Mid October

Thought I would start out with telling you that my favorite meal right now is a peanut butter honey sandwich. I have become quite the amazing peanut butter and honey sandwich maker. Can't tell you how many times we've been in a RUSH and these puppies save my life. And I'm eating one right now so yep. Happy.

Today I got to go to the HAIR salon. There's a member in Greenwich that does hair and she is amazing. She offered to do my hair for FREE and to have my companion come and get a clear gloss. Idk why people are so amazing. But I'm blessed.

I'm happy! A happy sister missionary.

We had another successful week here in the Waveny YSA and Stamford 1st ward. Successful for many reasons. One because we reached just about all of our goals! That's always an accomplishment.

I feel like the week was just a big mush of business. Teaching and preaching and working and planning. I think they need to add PLANNING into that primary song "I hope they call me on a mission."

Missionaries are PLANNING planners planning all the time plans plans plans. It's quite crazy.

Here are some of random things that happened or things I am thinking about. I am not really going to expound on them much because of lack of time.

But anyways..

*That whole "forget yourself and go to work" thing really works. I've found much happiness in forgetting myself.

*Our investigators are moving along slowly and nicely!! We have three baptismal dates. Which is good!

*Our investigator from Target is hilarious. We really enjoy teaching him. We brought him to dinner at a members home and that was so great.

He has a lot of questions. He knows the bible SO well. It's great.

*Lately we've been having a problem with people confessing their love to me. (I hate to say that..) but it's real and something we have been dealing with. We've passed off quite a few investigators to the elders. It's actually really hard. I decided I gotta start wearing a paper bag over my face and body. I will still wear my name tag no worries. Ha no teasin. But really. It's a problem.

*We went to a wedding reception for a YSA member.

*Being a missionary in a YSA Ward is the weirdest thing sometimes. But it's oh so good.

*We went to help our Russian investigator with her house and her tag sale. Have you ever seen the TV show hoarders? Well. As missionary you get to really experience the hoarders homes. SO MUCH STUFF.

I've seen inside a lot of people's lives (both good and bad) and I've learned a lot of things that I want for my life and also what I do NOT want. I'm grateful for these experiences that have helped me see who I really want to be and what I want in my life.

ANYWAYS.

Today I read Elder Cristofferson's talk from general conference. "Why the church."

I am really digging into these conference talks and enjoying myself.

Makes my studies even more delightful! I loved THIS.

"... It is important to recognize that God’s ultimate purpose is our progress. His desire is that we continue “from grace to grace, until [we receive] a fulness” of all He can give. That requires more than simply being nice or feeling spiritual. It requires faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism of water and of the Spirit, and enduring in faith to the end. One cannot fully achieve this in isolation, so a major reason the Lord has a church is to create a community of Saints that will sustain one another in the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.”

GUYS the church is true and the gospel of Jesus Christ is real. The realest thing ever!!

Despite the many different opinions and beliefs that I've heard and seen, I know with all surety that there is ONE true church. And that is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I really can't explain how I know it, other than its taken me work and pondering and studying and praying for me to find out for myself. I just want EVERYONE to know it. So imma share this loud and proud for the rest of my life! The church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. God loves us.

He speaks to us through a living prophet. It's logical.. like it really is. and it feels right. I love it.

I love to be a missionary!!

Hope you enjoyed my mumbled quickly typed email.

I love you alllllll.

Love abb

it's abb

Today is a good day. There's a slight chill in the air. It's nice and crisp. The trees are overwhelmingly beautiful. Lately we've been listening to this CD in the car, (idk what it even is) but it's pure piano. Just beautiful simple piano. And when we are driving and it's quiet and I look at the trees I just get emotional. Hahaha like I'm a loser and I don't know what comes over me. But it's so peaceful. And this time of year wins. And I also like pumpkin everything. I also love Halloween. And all the fun decorations I see. There's like this spooky fun in the air here. Love it. Connecticut is great.

So first announcement. WE HAVE A CAR AGAIN. Yes. Count your many blessings name them one by one. Here are some of my blessings right now....
Car.
My testimony.
People to teach.
iPad.
A blender.
My bed.
My Book of Mormon.
Mission friends.
Pumpkins.
Tights. To keep my legs warm.

Yeah!
I'm grateful. Attitude of gratitude. I know it's not thanksgiving yet. But I'm just grateful.

