Week 2: One Eyed-Willy

Hello, all! 

Sister Livingston here. So much good stuff goes on at the MTC, I just love it. I have a few stories:

Friday night, after we got back to our residence hall, my companions and I all went to take showers. We decided to leave the door propped open so we wouldn't have to take our keys, but when we had finished showering, we found out that when Sister Poole left,she didn't make sure the door-stop was in place. So we were locked out. We called the front desk to ask what to do, and they told us to just walk to the front desk, on the complete opposite side of campus, and get a spare key. So we start our journey--no shoes, no make up, hairs a frizz ball (my hair and Provo don't get along), and pajamas. We finally made it there, got our key and headed back to our hall. Key didn't work. Lovely. We make our trek back to the front desk again and find out it was the wrong key. We got another key, and thank goodness it worked. By the time we finally got inside our room, it was about 11pm. Oopsies! Sorry, President. We'll try to be more responsible.  And by the way, I still get lost in the bathrooms. Each time I go to shower I have to make a mental note: "go right when you leave the shower." So silly.

Lovely note

Elder Trentman and I saw each other every day. So fun. And hard. Lots of emotions going on. But one day, I went into class and on the whiteboard it said, "Hi Sister Livingston. -E.T." So now my whole district calls him ET and teases me. It's pretty funny. Actually, on Sunday, we had devotional. I told sister Poole to keep an eye out for ET, and our DL says to me, "sister Livingston, you're a bit too desperate right now." HAHA so I find him, wave him down, and he comes and sits by me. Then the DL comes over to us and is like, "Listen. I know you leave tomorrow, and that you guys are friends and want to catch up, but as District Leader, I'm going to have to sit between you two if I find you're focused on the wrong things during Devotional." We both said thank you, Chancey shook his hand, and we said he didn't have to worry. Then he tilted his head down, raised his eyebrows and looked me in the eyes. He didn't trust us! Sheesh. We were good. Don't worry. But yeah he's gone. So glad to hear he made it to Korea safely! Proud of him. 

We're focused.

I have a little problem. On Tuesday night my eye started to hurt, but I just though it was my contacts so I took them out. Then on Wednesday morning, I woke up and it was all red and swollen. We went to the Doctor's office on the MTC campus, but the doctor isn't in, so we had to go to Urgent Care at BYU.

My eye hurts!

After going to Urgent Care

They put all these weird drops in my eye, then the lady hooked up a machine with weird lights and mirrors to her head and looked in my eyes. "Yeah, you have a big scratch on your cornea." Just what I need! So I got all patched up. It looks really good. Not. I have to keep my eye shut as much as possible, and I got some eye drops to put in every 2 hours. She said it should heal in 2-3 days, but today is the 3rd day and I can't even see out of it. It's like looking through a foggy window or something. It hurts. But it's okay. I'll be fine. My district is so good to me. They are always asking what they can do for me, making sure I'm not walking into any poles (yes, it happened) and getting my food for me. So kind. My companions and I were called as Sister Training Leaders. So on Wednesday when all the new missionaries came in, we were introducing ourselves and I just have this huge white patch taped to my head.




Great first impression. Everyone is always staring at me. A group of elders came up to me and asked what happened. After I told them, one of them was like, "I love you Sister. I don't know you, but I love you. And I will pray for you. We all will." Thanks, elder. Love you, too. It hurts to open my eyes, and reading is just horrible. Which is bad, because there is so much to read here. I feel guilty for not reading as much as I can, but it hurts and burns and stings! I need to toughen up. The Elders in my district call me: Cap'n Livingston, Sister Livingstrong, and One-eyed-willy. They're the best. I love it because we can all mess around with each other and tease each other, but we also all help each other with lessons, finding scriptures and just bawl our eyes out together when we feel the spirit. Best of both worlds.

Fun fact: No matter how tired I am, I can't fall asleep at night. It literally takes about an hour. I don't love it. 

