Barbie is Mormon!

HEYYYY.

How is good old UTAH?? I wear this cute little tiny gold UT necklace here and people always tell me how cute it is and im like "I know right?? UT is so cute!" :) haha! Utah is always on my heart. literally.

So where do I even begin. ONE WEEK IN THE FIELD. it almost feels like I have already been here for a month just because so much has happened. I wish I could share ALL the details.. but there is no time.. (and I dont want to bore you)

I will start out with a funny story.

So a few nights ago, my companion and I went to go do a look up. and this look up was in the projects. So let me just give you a visual image.. Everyone there was black. (which is awesome) (nothin against black people) but me and my companion stuck out like CRAZY. Well anyways so we're in this super poor part of town. and we go knock on the door to talk to this less active woman. well She didn't answer.. So we were like alright lets do some street contacting. So... (street contacting is where we talk to people on the streets about our beliefs and stuff.) So we start walking and I kid you not everyone is just staring at us. haha. I'm like smiling and bein all happy and dumb blonde haha. Well I look ahead and there is this man. haha let me explain his appearance. (I am not judging, just stating what he looked like) haha so he is this big black guy, he's got tattoos EVERYWHERE. hes got tear drops tatted under his eyes, hes got a cigarette in hand and some ghetto lookin clothes on. So anyways. I see him from a far. and he is just STARING at me. So yeah we keep getting closer and closer,and the closer we get he starts giving me these head nods.. I'm like nervously smiling because I'm a happy sister missionary right? haha. well we then get pretty close. and (we being missionaries share our message with EVERYONE no matter what their appearance may be) so he waves at me .. and I wave back. then we walk up. he goes HELLOOoooooooo (in this flirty voice) My companion was like "hey can we give you a card.??" He looks at me and goes "heck yeah only if its got blondies number on it" HAHAHA (although I'm leaving out the swear word that he used) there I was standing and my heart sank in my chest. I smiled... and kinda laughed.. my companion goes "yes! it has Sister Dunford's number." I didn't say a word!!!! haha I was terrified. he was like "thank you thank you!! She can baptize me tomorrow!!" And there I was still standing there all awkward and shy. We then handed him the card and told him a few other things and then we started to walk away. as we walked away the man was like "hey blondie expect a call!" hahahaha And I was still dying. SO AHH. that was funny experience. I about peed. haha!

But really Connecticut is SUCH an amazing place. My ward has the RICHEST people I can't even stand it. I was talking to one of the old ladies in our ward and I was just asking about her life and (her name is Barbera) well anyways... Barbera was the actual Barbie doll model!! she legit was barbie back in her younger years. She showed me pictures of herself when she was younger and SHE IS TOTALLY BARBIE. shes so cute she wears pink nail polish and has the cutest white hair and cute pink clothes and she is just the cutest. But yeah she is barbie. So I loved that because I love barbies. So cool. who would have thought barbie is mormon?? ha! 

So along with Barbera, there are some amazing other people in the ward. they are all SO nice. They feed us dinner every night. So every night my companion and I get to go visit these BEAUTIFUL connecticut homes. they are in the prettiest woods and there are fireflies everywhere. its like a movie. Seriously dreamy. I need to live here one day. 

Well. So within the last week that I have been here... We got 3 baptism dates!!!!!! Wooooo! I love the investigators that we have. they are all so awesome. Its crazy because I care for all of them so much!! I love these people and I just barely met them!! Its amazing to see what the gospel does to peoples lives. I get the best of both worlds because I go into these rich homes and then I also go to the projects and a whole bunch of other really poor areas. You know what I have noticed here? Its SO SO clear when people have the gospel in their life. I can see how it blesses peoples families and how amazing it is. I love the people here.

