just a little flashlight

You guys.. it can't already be PDAY AGAIN!? What on earth. Time is flying. Where do I even start. So much happens every week and there is NO way I can put it all in here. But.. My week was PERFect.  Last P day one of the members took us to get a manicure and SHELLAC done and I was filled with happiness. YES. (Shellac should be my middle name) ahahah. My ward is amazing! We went to this relief society dinner on Saturday night and it was BEAUTIFUL. It was at one of my favorite member's home. She lives in a fabulous white house with a beautiful view of the ocean behind her. It was one of those nights where I felt like I was dreaming. It was perfect. Pinterest perfect. (I have a lot of those nights where I feel like I'm dreaming.) I will try to send a picture but it won't do it justice :)

I am OBSESSED with Connecticut. And New York. I will live here one day. I sound dramatic but I literally can't breath when we drive passed certain houses and sights. It is absolutely beautiful. I CANT EVEN explain. My favorite place here is Greenwich Connecticut. I just die. It's. Amazing. I think I will call it home one day. (Okay let's be honest, if I ever have the money... Hahah) but I won't let money stop me. It's my dream to come back here and do hair and be a fashion designer and be on broadway and be a mom and be mormon and be an east coaster. dreams can come true right? Ha

I have found that I have this crazy love for Koreans. We got to go eat dinner at this cute Korean family's house and I was in Heaven. I love Korean food and I love Korean people. Maybe one day I will move to Korea too..

I love being a missionary.

We found this lovely woman named Tia who has one of the hardest lives I think I've ever heard of. Basically she is really poor and has two kids that are little rebels. I won't list everything. But Anyways she is coming to church on Sunday and she started reading the Book of Mormon! I have been so excited about her. She is special. I love her. Hooray for new investigators!!

We have a pretty good teaching pool right now. I wish I could tell
about everyone but no time. I will mention Lynn tho. Lynn is 67 years old and has been a member since she was 40. Although not an active member. Within the last two months she has been coming to church every week and reading her scriptures and being the best person eva. I LOVE LYNN. She has Sooooooo many health problems its insane. But she is still going strong. Her faith is unreal. Last week she got her patriarchal blessing and Sister Amorim and I got to listen. She has no family so she invited us! It was the most amazing blessing I have ever heard. Lynn is awesome and such a special woman.

I have a funny story. Well kinda...

So my companion and I STILL don't have our car. Hahahaha. (At this
point it's just plain funny.) well not funny because apparently the
car was damaged way bad. Which is a way big bummer. And I can't wait
to get to better explore our area with our car.. Well anyways. We
needed to get to the New Canaan chapel. And we were at our apartment. So we started to walk. And this is NOT just a short walk. Quite long actually. But we had to get there. There were no sidewalks so we were just carefully walking on the side of the road. On our walk we decided to practice what we should say as we tract. We were practicing and role playing and we felt really good. And then we both stopped in front of this beautiful old white house and we looked at each other and said let's tract this one. Well. We go knock on the door and this smiling happy blonde woman opens the door. I was smiling at her and I was just about to open my mouth and put to use what we had just practiced but before I could even say "Hi we are the missionaries, --", she started shewing us away like we were insects!!! She was like no bye!!! Bye bye girls!! BYE. ...... HA. As we walked away I just looked at sister Amorim and started laughing so hard because it was hilarious how we felt like we should knock on that door specifically yet the woman inside was so scary and mean. I was like okay Heavenly Father that was kinda funny. Hahah. We decided to knock some more doors. NOT ONE person let us talk to them for more than 7 seconds. I felt so sad. I was like UGH COME ON. Seriously!? After all our practice not one person will even let us talk!?! We were feeling so not motivated at all. It was getting really dark outside. So visualize this. it's really dark, no sidewalk, shivering cold, hungry, and not one person will talk to us. I remembered I had a tiny tiny flashlight in my bag that my grandma had given me for my mission.. It was perfect. Just what we needed to see the road ahead of us. Well we continued on the dark road. We came up to this house and we decided to knock on the door but there was a little gate that we had to go through first before we could get to the front door. We were trying to open it but it would NOT open. So I was like hmmmm maybe it's a sign that we shouldn't go to this house..? Sister Amorim said hmmm or it could be satan not wanting us to share our message with these people. Ha I was like well yeah okay. Well we couldn't get the darn gate open
so we looked around for another way to get in. There was an opening by the side of the house so we got in right there. We walked through the gate and all of the sudden there was this insanely scary wild stray dog barking and growling at us. It looked like one of the Hyena's from the lion king. Just way ugly and way scary. We (of course) screamed way loud. Ha! I shined my flashlight in it's eyes and it took a few steps back. It was literally about ready to pounce on me. Haha we were terrified. The dog was a beast. We were SO scared. So we somehow escaped from the front yard and ran as fast as we could away from that beast. We were so tired. We were thinking about turning around and heading home because we were just having no success and it was dark cold and scary. But then we for some random reason decided to keep walking till we got to the church. To shorten this long story we eventually made it to the church and lucky us the young women were there for mutual. AND. There were two non members there!!! And we set up an appointment with them!!! Magical huh!?!
Here's a little scripture that I related to that night :)
Alma 26:27
Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back,
behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