We watched a little video on Sunday that I absolutely LOVED. "Characteristics of Christ" by David A. Bednar. I highly recommend listening to it. There is so much good stuff in it! And so much that I can apply to my daily life. I have found that I'm not here to find myself. Rather, I'm here to lose myself in His work. I love this work. I love this gospel. I love you guys! 

Thank you for all the DearElders this week! You're all fabulous. Eric, thank you for the brownies. My district and I thoroughly enjoyed them. It's so good to hear about life at home.

Lucy: Good luck with spanish. 

Jett: You're a stud. 

Mom: good luck with your test! You'll do great. I just know it. 

Dad: Glad you enjoyed working at the temple. 

Laker: I just love you.

I love and miss you all! But I am so happy here. 

Love,

Sister Livingston

Meet my district

Elder Spiers and Mortensen

Our Elders

#comps4lyfe.  Or just 3 weeks.

Awesome nametag

In front of the Provo Temple

Week 1: Acronyms

Sept. 19, 2014

WHAT'S UP?! 

I don't know how to start this. I feel a little weird for some reason. But I guess I'll start by saying how everything went on the first day. Once we shared our last wave, I walked over to my gate and sat down. There were two Elders on my flight, and one other Sister, but I didn't talk to them at all. I just speed. Then I got on the plane and sat in between two ladies. That was nice. I landed in SLC around 9 and got all my suitcases. I dragged two with my hands, then just had to kick the other one with my foot each step because I only have two hands or something like that. Then I met up with Auntie, and we drove to Provo to see Carter, Jackie and Jayden.He's so cute. Then we went to lunch and I was dumped off at the curb at the MTC! It was nice. Some sister took me to get all situated. She knew Courtney! She's also going to Taiwan. It wasn't very hard saying goodbye at all. I thinks it's because it didn't really hit me at the time, and now I haven't had much time to think about it. So in other words,

it's been a nice transition.

Final Goodbyes

So I dropped off everything in my room, then went to the classroom to meet my district. My teacher, Brother Ditto, was in the room, as well as two other Elders. I shook Brother Ditto's hand and he introduced himself to me. Then I was like, "I'm Brother Livingston." *Palm to the forehead* I was reading his name tag as I was speaking. Very embarrassing.  Then more and more elders came in, all announcing they were serving in Provo. I started to get all hot and sweaty, thinking I was in the wrong room because I was the only Sister, and the only one not going to Provo. But then at last, my companions came in. Yes, companions. Plural. I'm in a tri-companionship. Sister Sorensen is from Saratoga Springs, Utah. She's serving in Cleveland with me. Sister Poole is from Australia, serving in New Zealand. I love my district.  We all get along great and always have a good time. Quote of the week: "I mean Elder." I probably hear that at least 10 times a day from the Elders in my district. It's pretty funny because everyone in my district is brand new here and not used to the whole "Sisters and Elders" thing. You're not allowed to say "guys" here because apparently "guys are the people back home dating your girlfriend." Pretty funny. Harsh, but funny. And probably true for a lot of Elders. One time during personal study, Elder Putegnat, in my district, sneezed. But instead of making the normal "a-choo" sound, he said "sneeze". While he sneezed. It was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing. Probably had to be there.

Left to Right: 

Sister Stotts, Sister Poole, Sister Sorensen, me, Elder Serrao, Elder Serrao's companion.

Me and Elder Williams

I kept my eyes peeled for Elder Trentman the whole day. It got to the point where I started seeing him and Elder Baugh everywhere, but it was never actually them. Sad face. But then we went to this class thing where two companions were going to teach an investigator in front of all the new missionaries. So I'm sitting in the audience, then I hear the missionaries knock on the door and say, "Hi, we're the missionaries!" I didn't see them, but I immediately knew who it was. I could recognize that voice anywhere--Elder Trentman. Then they walked into the room and sure enough, it was him! So exciting. I think my heart exploded a little bit. He did awesome. We didn't get the chance to talk at all afterwards though. Then I saw him again yesterday afternoon. When I first saw him, I was like "ChaaElder Trentman!" I keep slipping though. But we were able to talk and shake hands. It was glorious. Don't worry, everybody. We got a picture. He asked if he could just come to my class with me and I said yes, but he didn't actually come. I don't know why. Then I saw him again this morning. So, so far we're 3 for 3. Very exciting. And his haircut looks great.

