Week 4: Kirtland, OH, Dead Cats, 96 year old Roller Derby Queen, Jayne's address

Alright, everyone! I'm finally in Ohio. Kirtland area, to be exact. And let me just say, it is SO  BEAUTIFUL. I can't believe it. So many trees. And grass. And greeness that's turning red and orange. I love it. 

So we left the MTC on Tuesday the 7th at 2:30am. That was exciting. Then we got to the airport, I called the fam, and guess who I sat by on the plane! The guy who said he was about to give up on his daughter in jail. CRAZY. He just kept thanking us for the things we said to him. It was really neat. He was a nice guy. We made it to Cleveland around 1 or 2. I think. I don't really remember. But we met up with our President and his wife, then had lunch and interviews and whatnot. We stayed at their house that nigh,t then in the morning we went to the Kirtland Temple. It's so pretty! And big. Karl Anderson (author of Joseph Smith's Kirtland and the Savior in Kirtland) took us through the temple. Before, he asked if any of us had ancestors that were in Kirtland. I told him Hyrum, and then he kept having me answer all these questions and stuff. But this part was really neat. We went into the top room of the temple (I forgot what it's called) where some sections in the Doctrine and Covenants were received. He had me sit in the middle of the room and everyone was in a circle around me (didn't love that part, but in the words of Jett, whatevs). Then he had me read one of the sections that was revealed to them in that room. It was neat because I was sitting in the general area that my ancestors were when they received modern day scripture. So neat. Very spiritual. Then we left the temple and went to the church to meet our trainers. My companion's name is Sister de Kock, she's from South Africa. We get along great and she's super nice. She's been out for 5 months now. Then I think we went to the Historic site. Then, I went to my first lesson. (For the protection of the innocent, we are changing her name to Madam M). Oh my, she's something. Brace yourselves:

Madam M is in her 50's or 60's and is Hispanic. She's been taking lessons for several months now I think and isn't progressing. But she goes to church every week, so we keep seeing her. She lives alone. And has no teeth. Anyway, we go inside--major hoarder. You could hardly walk. And the smell? You don't even want to know. But we sat down and Sister de Kock asked how her kittens were. Hang on. Background story: de Kock and her comp saw Madame M two weeks previous to my first time seeing her. She couldn't find one of her cats. She said someone came inside and stole it in the middle of the night. But don't worry, she found it! Behind her couch. Dead. She had a dead cat behind her couch for a week a half. And she didn't know. Nasty. Now for her other cat--She found it one day limping around the apartment and was convinced that someone had come in and kicked her. She could tell it was a kick because of the way it walked. Maybe she's good with anatomy? I don't know. But she felt bad for it, so she wrapped it up in a blanket and let it sleep by the couch, which at the time, probably had a dead cat behind it. Then she woke up in the morning, and it was still there. Dead. She found two dead kittens within the same week. Poor Madam M. Also, She has beyond long toenails. Like they literally curl underneath her toes. It was really gross, but I couldn't help but glance at them every once in awhile during the lesson.

Rosie is a member of our ward. She's 96 and lives in an apartment by herself. How does she entertain herself? She roller-skates down the halls. At age 96. Impressive,

We saw a lady named Natalie. She's an investigator. For some reason, she calls me Elizabeth. Not sure were that came from.

Sister B. She's a less-active member that we've been working with. Also a hoarder. Hoarders for days, here in Kirtland. We went over to her house to help her clean out one of her closets and oh my nasty, it was even worse than Madam M's. Luckily no dead cats though.  So we were going through the closet and I pull out this weirdly shaped bottle with measurements on it and ask her if she wanted to keep it. You guys. It was the bottle that her father peed in while he was in the hospital. He died 12 years ago. And she still has his pee bottle. And as much as it pains me to say this, I touched it. She literally wanted to keep EVERYTHING. But we knew she would never use them, so we had to sneak like half of her stuff into the trash pile and just pray that it wasn't something with as much sentimental value as the pee bottle. (Or maybe that it was) ((We don't need pee bottles)).

So yeah. Needless to say, there are some interesting people here. But I love it. We spend 3 days a week at the Historic site and the rest of the days out proselyting. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I live like 20 yards away from the Newel K. Whitney store which contains the School of the Prophets and the Revelation room. So amazing. I just love it. 

Yesterday during ward council they decided to "pick on the new missionary" and have me give the opening prayer. Which was fine. Then we went to the chapel and someone came up to me and was like, "I know you gave the opening prayer in Ward Council, but will you give the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting, too? That way people will get to see who you are." So I gave it. Then I walk back to the very back of the chapel, sit down, and start freaking out because I thought they were going to have me go up there and give a talk, and I didn't have one prepared yet. So I have all these thoughts going through my mind, then I hear, "We'll now have Sister Livingston come up to introduce herself and share her testimony." My heart stopped. But It wasn't bad.

