blessed

It's P daaaay again!?! That was one fast week. I feel like I blinked and it was over. 

But we like P days so it's good. Today we are back in the CITAY. (Sister Taylor has never been to NYC!! so I promised her I would take her on some city adventures.)

We were planning on riding bikes in the Central Park. But it's raining. So we might go to the natural history museum or the Gugenheim. Probs going to get frozen hot chocolate from serendipity. And then my favorite member from the New Canaan Ward is taking us to Julliard for dinner. HA. We are such blessed sisters. So that's today!! 

Okay so ..  The week! It was great! Ups and downs as always :)

President and Sister Smith invited us to their home to have dinner and for the General Women's Conference. YEAAAAH. That was special. It was me and my comp and then Sister Eastman (ma bestie) and her comp sister vassau. And the smiths of course. And a family in their Scarsdale Ward. IT WAS SO GOOD. We ate girly food. (Salad) and then had brownies. Then watched the conference. And I rediscovered my love for President Uchtdorf. I love him every. time. He is somethin else. (Best part of his talk was when he said "stalker cat" and "creepy cat") hahaha and the cat wasn't even that important in his story. It was like story time though and I was happy about it. I love him. And that was a good night. I'm grateful for the Smiths and their kindness and love they've shown me since they've been here. 

Sister Vassau and I. She is new. We have all the same clothes. It's funny. She's cute.

I have actually had a cold for about two weeks. I started getting it RIGHT before I got transferred. And then the cold really came. And I have been sick. I'm really bad at resting on my mission when I'm sick. I just hate resting as a missionary. Doesn't feel quite right. So my cold got pretty yucky. I went deaf. Hahaha!! My ears were just about as plugged as could be. And I kept pretending like nothing was wrong. (But I knew the whole time I wasn't well) soooo... It got worse and I had to call the doctor because I got an ear infection. BOOOO.

I had to stay home all day Friday. That was lame. And then I got the other sister in our apartment sick. HAHA. Woops. (Sorry hermana smith) but she made a great sick companion for the day. Our companions went out and went to our appointments while we stayed in and slept and drank water and stared at the wall for like the whole day. So fun. (No ew I hate being sick as a missionary more than anything.) but Docter Braithwaite got me a prescription and my ears came back to life and I can HEAR again. And now I'm back at it going strong. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK. 

A new challenge we have: We are car-less. You guys. Remember one year ago when my companion and I didn't have a car in Connecticut? Because of our car accident? Well lucky me. Our car had a messed up bumper from the previous sisters and so we had to take it into the shop. And now we are left to find rides and walk everywhere. ITS MUY DIFICIL. But hey. Through the challenges we grow. So I'm like waiting for my growth to happen after this challenge. hah!! #growsistergrow

We also had interviews with President Smith!!! I love that man. We talked about life. Talked about school. Marriage. Family. Scriptures. All the good things. I LOVE him. 

We went to this Russian lady investigator's home to help her get everything ready for a tag sale and BOY she needs some helping hands. (She lets us have anything we want in her house. I picked a funny looking wet suit. I'll have to include a picture of me wearing it hahaha) anyways. We decided to round up the whole zone and we are going to go in like an army of missionaries to help her out. I feel really bad for her because she lives alone, and she needs to move and she can't do it on her own and she has no family and she hardly speaks English. So my heart aches for her. And I have loved talking to her and getting to know her. I've learned more about Russia. And that's always cool!! She's taught me some Russian and I decided that out of all the languages I've learned here in New York, Russian is the HARDEST for sure. Like what. This is how you say hello... "Zdravstvuyte" doesn't it look like mumbled letters? Yeah that's what it sounds like too. Hahahaha. Oh man.

Also. We got a baptismal date last week with an investigator in the YSA Ward. For November 21st. Woooooo. Happy. He is a Jehovah's Witness. So it's WAAAAY INTERESTING teaching him. But he's reading the Book of Mormon so all is going well. It's fabulous. 

So we have another YSA investigator. Haha. Let me just explain him in one word. SASSY.

And do you know what. My "sasster" side tends to come out when we're teaching him. So there's kind of a big background story to him. Let's see if I can be brief. Ok. So Heinen has been meeting with missionaries for like 2 years. And, no he is not progressing. (I'm so not about that no progression life.) Well I guess like a week before I was transferred here he told the sisters that he had a dream that the next sister would be the one to "baptize him." And so.. here I am. And like I'm not messin around. He is just a great big flirt. And sassy. And my first few times meeting with him I was like thinking to myself that it just hadn't felt like he had real intent. And I don't want to waste my last few months as a missionary messin around with young single adults. (Not to be rude) but like I want to meet with people that ACTUALLY want to progress. And want to come closer to Christ. So moving forward... Basically. We told Heinen that we couldn't continue to meet with him every week if he wasn't going to do his part and keep commitments. And argue with us. Haha. He always has an argument to the things we teach. (Waste of time.) so anyways. We told him that. And he was like a sassy master in that moment. I can't even explain. Well THEN. At testimony meeting at church he got up and apologized to us. In front of everyone!!!! HAHA. Awkward. I was dyyying. (That was an interesting testimony meeting.... Like Taylor swift was brought up three times over the pulpit) HA. Yeah. Then we met with him again. And he read some of the Book of Mormon!!! And then we invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!! We didn't set a date but STILL. He prayed too at our lesson yesterday and I was like WOOOOO. Maybe his heart is being softened!!! So he's great. When he swallows his sassiness. :)

