a little accident...

HEY!!

Sista Dunford here.

Wow!! Another week already? Wait woah I've been out for one month already!?! What the heck!

Haha well. I had a great week!! Aside from this little incident... I

have a story. (Mom don't panic) So my companion and I got in a car accident on Saturday. Yeah. No bueno!!!

Well let me explain. So my companion was driving and we had just

picked up some books from a less active member to go donate to this book place. Well we were just happily driving and my companion looked out the window for a split second and said Sister Dunford look it's Urban Outfitters!! And I looked over and didn't even have time to look forward before I heard the loudest sound evaaaa. BANG. Yikes. Ouch. Next thing I know there is a man swearing up a storm in front of us. My companion started crying and I was just sitting there all confused. There was this cute 13 year old boy that came to rescue us. Haha he was so nice. He was like "ARE YOU GUYS OKAY!?" We both looked at each other and we were like uhhhhh. So confused. Well my companion got out and was crying and then I tried to get out but the door wouldn't open. So I climbed out somehow. Long story short.. There were a ton of police out there and people and craziness. They were like asking us questions and we were like ahhh oh no!! This isn't our car, and we are missionaries, and we don't know what to do!! But we got it all figured out and we are safe and sound and nobody was hurt. Just a few bruises and sore muscles.

WELL. let me tell you somethin. As of Monday, within the last 5 days there had been 3 accidents in the whole mission and the last 3 weeks there had been 8 accidents. Now that is not normal!!! So president is having the whole mission do a "car fast" so today and yesterday nobody is allowed to use their car. President Morgan wants us to realize how lucky we are to have our cars and how careful we need to be!! I can't believe how much of a blessing it is to have a car. Now that we don't have a car and won't have a car for the next week, I realize how lucky we are in this mission. We really are so lucky. We have iPads, phones, cars, nice apartments and so many other little blessings. We are blessed. So. Yes. Everyone WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS!!! And be so thankful :)

Well today's email is gonna be a little random but I will say some

highlights of the week!! 

So me and my companion have been meeting with a couple named Maria and Rick. They have two kids that are members. (Their kids are married) They can see the blessings that their kids have had in their lives from the gospel. Rick is catholic and has a lot of faith. It's really cool when people from other faiths start to read the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is so powerful!!! Rick is finding for himself that the bom is the word of god. It's SO COOL. I love the Book of Mormon.

Here's a little story-  well yesterday my companion and I had to walk to the church to sync our area books and update them and we needed wifi. Well it was dinner time and we were tired and hungry and thirsty. And it was so hot outside. Well it took a long time to get to the church and when we had finally got there we realized that we didn't have our keys to the church because the key was hooked to our car keys and our car keys were with our car at the tow place... So we walked alllll this way only to find out that we were locked out. Ha. So we sat there. Bummed out. Well then I decided to say a prayer that somebody would magically come and have a key to the church. Literally 3 minutes after my prayer a member came to pick up a book that they had left at the church. WHAA YES I was so happy!!!!! Tender mercies tender mercies. They are always happening. I was SO thankful. Heavenly Father was watching out for us. He knew we didn't have our keys. And he knew that that member needed their book. So boom. Yes. Awesome. 

I love Heavenly Father!

I only wish I could share all my little experiences here on my mission but that would take a year.. Haha! But I am loving it out here!!! It's SO amazing being a missionary. I love wearing my name tag and I love when people stare at me. It's too good. I hope everyone has an amazing week!!!

My fave chapter from the week- 3rd Nephi 17.

Feast on that one you guys. I had a great feast the other day. It was good.

LOVE YOU ALL.

LOVE,

Sista Dunford

Barbie is Mormon!

HEYYYY.

How is good old UTAH?? I wear this cute little tiny gold UT necklace here and people always tell me how cute it is and im like "I know right?? UT is so cute!" :) haha! Utah is always on my heart. literally.