Eye update: Its much better. No more patch! I'll have a scar on my cornea for the rest of my life so my vision will never be like it used to be, but at this point I'm just glad I'm not blind. I still get choked up when I think about the perfect timing of dad calling. If it had been a day or 2 later, who knows what would have happened. I'm blessed! I have about 8 bottles of eye drops. I promise I'm not addicted. Sometimes they get in my mouth and it isn't that delicious. While we were in the MTC, Sister Poole tried to get me to put charcoal in my eye. That didn't sound very pleasing though, so I rejected the offer. The idea of it still kind of freaks me out. 

Fun fact: A bunch of Koreans came to the VC last week. I wanted to tell them to go find Chancey. And my companion is from South Africa, where Melodee served. And someone in the ward just got called to the Iowa Des Moines mission. So basically I'm surrounded by Trentman-mission-people. And I love it. I just need someone to represent Mike!

Thanks for all the updates, I love hearing about everything. And mom, just so you know, the second comment that you heard in the car came from me. You're welcome. So neat that Clark's home! Give him a hug for me. And could you please send me some family/friend pics? I know you're busy, but I didn't bring any. At all. I loved Lucy's missionary moment story! So neat. Let me know where that goes. And yes, I loved conference. I wasn't able to watch the entire first session because I had an eye appointment. I heard the closing song though! It was actually funny. We got back from my appointment and they told us to go into 1M B145. We we go in--all Elders. No Sisters. We were confused. But we went in anyway, then one of the Elders was like, "Hey, you're not in the Priesthood choir!" I thought it was funny. Okay bye.  c u l8r.

I forgot to tell you! Because Sister de Kock is from South Africa, she doesn't have an american license. Therefore, I'm the driver. And I love it. I missed driving. We have these little things called "Tiwis". It's a card that you use to login whenever you drive. It kind of tracks you down. And it knows how fast you're going/what the speed limit is. So if you speed, it says "check your speed." It's pretty hard not to speed here. The speed limit everywhere is like 25mph. But the roads are so straight and wide so I feel like I should be going about 50. That's okay though. One time I went over some railroads and it said, "Aggressive driving". It's scary whenever it goes off. It's gone off probably 5 times so far. Oops. It goes off when you go 6 over. Yiikes.

My address for the rest of my time here:

7800 Kirtland Chardon Rd

Kirtland, OH 44094

I love you all!

Love,

Jayne

Week 3: Trip to ER

YOU GUYS. I'm famous. MTC famous, at least. But before I get ahead of myself, I'd like to let you all know how my week started since my last email. 

So Saturday morning, we had what is called Companionship Inventory. It's where you and your companion(s) discuss your strengths and weaknesses and try to improve the way you teach/work together. So we were all sitting there and it was going fine. Then all of the sudden my two companions just start going at it! They were saying how they have harsh feelings for each other and all sorts of not-so-nice-things. And the whole time I was just sitting there like, 'Okay, I'm just going to hide behind my eye patch and not get involved." It was bad. They were both in tears and I just felt awkward and didn't know what to do. So then we went to class, and I was talking to our teacher about it and I started crying! Not sure why. I guess I just didn't like the contention. Especially because you can't teach effectively when the spirit isn't there. Which it definitely wasn't. 

But then the rest of my district came in, and they all decided that I needed to go to the Doctor again because I couldn't see out of my eye anymore. But I felt bad because I had already taken my companions out of class for my first appointment. So I just said I was fine and that if it wasn't better by tomorrow, I'd go. Then we hear on the intercom: "Is Sister Livingston in there? We need her to pick up the phone in the hallway." So I pick it up and they said that I needed to meet with the District President. I had no idea what it was for and got a little nervous. But I went down and met him in his office. I sat down and he was like, "Your dad called. He's worried about your eye." Again,  started crying. I'm not sure exactly why.I think it might have to do with the fact that I knew I wasn't okay, considering I couldn't see out of my eye, and I finally had to accept that. So I was shipped off to the ER! I was seen by at least 3 doctors and 4 nurses. After each doctor looked at my eye, they said, "I'm going to go get my assistant. It's better to have two opinions than one." Clearly, they didn't know what was wrong with me. And that's when I was sent to the ophthalmologist. I sat down in the chair and he looked it over. Corneal Ulcer. I had to have a culture done (not sure of the correct wording on that) so he put this clamp thing in my eye to keep it open, then scraped off some of my eyeball with a spatula. I'm not going to lie, I was scared out of my mind. But then he told me the scary part. The scratch has bacteria that was eating away my cornea and was getting bigger each day. 2mm. If it got much bigger, I could have lost my vision. Again, I started to cry. The eye drops that I needed to get were too strong for the regular pharmacy to give out, so they had to whip out their lab coats and goggles and mix it up themselves or something. Then I was taken to the hospital where I spent the night being woken up every half hour to get my drops. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night. But I was able to talk to my dad a few times, and see Carter, Jackie and Jayden.  Not sure if that was allowed, but t really helped. I was able to go back to the MTC around 4. It was nice seeing my district again.

