Christmas EVE man

YOU GUYS.

Is it seriously Christmas Eve?!? What.

I will start out with a giant THANK YOU to those who have sent me things and thought of me this Christmas season. I am for sure feeling the love over here in New York. I will hopefully be working on some thank you cards in the near future. I LOVE YOU ALL.

Today we were going to go to Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center and guess what. It's POURING. I'm dreaming of a (wet!?!?) Christmas ??? No white!!! What! Haha. Zero visibility. So we get to go next week for free! So instead of top of the rock we... SHOPPED. 5th ave. happy abbey.

I feel an overwhelming amount of love for all the people here!! I feel like New York is just everyone in the world. Seriously. The other day I was talking to people about Christ and Christmas and within a matter of 15 minutes I had met a woman from France, a man from Israel, a couple from South Korea, and a couple from Australia. WHAT on earth. Let me just tell you that god LOVES ALL his children. And I have been blessed to be able to feel just a TINY bit of his love for everyone. Wow. I really just get teary eyed when I think about all of Gods children. Who am I. Hahah crying over nothing.. Goodness. the things missions do to you.. :)

I'm struggling to explain my love for my mission. I'm so SO deeply
grateful to be here. I love everything about it. Hopefully one day in heaven I will be able to re-play my mission and watch it like a movie. Because this is too good (and too hard) to be real. ;)
Haha

Here's some NEWS for you.
I am now in a TRIO. Haha three of us!! I have two companions. Because one of the sisters in our apartment had to go home early for health problems and so then there was an extra sister. So they put us three together! So now we cover two areas in manhattan. Woah man. So much area. So many people. SO MUCH work to be done. But guessssss what? I love it. Being in a trio is just fabulous. We literally just laugh while doing missionary work all day long haha. It's supa enjoyable.

We finished our 120 Book of Mormon read as a whole mission today!!!
WOW. That book. Is true. And awesome. I'm so grateful for all that I
have learned from reading and studying it everyday. I know that the
Book of Mormon is truly the word of god. LOVE IT.

We had some awesome zone activities this week. Lots of caroling and Christmas sharing. There was one APF where we stood in front of a library on 5th ave. and sang Christmas carols about Christ and I'm not kidding people were stopping and recording us and taking pictures and smiling and being SO happy. Such a cool experience being in one of the most "worldy" places on earth and being able to feel the spirit so strong.

So tomorrow we get to go ice skating and I'm mega pumped about that.
Wooo!! It's Christmas time in the city!! (So help me... if it's
pouring rain again...) Buuuut I get to SKYPE YOU FAM!!!!!!!! I'm sooo pumped. Made a list of all the things I want to tell you!! So be sure and make a list as well :) We are eating at our stake presidents apartment tonight. And me and my two companions are having a slumber party in our living room. (I'll miss my real sisters but these two chikas will have to do ;) )

I'm actually way way way sad that Christmas is going to be over. :(
Christmas is a great time when you can talk to people about Christ and they seem to be just a little more open to Christ than normal.. Their hearts seem to be a little bit softer than other times. I am really hoping within the next few months we will start to see the fruits of our labors from sharing the gift these past weeks. I truly believe that god will bless us for all our hard work here in New York.

Aaaaaand last...  but most DEFINITELY not the least.
I LOVE my savior Jesus Christ. I am so happy that he was born. Christmas is just a great big birthday party for Christ. Let us not forget tomorrow when we are opening our gifts... that the ultimate gift of ALL is Christ. He is there for us ALWAYS. Every day every second allllll the time. He loves us. And our Heavenly Father loves us as well. And that's why he gave us his son. We are so blessed!!

Wellllllllll hey.
I will talk to you TOMORROW family. Face to face. YAY YAY YAY!!!!! I
love you guys so much. Save me a yummy cinnamon roll tomorrow morning ;) and plz take lots of pictures tonight and tomorrow. I'm so excited to wear my new Christmas PJs. I will take pictures as well. LOVE YOU.

Love,
Sista Abbs Dunford

Good Tidings ;)

WHAT a week. Good times in the big apppppple.