  

So Elder Arnold from the seventy came to our mission on Thursday! What an intense all day meeting!! That man... Wowweeee! He's got the spirit with him. For sure! The meeting was from 8 am to 5 pm. Loooong! And the whole thing was about how to better work with members! Interesting. He had us take tons of notes!!!! We all have it pretty nailed into our heads now. We knew before that member+missionaries=success but now it's like real real real. Elder Arnold told us to be BEST FRIENDS with the members. Members are great and they are key to spreading this message all around the world.! Missionaries cannot do it alone. So my invitation to you, if you don't know the missionaries in your area, plz, get to know them. You'd make their life happier :) AND the both of you together can make a lot of people happier. #spreadtheword #missionariesarecool #presidentsmithuseshashtags #allthetime

One thing I've been real happy about lately is that we have literally passed out at least one Book of Mormon every day since I've been here. Last week we passed out 5 in one day. That was happy. One night it was like 8:45 and we had just gotten out of our appointment and hadn't passed out one Book of Mormon yet. We were like "ugh.... We can't go home yet!!" We still have 15 minutes. Let's go pass out one book. So we park the car, get out, and start walking. K coolest ever, within 10 minutes we passed out 2 books and extended one baptismal invitation. And the awesomest part was that one of the people we talked to had been taught by missionaries and lost contact with them one year ago!! And we were able to get his number and set another appointment with him. TENDER. Right? Faith works you guys.

HAHA THIS STORY.
So Monday we were supposed to meet with these two guys we met last week in the dark. (We didn't remember what they looked like) sounds sketchy .. but I promise sometimes missionary life is just sketchy. So it's okay haha. Anyways. We get to the park that we were supposed to meet them at and we couldnt find them. Well, we looked around and saw two African American boys sitting at a table. "We were like is that them...?" Haha. Decided we better walk up and see. So we asked what their names were. And NOPE. Awkwardly found out it wasn't who we were looking for. But then, they started asking who we were. And (you know what comes next..) we TAUGHT THEM. Haha it was awesome. Funniest part was that they were rolling marijuana the whole time. They were about to smoke and then when we came up, they didn't. And also, we set a baptismal date with one of them!!! For November 22nd. And honestly they were super sincere and want to come to church on Sunday. I could most definitely picture them in their temple whites one day. Beginning with the end in mind you know? :)

OH another great thing. So remember how we met the person at target like two weeks ago that wanted to learn more?? Richard. Well we met up with him on Saturday and did some how to begin teaching and taught the restoration! And he came to church on Sunday. And you know what it was the perfect day for him to come!!! Because it was fast Sunday for us. And there were so many converts that stood up and bore powerful witness that they knew this was Christ's Church back on the earth. Richard told me he felt like it was Heavenly Father speaking directly to him. I wish I could explain more of the amazing details. Richard comes from a family of devout Christians. His dad is a preacher. So his questions are quite challenging. But I love it. I enjoy the challenge. It's nice to teach someone who is dead serious questioning and wanting to know truth. He is a miracle! Also the ward was so welcoming to him so that was happy. Loved it.

I made 96 cookies. For some families in the ward. Missionaries and members are best friends. Best friends make cookies for best friends. Cookies are good!

Yesterday we had breakfast for dinner and that was fun and good. Liked that. But I didn't like that the next appointment we had fed us too. Double dinners. MISERY. In my mind I'm always like "what would Jesus do" and then I think ugh... He would eat the food. He would. He would. At least I think he would. Especially if it were made just for him. And people make food specifically for us. Anyways. I wanted to cry. She was Hispanic too. Hispanics eat LOADS of food. Yeah. That was my night last night.

Hey. This work is the most important work in the WORLD!?? Did you know that? More important than the President of the United States job. Because this work is eternal. :)


To close... I was reading President Uchtdorf's talk from conference the one about the simplicity of the gospel. And I loved it. And I wanted to leave his closing remarks with you. He said this:



"Brothers and sisters, dear friends, I pray that we will focus on “the simplicity that is in Christ” and allow His grace to lift and carry us during our journey from where we are now to our glorious destiny in our Father’s presence. As we do so and someone asks us, “How is being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working for you?” we will be able to say with pride, in all humility, and with great joy, “It works wonderfully! Thank you for asking! Would you like to know more?”



I liked that. Because you know what!? It's true. IT WORKS WONDERFULLY.




I love you.



Love Abigail

different and distinct in the happiest of ways....

Wednesday its Wednesday again. Stop.