So where do I even begin. ONE WEEK IN THE FIELD. it almost feels like I have already been here for a month just because so much has happened. I wish I could share ALL the details.. but there is no time.. (and I dont want to bore you)

I will start out with a funny story.

So a few nights ago, my companion and I went to go do a look up. and this look up was in the projects. So let me just give you a visual image.. Everyone there was black. (which is awesome) (nothin against black people) but me and my companion stuck out like CRAZY. Well anyways so we're in this super poor part of town. and we go knock on the door to talk to this less active woman. well She didn't answer.. So we were like alright lets do some street contacting. So... (street contacting is where we talk to people on the streets about our beliefs and stuff.) So we start walking and I kid you not everyone is just staring at us. haha. I'm like smiling and bein all happy and dumb blonde haha. Well I look ahead and there is this man. haha let me explain his appearance. (I am not judging, just stating what he looked like) haha so he is this big black guy, he's got tattoos EVERYWHERE. hes got tear drops tatted under his eyes, hes got a cigarette in hand and some ghetto lookin clothes on. So anyways. I see him from a far. and he is just STARING at me. So yeah we keep getting closer and closer,and the closer we get he starts giving me these head nods.. I'm like nervously smiling because I'm a happy sister missionary right? haha. well we then get pretty close. and (we being missionaries share our message with EVERYONE no matter what their appearance may be) so he waves at me .. and I wave back. then we walk up. he goes HELLOOoooooooo (in this flirty voice) My companion was like "hey can we give you a card.??" He looks at me and goes "heck yeah only if its got blondies number on it" HAHAHA (although I'm leaving out the swear word that he used) there I was standing and my heart sank in my chest. I smiled... and kinda laughed.. my companion goes "yes! it has Sister Dunford's number." I didn't say a word!!!! haha I was terrified. he was like "thank you thank you!! She can baptize me tomorrow!!" And there I was still standing there all awkward and shy. We then handed him the card and told him a few other things and then we started to walk away. as we walked away the man was like "hey blondie expect a call!" hahahaha And I was still dying. SO AHH. that was funny experience. I about peed. haha!

But really Connecticut is SUCH an amazing place. My ward has the RICHEST people I can't even stand it. I was talking to one of the old ladies in our ward and I was just asking about her life and (her name is Barbera) well anyways... Barbera was the actual Barbie doll model!! she legit was barbie back in her younger years. She showed me pictures of herself when she was younger and SHE IS TOTALLY BARBIE. shes so cute she wears pink nail polish and has the cutest white hair and cute pink clothes and she is just the cutest. But yeah she is barbie. So I loved that because I love barbies. So cool. who would have thought barbie is mormon?? ha! 

So along with Barbera, there are some amazing other people in the ward. they are all SO nice. They feed us dinner every night. So every night my companion and I get to go visit these BEAUTIFUL connecticut homes. they are in the prettiest woods and there are fireflies everywhere. its like a movie. Seriously dreamy. I need to live here one day. 

Well. So within the last week that I have been here... We got 3 baptism dates!!!!!! Wooooo! I love the investigators that we have. they are all so awesome. Its crazy because I care for all of them so much!! I love these people and I just barely met them!! Its amazing to see what the gospel does to peoples lives. I get the best of both worlds because I go into these rich homes and then I also go to the projects and a whole bunch of other really poor areas. You know what I have noticed here? Its SO SO clear when people have the gospel in their life. I can see how it blesses peoples families and how amazing it is. I love the people here.

There is this lovely investigator that we are teaching here. Her name is Isis. Isis is so cool. She lives in the projects, and she has a 7 year old son. Isis has not had an easy life. Shes gone through so much. She has been having the lessons from missionaries for the last year and a half. Well. I have loved getting to know her this past week. We have been meeting with her a lot since I have been here. Two nights ago we had the most spiritual lesson. It was amazing. long story short by the end of the lesson I asked her if she would be baptised and she said yes!!! we picked out a date to work towards. I am so so excited for Isis. She has so much faith. Its definitely been a testimony builder for me just to see her grow in just one week!! I love her.