K remember how we've been tracting and tracting? And not really finding and finding through tracting and tracting? .. WELL. My testimony of tracting is still SO STRONG. Because I'm not kidding you Heavenly Father blesses us when we JUST do the work. When we put our shoulder to the wheel and just do it. (He doesn't necessarily bless us in the way WE think He will... But He does bless us for our efforts.) Example: Yesterday we were at Target and there was a worker who came up to us and said "hey, are you Mormon?" We were like YEah we are.. And then he said "I'd love to learn more about what you believe." My jaw like dropped and I quickly responded um YEAH. So we are meeting with him tomorrow. And he is so normal. And so nice. And he just seems so sincere. I'm so excited to meet with him. We are going to bring a member and we are going to try to set a baptismal date with him. #FAITH so yeah. I totally believe that Heavenly Father blesses us with people to teach when we show him we want people to teach. He is real. And He knows my desires. He listens to my prayers!! He blesses me. He blesses me in the way that is best helping me to grow. I love Him. I know He does the same thing for ALL of His children. 

And a short thought that I've been pondering as I've been approaching the last bit of my mission:

"What lack I yet?" 

These words are in the lovely book of Matthew in the New Testament. Matthew 19. 

There was a rich man that came to the Savior and said "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" And Christ basically said keep the commandments. Matthew 19:20 says "The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" Okay. How cool. This young rich man is basically.. probably.. pretty close to perfection. (He has been keeping ALL at the commandments his whole life) and what a BOLD and humble question to ask. What lack I yet?? We ALL have things we need to overcome and improve before we can reach eternal life. Right? Let's be honest. We are JUST imperfect. 

Well Christ tells this man to go and sell what he has!!!! (This guy was rich) Christ was asking him to consecrate EVERYTHING. To give it all. And some of the saddest words in the bible are in

Mathew 19:22 "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." WAH. It's wasn't necessarily something he needed to stop doing that was keeping him from wholeness, but something he needed to DO. What more can WE DO to receive eternal life? What more can we give to the Savior? What are we holding back? What do we lack??? 

These are my questions I'm asking myself. I am just happy to still have time left in my mission. Time to give it MORE. To give it 120%. I'm so happy I came on my mission. I love what it's making out of me. Thanks to the atonement I am a better me :) I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love youuuu!!

Love abbeymariedunford 

upstate groovin

YOU GUYS. 

This is weird I feel like I am back home!! Hahaha but like my Connecticut home. This is where I was born as a missionary!! I keep asking myself if this is real life. AM I REALLY BACK HERE!?! It's beautiful. It's amazing. It's home!!! I LOVE IT. Feel like my city life was a dream. It's so weird. 

Also today we are going to get pedicures. YESSSSS. My feet deserve it after those long city walking months. I'm so excited. 

This next thing I'm going to say, I say out of all the charity in my heart but .... I first got to the apartment and I was dying over how unclean it was... OH MY. You guys some missionaries don't know how to clean. I was dying. I cleaned out the fridge, the closet, the bathroom, rearranged the furniture, cleaned out the shelf with all our pamphlets and Book of Mormons. I was NOT going to unpack until it was clean and felt like my new home. So Sister Taylor and the other two sisters got to see the clean side of me come out :) GOOD heavens people. Keep your homes clean. We have a VERY nice apartment. It has got to be taken care of!! So that the spirit can be with us!!! CLEAN Abigail gets real... Haha. 

ANYWAYS. IM BACK UPSTATE. Wooooooo PARTY. Let's talk about my week!!!

It was real good. Getting back into the upstate groove. It's such an adjustment!! The first thing that I was dying over was how quiet it was. I kept trying to pop my ears to see if I could like clear them out or something but I've realized it's just really so quiet!!! Wow!! I like it. 

The second thing I was dying over was the fact that I am now driving a car again!!!! I was actually horrified when I first put my foot on the gas. But then my driving skills quickly came back to me. And I feel as though I never left the driver seat to begin with. Cars are a blessing. We have a nice car. 

My new companion is Sister Taylor! She's from St. George UT. Yes! She's very sweet! We are different but getting along great! Working hard together!! 

There's definitely less work to do here than there was in my last area... So I kinda feel like we are starting over... BUT I've been so pumped to find people. I think Sister Taylor thinks I'm weird because of how excited I get when we go out to FIND. I'm like searching everywhere for a golden investigator. I love to share the gospel with people. 

