This week was great! Things are really slowing down now that there's snow. The roads were all closed off the first time it snowed because there weren't any snow plows or salt yet and the roads were so icy. So day one of being stuck inside has already taken place. Plus, people are always cancelling now because of the weather. It's kind of a bummer, but we try to make the most of it!
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| Fun in the schoolhouse basement. These are the four sisters I live with. Used too, at least. |
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| Sister Holmes, in the black and white stripes, has been transferred. |
Zone conference was just... amazing. So amazing. Such great talks and messages were shared. My violin piece was the first musical number and that went decently well. Then we listened to some talks that were so inspiring! Then came the second musical number. It was disastrous. So I got a call the night before Zone Conference from one of the sisters serving at the VC. She was going to be singing in a quartet, 2 sisters, 2 elders, but she got sick and lost her voice. So they asked me to join. I said yes. We practiced about 10 minutes before Zone Conference started and it sounded beautiful! Such cool harmonies. Then, we went in for the real deal. The first guy to start singing started on the wrong note (this was all acapella) and it kind of threw us all off. So this other sister and I are trying to find our note so we can come in with the oohs and ahhs, didn't happen. But we still oohed. Bad idea. We sounded like dying cows. We giggled, then we tried again. Once again, dying cows. Then I just burst out in laughter. On the pulpit. In the middle of Zone Conference. You guys, I had tears coming down my face I was laughing so hard. I couldn't control myself. I had to bury my head in her shoulder. So embarrassing/inappropriate. Then you look out to the congregation, and everyone's heads are down in fear of making eye contact with someone else and laughing uncontrollably at the glorious musical number going on in front of them. But you could still see their shoulders going up and down from silent, respectful laughter. Oh my goodness. It was horrible. Then afterwards, President came up to me and was like, "Thanks for singing!" ...... You're welcome. So yeah. That was exciting. But apparently it made it the best Zone Conference yet, so good job, Jayne. I should volunteer myself more often. Just kidding.
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| Hooray for District timer shots where none of us are smiling! |
We got to watch Meet the Mormons! It was so good. I loved it. At the end though, when the missionary was saying goodbye to his family, the room was just full of bawling missionaries. Like I've never seen/heard so many people cry so hard during a movie. I only had about 2 tears come though. Luckily I had already drained my eyes during the song. But then afterwards, President walked up to the stand from the left side, looked at all of us for a few seconds, then said, "Well it's a good thing we didn't show Bambi", chuckled, then walked off to the right and just sat down. It was so great. It reminded me of when Mr. Sir laughed after telling his story about the magical place where it never rained, then just walked away. President is so awesome. He's so inspiring and spiritual, but also hilarious. Some of my other favorite quotes from him: "While you're on your mission, you're ugly." and "Be clean or I will shoot you." Classic President Vellinga.
Yesterday we had our Primary Program! Such cute kids in my ward. It kills me. You know how Carter and Jackie had that huge baby in their ward? Yeah, we have one of those. He's about 1 year old and is the size of 3.79 Jaydens. It's great. Also, I'd like to share with you a little letter Sister de Kock and I received from one of the kids in our ward:
"Dear Sister de Kock and sister Liveston I like you becaues I luv you from yor best butey deago." This came from a boy named Isaac. He likes to call himself Diego. Why? Couldn't tell ya. But he's our best buddy. And once again, I just love kids and how cute/pure.innocent they are.
I'd just like to tell you guys about a man named Ralphie. He came onto chat and started getting very defensive, saying how our religion was wrong and we shouldn't try to be Christ-like because it's impossible to achieve that goal. It didn't make much sense to me. But we continued speaking with him and were just being nice to him. Eventually, we stopped replying, but he just kept on going. He went on for an hour without us saying anything to him. Literally, an hour. I'm not exaggerating. It was hilarious. Is that mean of us? Probably. But we figured that he just needed to release his feelings and vent for a bit. So we let him. He was very dramatic. He wrote beautifully! Very poetic, but very dramatic. Here is a transcript from the last entries of the one-sided thread. Greatest compliment ever.
Ralphie: God will move you towards him, to his truth, to his joy. I see you both love Jesus.
Ralphie: This I see, and this I pray. There is light, to come, to overflow, to enjoy, praise and worship.
Ralphie: Jayne is a precious stone, a jewel in God's eyes.
Ralphie: Jaydene (Sis. de Kock, Jayne's companion) is a rose that brings a wonderful smell of God's presence, to you
Ralphie: Seek God's presence, press in, ask God to give you guidance.
Ralphie: Jayne and Jaydene, both beautiful, a marvelous work by God, so precious, that you can have life, Everlasting Jesus, I bid you farewell.
Classic Ralphie
Mom, guess what. Sister de Kock and I are memorizing The Living Christ! Are you proud? When we first decided to memorize it, we read the first sentence and thought it would be impossible, but we finally got it. We're about 3/4 through the first column now. It's been so fun! I love it. Thank you for inspiring us.
Also, we did sooo many stop-by's with former/potential investigators this week. We saw so many torn apart families. It was so sad! Heartbreaking. It made me so grateful for the "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and the principles/values it teaches. How blessed are we to have modern Prophets who are able to lead and direct us? So much happiness and pure joy comes from following prophets, past and present. We are given so many different resources and I think we all might take them for granted a little bit. I know I sure do. But I am trying to use more of those resources and apply them in my life, and in my missionary efforts. God lives, and He loves. What more could we ask for? We truly are blessed.
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| My home |
Love the story about Lincoln. Yes, I'm on a secret mission. Kids are just too cute! It's so hard not getting to hold them. Definitely the hardest mission rule for me. I don't want you to have to send me anything (unless you REALLY want to, I won't mind). Mema's got me covered! She sent me some beanies and scarves! So sweet. I love you Mema. But yeah I can just look around here for things. I'll need to get a marshmallow coat and some heavy duty snow boots. We have about 5 inches of snow so far, with plenty more to come. I've mostly been wearing the boots I have. Sister S has been called to serve as a Family History Consultant! She says it isn't her biggest cup of tea, but she's happy to do it. About the picture of the Camerons and me: The young boy on the very left, Tristan (5), is Jordan's son. Then next to him is Brynn's son, Cole (8). And the baby BOY (not a girl:)) that Brynn is holding is hers too. We made the connection because their mom recognized the name Livingston. She asked where in California I was from and I said Sacramento. Then she said she knew some from LA, and I was like "It's probably my family! Do you know the Frames?" Then there were connections flying all over the place. So fun. Connections are always fun. Maybe one day someone I really know and love will come take a tour. Frames? Tee hee.
Secret message for Melodee: Ek weet hierdie kerk is waar. Dit maak my so bly! Ek is so lief vir Sister de Kock. Sy is my gunstelling. Sy is baie lief vir Sister Livingston. ;P :) :)
I asked Sister de Kock to say, "I know this church is true and it makes me so happy" in Afrikaans. Then she added some other stuff. I hope it's all good and that she didn't' tell on me for all of my inadequacies.
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| Transfer Photo Nice! |
to you all. So get on it, people!
I love you all! Have a wonderful week. Be good, CTR, don't forget about me, you know.
Love always,
Jayne
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