Today we are going to one of my favorite grocery stores. Stew Leonard's. Haha. It's like Disneyland. And then we are going to the cute shops in Westport CT. This place Connecticut is SO BEAUTIFUL. I hate that I say this so much.... But I LOVE CONNECTICUT. Fall. The trees. They are starting to change and it makes my world happy. Yay!! 

So much happened over the week but it went so quickly I can't even handle it. If I could  have one super power right now it would be to control time. I want to stop it. Because In just a short time I wont get to tract doors anymore. I won't get
to wear Christ's name physically on my shoulder every day. So, not to focus on the future.. but I'm just telling you this so you can understand how much I'm savoring these last few months. I looooooove my mission. It makes me happy. So first of all. HIGHlight of the week. General Confidence. Haha (yea confidence) inside joke 

between my comp and I. Of course I know it's really "conference." I just called it general confidence one time on accident and it stuck with me. Now it's just funny.  

So anyways. I super enjoyed the messages that were shared. My top favorite talk was by President Russel M Nelson. I can't quite figure out why I loved it so much. (It's not because I have like "women pride" or anything.) but when he was speaking I had the craziest overwhelming feeling. Like tears in my eyes. Warmth. Excitement. Peace. Chills. You know, the whole spirit thang. Idk. I LOVED when he talked about being DIFFERENT and DISTINCT in the HAPPIEST of ways. I feel so different and so distinct in the happiest of ways right now. Also when he said"We need women who have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ." I was like "quit it. YES!!" My eyes just were blurred by the water in them. He also said "We need women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven. We need women who teach fearlessly." AH. His talk just hit home for me.! And then Elder Hollands talk about MOTHERS. Holy cow. I love my future family SO much already. I'm just so grateful for my testimony. I can't put my feelings into words. I keep thinking about how grateful I am for the women in my life. Grandmothers, MOM, dance teachers, sisters, YW leaders, aunts, friends.! Wow. I am who I am because of the women in my life. 

#whoruntheworld #girls yea. just quoted Beyoncé. Teasin. But woweeee. OH. Another fun thing. Elder Rasband! He was the mission president here not too long ago. I actually met and talked to him at the Yankees game in July. He gave a shout out to the NYNYN mission in his little talk. Haha (as you can imagine) all of us  missionaries were like Yyyyeeeeeaaaaaaah!!! Haha we were cheerful missionaries during his talk. He's awesome. He loves New York just like ME. :)

I also loved Elder D Todd Christofferson's talk. Can EVERYBODY in the world just listen to his words??I feel like especially in NY people think that it doesn't matter which religion you live. (There are so many stinkin religions here.) they say things like "it doesn't matter which vehicle you take home. You could take a bmw, or a bus, or a motorcycle, etc. as long as you make it home." I'm like ugh. 
You're kinda wrong. And Elder Christofferson just nailed it right on the head. I can't wait to re read ALL of the talks. I loved more of them but those are what are popping into my head right now! Oh and of course "what lack I yet" because oh my 
goodness. That's exactly what I've been asking myself. Anyways. General Confidence was amaze. Answered lots of my questions. Answered questions for my investigators too. I kept thinking "oh this would be perfect for so and so!!" It was cool to 
have different people that we are teaching come to mind. Sad that it was my last one as a missionary. 

Okay so we still don't have a car.  BUT GOOD things are happening. WE ARE FINDING PEOPLE. We are finding people we are finding people!!! Heavenly Father is just blessing us. He just IS. 

A small example:

Yesterday we were on an exchange in my area. We were having a lesson with a YSA investigator at a park, and there was this man sitting at the table just a 
little bit down from us. I kept thinking that we needed to talk to him... Another one of those annoying thoughts that wouldn't leave you know? (I guess I shouldn't say annoying..)Well finally like in the middle of our lesson I was like "ummm I 
hate to stop the lesson right here but I need to give this guy a Book of Mormon." Then our investigator was like "oh it's okay! Invite him over here." So we did. Turns out this man spoke Creole!! And English. But Creole was his first language. Our investigator that we were teaching at the moment did TOO!!! So our investigator told this man about the Book of Mormon and how it has helped him find peace. He told him that we had been teaching him and that he was going to get baptized soon. And then (I'm leaving out details) but the man told us his name, gave us his number, set an appointment with us. And walked away with a Book of Mormon in hand. His name is Ralph. Ralph is SO cool. Like really guys. He had the coolest swag pants on and just like a cool person. We are meeting with him again on Friday. And he is YSA age. Miracle. Blessing. Tender mercy. I give all credit to Heavenly Father. He sees us out here working our tooshies off. And so he is putting people in our path and then sending the spirit to tell us to talk to them. ALL GOOD THINGS HAPPENING HERE IN CONNECTICUT.  