Yesterday we went out to go tracting and I'm PRETTY sure that all 30 doors we knocked on we're Jewish. And guess what holiday it was.. Yom Kippur. Were they happy? NO. Hahahahahaha. It. Was. So. Funny. There was one door we knocked on and she screamed when she saw us and ran away. I was like okay.... It's not Halloween yet... And I didn't think I looked that bad?? Haha oh dear. GOOD OL TRACTING. Also it takes like 5 times as long to knock doors because the houses are SO far apart! But #exercise

Speaking of exercise, we have a gym at our apartment! Holla. LOVE IT. I've been listening to conference talks as I run. SO MOTIVATING. Hah. Kinda :)

Oh, another door we knocked on opened and literally said "hail satan." Then slammed the door shut. And then we looked at each other and shamelessly walked away. .. And then we also knocked on the minister of the Methodist church's door. He wasn't smiling at all when he opened the door. SO trying to find that golden investigator is going OH SO WELL. But I have so much faith that someone is ready here. Just need to keep searching for them.

Another funny thing. I was dying. One of the less actives we meet with told me that I need to go be an actress. WHAT. Again? Another person. That's like the tenth time I been told that. This is beginning to freak me out! Hahaha I honestly don't understand why. I mean I'm just me? Just abbey. I don't know man. I don't know.

We went to a YSA members wedding. So that would make her not so YSA anymore. But it was fabulous. It was in DARIEN. My old home. Hot dog!!! you guys... I forgot how big the homes are here. And also Greenwich CT is the richest zip code in the USA. HAHA. Jimmy Fallon has a home here. Also I heard Justin Bieber's mom has a home in Greenwich. I'm going to knock every door in the stinkin town. (Well all the ones that don't have a huge gate blockin their home) HA. Which would make our job easy. Narrowing down the homes to NONE. No teasin but really this is a wealthy wealthy wealthy place.... 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I've really been pondering how amazing missions are. And the growth that comes from them. I'm so excited to continue to push myself as hard as I can these last few months. I love my mission. I wish I had a really good spiritual thought to end this email but I don't really have the time right now! But here's a reminder: "Remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice." 

I love prayer. I really like talking to Heavenly Father. It's always a relieving few moments when I pray :)

LOVE YOU!!!

Love Abigail.

OHMYGOODNESS

Helllllo! It's a big week!! You'll NEVER believe where I'm being transferred to... 

Haha. Back to CONNECTICUT!!!!!! Oh my goodness I LOVE CONNECTICUT. What a dream come truuuuueeeee!!!!! I kid you not I have wished my whole mission that I could go back to Connecticut again!!! It's beautiful. And I will be there for THE FALL again. Those Connecticut falls man.... I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I have been in the best areas my whole mission. WOWEEEEEEE. The Stamford zone. The best. I'm so happy. Oooooooooo. I will be in ANOTHER YSA Ward hahaha. And another family Ward. And I will still be training a new missionary. (I just can't quite get away from training new missionaries...) ha! Her name is Sister Taylor. She seems cute! My area is GIANT. Just to name a few of my favorite places there: Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Weston, Westport, New Canaan, and much more.... HAPPY. Oh my goodness. I can't wait to go back and see some of my favorite people. YES CONNECTICUT. I love. Oh!!! And my cutey baby companion Sister Sam will be training a brand new missionary too!! I'm so proud of her. Good things coming. 

It is unreal that I was able to pack everything. HA. My suitcases are well over 50 pounds. Looks like something's gotta change there before I make my way back on an airplane hahaha. (I still got time folks. I still got time.)

Okay okay okay but not to forget such an AMAZING last week in my lovely Central MANHATTAN Zone. I probably sound pretty dramatic in some of my emails but oh my goodness I want you to really know how I am feeling. I AM GOING TO MISS THE PEOPLE HERE SO MUCH!!!! 

Ahhhhhhhh. My heart has never been so full of love. I feel like I'm being torn away from some of my people. It's so sad you guys. We have so many baptisms coming up. I'm devastated that I won't be here. But it's going to be okay. The new missionary coming is so so so lucky. As I said goodbye to our investigators I just wanted to cry. But you know what's so great? ITS NOT goodbye. I will see them again I know it. New York can't keep me away. 

My lovely people Claver and Alaza and Marie and Saidou and Deshawn and Moddestine and Mike and Laraine and Natasha and EVERYONE. 

Oh my heavens it really has been sad leaving this favorite city of mine. I love New York City and you all know that. New York City is my home. One of them :) I'm so happy I got to serve there for almost a year!!! #blessed.

We ate dinner with some of my favorite members. (They're French) from France. Um coolest people you'll ever meet in you life. Literally everything about them is so French and I could cry of how much I want to be like them. We ate in their dreamy French style apartment and ate a Jerusalem dinner and had poached pears with melted chocolate for dinner. Heaven. Mai oui. J'étais heureux.

I feel so blessed. Oh dear.