There is this lovely investigator that we are teaching here. Her name is Isis. Isis is so cool. She lives in the projects, and she has a 7 year old son. Isis has not had an easy life. Shes gone through so much. She has been having the lessons from missionaries for the last year and a half. Well. I have loved getting to know her this past week. We have been meeting with her a lot since I have been here. Two nights ago we had the most spiritual lesson. It was amazing. long story short by the end of the lesson I asked her if she would be baptised and she said yes!!! we picked out a date to work towards. I am so so excited for Isis. She has so much faith. Its definitely been a testimony builder for me just to see her grow in just one week!! I love her.

There are a few other awesome investigators that we are teaching but I will save them for another email. 

Anyways. I love you all. I love being a missionary!!! I love sharing the happiness that this gospel has brought to my life with the people here. Its so cool. Honestly Being a missionary is amazing. It is definitely not fairies and roses and flowers all day long but my gosh the feelings I have had in my heart are like no other feeling I have ever had before. So I know that this church is true. and no matter how many people stop us and tell us we are nuts to believe what we believe, I don't care because I have found for myself that this church is true. ITS AMAZING. CTR.

LOVE YOU!

LOVE,

Sista Dunford ;)

I AM HERE!! I AM HERE!! I AM HERE!!

HELLO!!!!!

WOAH. oh. my. gosh. I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM HERE!!!!!! I am IN LOVE. Honestly. I cant even explain. I dont even know how to get the words out. So... 

So first of all, I got here yesterday. aaaand I was SO SO tired. I had to wake up at 2:00 am to leave the MTC. Then we flew to NEW YORK. And I cried as we were landing because of how beautiful it was. So then.. We landed and then met PRESIDENT MORGAN and SISTER MORGAN. they are literally my favorite people on this whole planet. President Morgan is awesome. he is so cool. so nice. so perfect. I cant explain. Sister morgan is the most loving christ-like woman I have ever met!!! She is SO great. They are the best mission presidents in the whole world. 

On the way to NEW YORK

Well. Then we went to the mission home in Scarsdale, NY. The home is BEAUTIFUL. its so cute and cozy. It feels like my home now. Well we got there and sister morgan (literally nicest woman i've ever met) made us a THANKSGIVING dinner. because they are so thankful that we are here. IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE. So yes. After dinner, they told us who our new companions were going to be and where we would be serving first. IM IN STAMFORD CONNECTICUT. I had the happiest tears in my eyes when they told me. I have been so so so excited about Connecticut and I get to serve there right at first!!! WOO.!!!! My companion is AMAZING.  I love her so so so much. She's the nicest girl ever. We are pretty similar. But she has brown hair and I have blonde hair. I am going to learn so much from her. aaaaaand... then we had a testimony meeting with all the new missionaries there and it was amazing. The spirit was incredible. Everyone bore their testimony and I cant count how many times I got the chills. Wellll then we ate NEW YORK CHEESECAKE. ah heck yeah right? amazing. again. after all our fun at the mission home we went to our hotel to finally SLEEP. haha. I had a one nighter temporary companion. and I cant even remember her name thats how stupid I am haha. It was SUCH a nice room. each companionship had their own room. I got a king bed all to myself. (such an upgrade from the MTC.) haha. I was so grateful. and the bathroom... SO NICE.

The Hotel room her first night in NY!

Well we woke up this morning and went back to the mission home and got our very own IPADS. yeah. so that was really fun. and then We got our money cards and all that fun stuff. and then we headed to MANHATTEN for transfers. that meeting was amazing. So fun and spiritual. way fun being in the city!!!!! And then (i am leaving out too many details ha) whatevs. well  so yeah then we went to upstate NY and had another transfer meeting for the upstaters. and that was also amazing. thats where I met my amazing companion. Let me tell you real briefly about her. She is from Brazil, she speaks Portuguese, and spanish, AND english. woah right?????? SHES INCREDIBLE. You wouldnt even guess shes from brazil. shes amazing. I cant even handle it. her name is Sister Amorim.