We sure felt like we succeeded when we got there :) I LOVE that scripture.

I LOVE YOU ALL.
I LOOOVE this gospel. It's true. We just have to soften our hearts and read gods words and listen to the prophet and pray, and go to church, etc. to know that it is true. I know that it is. That's why I am out here tellin people about it. This is the most important work ever. It's good. And hard. And good. I'm a growing weed.
Love you love you. CTR

Love,
Abbbbbbbba
Ps I apologize for any spelling errors or grammar issues ;) no time to check

FALL IS COMING

HI GUYS

It's getting a little chilly here..

FALL IS COMING
I can't explain my excitement. Fall in upstate New York and
Connecticut is going to be BEAUTIFUL. I am such a fall lover and I am so happy. Today I made our family favorite PUMPKIN cake :) MMM. P-day treats. You know? ;)

Great week. We worked hard. Found a new investigator from tracting! Lena. And Rick and Maria are straight up PROGRESSING. I am learning SO much from going on two splits a week. I went on a split with Sister Vicino and Sister Fletcher! Sister Vicino is a Spanish speaking missionary. HAHA it was hilarious. I learned so much Spanish. It was so funny being in homes where I had no clue what was being said. I sat there in confusion like the whole day. But I'll tell you what... The spirit was SO easy to discern. :) although I couldn't tell what was being said, I could tell when the spirit was there. And that was so cool.



I got some good random stuff to share!! So I'll get right to it.

Funniest little story- So. Before I tell the story, keep this thought in the back of your head.. Sister Amorim and I were doing this "no sugar" diet thing last week and we weren't allowed to eat deserts or treats and stuff like that. (Ps that didn't last long because missionaries basically get force fed here in my ward) Anyways back to the story... We were tracting and we knocked on this little 91 year old lady's door. Her name was Rose. (SO CUTE) She opened up and we told her who we were and she suddenly became kinda cold and told us she could not help us because she was catholic. Well we smiled and we were just way nice to her and asked how her day was going and then she magically warmed up to us and asked if we needed a drink of water! I was like YES (thinking oh good we can slowly start bringing up the gospel of Jesus Christ without her even knowing it!!) hahaha. Well she goes to get us a glass of water and comes out with a big bowl FULL of Oreos. HA. (Remember how I told you my companion and I were doing a no sugar diet??) well. In my head I'm like heck no I'm not breaking my no
sugar diet for these!!! But at the same time I'm thinking awh man she brought these out in a cute bowl just for us and we can't tell he we won't eat them!!! Well I tried to just ignore the fact that they were sitting there and then she goes "come on eat the cookies!!!" Hahah. Me and my companion just hesitated and then we both picked one up. I still was like NO I'm not eating this. So I took a drink of water and started to chew ice making it look like I was chewing on the Oreo. Psh. Haha I then quickly and so secretly shoved the Oreo in my bag. HAHA I sat there trying SO hard not to laugh. My companion thought I was eating the Oreos and so she grabbed some more to keep eating. I was like Oh no!!! I have to save her so she doesn't continue to eat the sugar!!! So there I was so secretly grabbing HANDFULLs of Oreos and shoving them in my bag. HAHA I was dying. I kept grabbing them until they were gone. And then we finished talking to rose and ended up showing her the "Because of Him" Mormon message and she was all cute and happy. Anyways I couldn't stop laughing as we walked away and I explained to Sister Amorim that I had all the freaking Oreos in my bag. HAHA awh man just picture me secretly shoving Oreos in my bag. Hahaha