WOW there are SO many people here right now. Because of Christmas. Everyone just wants to be here for Christmas!! Haha it's wonderful. There are always so many visitors at church on Sunday. which is fun. There are especially a lot at this time of year!! It's awesome. People are always so nice to us missionaries. (Well the members) hahaha most people in the streets just stare at us. I'm like smiling and "Whatchu know bout me!!" Hahah!

SO we have an investigator named Richie. He is RICH. So filthy rich. His name fits him perfectly. He works on Wall Street and is one of those high class confident people. Haha he likes very expensive clothes and just your average rich person. So this was cool. He totally just walked into the temple one day and asked if he could learn more!!! So we were like YES. We have taught him 3 times in the hallway of the church because a lot of times the members can't come to lessons because they are busy... (Which is realllly difficult because we have a lot of times where we can't teach just one male.) Like you know the missionary rule. Two sisters can't be alone with one male. So anyways we have been teaching him in the "lobby thing" of the church. I LOVE teaching him because I feel like I'm changing his mind about "the Mormons." Something I LOVED.. One time Richie said something along the lines of "you guys are so inexperienced. You live in a bubble and you're so young and probably just brainwashed." Hahahah!!! (Do you even know how many people think the same thing as him?) (KILLS me) When he said that I just got so fired up inside. But not in a bad way haha. I somehow explained (with the help of the spirit) that I AM NOT brainwashed. I am not out here because my parents told me to come here. I am not here because it's something "we Mormons do" I am not here because I had nothing else to do. I'm not here to impress anyone. I didn't just leave all my family, my home, all my music, dating, all my clothes, my friends, my job, because I am brainwashed. For crying out loud I am a 19 year old girl. WHY ON EARTH would I do this for any other reason than to share TRUTH and peace and happiness with others. If I really wanted, I could go home. But NO not till my 18 months is up. I looked at Richie and said "Richie... Do you honestly think I'm that silly? Do you think I haven't thought this through in my head? Because I TOTALLY have. Believe me. I have wondered MANY times why I am doing what I am doing. And I. Am. Not. Brainwashed." I told him how hard the mission can be. And the things I've had to sacrifice. I explained to him some of the things I've had to go through to gain the testimony that I have. I told him more about myself. I think he really started to see that I am NORMAL. Haha I'm not this robot Mormon girl. I kinda sorta explained to Richie that he is the one living in a bubble :) haha!!! He said "wow it's nice to see it from your view!!!" I wish I could just have recorded that lesson for you. But all you have to know is that I LOVE teaching him. Because I feel like Heavenly Father has prepared me for certain people here. I love when I can be bold and confident while teaching. And since Richie is so bold with us, I have every right to be bold back to him. I LOVE when I can be bold with people.

We had the most WONDERFUL Christmas devotional on Friday with THE
WHOLE MISSION. The ONLY time the WHOLE mission gets together is forChristmas!!! And I was in heaven. I really can't explain the spirit that I feel when I am surrounded with other missionaries doing the same thing that I am doing. And oh. My. Heavens. The Christmas spirit was SO strong. President and Sister Morgan spoke and there was a wonderful choir of missionaries. Seriously they sounded like angels. And then we had a big meal that was catered and so good. We sat as a whole mission (all 270 somethin of us) and ate a meal  together. A very delicious one. It was so fun. I LOVED seeing my favorite missionaries from my last area. And so many of the other missionaries that I have made friends with. It was super fun to ride upstate on the train with alllll the city missionaries. So everyone from Manhattan and Harlem and The Bronx rode up on the metro north train which was so fun. We got a lot of people staring at us haha!! Definitely a Christmas memory to remember forever!!!!

My dear Sister Amorim! I miss her lots!

We did an activity with my district in time square!! Something we call an APF (area proselyting focus) so my companion and I were in charge because it's in our area. Basically we just gather a bunch of
missionaries to try to help out in our area. It's always a good time. For this one we gave out free candy canes with "he is the gift" pass along cards tied to them. And we wrapped Book of Mormons and gave those out like Christmas presents. We sang Christmas carols and got a lot of stares. Haha. It was really cool. There are even more ads in time square now!! They are everywhere!!!! Like 6 of them!!! And I just can't even imagine the cost of that... Haha. It's amazing. I showed the video so many times that my iPad battery died! Too good.