Well after transfers me and Sis. Amorim headed off to Stamford. OH MY GOSH I COULD DIE. CONNECTICUT IS BEAUTIFUL. SO SO SO SO SO beautiful. like amazing. the richest people live here. the houses are like 20 million dollar houses. I cant breath when we drive by them. I had tears in my eyes on the way here because of how beautiful. (OH dad, everyone drives the nicest cars here toooooo!!! ive seen like 15 tesla's..) (if thats how you spell it)  anyways. I want to live here forever and ever and ever. I wish I could explain more. but my Pday is cut short today because of transfer stuff.

I can't believe I am actually here. I am finally here. YAYYYYY I am so so so grateful for this opportunity and wow. I am so happy. I will talk more next P day. And I apologize to those that I dont have time to write back to.. just know that I read alllll your emails and THEY HELP SO MUCH. so keep that up. I love you guys so much and I know this church is true. 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT and pray always. 

Love,

Sister Dunford

I love missionaries.

HELLO!!!

IT'S P DAY. HECK YES.

First of all. THANK YOU so so much for all the letters, dear elders, and packages. Seriously it's like Christmas. I don't even know how to say thank you enough(and as for all the treats... ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FAT!?) hahah but really thank you. Those swig cookies mom! SO GOOD. I don't even want to share them with the sisters in my room. I ate one last night..... aaaaaaand I ate one for breakfast this morning. and I still have two more. and yes I am going to eat them for lunch and then for dinner. teasin. I eat weeds here at the MTC. My district makes fun of me because all I eat here are the salads, wraps, and fruit. and oatmeal in the mornings. And If I feel like I worked extra hard that day, I will eat Ice Cream. Because ice cream is so good. 

I have been so so so excited for P day!! Because I feel like so much has happened!!!

Well I leave on freaking Tuesday morning. I have to wake up at 3:00 am... I think our flight leaves at 7:45.. I guess it will take awhile to get there and get everything right..? BUT OMG NEW YORK sista dunfun is coming!!! I am so pumped for New York. (haha watch me get there and cry my eyes out because i'm a girl) ha no.. I am so excited.

Well what a week!!!! I cannot even begin to explain how much I have learned here at the MTC. Like I always thought I was a pretty smart person.. and then I got here. and then I got paired up with Sister Wharton. and then I realized that I am not so smart. HAHA. 

Sister Wharton is like Sister BRAINS. She knows so much about everything. Its been good because I can ask her lots of questions. Im sure she probably thinks I'm some dumb blonde from Draper UT with a whole bunch of clothes and that I am so lame because I only wash my hair once a week. Whatever tho right?? My hair is my hair and I will wash it when I want. 

So I have made quite a few new friends here!! Its awesome being surrounded by so many people that are feeling the spirit and doing exactly what I am doing.

I love missionaries.

Me and my companion have been teaching this girl named Kenzie and she is so funny. She doesnt believe in God at all. So that is the tricky part. But Me and Sis Wharton know exactly how to get her to feel the spirit. I know that she feels the spirit during our lessons. The hard part for her is realizing that what she is feeling is the spirit. I think a lot of people have that problem. Its listening to that still small voice and then knowing that that was the still small voice. That probably made no sense.. but in my head it makes sense. haha anyways we teach her over skype. I love skype. its cool

I am becoming pro at ROLE PLAY. just so everyone knows.

Its so funny because there are so many people here that come up to me and theyre like "wait is that your natural hair color??" HA im like nope. and then they go on to say well how do you expect to keep up on it while youre here? I'm like, plz, I can do ma own hurr. So get ova it. haha! teasin I'm not that sassy.

Another funny thing. My companion is SO protective of me. Every time one of the Elders starts to talk to me, (TALK.. NOT EVEN FLIRT)  She is like EXCUSE ME that is my companion and you arent allowed to flirt here. I always feel pretty awkward because she is being dead serious when she says that. I laugh so hard inside. She is a great companion tho. keepin everyone in line. She does karate and sings ALL the time. Like during gym time she does all these ninja tricks. cool stuff. I will for sure know how to protect myself in NY.

