anytime we go somewhere that has free WiFi my phone connects to it and any emails that have been sent to me will load and then I just read them at night.
Do you have muffin tins in your flat? There are just add water mixes that would be great with your canned soup! I don't think we have a muffin tin.
Do you get to search Amazon during your p-day if you want to buy something? Nope, no internet at all unless it's ld.org so I can't search anything.
Are you doing something special for the Light the World campaign? Yeah, we are doing something for light the world and we have pass along cards and stuff. Also, on December 23 our sacrament will only be an hour in hopes to get lots of new people to church.
What are some of the things that you like most about the area, your companion and the ward? My favorite thing about the area is the fact that we are next to the ocean so there are always great views and we get to walk along the coast every day talking to people. The thing I like most about Elder Stoddard is how he reminds me a lot of Douglas and we both have lots in common so we are always having a good time and talking with each other, it is great. The ward here doesn't really feed us at all, we get fed once a week at most but there are some families who are super nice and I like being able to chat with them and grow friendships.
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