I LOVE my ward. Ah. Why am I in such an amazing part of the world with such amazing people!?! I am learning from such good people. Too many good examples to follow here in NYNY North. Every prayer that I say is literally just THANK YOU thaaaaank you thank you. Thankful for the trials Im having. Thankful for the area I'm in. Thankful for my apartment. Thankful for my ward. For my mission president. For this opportunity. For my FAMILY. For ME. I'm so thankful. FOR EVERYTHING.

Christ is Christmas. He is!!! He is he is he is. Can we all PLEASE just remember how amazing he is especially these last few days of December. Christ is a gift for all of us. So go on and open that gift.. :) Discover him. Embrace him. Use the gift. SHARE it.

   

Our teeny Christmas Tree I chose

I LOVE YOU fam fam and friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.
(Next P day is Christmas Eve) hehe partay!!! Can't wait to talk to you fam!! Good tidings xoxoxo xox

Sister ABBs Dunford

Welcome to New York!

Oh man I never know how to start these emails.. Just so much floating around in my head!!

So here we go!
#randomness

Welcome to New York, it's been waiting for you!!!! (Tayla swift) yes I heard that song... Because for crying out loud I'm in New York and it was playing at a bakery I went to the other day. I love Taylor Swift.

Serving a mission in New York City is something I will NEVER EVER
forget. NEEEW YOOORK! I love this city. I am getting to know the city in a way that most people don't and won't ever get to know it. I am a missionary here!!! I visit multiple apartments every day!! I get to see the lives of these amazing people. I teach others about Christ. I walk inside other peoples homes everyday. Most people could care less about talking to the people surrounding them on the streets.. but I'm talking to them!! Like how cool. I'm here in New York. With such a variety of people and
I'm doing the most important thing ever. Nothing beats this experience. I LOVE it.

It was a good weeeeeeek!! We have a goal of showing the "He is theGift" video 20 times a day. We got 2 new investigators from he is the gift!!!! Two people interested because of the video. AWESOME. So even tho most of the people we show the video to just say AwHhh that's a nice video... There are the select few who are actually interested. Amazing. YAY. The Mormons know what's up.

THOUGHTS ;)

I will never be the same after this. I refuse to be the same person I was before. I CANNOT be the same. I won't. (Don't worry. I'm still ME.. Just a better ME.) haha But that's something I've really been thinking about quite a bit lately. When we have a spiritual experience or when we receive revelation or I don't know "something special happens," we should never just stay the same. We need to turn our knowledge into ACTION. I think a lot of people have desires to change, but not everyone knows exactly how to make that change happen!! There is a reason why we go through things in life and it's definitely not for us to just sit and stare at the wall and be the same person we were in 1st grade. We MUST change. For the BETTER. I have been experiencing a change in my self as I am allowing Christ to change me! I am letting him help me every day. I know that when we submit ourselves to Christ and when we sacrifice our will for the lord's, we will experience a positive inner change that will help us be happier. I have my own personal witness of this. I have a strong testimony of Christ. I'm so grateful for my Father in Heaven who sent his only begotten son to earth, FOR US. He loves us so much. And what a WONDERFUL time of year it is to recommit ourselves to

follow Christ and to allow him to change us. It's Christmas time! And I'm so grateful to be a part of this amazing work here. I love my mission.

HAHa. I have NEVER seen weirder people than some of the people here in New York. Oh my gosh. There are too many times when I just find myself laughing because of some crazy person that I saw or talked to. Example: On Sunday in church during the sacrament, there was this man who came to visit.  (dressed crazy) he had like a funky hat on and some plants in his pockets and a big brief case and a lot of papers with him.. Well the deacons were passing around the sacrament and this man yells out loud and goes "is this bread Kosher??" AH. Hahah. Then when the water was coming around he stood up and asked (very loudly) if he could have Budweiser instead of water. AH. Haha I was laughing inside of myself the whole time. Hahah. He was crazy!! CRAZY people here in NYC. But you know what it the coolest ever?? We are ALL children of god. And I love having that knowledge. I love sharing this message with gods children here in New York. They are our bothers and sisters!! We are all brothers and sisters. And what a cool thing that is.