Something I've been thinking about lately-
It's so easy to doubt our testimonies. Sooo easy. We see it in
Scripture stories, We see it in people today. Satan is constantly
working on us. He is using everything he can to make us doubt God. He does not want us to have the truth. I feel that now, more than ever, satan can get to us easier with all our handy dandy techy tools. He makes us think that we are smart enough or wise enough to make it through life without thinking about or even believing in God. People become ignorant to God and search in the WRONG places to find truth, they turn away from god because they feel as though their own personal WISDOM can get them by. 

Ruude satan. I don't like him.

2 Nephi 9:28

"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the
frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they
think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish."

2 Nephi 9:29

"But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God."  It can be hard in today's world to have complete confidence in our testimonies. Especially with all the distractions right in our laps. A lot of times people have small doubts. It's okay to have questions. It's okay to seek for truth! In fact that's awesome. We do need to ask questions and we do need to seek for truth when we have doubts. But you know what's important? In John 1:5 it says when we are lacking wisdom, we need to ask GOD. It's SO important that we ask God. It's important to not turn to false random garbage. We shouldn't rely on the world to help our testimonies grow. We can't go to the internet and roam through garbage to find truth. We cannot let our small doubts take over our faith. When we have the small doubts, that's when we should pray to god. And open the scriptures. DO NOT rely on the world.

Because we will only have more doubts and more confusion. So its good to be "learned if we hearken to god." With god we will never fail. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We must CONTINUALLY feast on his words. We must cry unto him in prayer. We MUST build our foundations on the rock. Christ is our rock. We can't be foolish, thinking we know best, and build our foundation on the worldly sand. Being a missionary, It's easy for me to see the fruits of living without distractions. I don't have the internet, I don't have the TV, I don't have the loud music in my ear. I don't have the world pulling at me putting doubts in my head. And it's now more than EVER that I KNOW how true this gospel is. and I know how important it is that we block out the world and build our foundation on our savior, our rock, our redeemer, Jesus Christ. I feel Gods love everyday. I know the truth of this gospel. IT IS SO RIGHT. I know that reading my scriptures and praying every day without distractions is the cause of this. We CAN be in this world and not get distracted, it IS possible.
Because God gave us things to guide us. It's the primary answers. it's reading our scriptures, praying to God, and going to church, listening to the prophet, keeping the commandments, etc. ....
So next time you have a small doubt, remember who to turn to :)
Heavenly Father. He is the best and knows best. Not us, the world, or the people in it ;)

No sugar right guys...?? ;) haha

SO YES there's my missionary thoughts.

I LOVE YOU GUYS. Thank you for all the prayers, love and support.

CTR

Xoxo

Love,
Abbs!
Sister Dunford

hi hi sis mish here

HI EVERYONE

I hope everyone had a great 1st week of September!! And that you all
wished my beautiful sister Kylee Rae a happy birthday on the 8th :) (I don't know about you, but I'm feelin 22!!!!) t swift. 

First of all it's SO totally Fashion Week here in NYC and you know I'm all up in that. So don't be shocked if you see a picture of me modeling on the RUNWAY at the Lincoln Center ;) WATCH OUT! No I'm teasin. #modelsistermissionary HAHa ohhhhh the Instagram days were good. I had a super awesome week. Still no car yet, but we are now pro at sharing cars with other missionaries and begging for rides. It's BIEN.
Good.

