one year older and wiser too...

HEY!

I'm finally 20. Hahaha. (I can remember when I was 10 years old and I thought that FOR SURE I would be married by the age of 20.) haha. So funny. I would never in a million years have guessed that I would celebrate twenty years of life in Harlem as a missionary. What a celebration!!! You guys I'm so grateful for everyone that wished me a happy birthday. I love you all so much. Every single one made me smile. :) THANK YOU. 

I'll tell you what we did on my day of birth. 

I awoke to the smell of a yummy breakfast made by my dear companion Sister Checketts. (What a kind soul to wake before the 6:30 alarm went off.) Love her. She sang Happy Birthday to me as I (half asleep) waddled out of my bed and into the kitchen. Recorded me too. So I looked lovely. (Not) And then we ate our breakfast together. Then we went on with our regular morning routine. We sang "you've had a birthday" (the primary song) for our opening hymn before studies. HA HA. Then the door bell rang and there were some good old happy Elders singing happy birthday to me! And they made me some delicious cookies. I was smiling. HAPPY ABB. We left the apartment right on time and cranked out some good missionary work. Then lunch time came. Guess where we went. PINKBERRY. Mmmmm. Way happy. Way good. (Raspberry & Original=heaven) then we went to some lessons and did work. Then went to a dinner appointment with some other elders and then headed back home to have a small birthday party with the other sisters in our apartment. We played a few games and ate pita chips and hummus. Sister Dunford's 20th birthday = HAPPY. The most selfless birthday I've ever had. One I will always remember. 

There were lots of good things that happened this week. I wish I could explain and describe them all. Our soonest baptismal date is June 13th! Two baptisms will be happening that day :)

*A man (who has a less active wife and two children!!) YIPEEEE. Teaching families rarely happens in NYC. They have been investigating for 4 weeks and have been to church every Sunday since then!! 

*And a sweet little 9 year old. Her grandma is a member and so that's how we started teaching her. Anyways we were way excited for them. I will keep you posted with the others that have dates set :)

OHHH Kay let's get to some goodies that happened. 

We met with a woman for the second time last night and it was TOO GOOD. She was the one we listened to loud gospel music with last week. Her name is Kim. She is the type of Christian that thinks all churches are true and no matter what way you worship it's correct. Anyways. She came to church with her husband and 3 kids. We were so surprised and shocked to see them at church!!! Often times people will say that they will come but they never do. So it was happy. Woo!! Well we were talking with her last night and (I guess they go to multiple church services on Sunday's) but she said wow I really felt good at your church!! She mentioned that they went to different church service after ours and she said she didn't have the same feeling. (I'm like mwah haha) "you've been touched by the spirit ma friend" :) anyways she also told us that the first time we knocked on her door that we were literally sent from God. She said (with tears in her eyes) that we were an answer to her prayers and we brought such a good vibe into their home. ITS SO GOOD to hear those kind of things from investigators. Now if only we can help her see that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the ONLY church with authority and the fullness... Then we'll be golden. :) but anyways. Thought I'd share that. I love her.

(Wish you could just see this as a movie) but OH WELL. I will try to keep this a short summary. We met this punk (a nice punk, but nonetheless a punk.) named Tj. I call him a punk out of all the love in my heart.  (brotha Tj is what I call him) he is our brother after all. Well it happened like this:

We were walking to deliver a bible to a woman when I hear a voice soundin all gangsta say "Hey Alice in wonderland!" Then we see who it came from and its Brotha Tj. Wearing ear phones and (you know, I'll let you picture the punky look in your mind.) well he's like who are you Alice in wonderland? And we introduced ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ. And then he said (in a challenging voice) "alright teach me." ha. SO WE DID. I whipped out a Book of Mormon and boom then came the spirit. Tjs punky heart softened and he agreed to come to church on Sunday!!! We got his contact info and all that we needed to count him as a lesson and new investigator. What I took out of this simple silly experience was this:

I'm getting better and better at viewing ALL of Gods children truly as God's children. I see SO MUCH potential all around me. And I know this is because I've been praying for the gift of charity. Pure Christlike love. As we were teaching Brother Tj I couldn't help but picture him with a clean haircut and a nice Sunday suit. I know that through the atonement of our Savior, Brother Tj can become perfect in Christ. Moroni 10:32 says:

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

I know with 100% confidence that I HAVE CHANGED through my Savior Jesus Christ's atonement. I know that by living his gospel, I am being perfected in him. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share this message of hope, change and happiness with others. I love my Savior. I love my Heavenly Father for being so loving and merciful and so forgiving. I invite you all to put Christ's atonement to work. Let it cleanse you! Let it perfect you. It's brought me so much peace and so much happiness and I know it can do that for everyone!! Remember it can be activated with so simple a beginning as PRAYER. 