I forgot to talk about my new companion in my last email!!
Sister Brown. She is great!!! We are both blonde. She's tall!! She's so nice. We both love shopping!!! Although not at the same stores. Haha. She makes me LAUGH. And we work so hard together. We both love this city. I have NO complaints.

  

So remember how I BRIEFLY talked about Omar the Egyptian in my last email? Weeelllll... We can't really teach him anymore because he just got a little... Too... creepy. Haha. Omar isn't married. And he wants to be married so bad. Hahah I guess to just be blunt about it... Omar flirts with me. And compliments me. And stares at me. SO. Hahaha. We had to talk to the bishop about him and to our district leader and get it all taken care of. So now the other elders are going to teach him so that we don't have these problems anymore. So he was a little uncomfortable for me to be around but it's ALL good now. (No worries mom) IM SAFE.

It's been prettttttty rainy this last week which is fiiiiiiine. Rain rain rain. But hey I'm in New York so it can rain on me any day and I'll still be happy.

Haha there was one day where the subways were not fun. Some of them were not working. Which made the ones that were working extremely crowded and packed. And it was RAINY. So imagine wet New Yorkers shoved into a subway train. Like literally my face was squished right by the window. HAHa I was sneaking Mormon cards into peoples purses. Hahahah.

I am SO HAPPY.
So grateful. So blessed. So good. So excited. So awesome. I love being a missionary.

I LOVE YOU.

Love,
ABBs

Hi I'm in HEAVEN.

Okay maybe a missionary shouldn't be saying this... But I feel like
I'm on vacation. HAHa. Who knew missionary work could be so fun!?!
I am just DYING I love it here so much. I am moving back here after my mission. I LOVE it. And oh my goodness the fact that it's Christmas time here... It's MAGICAL. I am in the best mission in the world.

So how do I even start.
THERE IS JUST SO MUCH TO TELL.

I will start out with HE IS THE GIFT.
Okay. You're lame if you haven't heard of he is the gift. Because it's AWESOME. And Holy. Crap. Our church is amazing. There are 3 HUGE advertisements in Time Square. HUGE. And they are in. Time. Square. WHAT!?! The church has estimated that 55 MILLION people will see it. Let me also tell you Time Square is in MY AREA. 

#bestplacetocontact


#howdidigetsolucky

Yesterday my companion and I handed out like 10 Book of Mormons and
like 50 He is the Gift cards. People were like "oh you guys are real Mormons???" HAHA. The things people say to us missionaries...(People always ask if I am a nun) hahahaha. NO. I cannot explain how cool it is to see real MORMON stuff on huge billboards IN TIME SQUARE. (Haha it is pretty cool to see the Book of Mormon Broadway play adds too) The church has put so much focus into this and I feel SO blessed to have Time Square in my area. I'm just dying. I'm like sharing the gift like crazay out here!! #ShareTheGift. There was this man on the subway that I was talking to the other night and I asked where he was coming from and he said he had just left a concert in Time Square for U2 and Coldplay and Carrie Underwood. I was like whuuuut that's awesome! And then he asked about who I was and what I was doin, so I told him. And then he goes "oH yeah I just saw a ton of Mormon stuff in Time Square right above the people performing!!" I then was like WHAAT. You saw it?? For realz!?! SO COOL. I showed him the video and he loved it. So that's a random little story but I just thought wow, how cool!!! Mormon sharin goodness in Time Square and famous people performing. I betcha Coldplay saw "he is the gift" HAHA. :)
Random thoughts-

We have the cutest little apartment with the cutest brick wall inside!!! Whaaaaaaat! Love it. So blessed.

 

  

So like I don't even need Instagram or twitter because I am basically IN Instagram and Twitter. Haha. So like example: my favorite blogger that I followed before my mission (on Instagram) is IN. MY. WARD. Stop. I have like LIVE newsfeed in front of me all the time. I'm for realz in heaven.