A cool experience I had this week- My companion and I were outside
talkin and walkin and doin our missionary thang... We were just
talking to everyone we saw and using our iPads to show the Mormon
message "Because of Him" I just have to say... That. Mormon. Message. Is. AMAZING. I saw it before my mission and loved it. (Everyone go watch that right after you finish reading my email) (DO IT) ;) anyways... There was one lady we stopped and talked to and she just started talking about how life is hard and we talked about how we all have trials and challenges and how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help EVERYONE no matter what. Well we then showed her the video and my gosh I can't explain the feeling that came over me. As we were standing there in New Canaan, Connecticut. It's like time stopped. and my eyes filled with water and I had chills everywhere. The love I felt for this lady was unreal. The love I felt from Christ was unreal. And the love I felt from god was unexplainable. The spirit was there. I was just thinking wow. How cool is this gospel. How awesome is it that I am out here bringing others closer to Christ. Never in my life have I felt SO good. (I am not a cryer and so this was so unusual for me!!!) after the video the lady was smiling so big and then my eyes were even more teary!!! I was like WHO AM I!?!? Hahaha.  The lady stopped and said "I feel SO good right now" I wanted to scream YES YES YES that's the spirit!!!! But I didn't. I didn't scream. Anyways we will be talking to her some more FOR sure.

So I get to go on two splits a week now. Which is A LOT of splits.
Normally you only go on one split each cycle. To clarify "splits" for my family- splits are when you and your companion split up with
another companionship and trade companions for a day! The purpose for splits are to learn from other sisters and so that the Sister training leader can make sure everyone is doing okay with the work and everything. So since my companion was assigned to be Solo sister
training leader (because I'm not done with my 12 week training) (hence solo)  normally it's a companionship of sister training leaders. But there were so many new missionaries that president needed another STL so he asked Sister Amorim! Sister Amorim has to do double the work that a normal companionship of STL's would do. It's funny all the missionaries here call me ASTL (Assistant to the Sister Training Leader) hahaha. I get the benefits of being an STL without doing the work that the STLs do. Haha!! It's perf.
I went on a split with Sister Kim Sunday night and Monday all day. I LOVE sister Kim. She's from South Korea and we are THE SAME person only she's Korean and I am American. Let me list some of our similarities: 

-We are both short. 5"2. 
-We both have TINY hands. 
-We are both obsessed with taking care of our skin at night!!! Haha we use the SAME EXACT skincare. Khiels!! Ha!! (Like nobody else understands me when I talk about my face care every night except for Sister Kim.) 
-We both are very social and can be oh so sassy when we want to be. Haha. 
-We both LOVE food. And ice cream in particular. 
-She comes from a family of ALL girls JUST like me. 
-We both eat lots of fiber..... Hahaha!! 
-We both love the latest celebrity gossip! 
-We are both allergic to cats! 
-And we just LOVE being missionaries!!! 

Sister Kim is so funny. She has this cute Korean accent and she has the strongest testimony. Maybe one day she will get to be my companion :)

Sister Kim and I

The spirit is the realest thing EVA!!!! So my companion and I have
been teaching a couple named Rick and Maria. I think I've talked about them a little bit. But anyways. (A little background on them) - They are in their late 40's early 50's. They are super duper smart. And they completely have their lives together. Like they're rich. Rick is a musician. He is super cool. Rick is catholic! Which is great! Right? But not as great as having the FULLNESS of the gospel of Jesus Christ and being MORMON :) Maria is so so sweet. She teaches English at a smart school here in Connecticut. They both are happy. And they have two kids. Their kids were baptized in high school and have been active ever since! (Hence the reason they are meeting with Mormon missionaries) So first of all anybody that knows me knows that I am NO gospel wizard. I have never been the one to bare my testimony in church or the one to answer all the sunday school questions, etc. Well. That being said, here I am, 19 years old, blonde, from UT and I'm teaching Rick and Maria and they are like bible wizards. You could say the word INTIMIDATING. Haha. You can imagine just how inadequate I feel teaching this couple. So every time we teach this couple I am like on my toes, edge of my seat, trying to be FULLY attentive so I know how I, (Sister Dunford) can help guide them. I'm always WIDE awake in lessons with them. Well Saturday night Sister Amorim and I taught them. And ACTUALLY no, let me change my words. .. Saturday night ..THE SPIRIT.. taught them. And I witnessed that. I have the strongest testimony of the spirit. There is NO way that Sister Amorim and I alone could make them believe in our message. But the spirit testified through the both of us. Before that lesson I was stressed about what we were going to say and what questions they were going to ask, etc. So I had been studying with them in my mind in hopes that I might be able to teach something they needed to hear. I prayed so many times in my head that I would be able to teach with the spirit because I know I am not smart enough to do it on my own. I had faith that God would put the words in my mind that I needed to say but that didn't keep me from stressing!! Well I will tell you what. During that lesson, I don't know how I even said what I said. We left the lesson and I was like woah. How did I just teach them!!! How did I just get those words out. And then I was like duh. It came from the spirit that's how ;) I KNOW for sure that missionaries don't teach people. THE SPIRIT teaches people. We as missionaries just have to be able to be instruments in gods hands.

