By Joe Drennan
Staff Writer

When Private First Class Elden Arcand told his mother Kelly Freudenberg he wanted to join the Army she was scared.

But after reading a Bible scripture that says, Im calling you out of your countryman out of your family, out of your fathers house, into a new land I will show you, her mind was at peace.

Then, on Aug. 21, 2005, PFC Arcand was killed in Iraq and Freudenberg became a gold star mother.

Freudenberg again turned to her faith after hearing of her sons death and sensed that God had called Arcand to Iraq.

I knew God had called him there because nobody could talk him out of joining the Army, Freudenberg said. For me this was confirmation that it was Gods plan. That gave me peace.

While many would be distraught with the death of a child, Freudenberg has accepted it, saying Heaven is not a bad place to go.

Along the way Freudenberg became a member of Families United for Troops and the Mission.

The organization is a not-for-profit that helps family members, gold star parents and veterans who support the troops who have put their lives in harms way.

A lot of people say they support our troops, but they dont support the mission, Freudenberg said. Thats like saying you support your child who plays a sport, but never attend a game or practice.

Whether we agree with their mission or not we still need to support them, she said.

In her effort to spread that word, Freudenberg competed in the Mrs. Minnesota International competition this past weekend in St. Cloud, representing Forest Lake.

The Mrs. Minnesota International competition focuses more on the contestants platform than other aspects of the pageant.

The platform counts for 50 percent of the total score and Freudenberg said she was told that many people that score the highest on their platform win the crown.

Freudenberg is pursuing the crown because she said Arcand picked up the baton of freedom in June 2004, and since he can no long carry that baton, she has picked it up and continued.

I hope to win the crown because it would open many doors in the state where I can speak to numerous organizations and spread my word of support for the troops, Freudenberg said before the pageant. Its not about me, its about our military and Im just a voice.

When the final scores were tabulated, Freudenberg came up short for the crown, but her quest to spread the word to support the troops and their mission will continue.

Supporting the troops

The one thing that strikes home for me is I realized how much our military sacrifices for our freedom, Freudenberg said. It took Eldens death to do that.

Freudenberg started to realize the sacrifice the troops are making when Arcand was at boot camp and became homesick, but he dealt with it for his country.

When Arcand died Freudenberg believes it wasnt a matter of coincidence.

At the time there was a lot of anti-war talk that was becoming more vocal. Freudenberg said it seemed as though God wanted to use her to spread the word of support.

We get so caught up in our own beliefs that we cant stop thinking about what we believe and what we think should happen, Freudenberg said. Lets look at the soldiers views.

The men and women over there serving our country have values; loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. If we pulled out of Iraq right now we would be asking our troops to do the opposite of what theyve been trained with those values.