I am pro subway rider. I am becoming a true local New Yorker.. Welll... Except I still almost fall over every time it moves forward.

You would have died laughing if you saw me hauling all my luggage
through the city and on the subways to our apartment. HAHA. My
suitcases were so heavy and it was pouring rain and me and my companion were laughing SO hard struggling to get down the subways, on, off and up stairs... Hahaha.

I love the New York temple. It is like home base for us. We work all around the temple and so it's like home for us!!! Loooove it.

I fall asleep to the sound of a siren every night!! Haha awesome.

In our area we have like my faves. Central Park, 5th ave. Rockefeller center, Lincoln Center, Time Square and other random awesome things. These are just a few cool ones. The upper west side is amazing. It's just like the New York you see in the movies.

Thanksgiving was greaaaat! We ate at my bishops apartment. The food
was amaze. And I just feel so blessed. I'm so thankful my gosh.

Which reminds me.. The apartments here... AH beautiful. The members
apartments.. AH. The views. I love this city.

There was this event at Lincoln Square (which is where the temple is) and the event was called Winters Eve. It's like a huge event that they do every year here in New York on December first. Well all the missionaries in my zone passed out free hot chocolate to everyone and it was SO fun. And so cool because there were so many people outside the temple!!  We got a new investigator that night which was awesome. There were live bands and lots of performers and lots of fun stuff. New York is THE PLACE TO BE in December. Well New York is the place to be all the time.

   

OMAR. Is one of our investigators and guess where he is from??
Egypt!! And guess what language he speaks?? Arabic!!! And so guess how we teach him?? We have a translator!!! And guess what!  It's SO cool. I am in a foreign American place. Haha.

Thank you for the packages!!! I LOVE getting all the packages. And
letters!! They bring so much happiness to me!!! All the missionaries
in my zone always laugh when they bring the mail because there's
always a ton for me. Haha I'm like what?? my family and friends love
me! :)

So lets be REAL. Manhattan is awesome. And aside from the bronchitis that I have... Life is GOOD. You would laugh if you saw me using my inhaler here. Haha we'll be sittin on the subway and there I am just awkwardly inhaling hahahah.

I LOVE my mission. Everything about it. The things I'm learning are
things I would not have learned any other way. I want to write more..
But nope. Later :)

LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Xoxoxoxoxox
Love,
Sista Abba

TRANSFERS!!!

Woooooaaaaah there....

First of all it's SNOWING yaaaayyy! :) so pretty. So mom be grateful I'm being transferred to an area where I won't have a car!! No driving in the snow hahaha. Just freezing.


SO... Can you guess where I'm being transferred..?  I will give you a few hints..

This place....

-is BUSY..
-is expensive...
-is PRETTY..(especially at Christmas time)
-is FULL of diversity...
-has some good smells (and some not so good smells)
-has a whole lotta good shopping...
-is intimidating..
-has fabulous food...
-has famous people..
-has awesome LDS members...
-has lots of smart people... (And some not so smart)
-has a temple...

This place is one of my favorite places I've ever been in my life.

THIS PLACE IS MANHATTAN.

If you could only see the look on my face when I found out I was being transferred there.. Manhattan has been just a place of fun on P days for me so far.. But now I get to actually teach the people in Manhattan. I get to do the Lords work in an amazing part of the world. (And yes I realize serving in manhattan is not like visiting/vacationing in manhattan.) haha. But like Manhattan is Manhattan no matter what. And I LOVE it.

Some of my feelings..
I can't help but feel a LITTLE inadequate serving in this super populated amazing city.. Like do you know what kind of people live in manhattan? Haha. Like HI New York City I'm Sister Dunford. .. But whenever I feel these little inadequate thoughts I just push them away and think "oooooohhh k Heavenly Father you know where I need to be, and I know that you will help me out as long as I do my part." I am just praying that I will be able to be a successful instrument in the lords hands. I know he will guide me with the spirit. I have witnessed it already!! I seriously just can't wait live in the city and explore it in a WHOLE new way. How many people get to say that they have helped others come to Christ in NYC? Lots of people visit/vacation there.. But I am doing the most important thing EVER there. HAHa I CANT WAIT to share the gospel with the people. I can't BELIEVE how well Heavenly Father knows me. I know that Manhattan is where I am supposed to be.