Well. To end this email... (I will say it again) 

THIS CHURCH IS TRUE. 

I know that for sure. I hope everyone has a spectacular week. Don't forget to watch the Mormon Message "Because of Him" I watch it like everyday. I LOVE it.
LOVE YOU

Sista Abbs

First cycle say whaaaaat!!

Is it really September? Stop!! WOAH
How was Labor Day? I didn't even know it was Labor Day until Tuesday... The day after Labor Day. HA. I am in my own missionary world. How's everyone doing?? Utah? School? Life? Somebody/anybody feel free to send me a picture of the mountains in Utah. Those are truly lovely and missed by me Sister Dunford. Although I do LOVE the trees here. And the skyscraper buildings are legit too :) and the beaches are cool too.

Annnyways I made it through my FIRST cycle. Hahaha. 1 cycle down!! More to come. :) My first cycle has been amazing. And thank the heavens that my companion and I aren't getting transferred!! I LOVE this area. Sister Amorim and I have grown SO close. We are like best friends. I love her. We have had so much fun together and we've been working hard. She has just been assigned to be "solo" sister training leader!! Which is awesome!! We will go on lots of splits now! Lots! Like every week. Which will be so good for me. I will get to learn from lots of different sisters out here. I'm so excited for this new cycle.

Good week good week!! It was. Good week with hard days.
It was a HUMID HOT week here in Connecticut and New York. Not even worth trying to look somewhat decent hahaha. I would walk outside and just start to melt away. I can't even remember everything that we did!! The weeks sometimes blurr together!! Haha although I do remember one of the nights our fire alarm went off and there was a fire in our apartment building!! HAHa I was completely in my pajamas and ready for bed and next thing I know we are like AHH GET OUT!!! We had to wait outside for awhile and there were firemen inside doin stuff. So that was the funnest. I met a fireman that lived in UTAH and knows lots of Mormons. Mormons are so COOL. I love being a Mormon. Because I'm just the happiest.

I LOVE the Book of Mormon. It is amazing. I can't tell you how many
times I have read 1st Nephi and just thought "cool Nephi is legit and he is strong!!" but now that I am feasting and applying it to my life, it's like a whole new book!!  While I was reading these chapters I was thinking real hard and comparing myself to Nephi (don't compare yourself to others I know...) haha but I was like man... I would love to say that I am JUST like Nephi, but I tend to lean more towards the Laman and Lemuel side of things. Say WHAaaa!! Laman and Lemuel!?!? (I've always thought they were SO bad!! How could I SISTER DUNFORD be like Laman and Lemuel??)  Yeah. How would YOU act if your dad said "alright kids we are leaving and you cannot bring ANY of your possessions. I have been commanded by The Lord and so here we go!!" (Like sorry but I think I might complain a little bit..)  sue me. .. So I thought HOW can I be more like Nephi!?! How can I be so quick to do whatever The Lord asks of me?? Without hesitating or without complaining? Nephi went through So many challenges. Challenges that I have never had to go through and here I am complaining because we don't have a car to get around!!!! When Nephi didn't have a bow or an arrow to get food, he didn't just sit and murmur to god. He made one out of wood and a stick!!! (1st Nephi 16:  ) he made the best of what he had!! To be more like Nephi I need to be completely optimistic and make the most out of what I have. I need to humble myself and KNOW without a doubt in my mind that god knows best and that he won't command me to do anything unless he has prepared a way for me to do it. It is SO important that we are OBEDIENT to gods commandments because god KNOWS best. God is like the "ultimate" parent. He knows what's up. For realz. It's like when our parents "parent" us and they say "don't do this, don't do that, do this, do that!" It's because they love us. They REALLY do love us.  Our parents are trying to make sure we are safe and they only want the best for us. I love my parents so much!!!! And I will straight up tell you that they are the best parents in this world. But even better than my parents.. God. Our very own Heavenly Father is the BEST parent EVER. So LISTEN to him and OBEY
him. And talk to him. And worship him. He is amazing. He loves you. I love him so much!! (Pet peeve of mine when people are like waaahh
waaahh why do I have to keep the word of wisdom or why do I have to go to church on Sundays or why do I have to keep the law of chastity, etc.? I'm like duh. God is our father and he KNOWS so much more than us. Common sense. So be quiet and obey him. HAHA no teasin I'm not that sassy. But really just trust god. Don't be difficult. Don't think that you are the exception to the rule. Obey for crying out loud. ;)