Anyways I love you. I love this work. Ta ta for now!!!

Sista Dunford  

I'm never leaving New York

Hey hey! 

I'm just going to cry I love New York so much. I don't ever want to leave!!!!!!!!!!!

P DAY P DAY P DAY!! 

Today's activities: a tiny shopping on 5th for some necessities. Then to back to Chelsea market. Then to city cakes for the best cookies in the world. Possibly stop at a museum. Fun.

Who knew my heart would love HARLEM so much!?! You guys!!! Harlem is freakin awesome. A party. Everywhere I walk there's music playing. Hahah! People just chill on the sidewalk with these loud speakers and they have like little barbecues. It's hilarious. We are so busy here. Hop skippin to appointments. 

Let me tell you. This area is definitely different from my last area. (Never heard so many cat calls in my life! "Blondey blondey!" Ha.) We have a goal of 30 lessons taught for this week. That was unheard of in my last area. Last transfer we would get lucky if we got half of that. Haha. I LOVE that we can tract in more places too!! There are so many more finding opportunities. (Now don't get me wrong) I love and miss my last area to DEATH. But missionary work there was a challenge. (Missionary work everywhere is a challenge..) Here there are so many more humble souls. We saw lots of miracles throughout the week!! I LOVED IT. 

It's only Tuesday and we've already found 4 new investigators. HOLLA. The Lord is blessing us. We have 5 baptismal dates. Which is GREAT. Yipeeee!!!

I will tell you a little about my new companion Sister Checketts. :)

She is 20 years old. (We both have May birthdays.) ...(speaking of birthdays... My birth is on Friday man!) .. :)

She is from California/Utah. She moved to Provo, Utah in high school. Now her family lives in sandy! She is SO nice. We both love shopping. At similar stores too!!! Wooooooooweeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! She has been out on the mission for a year. (She is one transfer ahead of me.) we get along great. We teach very well together. I love her.

I love love love the ward here. Both the family ward and the YSA ward. Haha the YSA is a good time. We went to church for 6 hours. Sunday's are long days here. (Pray for me every Sunday plz) There are lots of cute young families here! Lots of husbands are either working or going to school at Columbia or NYU. Definitely the place to be. 

Last night (I wish I had a video of this,) Sister Checketts and I went to do a media referral lookup. They had ordered a bible from us. When we got there they so kindly welcomed us in. We started talking about Christ and they were just praisin His name like there was no tomorrow. Haha. They were screamin and shoutin "HALLELUJAH, AMEN, THANK YOU LORD." And then they asked if they could turn on some gospel music.! We said of course why not. So I'm not even kidding you when I tell you they had two giant speakers way taller than me. They turned it up just about as loud as it would go. And there we were. Sister Checketts, me, Kim, and curly. Praisin The Lord listening to the loudest gospel music I've EVER heard. (It was like those fun gospel choirs and amazing woman voices) haha! you guys it was so fun. In my head I was just DYING laughin because these experiences ARE SO RANDOM. And so great. Like hi. I LOVE IT. It was really cool because even though these wonderful people don't have the fullness of the gospel, they still have pieces of truth and I could very easily feel the spirit there. They are strong firm believers in Christ and I know that their Heavenly Father loves them. I love being a missionary. 

Random:

*Sister training leader stuff keeps you always planning and SO busy. Haha we are running around crazy. But it's been great.

*Our apartment is so great. I get my very own closet!!! We are so blessed. It's way nice. Love it. 

*I love the district I'm in. There are quite a few missionaries that were in my last district with me. 

*We had an APF service activity right across the street from my old apartment. We did some yard work. That was funny.

*Our dinner calendar is jam packed all through June.! Haha those YSA's love taking the sisters out to eat. 

We had one lesson that really stood out to me with a girl named moddestine. I LOVE HER. She got baptized like 2 weeks ago. From the moment we started talking we just clicked. She is like 25 years old. She is so normal and so cute. She's African American and just beautiful. Her testimony is so strong. 

Let me end with a quote that I LOVED from President Uchtdorf. He said:

"The greatest, most capable, most accomplished man who ever walked this earth was also the most humble. He performed some of His most impressive service in private moments, with only a few observers, whom He asked to “tell no man” what He had done. When someone called Him “good,” He quickly deflected the compliment, insisting that only God is truly good. Clearly the praise of the world meant nothing to Him; His single purpose was to serve His Father and “do always those things that please him.” We would do well to follow the example of our Master."

I pulled this quote from his talk given in priesthood session called "On Being Genuine."

(If you haven't read it, do it now) :) Anyways I truly truly loved his words and revelation on this subject. I feel that too often we do things because we want recognition. We post/wear/do something because we want others to praise us or somethin. 

Uchtdorf closed by saying:

"I pray that we will resist the temptation to draw attention to ourselves and, instead, strive for a far greater honor: to become humble, genuine disciples of Jesus Christ."

I will add his prayer to mine. I love him! I love my savior. I love His gospel. I love my mission.

I love you alllllll!

Love Sister Abb Dunford

a swell week

Okay you guys. SUCH A SWELL WEEK.

Let's start with.. TRANSFER news:

I will be taking on the responsibility of being a sister training leader and I will be TRANSFERRED. Not far away at all.. I am WAY happy about it. Literally feels like I'm just switching apartments..

And actually, a song comes to mind when I think about this new area. It was popular a few years back, you might be able to recognize it.. I'll drop you a line. 

"Do the Harlem Shake." That's right. HARLEM. Hahahaha! 

I will be moving from the South Manhattan zone to the... (not far away at all...) Central Manhattan zone!!! (Which still covers my last area) weird but so good. HAHAHAhaha. I'm seriously excited. We will be over the Harlem 1st ward which is a family ward, and we will be white washing the Harlem YSA. Which are both AMAZING wards. But oh so different from the Manhattan 1st ward...  TWO wards. One of the the busiest areas in the mission. Seriously booming with lessons. I am SO excited to have more people to teach. It's quite funny actually because our apartment is currently in Harlem and now I will be moving ALL of my stuff over to East Harlem.  Right next to Target and Costco! YES. (Yay for grocery shopping) I am way pumped. Feels like I'm not going anywhere... Just switching wards. Which is exactly what's happening. We will still have all of our P days in this fabulous CITY. My new companion will be SISTER CHECKETTS. She is a darling red head and we see each other every P day. I'm so excited to be with her. We will both be Sister Training Leaders. (STL's) So let's get excited for some crazy stories these upcoming weeks!! We are going to be SO busy... Pray for me ;)

Me and sista Checketts!

Okay so enough talk about the future, let's talk about my last week in this AMAZING area. 

Here are some moments I enjoyed:

*Eating at serendipity with some of my favorite members and drinking my very own huge salted caramel frozen hot chocolate. (Heaven on earth) 

*Contacting in Central Park/Riverside Park and passing out hundreds of Mormon cards to the coolest New Yorkers.

*Eating lunch with my UTAH neighbors. I love the Mayers. Thanks for the visit!! 

*Meeting the cutest return missionary that served in NYNY South and is one of my fave singers. Her name is Jen Blosil. Check out her music. She will be big one day.... I know it.

*Listening to Quinton L. Cook. I will mention some of my favorite quotes in a second. 

*Seeing the WHOLE mission together at our conference. I've missed my old mission friends.

*Having an APF with my good old zone in Madison Square Park. We are creative. (Free shoe shining ha!)

*Talking to momma KENDRA and the fam. Best. Ever. (Although I could have spent 100 more hours talking to you guys..) 

*Saying "see you later" to most of the members here. (NOT goodbye.) I held back tears while hugging a few members. You never realize how attached you are to someone until you have to leave them! Hard. 

*Laughing my head off while I stress packed. Packing is NOT FUN. 

*Aaaand spending time with one of my new best friends Sister Spencer. 

The Mayers :) 

GOOD WEEK. 

So I briefly mentioned that I LOVED hearing from, and shaking Elder Quinton L. Cook's hand! What a neat experience. It's amazing how a room can change when someone so reverent walks in. Our mission was immensely blessed to receive some council and training from him. He left us with an apostolic blessing that gave me chills. His blessing was basically.. We need not EVER question if being home, (making money, helping family, dating, going to school, etc.) would be better for us than being out in the mission field. He said there is nothing better we could be doing right now. He said that our mission will bless our grandparents, our parents, our siblings, our future spouse, our children, grand children and ALL of our posterity. What an AMAZING blessing. I could not imagine my life without my mission. 

One last thing from Elder Cook. He spoke of his witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I have never felt the spirit so strong from a testimony than I have from his. His EXACT words said with so much confidence were: "I know The Savior's voice. I know what He looks like. I know that He lives." 

I sat there with chills all over!!! It was such a special conference. I love the gospel. I love my mission.

My heart is so heavy with love for this city/area..... Sounds cheesy. I can't describe it! The city is so much more than just the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, 9/11 memorial etc. those are all GREAT things in this city. But I have fallen in love with much much more. If you could only be here with me every step of the way to experience all that I have here. It's UNREAL. 

The people I have met have changed my life. My perspective is so different in so many ways. I'm so grateful SO SO SO grateful that I followed the prompting to serve a mission. My life is FOREVER changed. 

I'll miss my roomies 

LOVE YOU

Love, Sista Dunford 

best mission award

Can I get a wha wha!!! Great week. 

Dad!!!! Happy Birthday!!! 30 years old never looked so good. Ha TEASIN. FIFTY really never looked so good. Hope you and mom had so much fun in MAUI. Love you. 

So much goodness. And fun. I stinkin love this mission. This email is going to be random so enjoy.

So let me put out some excitement and announcements we heard this week.

1. We get to go to a YANKEES game at the beginning of July! (Not like I'm some baseball fan, but still way fun) Party! New mission pres will be here and he is so down to go. We are mega excited. Mormon Tabernacle Choir will be performing too so that's great.

2. Elder Quinton L. Cook from the quorum of the 12 apostles will be here on Saturday and we get to have an ALL mission conference. YAY. An apostle of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are thrilled. 

3. MOTHERS DAY IS SUNDAY. Mom I love you. To say I am excited to see/talk to you is an understatement. I watched the Mormon video called "it was mom" and felt straight up joy. I love you mom!!

4. We get to meet our new mission president in June. So we will be having another ALL mission conference. Here at the Lincoln Square temple chapel. Wooohoooo!! We will all shake his hand and WELCOME him into the BEST mission in the world. 

5. Transfers are coming in hot. I've been here in this fabulous area for 6 months now. Haha don't you think it's somebody else's turn to have some fun? I think I'm outta here next. :) but I've loved it and I'm excited to see what the future holds.

I'm "gaga" over majority of the apartments we go into every night for dinner. LOVE. I will truly miss the people here when I leave. But I've had multiple people tell me to come back and visit them after the mission. Even had an offer to stay at someone's apartment for free. Oh the perks. Hahah.

We had this AMAZING investigator named Ross. Ross was super golden. We found him like 1 week ago. A dream investigator. He met with us three times in one week. So RARE for these busy New Yorkers. He was totally progressing and we had a baptismal date set for May 30th. Well. Here's where... (when things are going perfect, something ALWAYS has to go wrong.) 

"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." Mosiah 23:21

We found out that Ross lives in the tip top tip of Manhattan. And he isn't in our area. NOOO. I swear this happens all the time.. We find a super golden human, and then boom, sorry they don't live in your area. Heavenly Father is like "let's see how humble Sister Dunford is." Haha no teasin. But it just pulls at my humility strings. My natural instinct is "No! He's OUR investigator, we found him, we should get to teach him, we set the baptismal date with him, etc." I'm selfish. And that's not good. I had to pray for the strength to be able to humbly pass him off to the elders in north Manhattan. Long story short, we passed him off and I totally felt peace about it. It felt right. I KNOW that this is the Lords work. It's not mine. It's HIS. So that was a small lesson learned. 

lol at my modeling with pizza

Some thoughts to close!

As a missionary I have started to become very aware of what I'm doing and what I'm saying ALL the time. What overall appearance I am giving off is MUY IMPORTANTE. Because whatever I "do/say/wear/think," represents what the Savior would "do/wear/say/think." I have Jesus Christ's name on my chest ALL day EVERY day. Wearing His name on my chest everyday= pressure. (Not in a bad way haha.) 

