Last Days

Anna entered the MTC on Wednesday of this past week. We still haven't heard anything from her and are anxiously awaiting her first P-day (Preparation Day. The day the missionaries do laundry/shop/email/etc.) It's gotta be coming soon!

Until then, here are some pictures to entertain you.

At her Going Away party a few weeks before she left. (She's in there somewhere, trust me. Just slightly hidden is all).

Good-bye to the Mcnivens.

 

Last Monday night she was set apart by the Stake President as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Here's what Preach My Gospel (the manual that the missionaries study and teach from) has to say about being set apart (Anna said that her Stake President said very similar things to her):

When you were set apart by priesthood authority, you received the right and privilege to represent the Lord. You received a ministerial certificate that verifies that authority to the world. President Spencer W. Kimball said: “The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 478)

After being set apart, Anna expressed to me that much of the stress and nervousness that she had been feeling up until that point were gone. She felt at peace with her decision to be a missionary and new that she was doing the right thing.

Tuesday evening she boarded a plane and flew to Utah where she entered the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday. She will be there for two weeks before reporting to her mission in Arcadia.

Like I said, Anna will not be in the MTC for very long, so this is your week to write her! I know that writing a handwritten letter is asking a lot these days but coming from someone who has been in Anna's shoes, it is SO wonderful to receive mail. Even just a little sticky note saying hi. Do it do it do it.

Here's her MTC address:

Sister Annaliese Nichole Kretchman
SEP17 CA-ARC
2007 N 900 E Unit 97
Provo UT 84602

She will most likely only be there until the 16th/17th of next week so write her NOW :).