Receiving comfort from the plan of salvation . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Hmmm...what to talk about this week? I've got good missionary news, but I think it will have to wait till next week. I want to tell you about it AFTER it happens, rather than before. Don't want to jinx the awesomeness.
Well, I got to go to a funeral yesterday. It was interesting. This woman wasn't a member, but she absolutely loves the missionaries! Her son is a member, and he's an interesting guy himself. He even served a mission. At the time, he thought he would have to sell his car to get money to serve a mission. Then his parents told him not to sell his car, and that they would pay for it. So even though they aren't members, they knew the work was good, and this was the kind of great people they were.
Sister Case died at 91? years old, I believe it was. She lived a long life, which is good. About a week and a half ago, my companion and I gave her a blessing, by request of her son. She was unconscoious at the time, and it was rather awkward, I must admit. She was hooked up to all sorts of things. She had tubes coming from seemingly everywhere. It was awkward because her son wasn't there at the moment, and she wasn't conscious but I guess was coming in and out of consciousness previously. I was afraid she would wake up in the middle of the blessing, and freak out or something. However, she didn't, and it was an interesting experience.
I annointed her head with the oil, and the feelings you have for people as a missionary, are very interesting. You just love people you've never even met. It's the strangest thing. However, what got to me, was somehow while participating in the blessing, I felt as though she was going to die. Hey, call it all the tubes if you would like, but somehow, though I didn't want to admit it, I felt as though she was going to pass away. Her time had come.
Well, a few days later, we got a call from Brother Case, and he told us that she was doing well. She was awake, and talking. We went to visit her, and while visiting, she said she was very happy we could make it. She repeated it over and over again. She was obviously quite weak, but her personality still came through a little bit. She also had her country music playing in the hospital room. She loves country. It was a good visit, though she was so quiet, she was hard to understand. It was an interesting experience.
Eventually we received the call from her son that she had passed away. They were expecting it. The doctor had told Brother Case that it was "the calm before the storm". Brother Case then requested us at the funeral, and wanted several missionaries to be the Pall Bearers. President Kunz of course, gladly authorized it. It was a strange experience, seeing as most people at the funeral weren't LDS, and neither was the sister that had passed away. I gave the opening prayer, and realized how little there seemed to be to say. However, the Plan of Salvation was a large comfort at this funeral, and was taught to all in attendance. It was a good experience, though I'm sure many of them did not know what to say about it. All I know is that Sister Case was a good woman, and the Lord is merciful in all things. He loves her more than anybody at that funeral does. She has done a lot of good in the world, and she will be justly rewarded for it.
My companion dedicated the grave, which was cool. I would have been way nervous, but he did it like a pro. It was a good dedication.
I guess the whole point of this is that I want each of you to ponder the Plan of Salvation. It gave me a good experience, and a good opportunity to ponder the Plan of Salvation just a bit. It's strange looking at death from the perspective of a nonmember. The world truly needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Love you all!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen