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
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