So as for leaving the Darien Connecticut ward... SAD. I love this ward SO much. The people here are incredible. Soooo successful and SO humble. A scripture that reminds me of the Darien ward is... Alma 32:16 "Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble...." The Darien ward is a perfect example of this. They have everything they need (materialistically speaking) they have wonderful nice homes, great families, nice cars, everything. They have it all. BUT they are still SO humble and willing to help out and serve others. They are humble because they want to be. Not because they have nothing better to do than to serve and help others. I LOVE THE DARIEN ward. It will forever hold a place in my heart. I will for sure be back to visit this area. I have learned soooo much from the members here!! I heart Connecticut. AND I heart NY.

One positive to leaving this area...
I have never eaten so much in my life. HAHA. I honestly don't think there was one dinner appointment that I didn't have a desert. And there were dinner appointments like 5 ish times a week. And you cannot turn down a desert that was made especially for you. The people sure know how to fatten a girl up. So I guess we'll see if I can stay away from the delicious food in manhattan this next cycle. I will be walking walking walking. :)

So I received an email from my wonderful Dad last week telling me that I need to talk more about the things that are HARD for me on my mission. HAHA what!?! So I thought a lot about that throughout my week. What really is SO hard about my mission? And I came to the conclusion that the very root of what makes my mission hard for me is having to be 100% selfless. FOR REAL. When I break down every little thing that is hard for me, It really comes down to selfishness!!! HOW SAD. I never really thought I was that selfish until I started thinking about WHY certain things are hard. Things like I want more sleep, more time for myself, more time to study, more space for myself, feeling inadequate to teach, wanting to eat what I want whenever I want, wanting to listen to MY favorite music, thinking about home, wanting to do things for the benefit of ME. ...And there you have some honest thoughts from ABBs. I think we as humans are ALL more selfish than we would like to admit. .. SO..How do we fix this huh? Well.. What i'm doing is working really hard on becoming more like Christ EVERY single day. Remember how I told you I focus on one Christlike attribute a day? IT IS THE BEST THING for me. I'm telling you, if you want to be truly happy and perfect, focusing on Christ is HOW you do it. It's not having the best hair, it's not being the skinniest person ever, it's not having the best clothes, not having the most money, not having the best pictures on Instagram, not the most likes, ITS NOT about those things. (I feel like that's what everyone describes a "perfect person" as) THAT IS NOT a perfect person. It takes humility to admit that I am selfish! It really really does. I would LOVE to just tell you that I am always thinking about others and ALWAYS turning outward and ALWAYS being just like Christ. But hate to break it to you, IM STILL HUMAN. BUT I am trying to be more like my savior EVERY SINGLE day. And that my friends, is why we are here on this earth, to become more like Christ and to CHANGE and be BETTER. So I invite you ALL, to think about yourself. Think about why you do the things you do. And then break it down. And then pick a Christlike attribute and tape it ALL over your mirror. So everyday when you get ready, you know what you're going to implement throughout your day. It will help you be happier I PROMISE.

I had an amazing last week in Darien!! Lots of good things happening here and the sister that gets to replace me us ONE LUCKY DUCK. I wish I could write more but there is just TOO much. So. That's it! Can't wait till next week to tell you about my first adventurous week in MANHATTAN. Love you ALL.
Xoxo- gossip girl ;)

HA.

Teasin

LOVE,
Sister Dunfun

Thankful thank you thanks thanksgivin

Hi guys!!

How is everyone?

Shout out to the soon to be Baylee Relf. Love you bay! Go marry in that temple sista friend. I'm still doing great! Same old happy Sister Dunford! IM SO THANKFUL for everything that I have. I am just constantly feeling blessed. It's a wonderful time of year.

