Little Ms. Missionary: Letter #5 (October 22, 2013)

Letter #4 was really short last week--just saying that she didn't have time to write because they went to the temple, just for the record :).

Okay, I'm going to try to be really brief with everything since I'm trying to catch up on two weeks.

First: I gave a talk last week. They asked me and my comp the Friday night before because someone backed out. That Saturday we spent most of the day helping out at the Walnut family festival where we had a stand with pass-along cards and stuff. We took it in shifts with the elders in our ward, our zone leaders, and the Korean and Chinese elders. So we didn't have much time to write our talks. I think that it went pretty well though.

The fair didn't end up being very effective because we were right next to the stage, so you couldn't hear anything. Plus people would take one look at the sign and do a 180 and walk the other way. I don't know why people think that Mormons are so scary. I promise we're nice.

Anyway, the temple was great. The Los Angeles temple is really beautiful (although I'm still partial to DC :) ). We spent most of the day in traffic then though. I slept for a good chunk, and then finally we found out that they had "Testaments" in their car, so we started watching that. By then we were almost home though.

Ummm, I ate eel for the first time. It wasn't that bad, I just am really not a fan of seafood.

Oh! One of our members broke our investigator. Matt is one of our three investigators. We paired him up with the Outhiers (oo-tea-ay) because Brother Outhier and him both like mountain biking. So Matt went biking with Brother Outhier and crashed his bike and broke his collar bone! It was actually really funny when we found out though. This is what Brother Outhier texted us: "I'm at the hospital with Matt Cosby in Big Bear. He may have broken his collar bone. Sorry I hurt your investigator." Oh boy. Matt's okay. He's in a sling for about six weeks. They gave him a blessing that night and we've coordinated with the Compassionate Service Coordinator to have people bring him dinner every night this week. I'm just not sure when we'll be able to teach him again. I don't want to push it.

Anyway, I can't remember what else I was going to tell you all except for some random things (I made myself a list, but forgot it at home). One- Matt Meese from Studio C is in the bike safety video! He's a bike thief. I was so surprised when I heard his voice! Sure enough, it showed him. I couldn't help laughing a little bit.

Two- I'm singing a duet with my comp on Sunday! Everyone in the ward kept asking when I'd sing for them and I just kept saying "when they ask me to." So finally they did! We're singing "Come Thou Fount" which is one of my favorite hymns and it's not even in the hymn book any more!

Anyway, I know that there was more that I was going to write about, but I can't remember. I'm going to try attaching a couple pictures though. They'll probably have to be all in separate emails though, it only lets me send one at a time.

I love and miss you all!

~Sister Kretchman

And then she added:

I knew that I forgot something big. Some of you may have heard, but I wanted to mention it briefly. An elder in my mission (Elder Page) was hit by a car and died a couple of weeks ago. I don't know the details except that he went to the temple the morning of the crash. It's really hard for me to think about, and I can't help but think of what his poor companion must be feeling. I wanted to mention this not because I want to scare you, but because I want you to know that if something happens to me, this is where I'm supposed to be. And if something were to happen, I will just continue doing missionary work on the other side, just like Elder Page.

I am so grateful to have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation in my life. While this was really sad, it is much less so because I know that Elder Page is in a wonderful place and that he now has the opportunity to work on the other side of the veil with his dad who died a couple of years ago. I am so grateful to know that death here isn't the end. That we have the opportunity to live with our Heavenly Father forever.

Sorry to end on a sadder note, but I thought that it was important for you to know.

Email to Brillante:

I helped out at a 5K a couple Saturdays ago. We applied to do service at the local senior center and they called us to help out with the race. It was super early though and freezing! We worked the finish line, which was kind of fun, we got to cheer everyone on as they came through. The first guys to run through did it in about 11 minutes, the last person not until about 50. Crazy.

Pictures!

Anna and her MTC companion: