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HI THERE SISTA DUNFORD HERE

Funny Stuff:
So NO I am not going to fashion week today because there were no more tickets... :( But.. hahaha. I got PERMISSION to go to fashion week. what on earth. Hahaha I called President on the phone.. President has over 250 missionaries to take care of, and here I am asking him for permission to go to fashion week. I JUST COULDN'T PASS UP THE OPPORTUNITY!  Aahhaahh. He was like "I think that sounds fun!!" I was SHOCKED. Straight up shocked. I love President Morgan you guys. He is amazing. The Morgan's win in my book. I could go ON and ON and ON about how incredible the Morgan's are. The most Christlike couple I've ever met. So humble, patient, loving, knowledgable, charitable etc. they have all the Christlike attributes. And to top off all the attributes, they know how to have FUN while living the gospel. You guys, we totally CAN have fun and be normal and be cool while living the gospel. Living the gospel is the coolest thing you could do. I love it. #coolestmormons

   

Transfer NEWS:
I'm.... STAYING in South Manhattan .... And training a brand new missionary from the good old MTC. Her name is Sister Spencer and I'mvSO pumped to meet her. She gets here on Friday! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN SHE WONT EVEN KNOW WHAT HIT HER. It's supa great. Hahaha we are going to WORK MEGA HARD. There are only TWO new english sisters coming into the mission.. and I get to train one of them!! Woo!! I feel so blessed to be in this area. We have THREE baptismal dates. Sister Spencer is coming to the right place man. I love Sister Spencer so much already.  (Let's hope she looooves me!!!) haha!! It was really cool to hear President talk about how they decide who the trainers are. He said: "you can imagine a few weeks ago as I was praying and thinking about trainers, your name was whispered to me." (Gives me chills) Wowza. To be part of revelation is COOL. I know Heavenly Father is putting Sister Spencer and I together for a reason. We are meant to be HERE in Manhattan TOGETHER. Let's goooooo Sista Spenca!!

Randomness:
*Sister Brown is going to THE BRONX. It's a partay in Da Bronx man.
*Today is P day and guess what we are doing. Shopping.
*Valentine's Day was goody. We passed out PINK heart Valentine's and
free hot chocolate and gave freeee church tours!! (So many people in
LOVE here in NYC) cough cough (jealous.) Hahah. Nope teasin.. ;)
*Its Fr Fr Fr FREEZING here. (You lucky little Utaherz in your warm weather.)
*I loved seeing the MINNICKS at church.
*I am being over fed here every night.
*I got to go to Scarsdale for the trainers meeting. Those train rides are the best little breaks EVA.
*President and Sister Morgan got to go to UT for an Ipad meeting.
(They were SO close to YA fam!)
*I am HAPPY

