Note from Gretchen’s Dad: I apologize for such a long delay since we posted information on Gretchen’s mission. Gretchen is alive and well and doing great. Much of the content of her letters is focused on the people she is teaching and so most of those details would not be shared on the blog, however, I have gleaned a few excerpts from her letters over the past few weeks below. My new plan is to provide a monthly update with excerpts and pictures (as they are available):
On the Weather:
“Hello! Victoria continues to be resplendent in the summertime. We’ve been the recipients of so much fresh produce that we’re not entirely sure what to do with it. The Okanagan Valley is famous for its cherries and now I know why. I hear the peaches are incredible, so I’m pretty stoked for those to start rolling in."
On Missionary Fashions:
“I read Seriously So Blessed (and my scriptures) everyday.” [http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com] Or so says my new T-shirt from my BFF TAMN. They were handing out mail at Zone Conference the other day and I was way surprised that a package had come from my favorite Mormon mommy blogger. TAMN also included a card to Sister Gretch-a-sketch and said that she was rooting for me and thought that the shirt might make for some righteous PJs. How awesome is that?! I showed it to everyone else. They didn’t really get it, but I assured them it was hysterical.”
“Everyday is ugly skirt day when you’re a sister missionary.” [A quote from Sister H., Gretchen’s current companion]
On a Local Ward Open House:
[A few weeks ago, Gretchen and her companion proposed to local Church leaders that they do an open house to invite people from the community to get to know the Church members. They were surprised at how excited the local leaders were at the idea. It became a big event that would have been held yesterday. We have not yet heard how it went.]
“The ward loves our community open house idea and got a little carried away with it. They said we should plan for a 1,000 people! Um, we were hoping for maybe 200.”
“In trying to figure out the bread situation for the open house [they planned on doing a BBQ], we called one of the local grocery stores to see if they’d be willing to donate some buns. The guy said they wouldn’t be able to, but that they could probably give us a $20 gift card to help us out. Of course, we said that would be great and went in on Saturday to pick it up. While we were there, I suggested that we go and see exactly how much a bag of a dozen hamburger buns would normally cost. It was the last day of the big sale and not only did they have both hamburger and hot dog buns, but they were only .99 cents a bag. Wonder of wonders, we were able to stock up and get the elders to pick them up from a store near their house.”
On Canadian Holidays:
“Happy British Columbia (or BC) Day! Someone described the holiday to us this way: ‘Well we get Canada Day off in July and someone decided that we needed a long weekend in August. Therefore BC Day (or whatever province you live in) was born. Church was SO empty yesterday because of it.”
A few pictures below include two of Gretchen at Butchart Gardens, one of Gretchen on the byway, and one of some peacock feathers for colorful good measures!