Story: 

Once upon a time.. (The other day,) I walked on the subway EXHAUSTED. So tired. It had been a long day, and all I wanted to do was to sit down on the subway seat and close my eyes and run away from all of it. Well I walked on the subway and I saw that there was an open seat. So (relieved) I headed towards the seat. Literally right as I was about to sit down some rude New Yorker swooped up and plopped herself RIGHT where she saw that I was going to sit. She rudely purposely did that. (Ok really, not a huge deal abb like get over it right?) Well, old Abbey, (before the mission,) would have given her a nasty little glare and maybe have said a sassy comment. (Just that natural sass instinct you know?) Well new Abbey, (Sister Dunford,) smiled politely and stepped back to hold on to the pole. I had to breath deeply and think about the name tag that I was wearing. I was representing Jesus Christ. The Savior. The End. :)

So I tell you this lame little story for a purpose. A reminder to all of us that have entered into the waters of baptism. Let me quote, (OUR promise,) the sacrament blessing in which we recommit to our baptismal covenant. (I'm skipping the 1st part)

"..O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to TAKE UPON THEM THE NAME of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen."

Question to ponder. And I quote Alma here. Answer this for yourself!

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?" Alma 5

This is something I realized I was missing before my mission. SUCH tiny moments and actions where I would forget that I had promised to TRULY represent Jesus Christ. I have promised to take His name upon me. I shouldn't only represent Him because I have a physical, tangible name tag on my chest. I am happy to tell you all, that I plan on truly keeping my baptismal covenant even after the mission of truly taking Jesus Christ's name upon me. I hope and pray that you will all remember the promise you've made with Heavenly Father. Ask yourself how you can better represent Jesus Christ's team. He is our coach. We are the team. We have put on his jersey. 

Now let's REPRESENT. ;)

Sista Abbey Dunford

preach and teach and WERK

ALRIGHT. Hello my brothas and sistas.
Just preachin and teachin and workin. (And on P day we HAVE FUN in
this favorite city of mine.) and we.... prepare for the week too
haha..

How is everyone? Springing for spring? I am. Every time we are outside I skip a little and I have a spring in my step. It's so happy. Today we are riding bikes in Central Park and I got a haircut!! A haircut in New York City. Dreamy. Being in a salon felt like HOME. It was a realllly nice salon filled with crazy rich people. Won't lie and tell you I didn't love it. :) I will be back here to cut hair. You heard me say it! I will.

   

CHOPPED

Random:

*We got Jimmy Fallon's address.. Hahah.

*There is a movie being filmed right outside of our apartment so
that's fun. We love to watch them. We have a good view. We haven't
quite figured out what movie it is but we'll find out :)

*I have learned SO much about the history of this city and boy is it cool. New York City is SO COOL. (I thank my Heavenly Father DAILY for sending me here.)

*Mom, the new smoothie recipe you gave me is perfection. We drink that lovely every morning. Helps keep us regular and healthy. Haha thank heavens.

*We had an APF outside of the temple. SUCCESS. My companion and I were in charge and we decided to do it on family history. Talked all about family trees and gave away free lemonade. We also got 4 people's names and numbers to meet with them again! That was awesome.

*We brought Ores our recent convert to the family history center to
find names to take to the temple so he can be baptized for them. So
exciting. He's so sweet. Love him.

*Our finding push has not ended. We are finding finding finding
finders. LOTS of new potential investigators.

*Sister Spencer has been sick so we stayed in the apartment two of the days. Bummer. But it ended up being great. (Not going to lie) I
studied and read so MUCH. I LOVE when I have time to read more. My one hour of personal study is never enough.

*Ate at some fabulous restaurants. (Family, prepare to gain weight
when we come back here.)

  

the moving being filmed

Anyways. It was a good week. I don't feel like I have a huge miracle
to share. But I definitely see little miracles daily. (That's
something you don't realize until you come out on your mission.) You
hear the big miracle stories from return missionaries and think 
"wow I can't wait to have miracles like that!" Not saying there aren't miracles. But I'm here to tell you that the everyday every minute of being a missionary can be hard. And if it weren't hard, it would NOT be worth it. Again If the gym weren't hard, our bodies wouldn't get stronger. It MUST be hard. It has to be. I'm grateful for it. I love it! :)

Quick thought to end!

Elder Russel M. Nelson said:
"We might each ask ourselves, where is our faith? Is it in a team? Is it in a brand? Is it in a celebrity? Even the best teams can fail. Celebrities can fade. There is only One in whom your faith is always safe, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you need to let your faith show!"