We have a goal to pass out AT LEAST one Book of Mormon a day. And we try not to go home until we have accomplished that goal. Well Monday night (it was like 8:30) and we hadn't passed one out yet. We had been tracting the whole day and NOBODY would 
accept the book. It was a bummer feeling because we wanted to accomplish our goal. Well we were at an appointment at an active members home eating dessert. And someone knocked on their door. It was a friend of theirs who was not a member. He was coming just to drop off something he had borrowed. The members invited him in for some apple pie and ice cream and the friend said haha of course. So he came in and we were all sitting at the table just enjoying our desert and talking. Then the friend started asking what we all did that day and we told him we knocked doors all day trying to pass out one book. And we had no luck. Then he asked what book. We told him (happily) "oh the Book of Mormon!!" And he said I don't have one, and we said do YOU WANT ONE!?! And he said yeah tell me about it! SO WE DID. And there are obviously more details but it ended with him leaving with a Book of Mormon in hand and we got his number. THESE SMALL STORIES ARE NOT JUST COINCIDENCES. The Lord is working through us. I love to be an instrument in His hands. 

We were also able to go pass out TWO Book of Mormons
in between conference sessions. Tracting. Heavenly 
Father provides a way for us to accomplish our goals.
I love it. 

Another miracle. Steven, one of our YSA investigators, had a baptismal date for November 21st. Well yesterday on my exchange we were teaching him and I asked how he was feeling about his baptismal date. He said "I feel like it's too far away." He said he wants to get baptized in 3 weeks!!! I was like OKEE DOKIE YOU GOT IT BOY!!!! So he is getting baptized Sunday October 25th. Yes. Guys. This work is 
happiness. Fulfillment. Good. I love it. 

Haha one of the days it rained the whole day. Now picture us without a car. Now laugh. It was too funny. Knocking doors. Dripping wet. Walked allll the way to the chapel from our apartment. OH THE MISSIONARY LIFE. Is oh so good. 

Funny thing

Saturday we were walking by a park and there were these cute little moms with their kids and I turn to my companion (in a joking manner) and I'm all "these look like a bunch of Mormon mommys" then literally 2 seconds later they're like "hi sisters!!"

HAHA. They were a bunch of Mormon mommys. From a different Ward. I guess you really can see the "different and distinct in the happiest of ways" in us Mormons. Good stuff. Side-note I loved in President Monson's talk when he told the story of the no proselyting in Jerusalem. And the man said "but what about the light in their eyes!?" Haha. LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE. In all the cheesy ways too :) I sound cheesy right now. Ha. 

One of our investigators hasn't come to church yet and we have been trying to get him to come and meet more people. He said to me in a lesson "if you were the bishop, I would come to church every week." HAHAHAHA. I was like dying laughing. And he was so serious too. I still laugh when I think about it. He is an interesting investigator. Oh boy. The funny things people say. 

My email is so random and scattered right now I'm 
sorry for that. But I did like this quote that I 
saw in my studies one day and I wanted to share it. 
It says this:

"Just as we should not lower the standards that The Lord has established for the conduct of his servants, we are also not authorized to raise them.. Be sure that you do not have higher standards for yourself or others than the lord has established"

Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr

I think I, (we) expect ourselves to be perfect. and when we aren't, we are hard on ourselves. But The Lord DOES NOT expect perfection. So we shouldn't either. We shouldn't raise his standards. We should just be actively living the doctrine of 
Christ. (Sincerely repenting, taking the sacrament, keeping our covenants.) And through Christ we will be perfected. Not perfect!!! Not yet. But we will be perfectED :) and God wants that. He wants progress!!! And so do I. I'm grateful that the doctrine of Christ provides a way for me to progress. And to become perfect. I love love you. And I love love this work. 

Love abbbbb

blessed

It's P daaaay again!?! That was one fast week. I feel like I blinked and it was over. 

But we like P days so it's good. Today we are back in the CITAY. (Sister Taylor has never been to NYC!! so I promised her I would take her on some city adventures.)