I am SO happy to be out here on my mission. It is hard. Straight up.
not just a walk In the park. But I love the person I am becoming. I
have grown so much in just ONE cycle I can't imagine the growth that
will come from serving 18 months. This church is TRUE. It's so awesome. I wish that everyone could just have the knowledge of this gospel and the faith in god. And that is why I am out here. I want others to come to Christ so that they can feel as happy as I do. I know it is the gospel that makes all the difference. It's real. Everyone NEEDS it. The whole world needs the truth. It's so great. 

CTR.

Have an amazing week. Xoxo

Love,
SISTA DUNFORD

i heart NY

Konnichiwa! Watashiwa Dunford shimaidesu!! Hola, en la cabeza! Esta
muy bien, Yo como mucho!! تنثني بتت يثق ,心里有数 一四四年 льва квот вал шаль л зло удача!!!! Jovi ilhéu doge!! Vida jiló! (Unsure what I just said)


HELLO FROM THE BIG APPLE!!!

Not kidding you I am going to speak 100 different languages when I get home. HAHA. New York is too good. So many different people here. I LOVE it.

Toni!!

I had a fabulous week. Let me start with some of the highlights!

Well Toni was BAPTIZED. Yippeeeeee! Awesome right? She had some of her family there and they weren't members and it was cool because they were super interested in what we believed in and all that fun stuff. So I loved that. Toni was super happy. Hopefully when her daughter is old enough she will be baptized as well! I heart baptisms and the Holy Ghost. good stuff. #enduretotheend

We had Zone Conference on fridaaaay and that was awesome. SO good. I absolutely love being surrounded by other missionaries. It's really a cool thing. President always has good stuff to tell us. This zone conference we talked lots about how we can better use our iPads. We are very lucky to have these! Where much is given much is expected. Right? So we need to be extra awesome missionaries and use our iPads the correct way. The iPad is just another proselyting tool. It is not to look at the news feed on Facebook or to play games on or anything like that. The iPad is to help us invite others to come to Christ. And they are AWESOME. I think every mission should have iPads. I feel so organized! I also feel very professional. Haha. Planning with the iPads is awesome. We have these cool apps to help us out. We use bar graphs and spreadsheets and pie charts and all these great thingys. The area book is cool too. It's very convenient to be able to just whip out my iPad and either look somebody up or watch a Mormon message or find a conference talk or take a picture or read a scripture or read the ensign or Skype an investigator that's all the way across the world or type some notes and awesome other stuff toooo. So anyways. iPads are great. If used correctly :)

Sister Mitchell and I are the two blondest Sisters in NYNYN Misson!!

President also gave the whole mission a challenge! This challenge is
to read the Book of Mormon by Christmas!! He gave the whole mission a 120 day reading schedule. Which is AWESOME. Because I happened to just barely finish the Book of Mormon last week. So it's PERFECT timing. The whole mission started in 1st Nephi on August 25th! We are all reading the same chapters everyday which is so cool. We will be kinda like united I think. So that's real great huh?