Something I LOVED last week, (and I thought of my sista sista Ellie girl,) was when I went on exchanges with ma CHINATOWN sistas. I love them so much. We were having way too much fun. I have learned too much Chinese. I love it. I am probably so annoying now as I walk around speaking Chinese all the time. (Chow how shiow) that is how you say HILARIOUS. Haha Ellie correct me if I'm wrong. Oh goodness. I'm having so much fun speaking Chinese. The Chinese sisters were amazed at all the Chinese I already knew from my little sister Ellie! They were dying when I counted to 100 in Chinese. I loved it hahaha. Woo woo go China!! (Wo jiow du je me) I don't know. I think I just said I'm Sister Dunford. I love Chinese.

Sunday we got to go to the world wide broadcast of the YSA ces devotional. Elder Witney L. Clayton from the seventy spoke. He came up to Sister Sam and I before it started and started talking to us. Shook our hands. Was way way way nice. Asked us how the work was. So that was cool. The devotional was great but I liked the sacrament meeting before the devotional way better. It was all 3 YSA wards in Manhattan at the Manhattan temple/chapel. So cool. The spirit was amazing as the sacrament was passed to SO MANY people. It was silent. Awesomeness. 

HAHA oh my goodness. After the devotional there was a YSA member (he is not so normal) that's sounds rude but I don't mean that rude... Anyways. When he found out I was being transferred he told me he loved me. I will leave out the details. But it's probs a good thing I'm being transferred away. HAHAHAHAH. Too many Sister Dunford lovers. (I don't want that to sound cocky either Hahahaha) I honestly have just died at the amount of people that have confessed their love to me. ITS INSANE. Sister missionaries are not supposed to be loved like that. Ha ha ha. Ah. So funny.

I have felt this overwhelming feeling of love as I have been saying goodbye to my people here. OH my heavens. I'm so grateful. My heart is filled with gratitude. How happy I am that I got to come to this part of the world and meet people that I was ALWAYS supposed to meet. God was preparing me my whole life for these people and these experiences. I love Heavenly Father. I'm just happy. I love the gospel. I can't explain. I love my parents. Mom, dad, thank you so much for raising me in the gospel. I love it so much. I love you both. 

So now for a short closing thought. 

I LOVED when Elder Witney L Clayton spoke in sacrament meeting. He talked about being still. He told of when he went to the Manhattan temple for his first time and was amazed at the silence inside those walls. He said there are people here in NY that have never even heard the absence of sound like there is inside the temple walls. People that are born and raised in NY never hear complete silence. There's always a siren in the distance, or always traffic, people talking, loudness all around. He likened the temple to US. He said, we MUST learn to BE STILL inside of ourselves even with all the noises of the world outside of us. When we are "still" inside, we can receive revelation and build faith. When we build faith it starts the cycle of the doctrine of Christ. And we are being perfected more and more each day. We need to live the doctrine. We MUST "be still and know that He is God." D&C 101:17.

We should be wise enough to "be still." 

Be STILL. I love you. I love this whole situation that I'm in. I love Christ. I love God! I love. 

Love abba

dreaming....

YO my people!!! How are you.

I am doing fabulous. 

I love New York and the people here. This work is real. It is simply REAL. God loves all His children and I feel so blessed to help Him bring them back to Him. Ah goodies. 

Get inside my head today:

Preparation day today called for a hair appointment. Um I'm in heaven. The girl that did my hair was from Australia. Her name is Michelle. When she was done with my hair she was headed to fashion week to do Lauren Conrads hair...... You guys!!!!! Woah. Is this real life. I'm dreeeeaaaaming!!!!!!!! Hahahaha. She has done hair at a Chanel fashion show. Michelle is one of my role models. (I even shared some of the gospel with her) haha. She was totally cool. We went to shake shack after that by the flat iron building. YUM. And then we took a trip to the top of the One World Trade Center. SO TALL. Fourth tallest building in the world. Tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Felt like I was at Disneyland!! It was like a ride!!!! The elevator up was like 20 seconds long and we got to the 102 floor. Haha my heavens. And fun fact did you know the top spiral needle thing is as tall as America is old? I don't know how to explain that nor do I remember how tall it actually is. I just remember I got #chills when they told me. What an amazing building. I LOVE NEW YORK. 

We had a really good week. MLC happened! I gave a 20 minute training on consecration. And actually was pleased with how it turned out!! (Thanks for the prayers) :) felt them for sure! I know that the reason I am able to do this work is because of the many prayers said from both me and my loved ones. PRAYER is real. Heavenly Father is always listening. 

Also. Can we talk about HOW CRAZY it is that MADDIE SIKICH is in the YSA Ward that I am serving in!?! We get to be at church together on Sunday's. And go to YSA activities together. What. CRAZIEST. I love her to death. Happy that one of my good friends gets to see me in missionary ACTION. :)

We cleaned the church last week. Our church is giant. 5 floors. It took so long. But we had pizza after with a member. So pizza always wins.