There are a few other awesome investigators that we are teaching but I will save them for another email. 

Anyways. I love you all. I love being a missionary!!! I love sharing the happiness that this gospel has brought to my life with the people here. Its so cool. Honestly Being a missionary is amazing. It is definitely not fairies and roses and flowers all day long but my gosh the feelings I have had in my heart are like no other feeling I have ever had before. So I know that this church is true. and no matter how many people stop us and tell us we are nuts to believe what we believe, I don't care because I have found for myself that this church is true. ITS AMAZING. CTR.

LOVE YOU!

LOVE,

Sista Dunford ;)

I AM HERE!! I AM HERE!! I AM HERE!!

HELLO!!!!!

WOAH. oh. my. gosh. I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM HERE!!!!!! I am IN LOVE. Honestly. I cant even explain. I dont even know how to get the words out. So... 

So first of all, I got here yesterday. aaaand I was SO SO tired. I had to wake up at 2:00 am to leave the MTC. Then we flew to NEW YORK. And I cried as we were landing because of how beautiful it was. So then.. We landed and then met PRESIDENT MORGAN and SISTER MORGAN. they are literally my favorite people on this whole planet. President Morgan is awesome. he is so cool. so nice. so perfect. I cant explain. Sister morgan is the most loving christ-like woman I have ever met!!! She is SO great. They are the best mission presidents in the whole world. 

On the way to NEW YORK

Well. Then we went to the mission home in Scarsdale, NY. The home is BEAUTIFUL. its so cute and cozy. It feels like my home now. Well we got there and sister morgan (literally nicest woman i've ever met) made us a THANKSGIVING dinner. because they are so thankful that we are here. IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE. So yes. After dinner, they told us who our new companions were going to be and where we would be serving first. IM IN STAMFORD CONNECTICUT. I had the happiest tears in my eyes when they told me. I have been so so so excited about Connecticut and I get to serve there right at first!!! WOO.!!!! My companion is AMAZING.  I love her so so so much. She's the nicest girl ever. We are pretty similar. But she has brown hair and I have blonde hair. I am going to learn so much from her. aaaaaand... then we had a testimony meeting with all the new missionaries there and it was amazing. The spirit was incredible. Everyone bore their testimony and I cant count how many times I got the chills. Wellll then we ate NEW YORK CHEESECAKE. ah heck yeah right? amazing. again. after all our fun at the mission home we went to our hotel to finally SLEEP. haha. I had a one nighter temporary companion. and I cant even remember her name thats how stupid I am haha. It was SUCH a nice room. each companionship had their own room. I got a king bed all to myself. (such an upgrade from the MTC.) haha. I was so grateful. and the bathroom... SO NICE.

The Hotel room her first night in NY!

Well we woke up this morning and went back to the mission home and got our very own IPADS. yeah. so that was really fun. and then We got our money cards and all that fun stuff. and then we headed to MANHATTEN for transfers. that meeting was amazing. So fun and spiritual. way fun being in the city!!!!! And then (i am leaving out too many details ha) whatevs. well  so yeah then we went to upstate NY and had another transfer meeting for the upstaters. and that was also amazing. thats where I met my amazing companion. Let me tell you real briefly about her. She is from Brazil, she speaks Portuguese, and spanish, AND english. woah right?????? SHES INCREDIBLE. You wouldnt even guess shes from brazil. shes amazing. I cant even handle it. her name is Sister Amorim.