So this week we had a lesson with one of our male investigators who I've been talking about for a while now. He has SO many deeeep deep questions. Which is great. But his questions aren't very important when it comes to his progression in the gospel. (Some missionaries would call him an "eternal investigator.") haha just feels like he is a never ending investigator. In a lesson last week we asked him how he felt about what we have been teaching him and how it makes him feel. He told us he feels NOTHING.... Uhhh.. WHAT.. Okay. I was super frustrated for a second. I was thinking "Heavenly Father why aren't you sendin him the spirit! Why don't you give him a clear answer. Why isn't he feeling the spirit after everything we've done for him and taught him?" (Just a few of my thoughts during our lesson..) and don't worry my thoughts HAVE changed since that lesson :) Well it's quite interesting because he refuses to come to church. And he won't read the Book of Mormon. and he only prays when he wants to. RED flag. (I was like dude why are you even meeting with us then..?) It's weird. Like I understand if for a little bit people don't want to come to church.. but after a while... It's important that investigators keep commitments and start to act on the things we are teaching them. (Otherwise it's waste of our time to focus on somebody that doesn't have real intent.) Preach My Gospel tells us that to have real intent is "to be committed to ACT on the answers we receive." Obviously this man is not committed to act on ANYTHING.. which is exactly why he is not feeling the spirit. I've been trying my hardest to discern this mans needs because I really REALLLy want him to progress. Well I've come to the conclusion (I don't want this to sound rude.. But if I'm being honest..) he is straight up prideful. I just want to be bold and go to his face and be like "HEY YOU PRIDEFUL MAN BECOMETH LIKE A CHILD WHY DONT YA!?!" hahaha. (But that wouldn't be very humble of ME ha!!) anyways.. I've discovered that he is not very humble. He told us last week that he is at peace with the fact that we just die and then that is the end... 3 things! ONE: I just don't understand that AT ALL... TWO: that's sad for him.... THREE: what a lame to live life... (To anyone who believes that death is the end.... You might want to rethink your life!!) I mean COME ON. (Forgive me for my bold opinion..) but we are NOT here to just be humans and then reproduce humans and then die. Like that is the dumbest thing ever. There IS MORE. I want our investigator to just take a step back, take a niiiiice big glass of humble juice, and swallow his pride! (Is there such a thing as humble juice??) haha. Sheesh a lot of people need some humble juice. For cryin out loud we ALL need some humble juice. Myself included. I've really been thinking about the importance of humility this week. HUMILITY is so important. Without humility we are blocking God from speaking to us. Those that are not humble have a hardened heart and until they soften it... They won't receive the truth. 
In a talk called, "Be Meek and Lowly of Heart," Elder Ulisses Soares says: ".. Become humble. The Lord instructed Thomas B. Marsh through the Prophet Joseph Smith, saying, 
“Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers."  "I believe, brothers and sisters, that only those who are humble are able to acknowledge and understand the Lord’s answers to their prayers. The humble are teachable, recognizing how dependent they are on God and desiring to be subject to His will. The humble are meek and have the ability to influence others to be the same. God’s promise to the humble is that He will lead them by the hand. I truly believe that we will avoid detours and sadness in our lives as long as we walk hand in hand with the Lord."  YES. Right? SO how do we be humble?? To be humble, (to me) means to be WILLING to act. (LIVE the gospel.) To Acknowledge that there is more than just you and your own little life. to have humility we should "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Mosiah 4:9
(Kinda like when I was a child and I knew that I didn't know it all... And I needed to ask for help from my parents a lot!) #becomelikeachild
I studied a talk called Lord, is it I? By Dieter F. Uchtdorf and he says: "We must approach our Eternal Father with broken hearts and teachable minds. We must be WILLING to LEARN and to CHANGE. And, oh, how much WE GAIN by committing to live the life our Heavenly Father intends for us. Those who do not wish to learn and change probably will not and most likely will begin to wonder whether the Church has anything to offer them. But those who want to improve and progress, those who learn of the Savior and desire to be like Him, those who HUMBLE themselves as a little child and seek to bring their thoughts and actions into harmony with our Father in Heaven--THEY will experience the miracle of the Savior’s Atonement. THEY will surely FEEL God’s resplendent SPIRIT. THEY will taste the indescribable joy that is the fruit of a meek and humble heart. THEY will be blessed with the desire and discipline to become true disciples of Jesus Christ." So to wrap up my scattered thoughts on humility... It's obvious that God does not communicate with us when we have a hardened heart. (Our investigator is not receiving the spirit.) Why would he receive the spirit? He doesn't have real intent. And THATS why it's HIS problem. Not Gods. So if you EVER feel like you aren't feeling ANYTHING, and you wonder if God is really there.. you might just want to take a great big glass of humble juice. ;) and do THIS:
"..becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon (you), even as a child doth submit to his father." YEAH.
all I'm sayin is WE ALL NEED TO LIVE THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. It's
simple. Just be humble and live THE GOSPEL :)
Okay sorry for going on and on.

I LOVE YA!!!

Love Sister Abba Dunford