On Saturday we had a Princess party!!! We dressed up like princesses
and invited little girls to come to the church! We had little stations and did crafts and shared little spiritual thoughts that had to do with the princesses. They dressed up like princesses as well. I got to dress up like ELSA from frozen. Hahaha!!! I can't even begin to tell you how many pictures I had to take with all the little girls. They straight up thought I was the real Elsa. They were pulling on my braid and holding my hands and singing and yelling ELSA! ELSA! the whole time. So funny. But the party was way successful!! Every little girl was invited!! It was for non members and members as well!! We had like 30 little girls show up! Which was way more than what I thought!! So yes. That was a success. Maybe the little girls that weren't members will want to come back to church to see Elsa! ;)

Funny story- hahah. My companion and I were in the car (we borrowed from the other sisters) and we were switching out our Mormony cd for another Mormony cd and when we took the cd out to switch it, the Radio started playing and my companion and I sat in amazement for like 15 seconds HAHA we then started dying laughing because we were like hypnotized when we heard real life radio music in our car. We were like WOAH CHANGE THE SONG. Hnhahah I couldn't stop laughing. It is the funniest thing being a missionary. Like HI I'm a missionary. I'm Sister Dunford.

We still don't have our car...... Haha. Transfers are in a week and we have only had the car for 2 weeks out of this whole transfer. I will be straight up honest.. The work is TOUGH without our car. I feel like a 15 year old again asking and begging for rides everywhere. You see, our area is pretty darn big. Sometimes we will drive far away just to get to a members house to teach. And so it's   not like we can walk to all our appointments. And president doesn't want the sisters riding bikes. (Cool right?) he says it's not okay to make sisters ride in their skirts and we would just look ridiculous. Haha!! So yeah. We NEED the car. It will hopefully be done like tomorrow. But it's been good for us to not have it. Because missionaries in cars are invisible. Right? President says even just walking around town can bring the spirit. I agree. I like smiling at people. Letting my light so shine ya know? Haha! 3rd Nephi 12: 15,16. like think of a candle. What are candles for? Light!!! (And good smells haha) Why would we hide a candle under a bushel?? We wouldn't!!! We let it shine!!! :) we need to follow the light (follow Christ) and then shine bright like a diamond!!! Yes I just quoted Rihanna.

So I'm currently at the Stamford train station waiting to catch a
train to the city!! Haha I feel like I'm at the airport. My companion and I are hilarious because we have NO idea what we are doing. We have to make sure we get on the correct train and get off at the right time. It's so funny. Two 19 year old girls all confused at the train station. So we will be in the city all day today. Fun stuff I tell you!!

CTR everyone!!! Don't forget to be kind and humble and confident at
the same time. Love you all. Have an AMAZING week. Xoxo



Love,
Sista Dunford

Well well!! Hey!!

So another GREAT week!!! Where do I start... Well ISIS GOT BAPTIZED!!! Yaaaaaayyy!!!! That was a miracle. She has had the lessons for so long and she finally was baptized!!!! My heavens. I am so happy. So if you remember in my last email I said that Isis needed to work through some things with the mission president and that we weren't sure when she would actually end up being baptized. Her date was set for Saturday the 16th but after finding out a few things we for sure thought it wasn't going to happen. Well she came out of her interview with President Morgan and she was crying and SO HAPPY!!!! And then sister Amorim and I were smiling from ear to ear because President said ISIS is getting BAPTIZED on Saturday!!!!! Miracle. I talked to one of the sisters that was here before I got here and she had taught Isis for a looong time. She was shocked that she actually got baptized!!! Something that Isis said to my companion and I right after she came out of the water was
"Out of all the sisters that have taught me, YOU TWO got me baptized. You sisters are going to help so many people out here because of your sincerity and your understanding and your nonjudgmental thoughts." I was speechless after she said that. I love her. Isis has made some huge huge changes in her life and it's been amazing for me to see the happiness that has come to Isis from making these changes. Isis is walking proof and a perfect example of (my favorite thing to study)...The Doctrine of Christ! She had faith. She started to come unto Christ. Her faith was growing. She noticed things in her life that were wrong. She noticed her weaknesses. (Remember Ether 12:27?!) And she repented. And she then got baptized and received the Holy Ghost!! And now that she has the Holy Ghost she will experience more personal revelation and she will have the spirit with her and what do you think that will do for her? It will help her faith grow even more. And she will be coming closer to Christ and then seeing more weaknesses (cuz that's what happens when we come closer to Christ) and she'll be wanting to be better and better and BETTER! And she will have to ENDURE to the end. Enduring to the end is so important. We can't just stop after we receive the Holy Ghost. We must keep growing and gaining faith and repenting and so on... Because that is the cycle. And that is our life!!! :) goodness sakes. The Doctrine of Christ is awesome. Once again.. I love it.