I was just pondering about my life before my mission. (How grateful I am that I came on my mission.) But I remember being carried away in pointless things. (Example: my dear faded Justin Bieber who is such a sweet child of God and trying to make a come back. Still love him. Bless his heart.) haha.!! We just live in a world where it's SO easy to get carried away. And Heavenly Father knows that. He knows that this world will try to put things before His Son Jesus Christ. Hence He gave us: Prophets, church, scriptures, prayer, priesthood leaders, family, temples, etc. There's one thing that I have promised myself I will do every single day for the rest of my life, and that is study the scriptures. Whether it's 5 chapters or 5 pages or 5 verses. I will not go a day without studying them. It might seem like woah... But it's so not. It's like DUH why would we ever consider not studying the scriptures? They should come before most things in life. The scriptures should come much much before our TV shows, our Instagram scrolling, our tweets, our blog reading, our movies, etc. I never realized how applicable the scriptures are to our lives until I ACTUALLY actually really really truly truly SEARCHED them. They testify of Christ. They apply to our everyday lives. And if you don't agree, then you're not actually really really truly truly studying them. I have found so many answers in those pages and so much guidance and peace and comfort. Oh how lucky we are to have them. USE THEM. I can promise you, that if you put Jesus Christ first, that everything else will fall into place and you will become more like Him. (You will eventually become Perfect.) I want that.
So everyone better study the scriptures daily. :)

   

I love youuuuuuuu!!!
Love Sister abbeymariedunford

He is aware of EVERYTHING

HI friends and family!! 

I TRULY apologize for the length of this one in advance but I need to just get this out. Hopefully it's not just a throw up on you. (Well it is so I'm sorry)

It was a much needed amazing week. I don't know if I can explain it well enough for you to understand. I want everyone to know that I KNOW that God is there. And he knows ME. I'll just jump right in! 

So first of all. A bummer thing happened. But it turned into the best miracle and the most awakening moment of Gods love and awareness for me. Here's the story:

My companion and I had made a TREK to Target to buy groceries and some other necessities. (Target is in East Harlem so it was quite a ways away.) We needed to go to Target because it's cheaper than everywhere else and we needed certain things from there. let me also tell you that I was COMPLETELY out of money. My mission card balance was $0.00. And our dinner calendar was oddly empty. So we went to Target. Spent my personal funds and got some things that I needed. We put them in the kitchen at the church. Well... we came back to get them.. and they had been stolen! EVERYTHING except my new socks and toothpaste. You guys. My heart sunk and I literally felt so sad. Like who does that?? (New Yorkers do apparently.) We were sooo frustrated. Now I was really stressed. No food, and REALLY no money. I was just trying to keep my Christlike face on hahaha. But we couldn't hide the fact that we were so upset about it. My thoughts were "Why me!! What did I do wrong?" Thinking what did I do to deserve this? I was like did I do something wrong? Is this karma? Well shortly after that little mishap we cooled off and we went to a lesson with a less active. In that lesson we talked all about Christ. And how much he suffered for us. We talked about the pain he must have felt. And in that 45 minutes my heart was so warm and I felt peace. When I turned my thoughts to the Savior, who was Gods Only Begotten Son, Who was SO loved by his father, And who suffered and went through more than ANY other human would ever have to go through, I felt LOVE. And that just because I was going through a little challenge DOES NOT mean that God doesn't love me. If Jesus Christ suffered and went through all that he did.. who are we to say that God doesn't love us because of bad things that happen to us. So that was a special cool moment for me. But THE STORY gets better. 

So we headed back to the church and just as we walked in, the security guard, who is not a member pulled me aside and gave my companion and I forty dollars. I had a little tear in my eye and gave her a HUGE hug. I love her. She is always watching out for us. Well as NICE and as kind as that was, that money wouldn't get us far here in NYC. But we humbly and gratefully accepted he money. I felt God watching out for us. Okay well it gets better. So TODAY. We were at the grocery store buying new groceries. And I'm like a stress case thinking HOW am I going to pay for this. We grabbed some things that we needed and got in line while the WHOLE time I'm stressing about how I would paying for everything. So we get to the register and a very kind humble man followed us and paid for EVERYTHING. You guys. THAT NEVER EVER EVER EVER HAPPENS HERE IN NEW YORK. NEVER. My eyes swelled with tears and I was speechless. I kept saying thank you SO much thank you so much. Over and over again. I did not know what to do. I said to him you have absolutely NO idea of how much this means. I literally was choking back tears as I was thanking him. Well he then reached in his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. And SO HUMBLY AND KINDLY handed it over. Then I really couldn't hold back the tears. And there we stood in the grocery store with a very kind man who was an instrument in Heavenly Fathers hands. We walked out of the grocery store and I LITERALLY heard the words in my head "I am aware." And I just had little tiny tears streaming down my cheeks as we walked away. I can't explain the feeling. I cannot doubt God. I could NEVER deny that he knows me and he loves me and he is watching over me. I love him. I'm so grateful. I testify that Heavenly Father IS aware. This is HIS work and he is watching over us. 

