HEY 2015!

HAPPY 2015-NEW YEAR!!

I feel like I have SO much to tell you all!!!! So many little MIRACLES happened this week. And Christmas and New Years and AH such an amazing week. So many people here. (I should have been called speaking every language in the world) really tho. Hello diversity. Haha and the reason I am emailing Thursday instead of Wednesday is because our P day was changed from New Years Eve to New Year's Day. Too many crazies in the city to have a preparation day on the Eve of 2015. Haha. But WOW. It's a good day.

What a great year it was. I couldn't have asked for a better year. 2014 was so good for me!!! I
finished hair school, I made new friends, I made some changes in my life,  I went through the temple, I became a missionary, I lived in Connecticut, I now live in New York, and I've learned more about myself and the gospel than I EVER have before. 2014 was so special. I am oh so grateful for that year. I have ONE year left to be a missionary. Almost exactly a year from now I will be coming home. (NOOO) haha teasin. Love home. But really.. I have ONE YEAR left to be a full time representative of Jesus Christ. Wowza. I've been asking myself.. How I can reach my fullest potential as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 2015 is going to be SO good. I'm just going to plow through these New Yorkers and share the freakin message like nobody's business. I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to change EVERYDAY and be better than we were the day before. I love goals. Goals give us the opportunity to ACT rather than to be acted upon. I have set some pretty awesome goals for myself and I'm ready to act and continue to become the me that Heavenly Father wants me to be! :) YES 2015.

My goodness Christmas was amazing!! Couldn't have asked for a better
day. We weren't allowed to proselyte that day so you could say it was EXTRA special :) It started out with opening gifts!! Which was so fun. My cute companions and I took turns opening our gifts. I was in heaven. I was reminded of who I am. (Not that I forgot) haha I just remembered that I love my family so much and they really know how to put together a good Christmas package. We THEN went ICE SKATING. And let me tell you... Ice skating in NYC on Christmas Day is somethin else. SO MAGICAL. Looking up at the tall buildings surrounding me and gliding/tragically falling on the ice :) too good. I felt like an ice queen of New York. THEN guess what I did next.... SKYPE. Ah yes. Best part of the day by faaaaaar. It felt so short!! I could have talked to you guys ALL day if I could. One hour isn't long at all. It was so good tho. I love you family so much it hurts. I loved seeing your fabulous faces. After Skype we went to eat at a members home! They were great!! Yummy food. We sang Christmas songs together and laughed the whole time because we sounded awful. Good stuff. After dinner we got to go home early and SLEEP. It was the best day ever. And it was all because our Savior Jesus Christ was born. I thank my Heavenly Father EVERY day for that special gift. So blessed so blessed. The next day was Christmas hangover hahaha. Saddened that it was over. We are still sleeping on our beds together in the living room. Haha. Too fun.

 

Hi im a ballerina

Me and the Companions ;)

my fave almonds - WASABI!!

Little baby miracle people throughout the week:

SANAE- a magical miracle. Sanae was BAPTIZED on Saturday!! Yes. We had a baptism. It was such a surprise to us because we basically did nothing!! Haha. She came from Japan on December 22nd and got married to a man in our ward on December 24th (yes Christmas Eve.) she was then baptized on December 27th and then confirmed on the 28th. WOA right?? The man she married had served his mission in Japan and that's where they met. So Sanae had been taught by missionaries in Japan! And then since she was marrying the man in our ward she flew here to be married and baptized!!  So we taught her like one last lesson before she was baptized! And now she is our recent convert so we get to teach her all the lessons again!! HOW AWESOME. Little miracles all around. It was so refreshing!! She is the cutest ever.

A cool little story about SOLA- so we got a media referral (a
requested visit from the internet) so I call the number and this cute voice says hello this is sola! I was like hello and explained who we were and that we had a request from her. She was like oh yes! I want to learn more about the Book of Mormon! So in my head I was like this can't be real? She seriously requested a visit? She is normal? She's legit? Serious about learning more? YES. We set up an appointment with her. When the appointment finally came we went over and she is the CUTEST Chinese girl ever. She doesn't really look that Chinese she is like America Chinese. But anyways she is 24 and so normal. So cool. So cute. So happy. And here she is wanting a visit from us 19 year old missionaries. We did somethin we call a "how to begin teaching" lesson with her and explained what we do as missionaries and what our purpose is. She was super interested. She continued to tell us that her dad went missing five years earlier and they have not ever found him. She and her mom have been left with nothing but a mystery. I cannot imagine the pain and confusion she must feel from that. My heart was literally aching as she explained to us how it happened. I could feel her pain. Ugh I wanted to cry!! Sola has ZERO Christian background. Religion has played no role in her life! She has never prayed to god. Never gone to church. Never read the scriptures. And wow. She is all of the sudden open to it. Her heart is ready and has been softened. Heavenly Father has been preparing her for the gospel. I feel so blessed to be able to be the instrument in gods hands in sharing the restored gospel to her. Sola is already reading the Book of Mormon! SHE is so cute. Everyone keep her in your prayers!!

Another miracle moment with THELMA!!-
So we have a less active named Thelma. And to make a LONG story
short.. We are now teaching all THREE of Thelma's sisters who have
NEVER been open to the church. They are like in their 40's and 50's.
So we have THREE new investigators. Um miracle. IT WAS SO COOL. We
went to Thelma's to teach her and didn't know all her sisters would be there, but when we realized they were there we invited them to listen to the lesson.. It ended up with EACH of them holding a copy of the Book of Mormon in their hands and them saying they were going to read the book to find out if it's true. WOW. Testifying of the Book of Mormon  had never felt SO clear and so right. I am reminded EVERY time I testify of the Book of Mormon, of it's truthfulness. It is so crystal clear in my mind while teaching others about it and I KNOW it is true. Every single thing we believe is based on that book. And it either IS true, or it ISNT. And I'll tell you what. ITS TRUE. I would bet my life on it. That's very bold to say I know(Bold claim bold claim.) But just study it and pray about it to know for yourself. ;) Only hard hearted people don't get their answer. So soften your heart and READ IT :)

Holy smokes this is a long email and I could keep going...

I will just say Woah the people here for New Years HAHA. All these
crazy drunk people. Man the New Years celebrations are just too funny. Time Square was complete chaos. And I know that because that's in my area. Goodness I promise you don't want to be one of those psychos standing in the freezing cold surrounded by millions of people where you can't move at all and then your just staring at a tiny little ball that is going to fall at midnight. I was grateful to be in our warm apartment early last night haha!!

PUPPY!!!!

BUT ANYWAYS. HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE!! Don't forget about me this 2015. It's my ghost year. Haha meaning I will be on my mission like the whole year. So I guess I basically don't exist. But I love you guys.

LOVE,
Sister Abba Dunford