We have killed 5 mice in our apartment. They are the biggest distraction of my life. Get outta here sicko mice!! They are from satan I swear. Trying to mess with our focus hahaha. AH. 

Claver and Saidou are doing awesome. They will be baptized on October 17th FOR SURE. They said no ifs ands or buts. And Alaza will be baptized on October 3rd. And Adriana will be baptized on October 10th. And Marie France is hilarious and I love her and she brought her son to church!!! YES. He's nine and we have been trying to get to her children. We were so pleased to see both of them. So those are our progressing investigators. They are pretty progressing. Like the most serious investigators I've had my whole mission! Blessings. God is good.

Haha yesterday we were walking down the good old streets of Harlem and this is what some guy said. "Wow look at all the snow that just came to Harlem." We get called the funniest names. We stand out. I never knew people treated different colored people so differently. It's fine tho its great we laugh about it all the time. 

To be FRANK, (ha ha I like the word frank..) yesterday was a hard day. Really hard!! And I feel good telling you about it because

"....It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

2 Nephi 2:11

So that hard day was there specifically for my happiness. If it weren't there, I wouldn't ever have happiness!! If I didn't know what the hard was, I would basically be dead and my mission would be pointless. Without opposition, life would result as a meaningless "compound in one." 

But life is meaningful. And that's why we have choice. And that's why we can have happiness. And IT ALL WORKS OUT!!! God is there and he loves me and wants nothing more than for me to be happy. So I'm grateful that yesterday was a monster hard day. ;)

So.. some thoughts of mine as of lately:

Casualty. Or in scriptural terms "carnal security." You guys carnal security is REAL. Carnal security is when we let the natural man get the best of us. It is when we only use worldly, earthly and temporal eyes. When we see with the wrong perspective. When we forget to act with total and complete reverence! When we justify. When we rationalize. (Ps rationalization is the first step toward APOSTASY.) haha. We all do at times because NONE of us are perfect. Right? But we MUST catch ourselves in these small moments of casualness. The small casualties can ADD UP. And we know that by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. That can go either for GOOD or for BAD! If we let the small casualties happen, pretty soon we have one big giant MESS. A mess that satan has trapped you in. 

Nobody wakes up one day and says "today I am going to mess up my life!!!" Like duh? How do you think it happens?? It happens from carnal security. It happens as we are casual about the SMALL and SIMPLE things. 

2 Nephi 28

21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security (or casualness), that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

AHHH. Satan is scary. He's a creep. He makes me sick. What a scary verse you guys!!! Am I right? Every Time I read it I get nervous about the SMALLEST moments of casualness. Those small moments of carnal security. Those small things ARE NOT OKAY. They lead to huge big problems. I want you to take a second RIGHT NOW, and think about what some of your casualties are. What are your moments of carnal security. I have been pondering the same thing to myself this past little while and let me tell you repentance is real!!! No need to panic, just repent. :) repent for the small things. The worthiest people are the ones who are repenting EVERY DAY. And that's truth. 

Hey I don't mean to sound preachy but that's just been on my mind. #nocasualties 

I LOVE YOU ALLLL.

ALMOST as much as I love NEW YORK. Ha!!! No teasin. I would love New York even more if my loved ones were here. 

Anyways love you bye!

ABBB 

Hiii I'm a missionary

A good week!! A good week! 

Still here. Still me. Still a missionary. Still in NYC. Still seeing miracles. Still keepin on. :)

Today we went to the doughnut plant. Those beloved doughnuts you guys. Wow. P days are our treat days. It's our reward day. Or fat day. The one day in the week that WE get to pick our treat. So that's another plus for P day.

We are finding people like maniacs!! What's going on!!! Haha we got 2 new baptismal dates this week! Happy. I really do like when the work is going well. (I mean it's always good.. But it's the BEST when we are busy.) 

Here are some real thoughts!

So I have almost been living in Manhattan for about 1 year now. That is kinda unheard of for a missionary. Usually people go upstate then city then upstate then city etc. I guess I'm just a city chika. Wha. Hahaha you guys It's so fun!! But I don't know how much longer I can take the physical stress it puts on me. I go to sleep EXHAUSTED. And then wake up even more exhausted. Haha it was a hot day yesterday. I almost screamed down in the subway station. (HAHA no. I didn't almost scream) I may have felt like it. But I didn't. I get claustrophobic. It gets so hot and SO yucky. Makes me sick. I say prayers in my head all the time when I feel so gross. Ha!! Never have I ever felt as yucky as I have on my mission. But with that, never have I ever felt as good as I have on my mission. Such extreme feelings it's weird. But good. GOOD. So there's some of my thoughts inside my head. 