Anywaaaays. I must go!! But before I do, I want everyone to know.. that I know that this church is true!!!! And I am so confident when I say that. I have never ever ever been so confident that it is true. but it is. The spirit has testified that to me. and I have learned SO much. Im so grateful that my savior did what he did for me and for all of us. Jesus Christ is THE ONLY WAY that we can have eternal life. And I am so grateful that he atoned for ALL of our sins. My testimony is growing out of control!! its like my testimony on steroids here. #missionaryprobz  

but yes. church is true. LOVE YOU ALL

Love,

Sister Dunford

first email!!

HELLO EVERYBODY!!

WOW. I made it through my first two days!!! I cannot believe I have only been here for two days. It feels like its been a week already. It has been a great two days. 

First of all... My companion! So her name is Sister Wharton. She is very nice!! We are two COMPLETELY different people. But, we balance each other out and it works out great!! At first I was a little nervous about us being united as a companion because we are so different, but we actually are doing WAY good with preparing lessons and campanion study and all that fun stuff. Sister Wharton is from Michigan. She lives in a small small town. She is diabetic, which is cool because sometimes we get to leave class so she can go eat something or take care of some blood stuff. So that works in my favor. Yay for diabetes!! She talks a lot but it can be good sometimes. I am just learning to laugh with her and have fun. It's very interesting being with someone ALL the time that you have never met. But, it's SO good for me. She pushes me to be better. She is very spiritual which is good because i'm spiritual.. but I am more on the fun end of things :) So yes we balance well. Companions are cool! Heavenly Father purposely put me with her I know it :)

Sister Dunford & Sister Wharton

Sister Dunford, Sister Wharton & the girls in their room

So my first day was pretty freakin long. I got dropped off.. then they sent me to go get all these books and papers and my NAMETAG. haha! One second it wasn't there then the next second I look down and there it was on my left shoulder! It's magnetic so that's fun. This computer that I am typing on is stupid and it is dumb and I can't fix mistakes that I type. haha or maybe I am just dumb. So I'm sorry if you read this and your like oh wow she doesn't know how to type.. 

Well so yeah I dont even remember all that we did on the first day. I love my district that I am in. Most of the people in my district are going to Ogden UT. SAY WHAAA... UT. COOL. I forgot to say that that is where my companion Sister Wharton is going. Me and two other sisters in my district are going to NYNY North. THEY ARE SO FUN AND SO CUTE I LOVE THEM. We are all in a room together. 4 of us. I try my very very hardest to make sure that Sister Wharton feels included. Just because she is the only one in our room not going to NY. :(

My first night was great. Except I didnt fall asleep till 1:00 am.... I blame that on the week before I came I went to bed WAY too late and slept in way too long.. shoulda been going to sleep at 10:30 all along :) But my bed is fine. Just a good old mattress you know? 

The food.... it's ok. HAHA. I just eat salads and wraps. The salads are actually way good. I think that I have lost weight here.... NOT ON PURPOSE EITHER. But we are going up and down and up and down stairs and walking all around. I love climbing all the stairs.

So My first few days have been good ones. I CAN FEEL THE SPIRIT LIKE NEVER BEFORE. It's so so so crazy. Like awesome. I feel like I am leaving out TONS of details but I am running out of time. I gotta go do my laundry.. YIKES.  We'll see how that goes. Hopefully my companion is good at laundry because I am not. 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT YOU GUYS. Annd dont forget to talk to our Heavenly Father. He loves when we tell him everything. I can feel him listening to my prayers here. He cares about me so much. And everyone. He loves us all!!

I was reading some random scriptures and this one stood out to me!! Thought I'd share it with you guys. Alma 26:27.

The book of mormon is awesome.

The church is SO true.

Love you guys SO much. I hope you are all doing well. I am doing so so good I miss you all and cant wait to hear back. love you guys!!!

Love,

Sister Dunford

Ps- me and Sista Wharton teach our first investigator today so wish us luck!!!