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