One of the funniest moments of the week was when Sister Sam and I found ANOTHER MOUSE living with us. We even caught the criminal on camera. HE IS SO FAST. I hate him. We were both a mess. I was crying and she was whining and we were both shaking and we looked at each other and just started laughing hysterically. Hahaha tears in eyes and all. So we were discussing how we were ever going to sleep that night with a mouse running around and we decided there was no way. We would have lost all sleep and been tossing and turning. So we decided to bunk our beds together and then move the other bunk bed into our bedroom. So we could both sleep on the top bunk. (We have a two bedroom apartment) So anyways, we bunked our beds. We were sweating and so tired it was some heavy duty lifting. Then we went and un-bunked the other beds and we started to head towards our bedroom. So then came the challenge... THE BED WOULDN'T FIT THROUGH THE DOOR. We were dying. After all of our hard work so far and now we were stuck. Haha we were in our tight little hallway with a huge bunk bed in hand. Never. Have I ever laughed so hard. It was possibly the best funniest moment of my life. I could not breath I was laughing so hard. The sounds we were making, the awkward positions we were in... Good golly HILARIOUS. I was even still in my pros clothes. (Aaaaand not to mention it was like midnight by the time we FINALLY got it through.) haha we were in bed late. #woops #repent #lateforbed. But really one of the top funniest moments in my life. We were so tired. That's the latest I've stayed up on the mission I believe. Confession!! Haha.

Okay we got the greatest new investigator Alaza. She is 15. We found her at Central Park. She was riding her bike and we wanted to give her some free lemonade. So we did! And then like 10 minutes later she came back and said wait what church do you go to? We told her and then next thing you know she was on her way with a Book of Mormon and an invitation to come to church!! Then you can guess what happened next. She came to church!! And stayed for all 3 hours!! And then we taught her the very next day. And set a bap date for October 3rd. Yahoo!! She is totally the cutest thing. I took a pic with her and our recent convert anaiya. We LOVE HER. 

As for our French speakers.. They were supposed to be getting baptized on September 6th. But we had to push it back! We haven't been able to teach them all of the lessons due to their busy schedules and the time it takes to teach through a translator. Just some difficulties! But we are not worried about them at all. They said they are for sure getting baptized because they KNOW it is the right thing to do. They felt it. They feel the Holy Ghost so strong. I LOVE THEM MY HEART COULD BURST!! They are literally the coolest people ever. 

We had the funniest moment last week as we were teaching them. So imagine them as they talk, it is in broken english. Haha you know when someone tries to speak English and it's just all grammatically wrong and it's just hilarious? Well that's how they are. Well we asked what some of the differences are between our church and their church in Africa (to see their understanding of the priesthood and all that) hahaha Claver goes well. "In Africa we have lots of Joseph's, but no Smiths." Hahahaha. Again I couldn't stop laughing. Claver is the sweetest. He and I could be best friends. We laugh with each other all the time. Love love love. Never knew I could love people so much. (And it's like a charity love, not IN love) hahaha. Anyways. I hope I get to be at their baptism. I will cry if I am not... But I might probs get transferred. Ahh!! We'll see.

Anyways. We have MLC on Friday. President asked me if I would give an interactive training on consecration. So if you want to pray for me I would be the happiest girl in the world. ;) I don't know why president asked me out of all the amazing missionaries. But hey. I'm willing. Haha just need some extra prayers that I can really bring the spirit!! Thx. Love you.

I will leave you with a scripture that I loved this week.

Jacob 4:12 it says:

"... For why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?" 

I just really loved that question. WHY NOT speak of the atonement of Christ? We are Christians right? So why not share that with others? Ask yourself that question. And ponder. I LOVE YOU. 

(Sorry to cut this short) have much to do with my P days dwindling in this lovely favorite city of mine :)

BYE LOVE ABBB!!!

Sister Dunford the actress...

It WAS a great week k!? 

I LOVE TO SHARE THE GOSPEL. I kid you not, I'm doing it for the rest of my life. Why did I never share the gospel before my mission!?! Well I guess it was just a lack of knowledge or something. PS- you should all read "The Power of Everyday Missionary Work." My invitation to you. (Mom, Dad, Kylee, McCall, Ellie, that means you.) I will follow up. 

So let's see I will start with some of my favorite investigators. Claver and Saidou. The coolest French speaking Africans. I hope you remember the story I told about Claver not too long ago. (The one about him having a dream that missionaries talked to him.) Okay well anyways. Like two weeks ago they had a big question and it was like really stumping them. Claver and Saidou are Protestant. And they are very good people. (Like oh my gosh I can't explain how good and pure they are) anyways. Claver asked why he had to be baptized *again* if he had already been baptized in his church. He said "my church says only *one* baptism." So we knew right then that he was having confusion with the priesthood and the great apostasy and all that fun stuff. Well we had like THREE lessons just to answer that one question. With the language barrier and everything it just wasn't making 100% sense to them. (Even with French speakers!) Well. On Sunday, Sister Sam and I decided to fast for them. We seriously love them and want nothing more than for them to progress and receive the blessings from the gospel. So fast forward after fast Sunday we met with them again to have a lesson. We brought another French speaker and we went right into the lesson! (Wish I could include all the details..) but this'll do!!  The whole lesson I could see that Claver and Saidou were being enlightened and things were making sense. It was like 20 minutes into the lesson and Claver stopped us and put his hand on his heart and started sharing his thoughts in French. Our member present then translated it for us and Claver said that he finally understood why he has to be baptized again. He explained that he felt so happy and he felt peace and that he was SO happy that he met us. I wish I could remember his exact words but all I remember was that it was SUCH A TENDER MOMENT. I just wanted to jump for joy!!! Sister Sam and I looked at each other with the biggest smiles. 