Okay so now more goods.

(In Nephi's words...) my soul DELIGHTETH in birds chirping in the morning. And in BLOSSOMS. My soul delighteth in the spring time. There is a meteorologist in my ward and she said that Saturday was the first time it's hit 80 degrees since September 28th.  It had been about 203 days since the last 80 degree weather. I was wondering why it felt EXTRA special. Been outside in some chilly weather for quite sometime. And then it's been rainy the last few days. But April showers bring May flowers right? Weather. Sheesh. 

We met with some INCREDIBLE MEMBERS throughout the week. I have been so blessed to be surrounded by SUCH good people who have set very good examples for me. I have some good goals to work for. It's funny because after almost every dinner appointment I'm like "ugh I want to be you!" (And then 20 people later...) Haha.  I figured out I want to be just like the members here. Yay for New York members who set the bar so high for me. I will not settle. I'm gonna go work for what I want. 

My companion and I worked way way hard. We have been FINDING FINDING talking to EVERYONE. I think I talked to 1,000,000 people throughout the week. I love people. We have been reaching all of our goals and I KNOW that Heavenly Father is aware of our efforts. It was a great week. Putting your shoulder to the wheel and just doing the work really FEELS GOOD. I wish that I could write all the small miracle moments but I decided I want to write more about my studies and things that I learned rather than things that happened. 

Lately my brain has been consumed with thoughts about being HAPPY where we are no matter what. Not when "this or that" happens. But now! Thoughts like: "if I could just be married, I would be happy! If I could just have more money, I would be happy! When I'm done with school I will be happy! When I finish my mission I will be happy. If I could just lose 10 pounds I would be happy. When I'm done working here, I will be happy. When I do this or that or blah blah I will be happy." Those thoughts are doing us NO good. Just BE HAPPY NOW. We get to choose. Because we will ALWAYS have afflictions. Without afflictions we don't grow. (Without lifting painful weights, our muscles don't get stronger.) There won't be a time that we won't have any afflictions. So we must not wait for "that time" to be happy. 

I'm SO grateful for my Savior in times of afflictions. Because let's be honest, isn't it SO comforting when you know you're not all ALONE in something? Like example: I remember at home if I ate a piece of chocolate cake I was probably a little bummed about it afterwards. But if my sister came up to me and told me she ate a piece of chocolate cake too then I felt some peace about it. Haha or if I ate two cookies, then ky had to eat two cookies too!! (Maybe that's just me that feels the comfort in somebody else going through the same prob.) but I was just thinking about that, and how our Savior Jesus Christ is like that for all of us. Every hard thing we go through, HE has gone through. Every time we feel sad or discouraged or ANYTHING, he has felt the EXACT same way. I received this quote from a friend of mine and I loved it so much. It's by Tad R. Callister. He said: 

"As a result of his mortal experience, culminating in the Atonement, the Savior knows, understands, and feels every human condition, every human woe, and every human loss. He can comfort as no other. He can listen as no other, there is no hurt he cannot soothe, rejection he cannot assuage, loneliness he cannot console. Whatever affliction the world casts at us, He has a remedy of superior healing power."

I get chills when I read that. Jesus Christ is here to help all of us. Here's another GREAT quote that I found during my studies: 

"The Atonement has practical, personal, everyday value; apply it in your life. It can be activated with SO SIMPLE A BEGINNING AS PRAYER . You will not thereafter be free from trouble and mistakes but can erase the guilt through repentance and be at peace." LOVE IT. 

I HAVE to include this example from The Book of Mormon because I just read in Mosiah about Alma and his people being persecuted by Amulon and the Lamanites. So brief background: Amulon, was a part of the Lamanites and they are a bad group of people. They put guards around Alma and his people. (Alma=good guy.) And Amulon (who was a teacher/leader for the Lamanites) begins to persecute Alma and his good people who love the Lord. So Naturally, Alma and his people begin to cry mightily to God. Amulon commands them to stop. Amulon says that if anyone cries out to God they will be put to death. So Alma and his people don't cry out loud, but they pour out their HEARTS to Him. Now read what happens next!! 