Well after transfers me and Sis. Amorim headed off to Stamford. OH MY GOSH I COULD DIE. CONNECTICUT IS BEAUTIFUL. SO SO SO SO SO beautiful. like amazing. the richest people live here. the houses are like 20 million dollar houses. I cant breath when we drive by them. I had tears in my eyes on the way here because of how beautiful. (OH dad, everyone drives the nicest cars here toooooo!!! ive seen like 15 tesla's..) (if thats how you spell it)  anyways. I want to live here forever and ever and ever. I wish I could explain more. but my Pday is cut short today because of transfer stuff.

I can't believe I am actually here. I am finally here. YAYYYYY I am so so so grateful for this opportunity and wow. I am so happy. I will talk more next P day. And I apologize to those that I dont have time to write back to.. just know that I read alllll your emails and THEY HELP SO MUCH. so keep that up. I love you guys so much and I know this church is true. 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT and pray always. 

Love,

Sister Dunford

I love missionaries.

HELLO!!!

IT'S P DAY. HECK YES.

First of all. THANK YOU so so much for all the letters, dear elders, and packages. Seriously it's like Christmas. I don't even know how to say thank you enough(and as for all the treats... ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FAT!?) hahah but really thank you. Those swig cookies mom! SO GOOD. I don't even want to share them with the sisters in my room. I ate one last night..... aaaaaaand I ate one for breakfast this morning. and I still have two more. and yes I am going to eat them for lunch and then for dinner. teasin. I eat weeds here at the MTC. My district makes fun of me because all I eat here are the salads, wraps, and fruit. and oatmeal in the mornings. And If I feel like I worked extra hard that day, I will eat Ice Cream. Because ice cream is so good. 

I have been so so so excited for P day!! Because I feel like so much has happened!!!

Well I leave on freaking Tuesday morning. I have to wake up at 3:00 am... I think our flight leaves at 7:45.. I guess it will take awhile to get there and get everything right..? BUT OMG NEW YORK sista dunfun is coming!!! I am so pumped for New York. (haha watch me get there and cry my eyes out because i'm a girl) ha no.. I am so excited.

Well what a week!!!! I cannot even begin to explain how much I have learned here at the MTC. Like I always thought I was a pretty smart person.. and then I got here. and then I got paired up with Sister Wharton. and then I realized that I am not so smart. HAHA. 

Sister Wharton is like Sister BRAINS. She knows so much about everything. Its been good because I can ask her lots of questions. Im sure she probably thinks I'm some dumb blonde from Draper UT with a whole bunch of clothes and that I am so lame because I only wash my hair once a week. Whatever tho right?? My hair is my hair and I will wash it when I want. 

So I have made quite a few new friends here!! Its awesome being surrounded by so many people that are feeling the spirit and doing exactly what I am doing.

I love missionaries.

Me and my companion have been teaching this girl named Kenzie and she is so funny. She doesnt believe in God at all. So that is the tricky part. But Me and Sis Wharton know exactly how to get her to feel the spirit. I know that she feels the spirit during our lessons. The hard part for her is realizing that what she is feeling is the spirit. I think a lot of people have that problem. Its listening to that still small voice and then knowing that that was the still small voice. That probably made no sense.. but in my head it makes sense. haha anyways we teach her over skype. I love skype. its cool

I am becoming pro at ROLE PLAY. just so everyone knows.

Its so funny because there are so many people here that come up to me and theyre like "wait is that your natural hair color??" HA im like nope. and then they go on to say well how do you expect to keep up on it while youre here? I'm like, plz, I can do ma own hurr. So get ova it. haha! teasin I'm not that sassy.

Another funny thing. My companion is SO protective of me. Every time one of the Elders starts to talk to me, (TALK.. NOT EVEN FLIRT)  She is like EXCUSE ME that is my companion and you arent allowed to flirt here. I always feel pretty awkward because she is being dead serious when she says that. I laugh so hard inside. She is a great companion tho. keepin everyone in line. She does karate and sings ALL the time. Like during gym time she does all these ninja tricks. cool stuff. I will for sure know how to protect myself in NY.