We were planning on riding bikes in the Central Park. But it's raining. So we might go to the natural history museum or the Gugenheim. Probs going to get frozen hot chocolate from serendipity. And then my favorite member from the New Canaan Ward is taking us to Julliard for dinner. HA. We are such blessed sisters. So that's today!! 

Okay so ..  The week! It was great! Ups and downs as always :)

President and Sister Smith invited us to their home to have dinner and for the General Women's Conference. YEAAAAH. That was special. It was me and my comp and then Sister Eastman (ma bestie) and her comp sister vassau. And the smiths of course. And a family in their Scarsdale Ward. IT WAS SO GOOD. We ate girly food. (Salad) and then had brownies. Then watched the conference. And I rediscovered my love for President Uchtdorf. I love him every. time. He is somethin else. (Best part of his talk was when he said "stalker cat" and "creepy cat") hahaha and the cat wasn't even that important in his story. It was like story time though and I was happy about it. I love him. And that was a good night. I'm grateful for the Smiths and their kindness and love they've shown me since they've been here. 

Sister Vassau and I. She is new. We have all the same clothes. It's funny. She's cute.

I have actually had a cold for about two weeks. I started getting it RIGHT before I got transferred. And then the cold really came. And I have been sick. I'm really bad at resting on my mission when I'm sick. I just hate resting as a missionary. Doesn't feel quite right. So my cold got pretty yucky. I went deaf. Hahaha!! My ears were just about as plugged as could be. And I kept pretending like nothing was wrong. (But I knew the whole time I wasn't well) soooo... It got worse and I had to call the doctor because I got an ear infection. BOOOO.

I had to stay home all day Friday. That was lame. And then I got the other sister in our apartment sick. HAHA. Woops. (Sorry hermana smith) but she made a great sick companion for the day. Our companions went out and went to our appointments while we stayed in and slept and drank water and stared at the wall for like the whole day. So fun. (No ew I hate being sick as a missionary more than anything.) but Docter Braithwaite got me a prescription and my ears came back to life and I can HEAR again. And now I'm back at it going strong. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK. 

A new challenge we have: We are car-less. You guys. Remember one year ago when my companion and I didn't have a car in Connecticut? Because of our car accident? Well lucky me. Our car had a messed up bumper from the previous sisters and so we had to take it into the shop. And now we are left to find rides and walk everywhere. ITS MUY DIFICIL. But hey. Through the challenges we grow. So I'm like waiting for my growth to happen after this challenge. hah!! #growsistergrow

We also had interviews with President Smith!!! I love that man. We talked about life. Talked about school. Marriage. Family. Scriptures. All the good things. I LOVE him. 

We went to this Russian lady investigator's home to help her get everything ready for a tag sale and BOY she needs some helping hands. (She lets us have anything we want in her house. I picked a funny looking wet suit. I'll have to include a picture of me wearing it hahaha) anyways. We decided to round up the whole zone and we are going to go in like an army of missionaries to help her out. I feel really bad for her because she lives alone, and she needs to move and she can't do it on her own and she has no family and she hardly speaks English. So my heart aches for her. And I have loved talking to her and getting to know her. I've learned more about Russia. And that's always cool!! She's taught me some Russian and I decided that out of all the languages I've learned here in New York, Russian is the HARDEST for sure. Like what. This is how you say hello... "Zdravstvuyte" doesn't it look like mumbled letters? Yeah that's what it sounds like too. Hahahaha. Oh man.

Also. We got a baptismal date last week with an investigator in the YSA Ward. For November 21st. Woooooo. Happy. He is a Jehovah's Witness. So it's WAAAAY INTERESTING teaching him. But he's reading the Book of Mormon so all is going well. It's fabulous. 

So we have another YSA investigator. Haha. Let me just explain him in one word. SASSY.