This. Work. Is. So. Fulfilling. It's SO HARD. But SO GOOD. I know this experience is small but it has strengthened my testimony of the power of fasting. I believe in the power of fasting!! I am so grateful. My heart is full. I'm grateful for Claver and Saidou. I'm grateful for their open hearts. Their softened hearts. I love them!!! After the lesson Claver said "I want to be the first missionary in Burkina Faso." YESSSSSS. "This is what dreeeeeams are made of." (I'm singing that. Lizzie McGuire.)

We had an APF in Central Park on Saturday. LOVE. The diversity is fabulous. The park is beautiful. I love to talk to people. It's my fave!! We talked all about family trees. I showed EVERYONE my family tree. I had it pulled up on my iPad from family search. (So yes, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, great grandma, great grandpa... I introduced you all to these New Yorkers.) even showed them pictures of you!! everyone thought it was SO COOL. (Blessed technology, I love it.) They wanted their own family tree. That spirit of Elijah is the realist thing ever. Met some wonderful cool people. Woweee! 

Today we saw a man fighting a wall. Hahahaha. Like I was dying. Too funny. (Oh Harlem.)

Sister Sam and I are green smoothie fanatics. We LOVE THEM. I have a wonderful book called clean green drinks. It's my best friend on the mission. Just for your information. 

Pday shopping

There was a member that drove us home from a dinner appointment one night and (they are wealthy) he has a nice car and it goes fast. Hahaha. It was a thrill!!! What a fun thing driving through the city. Driving through tall buildings and looking at all the lights. I loved every second. In moments like that I want to cry because I love this city. It's amazing! (Dad I thought of you because this member likes to step on the gas too.) (he was showing off his speeding skills, you would have loved it.)

Funny:

Marie-France, our investigator, told me that I was born to be an actress. HA HA HA. Why do people keep telling me that? You guys New York is making me consider acting classes or something. HOW FUNNY. No teasin. But I mean what!!? Actress? Definitely like the 5th time I've been told that I need to be a movie star. Everyone says I have an actress personality. Hahaha. I tell you this because it's funny. Please laugh with me.

We went street contacting with our recent convert Natasha. SO fun. Haha she's the coolest. We gave her some cards to pass out and she was so in!!! We had fun picking people to talk to. (Yes we have to pick and choose here because there are just TOO MANY people) We always walk up to the people you would never expect to ever be a Mormon. Ex: tatoos, cigars, etc. haha Natasha was dying. But thank heavens for the spirit. It is the spirit that guides us. no way could we hit all of them. I love my mission. 

Oh. My. Good. Crap. THERE WAS A MOUSE IN OUR APARTMENT. The screams were hilarious. I saw it Monday night as I was on the phone talking to the district leader and he thought we were being kidnapped or something. Haha. Then we lost it and couldn't find it. We did not sleep that night. Not kidding. Sister Sam said I was sleep talking all night and whining about mice. Woopsies haha. Well guess what. We are professional mice exterminators. We bought ourselves some handy dandy MOUSE TRAPS. And guess what. After 4 hours. SNAP. Dead. Bye bye mousey!! Hahahaha so gross so horrifying and SO hilarious. Good memories. Who knew the mission would teach me life skills like that? I will be such a good homemaker, mother, exterminator, one day. Hahah #lifelessons #howtokillamouse 

dumb mouse

Another good experience. Small but good. We went to a park to contact some people. I turned to Sister Sam and said wait. Let's pray. Haha (picture it) so cute. Anyways we prayed right there in public. For all to see. That's always fun and cool to see people watching us. Anyways we both had a Book of Mormon in hand and within the first three people we talked to, they were gone :) passed out. Easy peasy lemon squeezey. Those blessed souls don't even know what they now hold!!! The FULLNESS. THE TRUTH. THE HAPPINESS. Answers to every single question they could ever have. The Book of Mormon has SO much stinkin power. That book has changed everything for me. Literally. I obviously for sure wouldn't even be HERE if it weren't for The Book of Mormon. I would not be me. My ancestors would not have been who they were. I would not be Abbey Marie Dunford. And my future children would have complete different lives. I would never have gotten to be the missionary me. Sister Dunford the missionary would have NEVER existed if it weren't for that book!!! (Goodness I know that I was always supposed to be Sister Dunford) it was always in Gods plan for me. It's just TOO RIGHT. And just THAT alone helps me to know the Book of Mormon is true. Just my call to New York alone helps me to know of The Book of Mormons truthfulness. There are so many good fruits that have come from that book. Good fruits don't come from bad seeds. Therefore the Book of Mormon MUST BE A GOOD SEED. There would be no church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints if it weren't for that book. Most of the time I don't think we even realize the impact that the Book of Mormon has had on our lives. It's quite interesting to think where my family and I would be without that book. Im forever grateful for The Book of Mormon. Especially as a missionary right now. As missionaries we are questioned quite often. We are objected. All that jazz. Heck, I question myself sometimes. I question why this, why that, I don't understand this, I don't understand that. 