Anywaaaays. I must go!! But before I do, I want everyone to know.. that I know that this church is true!!!! And I am so confident when I say that. I have never ever ever been so confident that it is true. but it is. The spirit has testified that to me. and I have learned SO much. Im so grateful that my savior did what he did for me and for all of us. Jesus Christ is THE ONLY WAY that we can have eternal life. And I am so grateful that he atoned for ALL of our sins. My testimony is growing out of control!! its like my testimony on steroids here. #missionaryprobz  

but yes. church is true. LOVE YOU ALL

Love,

Sister Dunford

first email!!

HELLO EVERYBODY!!

WOW. I made it through my first two days!!! I cannot believe I have only been here for two days. It feels like its been a week already. It has been a great two days. 

First of all... My companion! So her name is Sister Wharton. She is very nice!! We are two COMPLETELY different people. But, we balance each other out and it works out great!! At first I was a little nervous about us being united as a companion because we are so different, but we actually are doing WAY good with preparing lessons and campanion study and all that fun stuff. Sister Wharton is from Michigan. She lives in a small small town. She is diabetic, which is cool because sometimes we get to leave class so she can go eat something or take care of some blood stuff. So that works in my favor. Yay for diabetes!! She talks a lot but it can be good sometimes. I am just learning to laugh with her and have fun. It's very interesting being with someone ALL the time that you have never met. But, it's SO good for me. She pushes me to be better. She is very spiritual which is good because i'm spiritual.. but I am more on the fun end of things :) So yes we balance well. Companions are cool! Heavenly Father purposely put me with her I know it :)

Sister Dunford & Sister Wharton

Sister Dunford, Sister Wharton & the girls in their room

So my first day was pretty freakin long. I got dropped off.. then they sent me to go get all these books and papers and my NAMETAG. haha! One second it wasn't there then the next second I look down and there it was on my left shoulder! It's magnetic so that's fun. This computer that I am typing on is stupid and it is dumb and I can't fix mistakes that I type. haha or maybe I am just dumb. So I'm sorry if you read this and your like oh wow she doesn't know how to type.. 

Well so yeah I dont even remember all that we did on the first day. I love my district that I am in. Most of the people in my district are going to Ogden UT. SAY WHAAA... UT. COOL. I forgot to say that that is where my companion Sister Wharton is going. Me and two other sisters in my district are going to NYNY North. THEY ARE SO FUN AND SO CUTE I LOVE THEM. We are all in a room together. 4 of us. I try my very very hardest to make sure that Sister Wharton feels included. Just because she is the only one in our room not going to NY. :(

My first night was great. Except I didnt fall asleep till 1:00 am.... I blame that on the week before I came I went to bed WAY too late and slept in way too long.. shoulda been going to sleep at 10:30 all along :) But my bed is fine. Just a good old mattress you know? 

The food.... it's ok. HAHA. I just eat salads and wraps. The salads are actually way good. I think that I have lost weight here.... NOT ON PURPOSE EITHER. But we are going up and down and up and down stairs and walking all around. I love climbing all the stairs.

So My first few days have been good ones. I CAN FEEL THE SPIRIT LIKE NEVER BEFORE. It's so so so crazy. Like awesome. I feel like I am leaving out TONS of details but I am running out of time. I gotta go do my laundry.. YIKES.  We'll see how that goes. Hopefully my companion is good at laundry because I am not. 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT YOU GUYS. Annd dont forget to talk to our Heavenly Father. He loves when we tell him everything. I can feel him listening to my prayers here. He cares about me so much. And everyone. He loves us all!!

I was reading some random scriptures and this one stood out to me!! Thought I'd share it with you guys. Alma 26:27.

The book of mormon is awesome.

The church is SO true.

Love you guys SO much. I hope you are all doing well. I am doing so so good I miss you all and cant wait to hear back. love you guys!!!

Love,

Sister Dunford

Ps- me and Sista Wharton teach our first investigator today so wish us luck!!!