And do you know what. My "sasster" side tends to come out when we're teaching him. So there's kind of a big background story to him. Let's see if I can be brief. Ok. So Heinen has been meeting with missionaries for like 2 years. And, no he is not progressing. (I'm so not about that no progression life.) Well I guess like a week before I was transferred here he told the sisters that he had a dream that the next sister would be the one to "baptize him." And so.. here I am. And like I'm not messin around. He is just a great big flirt. And sassy. And my first few times meeting with him I was like thinking to myself that it just hadn't felt like he had real intent. And I don't want to waste my last few months as a missionary messin around with young single adults. (Not to be rude) but like I want to meet with people that ACTUALLY want to progress. And want to come closer to Christ. So moving forward... Basically. We told Heinen that we couldn't continue to meet with him every week if he wasn't going to do his part and keep commitments. And argue with us. Haha. He always has an argument to the things we teach. (Waste of time.) so anyways. We told him that. And he was like a sassy master in that moment. I can't even explain. Well THEN. At testimony meeting at church he got up and apologized to us. In front of everyone!!!! HAHA. Awkward. I was dyyying. (That was an interesting testimony meeting.... Like Taylor swift was brought up three times over the pulpit) HA. Yeah. Then we met with him again. And he read some of the Book of Mormon!!! And then we invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!! We didn't set a date but STILL. He prayed too at our lesson yesterday and I was like WOOOOO. Maybe his heart is being softened!!! So he's great. When he swallows his sassiness. :)

K remember how we've been tracting and tracting? And not really finding and finding through tracting and tracting? .. WELL. My testimony of tracting is still SO STRONG. Because I'm not kidding you Heavenly Father blesses us when we JUST do the work. When we put our shoulder to the wheel and just do it. (He doesn't necessarily bless us in the way WE think He will... But He does bless us for our efforts.) Example: Yesterday we were at Target and there was a worker who came up to us and said "hey, are you Mormon?" We were like YEah we are.. And then he said "I'd love to learn more about what you believe." My jaw like dropped and I quickly responded um YEAH. So we are meeting with him tomorrow. And he is so normal. And so nice. And he just seems so sincere. I'm so excited to meet with him. We are going to bring a member and we are going to try to set a baptismal date with him. #FAITH so yeah. I totally believe that Heavenly Father blesses us with people to teach when we show him we want people to teach. He is real. And He knows my desires. He listens to my prayers!! He blesses me. He blesses me in the way that is best helping me to grow. I love Him. I know He does the same thing for ALL of His children. 

And a short thought that I've been pondering as I've been approaching the last bit of my mission:

"What lack I yet?" 

These words are in the lovely book of Matthew in the New Testament. Matthew 19. 

There was a rich man that came to the Savior and said "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" And Christ basically said keep the commandments. Matthew 19:20 says "The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" Okay. How cool. This young rich man is basically.. probably.. pretty close to perfection. (He has been keeping ALL at the commandments his whole life) and what a BOLD and humble question to ask. What lack I yet?? We ALL have things we need to overcome and improve before we can reach eternal life. Right? Let's be honest. We are JUST imperfect. 

Well Christ tells this man to go and sell what he has!!!! (This guy was rich) Christ was asking him to consecrate EVERYTHING. To give it all. And some of the saddest words in the bible are in

Mathew 19:22 "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." WAH. It's wasn't necessarily something he needed to stop doing that was keeping him from wholeness, but something he needed to DO. What more can WE DO to receive eternal life? What more can we give to the Savior? What are we holding back? What do we lack??? 

These are my questions I'm asking myself. I am just happy to still have time left in my mission. Time to give it MORE. To give it 120%. I'm so happy I came on my mission. I love what it's making out of me. Thanks to the atonement I am a better me :) I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love youuuu!!

Love abbeymariedunford 

upstate groovin

YOU GUYS. 

This is weird I feel like I am back home!! Hahaha but like my Connecticut home. This is where I was born as a missionary!! I keep asking myself if this is real life. AM I REALLY BACK HERE!?! It's beautiful. It's amazing. It's home!!! I LOVE IT. Feel like my city life was a dream. It's so weird. 

Also today we are going to get pedicures. YESSSSS. My feet deserve it after those long city walking months. I'm so excited. 

This next thing I'm going to say, I say out of all the charity in my heart but .... I first got to the apartment and I was dying over how unclean it was... OH MY. You guys some missionaries don't know how to clean. I was dying. I cleaned out the fridge, the closet, the bathroom, rearranged the furniture, cleaned out the shelf with all our pamphlets and Book of Mormons. I was NOT going to unpack until it was clean and felt like my new home. So Sister Taylor and the other two sisters got to see the clean side of me come out :) GOOD heavens people. Keep your homes clean. We have a VERY nice apartment. It has got to be taken care of!! So that the spirit can be with us!!! CLEAN Abigail gets real... Haha. 

ANYWAYS. IM BACK UPSTATE. Wooooooo PARTY. Let's talk about my week!!!