ONLY THE BEST MTC REUNION TO EVER EXIST

I saw a lot of other friends I didn't even know were here. Josh Williams, Spencer Serrao (Adam's roommate), and Sister Stotts. All from BYUI. And I saw Heather Conk. And of course, my personal favorite, Mr. Chancey Trentman.

I got my release date. March 3rd, 2016. Also, I got the date I fly to Ohio--October 7th, aka the day Clark comes home. Kind of funny. So yeah, because I'm a visitors' center Sister I'm in the MTC for 3 weeks instead of 2. We'll be in Temple square for a few days on my last week here. I think Tuesday and Saturday. HATCH AND QUIST FAMILIES: I will be there for conference. And I would love to share a message about the restored gospel with you. 

Companions:  Sister Poole, Sister Sorenson and well, me.  Sister Livingston

I get lost in the bathrooms in my residence hall. They're basically a giant maze. I always go in one door, then come out from another and don't know where I am. So that's fun.

Like everyone says, the days here are long. We're in classes for over 7 hours a day. I think these classes, classes about the gospel and missionary work, are the only classes that I could ever enjoy for such long periods of time. The spirit is always so strong. I just love it.

The Classic Pointing Shot! 

During class on the first day, one of our teachers was introducing himself and told a little story that I really liked. So there's a man who is re-doing a garage. He is taking all of these nails out of boards, and in the process, all of the nails get bent. The man's little boy comes up to him and asks what he can do to help. The Father says, "Take this hammer and straighten out all of these nails." After a few hours, the little boy finally finishes and tells his father that he is done. Then his dad looks at him, smiles, and thanks him. However, he then says, "I actually don't need those. I need new nails for the new boards." The little boy is very sad and disappointed and asks why his dad had him straighten out all of the nails if he wasn't going to use them. His father replied, "Because I wanted you to learn how to use a hammer." At first, I didn't understand the significance of this story. I just didn't get it. None of us did. However, our teacher did not leave us in the dark. He went on to explain how the father represents Heavenly Father, and we, missionaries, represent the little boy. If He wanted to, Heavenly Father could make it so that all of His sons and daughters knew of the restored gospel. He doesn't actually need us to straighten out the nails. He has the power to do all the missionary work in the world on his own. But because He loves us and wants us to grow, He gives us the opportunity to serve missions. It's not US who convert people. It's the Spirit. But that doesn't' mean that our work is pointless. We are instruments in the Lords hand, and we grow through this experience. We learn how to use a hammer. He explained it much better than I did, of course, but I hope you got the point. Because it was pretty powerful to me. Cool quote: "We don't knock on doors to find investigators. We knock on doors to show obedience so that Heavenly Father will send us investigators."

Now, you may be wondering why the subject of this email is Acronyms. I'm here to answer you question. Here at this little place I like to call the MTC, we use lots of acronyms. And they're pretty neat. Here's a few:

SMILE: Spiritual Matters Involve Life Eternal 

MTC: Make Time Count. At the MTC, make time count

PJ'S: Prayer, Journal, Scriptures. spend more time in each of those daily. 

FOD: Faith, Obedience, Diligent. Be a FOD Missionary

STAPE: Seer, Translator, Apostle, Prophet and Evangelist. What a Prophet is. 

I thought those were some pretty cool ones. There are a lot of cool things that I've already learned in such a short time here. Life is good. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to be here. It's amazing.

Lucy: thank you for your DearElderIMeanSister. Yes, I got it. You're not a noob. But apparently you're the only one who loves me. For everyone else, I'd appreciate some love, too.

Sister Livingston

OH-CLE OCT 7

2009 W. 900 E. Unit 169

Provo, UT 84602

Did Cameron get his call? Let me know where he's going! Please and thank you. 

I love you all! And miss you. But not that much because I don't have much time to think about it. But I still miss you. You're welcome.

Love, 

Sister Livingston