Letter #51 (September 17, 2014)

NOT okay. Nope, I definitely can't have been out for a year. I still have my whole mission ahead of me! Today exactly a year ago I came into the mission field. What the?

Seriously though. Where in the world has the time gone?! I feel like
I've been a missionary forever, but I also feel like I'm still new. No
bueno. And yet everyone else is just going about their lives. I swear,
every time I get on Facebook I see that someone is engaged. I'm not
old enough to have engaged/married friends! Am I? I don't feel like
it.

Speaking of marriage. Lindsay and Andrew got married on Friday! They were two hours late to their own wedding! but they finally made it! It was wonderful. I loved watching Andrew. The groomsmen come walking down the aisle, and the here comes Andrew looking like he's on cloud nine, just totally in a happiness daze. And the the brides maids and the flower girl (chucking petals at people instead of onto ground. Priceless), and the Lindsay starts walking towards Andrew and he just looks like he's about to cry. He looked like he felt like the luckiest man alive. Now then, I usually don't think too too much about marriage and what not because I'm a missionary and have other things to worry about. But I sincerely hope that someone looks at me like that someday. Not now, but someday before I'm 57 hopefully.

Oh, something cool about the wedding though. While we were waiting, we were sitting with some members with some other members behind us. One of Andrew's brothers came over to talk to us or something and the members of our ward sitting behind us told him "Yeah, these are our sisters. They're the best thing to happen to this ward since Lindsay and Andrew." That was pretty much the best compliment ever. This ward seriously loves us. And I seriously love this ward! Sister Fjeldsted and I will always be remembered here. We are the firstsisters in over a decade and we work SO well together. It's funny, in Pasadena ward, I always heard about Sisters Olson and Fulsom. They were this dynamic duo that everyone remembers. We realized last week that we are that dynamic duo here. People will probably talk about us for quite a while. It's crazy.

Oh! Guess what we did this morning! We went hiking up Eaton Canyon at 6 AM and did our studies up in the mountains with a waterfall! (More of a water trickle, but I was honestly surprised that there was any water left at all, so...) It was so great. And because we were surrounded by mountains, it didn't even get too hot until we were leaving because the sun didn't shine over the mountains until then.

Speaking of the drought though (water trickle, keep up), it rained yesterday! Only for about ten minutes, and possibly only right where we were, but still! So naturally we stood out in it for a few minutes. Glorious. I love it so much. I miss rain like crazy. It has been SO HOT. We biked uphill to our ward mission leader's house on Sunday in about 111 degree weather. Sick. We've gone through SO many water bottles the last few days, it's insane.

So on a more serious note, we met with a less active this week that just made me sad. He's a convert that was active for about ten years. But then he got into philosophy and what not and became New Age instead. He explained a lot about what he believes, but it didn't make too much sense to me to be honest. It was just sad though because he said that it's not true what when we say that everyone can be happier with the gospel in their lives because he wasn't and is much happier now. How do you explain to someone that they could be so much happier, but that they can't just go through the motions of keeping the commandments, but that they have to have faith in what they are doing and do it with their hearts? It just made me really sad because I know that he and his family would be much happier and be able to find more peace in life if they followed the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it all really comes down to faith and how determined you personally are to do what is right for the right reasons. If I came on a mission because someone forced me to, then I'd be miserable. But God told me that I should, and I have faith in Him, so I came. And I've never been happier or had more of a sense of purpose in my life. I just wish that I could better help others to find that peace and joy as well.

Anyway, this is already fairly long and I don't want to bore you, so I'll stop.

Wish me a happy year mark and a great six months to go! Hopefully the last six months won't go by as fast as everyone says they will. They can take their time...

I love and miss you all!

~Sister Kretchman

Look what I found on Boss' Day.  It's me!