It was real good. Getting back into the upstate groove. It's such an adjustment!! The first thing that I was dying over was how quiet it was. I kept trying to pop my ears to see if I could like clear them out or something but I've realized it's just really so quiet!!! Wow!! I like it. 

The second thing I was dying over was the fact that I am now driving a car again!!!! I was actually horrified when I first put my foot on the gas. But then my driving skills quickly came back to me. And I feel as though I never left the driver seat to begin with. Cars are a blessing. We have a nice car. 

My new companion is Sister Taylor! She's from St. George UT. Yes! She's very sweet! We are different but getting along great! Working hard together!! 

There's definitely less work to do here than there was in my last area... So I kinda feel like we are starting over... BUT I've been so pumped to find people. I think Sister Taylor thinks I'm weird because of how excited I get when we go out to FIND. I'm like searching everywhere for a golden investigator. I love to share the gospel with people. 

Yesterday we went out to go tracting and I'm PRETTY sure that all 30 doors we knocked on we're Jewish. And guess what holiday it was.. Yom Kippur. Were they happy? NO. Hahahahahaha. It. Was. So. Funny. There was one door we knocked on and she screamed when she saw us and ran away. I was like okay.... It's not Halloween yet... And I didn't think I looked that bad?? Haha oh dear. GOOD OL TRACTING. Also it takes like 5 times as long to knock doors because the houses are SO far apart! But #exercise

Speaking of exercise, we have a gym at our apartment! Holla. LOVE IT. I've been listening to conference talks as I run. SO MOTIVATING. Hah. Kinda :)

Oh, another door we knocked on opened and literally said "hail satan." Then slammed the door shut. And then we looked at each other and shamelessly walked away. .. And then we also knocked on the minister of the Methodist church's door. He wasn't smiling at all when he opened the door. SO trying to find that golden investigator is going OH SO WELL. But I have so much faith that someone is ready here. Just need to keep searching for them.

Another funny thing. I was dying. One of the less actives we meet with told me that I need to go be an actress. WHAT. Again? Another person. That's like the tenth time I been told that. This is beginning to freak me out! Hahaha I honestly don't understand why. I mean I'm just me? Just abbey. I don't know man. I don't know.

We went to a YSA members wedding. So that would make her not so YSA anymore. But it was fabulous. It was in DARIEN. My old home. Hot dog!!! you guys... I forgot how big the homes are here. And also Greenwich CT is the richest zip code in the USA. HAHA. Jimmy Fallon has a home here. Also I heard Justin Bieber's mom has a home in Greenwich. I'm going to knock every door in the stinkin town. (Well all the ones that don't have a huge gate blockin their home) HA. Which would make our job easy. Narrowing down the homes to NONE. No teasin but really this is a wealthy wealthy wealthy place.... 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I've really been pondering how amazing missions are. And the growth that comes from them. I'm so excited to continue to push myself as hard as I can these last few months. I love my mission. I wish I had a really good spiritual thought to end this email but I don't really have the time right now! But here's a reminder: "Remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice." 

I love prayer. I really like talking to Heavenly Father. It's always a relieving few moments when I pray :)

LOVE YOU!!!

Love Abigail.

OHMYGOODNESS

Helllllo! It's a big week!! You'll NEVER believe where I'm being transferred to... 

Haha. Back to CONNECTICUT!!!!!! Oh my goodness I LOVE CONNECTICUT. What a dream come truuuuueeeee!!!!! I kid you not I have wished my whole mission that I could go back to Connecticut again!!! It's beautiful. And I will be there for THE FALL again. Those Connecticut falls man.... I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I have been in the best areas my whole mission. WOWEEEEEEE. The Stamford zone. The best. I'm so happy. Oooooooooo. I will be in ANOTHER YSA Ward hahaha. And another family Ward. And I will still be training a new missionary. (I just can't quite get away from training new missionaries...) ha! Her name is Sister Taylor. She seems cute! My area is GIANT. Just to name a few of my favorite places there: Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Weston, Westport, New Canaan, and much more.... HAPPY. Oh my goodness. I can't wait to go back and see some of my favorite people. YES CONNECTICUT. I love. Oh!!! And my cutey baby companion Sister Sam will be training a brand new missionary too!! I'm so proud of her. Good things coming. 

It is unreal that I was able to pack everything. HA. My suitcases are well over 50 pounds. Looks like something's gotta change there before I make my way back on an airplane hahaha. (I still got time folks. I still got time.)