Mosiah 24:13-15

13. And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

So we can see that if we cheerfully rely on the Lord to face our challenges, He can take our limitations and our weaknesses and magnify them into strengths. I know that we can be happy through ALL of our afflictions. Alma and his people are SUCH good examples of submitting cheerfully and aligning our will with God's. I'm so grateful for my afflictions. I'm grateful that I have the choice to be happy. I'm grateful for how hard this mission is. Because of the challenges I have here, I am becoming stronger. And slowly and slowly becoming more like Christ. Who is PERFECT. I love perfect.

BEING HAPPY IS THE BEST. Love you alllll

Love Sister Abbs  Dunford 

Happy

Ni Ho.!!

(I think that's hello in Chinese.) Ellie correct me if I'm wrong :) 

It's already halfway through April and that's freakin me out!! 

Let me just tell you something. Warm weather is the best thing ever. I CANNOT EXPLAIN MY LOVE FOR THE SUN. 

Today's P day activities: we went to China Town with my favorite member. (She knows all the cool fun places) we went to a Buddhist temple and to Chinese ice cream and so many more cute fun little places. and now we are going to a museum. This museum is mega cool. I will explain what it is. So a looooong time ago there was a man named J P Morgan. And he was the richest man in the world. (Or something like that..) Well he had a mansion (or somethin) here in NYC and when he died, they left his mansion untouched!!! And now it's a museum. He had a HUGE collection of books and one of which was an ORIGINAL Book of Mormon from the 1800's. Pretty coolish if you ask me!! So yeah that's way fun. 

Emails get rough when not much happened in the week... I'm just still kickin it in New York City. Haha. 

Here's a list of random things in my mind.

*Its been SO WARM. Which causes New Yorkers to be happy and skippin along. 

*Contacted SO much in Central Park and Riverside Park. Literally so much.

*Hit my halfway mark! So celebrated a little with some PINKBERRY.

*Also we went out to eat at some freaky NICE restaurants!! (Tavern on the green, & Boathouse in Central Park!) LOVED it. There's just something about eating out at a nice restaurant in NYC, let alone Central Park. Eating out in NY is a dream. 

*We have some pretty flakey investigators right now that are so not committed. But that's not a complaint. Just a fact.

*Went on a split with Sista Redford. In my area. Taught like 1 million lessons. Walked like 100 miles. 

*We are trying to find find find find. 

*We had an APF in Central Park. Talked a lot about families. (And boy do I love and miss my family) :)

*Took the tights off for the first time. AH. Hahah. Snow White.

*Ores, our recent convert, got the priesthood which was exciting!

SO. We have CLEARLY been having a hard time finding people to teach. (Tracting the same building and contacting all day long can only get you so many noncommittal New Yorkers..)  haha. So one of our bigger focuses lately has been trying to get REFERRALS from members. Because we ALL know how much cooler it is for an investigator to have a friend at church. Life is just better for all of us when members and missionaries WORK TOGETHER. We have been calling every single member in our ward and sharing a missionary message with them to try to get them to focus more on missionary work. (Yes, I called my favorite blogger to set up an appointment. What life am I living?? Hah a good one that's for sure.) It's been good!! Definitely takes a lot of courage to go into these busy New York members and tell them that they need to remember to do missionary work... Haha mega keeps me praying for the help of the spirit. (No way could I do this on my own.) We use a quote from Elder David A. Bednar's talk in 2008 called Ask In Faith. It's AWESOME. (You should look it up and LISTEN to him say it. He says it best.) He is so bold and SO RIGHT. I love to be bold. Here's my favorite quote from him:

"We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; You and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work! If you and I would truly pray and ask in faith, as did Joseph Smith-if we would pray with the expectation to act and not just to express-then the work of proclaiming the gospel would move forward in a remarkable way!" 

Let me repeat: "Missionaries are full time teachers; You and I are full time FINDERS." 

HE IS SO RIGHT. Am I right? I love love love it. As missionaries we love to FIND and street contact and tract and to talk to people etc. But let's be honest.. Investigators that come as member referrals are more likely to be committed and real about finding the truth. Yeah? You follow? I love missionary work. I never knew that my heart would be so IN it. I am SO grateful for this opportunity that I have been given to teach the gospel in New York City. I invite ALL of you to ASK IN FAITH for missionary opportunities. Pray for specific names who might one day be ready to hear the wonderful message of the restored gospel. (You don't have to know all the doctrine, you just have to have a testimony and INVITE others.) Open your mouth!! Invite people to church! It's not scary. The gospel is REAL, it's true and EVERYONE needs to hear it. 

Ta-ta for now! 

Love you!!!!!

Love Sista Abbey Dunford