Ezra Taft Benson said this:

“… The only problem the objector (you) has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation."

It all comes down to that book. It either is true, or it is false. That's what YOU/WE/ME have to find out. 

I love the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is true. There is no way that it is not true. Not only because it logically makes sense to me, but because of the Holy Ghost that has testified of it to me. And never mind that it logically makes sense to me, if you took away all logic, I still know the Book of Mormon is true. The spirit has literally engraved that in my heart. I don't need to see the golden plates, or the first vision to know the Book of Mormon is true. Because I have my very own witness. It's SO comforting to have The Book of Mormon back me up in this work. It is my most powerful tool out here. It is my sickle. I will "thrusteth in my sickle with my might.." D&C 4. 

I pray that you will all find your own personal witness of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. Because with that witness, you can withstand any of satans blows. ;) Read The Book of Mormon every day. Pray about it everyday. Share your testimony and share the actual BOOK itself to others. Go pass out a book to someone and tell them it's changed your life. And I can promise that GOOD THINGS WILL COME. :) (take that how you want) #blessings (Okay sorry I'm done ranting about my favorite book.) Actually. no I'm not done, I'm going to go pass one out right now. Ha I love you. I love this work. I love to be able to help further my Heavenly Fathers work here on earth. What a blessing to be a part of it. 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

Love abb!

lemonade life

Yo.

It's me. The missionary in NYC.(Rhyming)

Fabulous week! Today has been a nice day. We went to Madewell and to the metropolitan museum. My 3rd time going there. But let me tell you, I could spend a month in there because there is so much to see. It's huge. So it's been a good day. We are now eating at magnolias bakery and that equals happiness. I AM SUCH A HAPPY CAT RIGHT NOW. 

So we got to go to the temple twice last week. That was perf!!! We went to do baptisms with NATASHA my fave recent convert. It was so good. I miss doing baptisms! I hadn't done baptisms in over a year. So it was great. Very refreshing. Literally. Hahahaha I felt like I was swimming for a second :) I have not been in water for over a year!!! Obviously I've showered. But like fully immersed in water. So that was a fun feelin. Loved it. 

We did an APF on Saturday. Sister Sam and I planned it. Free lemonade! And talked about Thomas S. Monson. Modern day prophets. We met a man who claimed to be John the Baptist. He also told me his eyes could turn any color he wanted them. So he tried to show me. All I saw was brown. So that was fun! Haha I think he was bipolar because one second he was yelling at everyone saying "MORMONS ARE THE BEST. MORMONS ARE THE BEST." And the next second he was screaming at us that we were "FALSE PROPHETS. FALSE PROPHETS." Hahha. I was a DYING LAUGHING mess. He was a hoot. So fun.

We also helped out with this street fair called Harlem Days. We had laptops set up and we helped people figure out their family trees! That was great. people LOVE their family history. It was real good. Way hot. And I was sweating. But that's my life these days so just gotta get over it. 

We gave our bus driver a Book of Mormon. He still loves us. He was asking all sorts of questions and we were thrilled!!! We found out his name. It's Edgar. He goes "call me E." HAHAHAhaha. I love E. It was funny because when we bopped on the bus he's all "it's my favorite persons!!!" Lovely E. We like him. 

HAHA. This is just the funniest/scariest thing of my life. Okay. So there was a man last week that asked the elders if he could marry one of the sisters in our apartment building and they were like uhhh... No. When they told us we were like just laughing about it. We were unsure which sister missionary he was talking about. Well today, we were going to target and on the way there this man stopped us. I will summarize what he said. He said he watches us and knows that we are never home at our apartment because we are always out on our quest. Hahaha and then he confessed his love to me. Told me that when I am done with my quest I could live with him. He asked if he could learn about the gospel from us. Then told me he would never forget my name. Then he told me he loved me. And then I stood there wanting to cry Hahahaha. We just died. We were like uhhhhhhhh..... WHERE ARE THE ELDERS WHEN YOU NEED THEM. Anyways we are keeping a close eye out for this guy. Hahah. Hilarious. 

Also we had a zone conference and it was AMZNG. I am so rushed right now trying to hurry this email so forgive me for the quick ending!!! I will email more next week :) I also had a good spiritual thought to share but my time is cut short!! Sorrrrry!!

I am doing SO GOOD. I love this work. Looooove it. 

Love ABBBBB