Okay okay okay but not to forget such an AMAZING last week in my lovely Central MANHATTAN Zone. I probably sound pretty dramatic in some of my emails but oh my goodness I want you to really know how I am feeling. I AM GOING TO MISS THE PEOPLE HERE SO MUCH!!!! 

Ahhhhhhhh. My heart has never been so full of love. I feel like I'm being torn away from some of my people. It's so sad you guys. We have so many baptisms coming up. I'm devastated that I won't be here. But it's going to be okay. The new missionary coming is so so so lucky. As I said goodbye to our investigators I just wanted to cry. But you know what's so great? ITS NOT goodbye. I will see them again I know it. New York can't keep me away. 

My lovely people Claver and Alaza and Marie and Saidou and Deshawn and Moddestine and Mike and Laraine and Natasha and EVERYONE. 

Oh my heavens it really has been sad leaving this favorite city of mine. I love New York City and you all know that. New York City is my home. One of them :) I'm so happy I got to serve there for almost a year!!! #blessed.

We ate dinner with some of my favorite members. (They're French) from France. Um coolest people you'll ever meet in you life. Literally everything about them is so French and I could cry of how much I want to be like them. We ate in their dreamy French style apartment and ate a Jerusalem dinner and had poached pears with melted chocolate for dinner. Heaven. Mai oui. J'étais heureux.

I feel so blessed. Oh dear.

Something I LOVED last week, (and I thought of my sista sista Ellie girl,) was when I went on exchanges with ma CHINATOWN sistas. I love them so much. We were having way too much fun. I have learned too much Chinese. I love it. I am probably so annoying now as I walk around speaking Chinese all the time. (Chow how shiow) that is how you say HILARIOUS. Haha Ellie correct me if I'm wrong. Oh goodness. I'm having so much fun speaking Chinese. The Chinese sisters were amazed at all the Chinese I already knew from my little sister Ellie! They were dying when I counted to 100 in Chinese. I loved it hahaha. Woo woo go China!! (Wo jiow du je me) I don't know. I think I just said I'm Sister Dunford. I love Chinese.

Sunday we got to go to the world wide broadcast of the YSA ces devotional. Elder Witney L. Clayton from the seventy spoke. He came up to Sister Sam and I before it started and started talking to us. Shook our hands. Was way way way nice. Asked us how the work was. So that was cool. The devotional was great but I liked the sacrament meeting before the devotional way better. It was all 3 YSA wards in Manhattan at the Manhattan temple/chapel. So cool. The spirit was amazing as the sacrament was passed to SO MANY people. It was silent. Awesomeness. 

HAHA oh my goodness. After the devotional there was a YSA member (he is not so normal) that's sounds rude but I don't mean that rude... Anyways. When he found out I was being transferred he told me he loved me. I will leave out the details. But it's probs a good thing I'm being transferred away. HAHAHAHAH. Too many Sister Dunford lovers. (I don't want that to sound cocky either Hahahaha) I honestly have just died at the amount of people that have confessed their love to me. ITS INSANE. Sister missionaries are not supposed to be loved like that. Ha ha ha. Ah. So funny.

I have felt this overwhelming feeling of love as I have been saying goodbye to my people here. OH my heavens. I'm so grateful. My heart is filled with gratitude. How happy I am that I got to come to this part of the world and meet people that I was ALWAYS supposed to meet. God was preparing me my whole life for these people and these experiences. I love Heavenly Father. I'm just happy. I love the gospel. I can't explain. I love my parents. Mom, dad, thank you so much for raising me in the gospel. I love it so much. I love you both. 

So now for a short closing thought. 

I LOVED when Elder Witney L Clayton spoke in sacrament meeting. He talked about being still. He told of when he went to the Manhattan temple for his first time and was amazed at the silence inside those walls. He said there are people here in NY that have never even heard the absence of sound like there is inside the temple walls. People that are born and raised in NY never hear complete silence. There's always a siren in the distance, or always traffic, people talking, loudness all around. He likened the temple to US. He said, we MUST learn to BE STILL inside of ourselves even with all the noises of the world outside of us. When we are "still" inside, we can receive revelation and build faith. When we build faith it starts the cycle of the doctrine of Christ. And we are being perfected more and more each day. We need to live the doctrine. We MUST "be still and know that He is God." D&C 101:17.

We should be wise enough to "be still." 

Be STILL. I love you. I love this whole situation that I'm in. I love Christ. I love God! I love. 

Love abba