Wires in my eyes.

 Just scraping my eyeball.

 

Companion love.

 Veeeery light sensitive.

I've had probably 4 appointments since the hospital and my eye is doing much better. I'm in good hands. Thank you so much for all of the support, prayers and fasting for me. I feel the love! Really. I appreciate it so much. I love you all.

But back to me being famous. Somehow everyone knows me. I think it might have to do with the fact that I wear an eye patch or something. But It's gotten to the point where I don't even remember who I've talked to about it. A few comments I've gotten from random people:

"You're back!"

"How's your cornea doing?"

"New eye patch!"

"I heard your from Sacramento?"

"New patch looks great, Sister"

"Are you Sister Livingston? I've been fasting/praying for you."

Then on Sunday after devotional, I hear someone yelling, "Sister Livingston!" It was Elder Malin. In my head I was just thinking, "Shoot. Elder Malin. Where do I know him from? Who is this guy? SHOOT I DON'T KNOW." Then he continues. "You're going to Cleveland, right? I heard about your eye and have been praying for you." HOW DO YOU KNOW ME? It's kind of funny.

 I'm good at signing my name.

 New and improved eye patch.

So since I've talked about the bathrooms in my first 2 email, I figured I'd talk about them again. It's my favorite subject. Just kidding. But every time I shower, it's like I'm surrounded by angels. Everyone sings. Except for me. I think it's a little weird. They all sing hymns together with all these harmonies and sometimes even a descant part. Then of course, there's always the one sister who is trying her best but just doesn't quite have it. Bless her heart.

Yesterday I had a really cool experience. We started our Visitor Center Training, and I was just feeling very overwhelmed. We were informed that we were set apart as missionaries and had authority to receive revelation and impressions for people we never met. We were told to pray and get a feel for the people that would be coming to the VC that day, meet them for the first time, get to know them, find to their needs, and give them a life changing experience. Not just "feel good" experience. LIFE CHANGING. All in 15 minutes. With a complete stranger. I felt so inadequate! I can't tell you how down I was feeling. I kept questioning whether or not I was good enough and was just full of doubt. Then our other teacher just talked to us about faith. I was reminded of why I am here, and I was reminded of the faith that I do have. I bore my testimony to her about our Savior and how he knows each of us. I started feeling better. Then we had to go role play like we were at a VC. The lady and her husband come in and she explains, "I was going to come in here and act like a rude person, but then I got to thinking, You guys are missionaries. You have the power to receive revelation and answers for me." So. Much. Pressure. This lady wanted answers! And we had 15 minutes to get to know her and her story and find out her needs. So scary. But I pushed my fear away and let my faith kick in. She and her husband told us about their daughter who is in jail, and they just didn't know what to do with her anymore. I felt the need to explain to her how important and powerful love is. They just  needed to keep loving their daughter and not give up on her. Heavenly Father loves their daughter. He isn't going to give up on her. She still qualifies to receive the blessings of the Atonement. We all do, and we always will.Just things like that. I started crying. Surprised? But then after the 15 minutes, they wrote down their comments on their experience. The father wrote, "These sister offered perfect advice and ideals. Just when I was about to give up on my daughter, I was reminded that I can't. It was just what I needed to hear" I started to cry when I read it. Again. Why am I such a baby?? Sheesh! But it was the neatest experience. Faith works, people! I love it. 

Thank you for all the letters, emails and dearelders! They are so fun to get. I love them so much. I love you all! CTR.

Love,

Sister Livingston

The very next day...

We have kind of another P-Day today because of Conference so here I am again.