Farewelling

SO MY FAREWELL IS OVER.

What the crap?
Did that really just happen? I feel like I should be stressing about writing my talk right now.. thats what I have been doing the past 4 months. HAHA
My farewell had been on my mind from the moment I started thinking about a mission. I had been dreading it since day one. and what the heck did I really already give my talk and its over?

Let me just say a few things about yesterday.

Well I had 8 pages of talk to read. DIDNT READ ONE. and thats what happens when the spirit takes over. (such an AMAZING feeling)

There were close to 600 people in the congregation. AH. (My farewell, a baby blessing, AND a homecoming.)

I have never been so terrified in my whole life

I somehow managed to speak for a whole year up there.. (30 minutes to be exact)

I unexpectedly cried multiple times in my talk and was so stressed that I had an ugly crying face..

I don't think I have ever heard such loud laughter in my life except for when I talked about how
Kylee won't be getting married. haha (still laughing at that slam)

I think I just might have said Um one too many times.. HA why me..

We served just over 500 pieces of HOMEMADE pizza. (we made it the night before with the help of my favorite people on earth, Evan and Heather Moss)

My house was literally an oven cooking at about 400 degrees with 400 human bodies inside

I wonder how many more bodies we could have squeezed in my dang house.

I think I said Thank You SO much, about 9,000 times yesterday.

AAAaaaand I know that my heavenly father loves me.

OH AND I LEAVE IN 9 DAYS SO WOAH

This is my Lovely bestie Baylee Snow

She'll probs be married when I return :(

AND here are some embarrassing pics of me as I sat waiting with a heart pounding and a mind racing, to stand up and speak in front of a giant blur of humans staring at me.

(You are allowed to laugh)

hahaha

Me and MY FAVORITE Emily Eyre

(she is a pro at decorating and displaying)

thanks to her my house looked super cute decked out in NYC decor 

AND write me, wait for me 

(heart heart)

23 MORE DAYS.. till I'm a sista mish

YEAH. okay.

So like twenty.... three... more. days.

That is not a lot of time!!
 I think its also starting to sink in a little bit as I have been buying my luggage and my sheets, towels, etc., I have also started writing my farewell talk. UM K so I hate giving talks. let alone writing the dang talk. HA (wake up abb you're going on a mission) Right? I guess thats what I'll be doing the next 18 months so I better get over the fact that I hate to talk in front of a lot of people...
whatevs. june 29th is the farewell day. blehhhh

So I just thought i'd write down some of my feelings as my time is dwindling down to nothing. So that I can look back at this blog when I return :)

I feel NERVOUS first of all
But second of all I feel way more EXCITED than I feel nervous.
I sometimes feel like I don't know enough to be a freakin missionary. (anyone with me??)
I am not quite sure how to study preach my gospel. I study ch. 3 most of all...
My mind is constantly thinking of New York.
I hope my mission president likes me..
I am PRAYING that I will get a trainer that won't think I am an idiot
I don't know how I will like my stay at the MTC. I hear its like EFY on steroids.... AH
I havent cried about leaving my family yet.. But I know when the tears come.. they will pour out
I hope that I can relate to the people of NY in my own special way
I cannot wait to wear a missionary tag
The fact that Im speaking English.. YAY
Hopefully having Facebook will be a good thing for me
I pray that my companions will love me for who I am!!! (I love clothes/shoes/hair/beauty/etc.)
Hopefully I will survive without my mom doing my laundry.. (yes, my mom does my laundry, get over it)
HA I better not gain weight
I think I am thinking too much
BUT I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT THIS IS WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO BE DOING no matter how many crazy feelings I have inside, I know that my heavenly father will not let me fail. He will be with me ALL the time and the spirit will teach me and teach the people of NY.

ANYWAY my farewell is in 13 days. That makes my heart race. so here are some pictures

My skirt is from Zara incase anyone is wondering ;)  its so comfy