It's P DAY. Sister Wilkes is having so much fun being a girl on our P days.. Hahah! You know what we did today? My hair, And then we got our nails done. And then we went shopping. And then we got our eyebrows threaded. Then grocery shopping. And then we made caramel brownies for a sister in our apartment because her birthday is tomorrow. HAHA. Sister Wilkes had never had her eyebrows threaded or her nails done so this was a new and exciting day for her! Preparation for the week you know? ;)

It's getting so cold here!! Time to pull out the winter coat!! haha. I have been a little sick the last few days so yesterday my companion and I had to stay in for a little while. Being sick as a missionary is not fun. I'd rather be busy and not have time think all day long. But oh well. Much needed resting.

Thanksgiving is real soon too.. And transfers are the day before
thanksgiving .. So you just hope if you get transferred that someone
will have you over for dinner.. Haha. It would be interesting to be in a whole new area with a new companion in a new zone for thanksgiving.

So first highlight of the week was MY COUSINS BAPTISM that I had
permission to skype into!! That was so amazing. It was SO good to see all my wonderful family on skype and say hello. That was so cool and something I will never forget. I'm so grateful for the opportunities that I have in this mission. Online proselyting is so great. (For those who are confused) I had the opportunity to contact my cousin on Facebook who wasn't a member and I had permission to teach him online. (He lives back home in Utah) well coolest thing ever he got baptized on Saturday and my mission president was amazing and allowed me to skype the baptism. SO COOL. I love my family SO much. Hahaha I was laughing when Ky and McCall were crying. HAHA. Love you guys. That was so special!!

Another highlight was zone conference!!!
It was SO fun. Haha. So it started and we had like a question/answer
meeting for like two hours where we could ask questions to the mission president and he would answer. The questions could be rule based, or doctrine, or anything really. It was SO good. He clarified a lot of the things for us. President Morgan is an AMAZING mission president. I only hope I can be half as amazing as him when I grow up. After the questions, we had lunch and then split into smaller groups like 8 missionaries per group. Each group was asked to make a video about why we believe in Christ. ... I have not laughed that hard since Sister Wilkes and I DOWNED the chocolate cake. HAHA. Oh my heavens. My group made up a dance. And two missionaries made up a rap and rapped while we danced. Ha ha ha. Oh my heck. It was so funny. Then after we finished making our videos we all got back together and we watched each groups video!! We had popcorn and soda and we all laughed so hard. Don't worry we weren't JUST having fun. President Morgan had some amazing remarks after and realllly brought the spirit. It was too good. I love President Morgan.

So there is a new woman we are teaching. She is 49 years old and her
name is Dana. Dana was a referral from a member in a different ward.. Well when I called dana to find out a time we could go meet with her, the first thing she said asked me was if I could bring her a pack of cigarettes. Haha. And then she continued to cry on the phone when I told her we couldn't and I told her we were going to try to help her to overcome smoking. Well we finally went to Dana's to meet her and OH MAN. I feel so bad. Dana is an intense drug addict. Intense...  She is for reals struggling. I don't think I have ever seen anything like her. In all honesty her life is just NOT in a good place. I can't explain details but lets just say DRUGS ARE SO BAD. Dana is going to need A LOT of help to get out of this mess. She will need more than just two sister missionaries. (For real) But.. I know with my whole heart that Christ can heal her. I know that no matter how messed up things get, that Christ will heal us. No matter how far off we think we have gone, we can always come back. I know that if it weren't for Christ's atonement, We would all be trapped. And we would not be able to progress. But because of him we can change!! We just need to have faith in him and put Christ at the center of our lives. We need to commit ourselves to Jesus Christ spiritually, physically, and emotionally. He WILL bless our lives with direction, and happiness, peace, love, relief, joy!! When we live a Christ centered life, we live a MUCH better life. Not because there won't be trials, but because we can get through the trials with the help of Christ. I have a STRONG testimony of the atonement. I have felt it's cleansing and healing powers in my life. I know that Christ can lift the burdens off of our backs. I have witnessed it myself. I love Christ. And I am beyond grateful for the love that he has for ALL of us.

That's ALL for now people. LOVE YOU LOTS. CTR

Love abbba!!
:)

anotha weeeeeek

HELLO!