Yesterday we were able to go to Temple Square to get more of the VC experience. We were supposed to meet at the little shuttle area at 10am, so we got there around 9:55. Then no one ever came. So around 10:20 we went to the front office and they had no idea who was supposed to be taking us! We finally left around 10:45 and made it to Salt Lake around 11:30. None of the sisters there knew what was going on. They didn't know where we were supposed to be/who we were supposed to be with. Kind of stressful because everyone was just running around trying to find things out. We tried to eat lunch but kept getting kicked out of different rooms due to all the district meetings. My comps and I just felt like we didn't belong there. It was sad, but also funny how unorganized everything was. But anyways. At Temple Square, all the sisters have to wear the flag where they come from attached to their name tag. They said for safety reasons? I don't know. But unfortunately, they didn't have any extra American flags, so I was stuck wearing the Canadian flag. I was so nervous to talk to people because I didn't want them to ask me about it! But of course, I was asked so many times, by so many Canadians. I just said "Toronto". And they were like, "Oh cool! Toronto area or actual Toronto?" "Is the Church strong in Toronto?" "We're from aowieruasdkfj" and the whole time I was just thinking, " Toronto. That's a place, right? The only thing I know about Canada is that I have a friend who took a train there." So scary! But I ended up okay. So we just went around talking to a bunch of people, most of them being members already. As we were talking to some guy, I see this cute little blonde in the background. I couldn't see very well because, well, my eyes are a little messed up right now, but I just thought she looked like a cutie. And she looked familiar. Then I see another blonde right next to here that looked like Shannon. It was then that I realized that it was Shannon and Gracie. I couldn't believe it! I was so excited. I wasn't expecting to see them, but I was able to see all of the Hatches, Greenes and Bearrys. And Skylar. It was so fun. I loved it. But then we had to leave. We were supposed to leave at 3, but we figured the MTC probably forgot about us and didn't send a shuttle. They finally got there around 4 after one of the Temple Square sisters made a call. We've been forgotten several times. But that's okay. Church is still true. 

Also we're getting to know the shuttle drivers pretty well because I have so many doctor's appointments. My favorite is Robert. Every time I get in the van, I sit down, look up at the rear view mirror and see him looking at me with his finger in the air like a pirate's hook. Then I put my hook up. It's pretty funny. It reminds me of something Carter or Keeghan would do. That's probably why I like him so much. 

I'm really selfish. I've used all the tissues in our classroom because my eye just waters all the time. And I used all the cotton eye patches from the doctor. My bad!

I leave the MTC on Tuesday at 2:30am in order to get to SLC for our 6am flight to Minnesota. Then around 10am we fly to Ohio! So sad I won't get to see Clark! Give him a hug for me!

I'm sorry I never really respond to what you guys have to say. I love hearing about things at home though. Thank you for the letters, Lucy Jett and Laker! I absolutely loved them. You're all so sweet. Lucy, keep praying ;) Congratulations on passing your test, mom! And thanks for the cool rock-climbing story. Very neat. Oh and thanks for the cookies! They were delicious. I still have some of them left. And for Mike and the rest of the Trentman family: receiving Chancey's weekly emails is NEVER repetitive. PLEASE keep it up! I love hearing about his experience. Thank you. Okay that's all. I love you all! 

For Elder Livingston

Goodbye Elders.

A note from Jayne's mom:  I'd like to thank everyone who has offered their love and support (fasts and prayers) to Jayne regarding the healing of her eye, and I want to share a few things that we felt were small miracles, any of which, if they didn't happen, may have delayed in the treatment of her eye which could have caused permanent damage including blindness.

1.  I was actually able to transfer her letter and post it on facebook and her blog as soon as she sent the letter.  I'm not super techy, and it has been a challenge so far every week!  I was super stressed and busy, and it would have been very easy to do it later.

2.  Jayne's cousin-in-law, a physician and father of 5 (or 6?) actually read the post and immediately messaged me, concerned that her eye wasn't healing and she needed to go to ER and see an opthamologist.

3.  Jayne's dad, Alan, actually saw the post with her picture, and was concerned.  He called the MTC early Saturday morning.  If you know Alan, that's a miracle!  :)  

4.  Her mission president at first tried to reassure Alan, said that he had 100 phone calls like this a day and there was medical staff at the MTC.  He is also a physician, and after Alan expressed more concern, he promised he would see her personally.  Which he did, and immediately knew it wasn't right, and sent her right to the ER.

5.  I feel that even the timing of this medical condition was a blessing.  We are all given trials and tribulations--it's part of life.  If Jayne was going to experience a corneal ulcer, this was the very best time.  If it had been earlier, it would have affected her departure date for her mission.  If it had been a little later, it would have affected her departure to OH. If she developed the ulcer in the field, instead of in the Missionary Training Center, the MTC's insurance would not have covered 100% of the costs, and neither would her CA health insurance.

Through all of this, we were able to talk to Jayne on the phone 4 times.  We felt that she was in good hands, and that her spirits were up.  We're grateful for her faith, strength, and testimony. And we are grateful for each of you, who have also been a strength in one way or another, to Jayne, and to us!