So I cannot believe that I have friends getting married... STOP. Haha crazy. I LOVE YOU friends at home.
I am currently eating my favorite candy (hi-chews.) and I am waiting for my food at PF changs. Yummmm. I'm keeping an eye out for Beyoncé because she lives way close to where I am. HAHa. I'm so happy. Today I get to get a haircut and I CANNOT WAIT. Back in a salon!!!! Oh how I've missed doing hair :) I am cutting off 5 inches.. Much needed hair cut. I loooove P days.

GREAT week. I can't believe how much I love the people here. I don't ever want to leave this area. The people are SO amazing. I have made some really strong connections with a lot of the people here. Transfers are just around the corner. And I felt like transfers were yesterday! I'm crossing my fingers that I will stay another cycle .... Eeeeee!!!  But I will do whatever God wants me to do. Heavenly Father knows where I need to be. I just think being here for the holidays would be so awesome. And I really love Sister Wilkes. It will be her LAST cycle! She is a good missionary. So I guess we'll find out what happens in about a week!! Ahh!!

The area that I am in is BLOOMING. I looooove it. We have SO many
people to work with and it feels so good to teach the gospel. Things are realllllly starting to pick up here and I am so happy about it. We have two baptismal dates and We had SEVEN investigators at church!!!!! MIRACLE. It's a miracle when we have one at church but SEVEN!?!? That NEVER happens. I was soooo happy. And the thing about the investigators that we have right now is they are all so serious and SO normal and so awesome. I don't know how many times I said "I don't ever want to leave this area..." over the week. We are so busy and the members are so willing to come teach with us. I feel blessed. So happy. #thankful

It was a FUN week. I wish I could list everything fun that happened. But I just can't. Just know I am having FUN. And working hard. ;)

How did I get called here? I can't handle it. I can't believe how right this is. This is where I am supposed to be. THIS GOSPEL is so important. I feel bad for those who don't understand the importance of it! Because I don't think I really realized how important it is until I came out here. I think every person in the whole world should serve a mission. I would be so so so sad if I wouldn't have come out here. I would have had no idea what I was missing out on. AHH I just feel so blessed to have the gospel and to know and understand the gospel. It makes all the difference. I am so happy.... BUT please remember that this is hard. Although I've never been happier.... I have never been so tired. So spiritually tired and physically tired as well. I NEVER thought I'd miss my loved ones at home as much as I do. I didn't think I would have to miss my bfffffff's big day. Didn't think I'd have to be SO selfless. ... Crazy though, because I don't want to do ANYTHING else. I don't want to ever stop sharing the gospel. I love the gospel. I love my Heavenly Father. I love my savior Jesus Christ. I am so confident that this church is true. I have SUCH a strong testimony that god hears us and he knows us. He knows what we need. He loves us.

PRAYER is my favorite thing right now. I love prayer more than I love peanut butter. My prayers have come a loooong way since I left on my mission. I LOVE to say my prayers. I love to pour out my heart to Heavenly Father. And to tell him how tired I am. I love telling him how much I miss my family. I love telling him how fat I feel after eating the meals the members feed me. I love asking for forgiveness for my shortcomings of the day. I love THANKING him for letting me have this opportunity. I LOVE praying to him. And I've never felt so close to him. He cares for all of us. He IS THERE. So PLEASE everyone don't deprive yourself from the wonderful blessing we have to COMMUNICATE with him. Prayer is amazing. I LOVE PRAYER. So I INVITE all of you to pray harder than you ever have before. And literally POUR OUT YOUR STINKIN HEART. Let your prayer be SINCERE. Don't just bow your head and fold your arms and "pray" without being sincere, .... If that happens.. re- do your prayer. A prayer should be straight from your heart. Your TRUE desires. In fact yesterday I prayed to god that I would be able to buy a dress that I saw the other day in madewell. Now just because I prayed for that does that mean I'm going to get it? No. In fact I probably won't get it. But it felt good to tell Heavenly Father. And I think Heavenly Father enjoyed hearing that from me. I LOVE my Heavenly Father. He is so smart and so loving and so right. I Love him.

I guess that's all for now. Talk to you in a week!!! Maybe I will
share more stories then. CTR

Love abbbbbbba

a cute member family!

I slacked on picture taking this week. I will send more later ;)