Filling up the font and I had to strike a pose! ;)

Isis!!!

Wellll Friday we went on splits! Sister Barker came to be my companion for the day! That was good! Things were a little difficult because we didn't have our car and we were kinda stuck. (we won't have our car for another week.... Ha) But it all worked out and I got a member to save us. Haha. I basically had to plan Isis's baptism all by myself because my companion went to Danbury, CT for her split. So I was left here to plan a baptism. Haha I somehow pulled it off. Phew!!! And it was wonderful! Let me tell you.. I'm quite the baptism planner :) haha!!! Saturday (the day of the baptism) was fabulous. We were so happy the whole day. Baptisms are awesome. Sunday Isis was confirmed and that was great as well! We have a baptism Thursday!! For Toni!!! YAY Toni!!!! I am so excited for her! She is so strong. She is a single mom with a cute 4 year old named Alaina. They are awesome. I will have to write more about her after her baptism :) 

pinkberry helps with my red mango cravings!

Stamford Giraffe 

Monday was great as well. We have district meeting every Monday and we usually go somewhere fun for lunch after. So yes that's fun. We then taught some lessons and went tracting that night. Met some fun people. It's funny what some people think about the Mormons. They always have some crazy questions... One lady asked me if I liked being married to my dad... I was like excuse me? Hahaha we don't marry our dads? Funny stuff. I love when we start talking and they say well wait a second you seem normal to me!! I'm like yes we are normal. Hahah. Monday night my companion and I got asked out on a double date. Haha!!! We were like uhhhhh nope sorry! We are Sista mishs we don't date right now :) ha!!!
My random thoughts this past week-
There are SO many people here on earth. SO SO many people. Think about the world. And all the things we don't know about the world. It's pretty mysterious if you ask me.. :) And there are soooooo many different beliefs. So many religions. There is SO much more than just this world. Wellllll I love the diversity of my mission. I absolutely LOVE hearing other people's beliefs. It's crazzzzzy to think about. I've always considered myself to be a humble person... But I am realizing I have SO much to learn. Like FOR REALZ.. There is SO much to know!!! We ALL have sooooo much to learn. and I have been VERY humbled this past little bit. I'm learning sooooo much about tons of different religions. And you might think id be questioning what I believe just because there is so much out there that I don't know... But my testimony is getting SO STRONG. and the more I study about this gospel, the more I can relate with other religions. Because its super cool to hear other beliefs. A lot of people have truth. There is truth all over the world. So much good out there. But. I know that they don't have the priesthood. The authority from god to act in his name. People don't have the FULLNESS of the gospel. I know that Joseph Smith restored the priesthood back on earth. I just have so many thoughts exploding in my head and I can't believe it!!!! I'm rambling randomness. (Sorry) but This church IS true. It's truer than true could ever be!!! God is real. God is there. There is NO way that he isn't there. I know he's there. He's listening to me. He loves me. He loves all of us. He wants us to make it back to him. And the world is a big place. And there's lots going on. But behind all the craziness of the world, God is there. I've been thinking tonzzzzz and I'm just so thankful for a loving God. I'm grateful for the prophets that he has given us to help us on our journey here on earth. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ's example. And for his atonement. Because without Christ, we are nothing. And I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon that god gave to us!! My mission has been the BEST decision I've ever made in my whole 19 years of life. (I'm still young I know) Haha. Yes it's hard and yes there are mornings that I feel like throwing my alarm clock at the wall.. But oh my heavens. I'm growing and learning more than I ever thought I could. This gospel is WAY too important to not share with the people in this world. I invite everyone this week to share your testimony with someone! Do it I dare you!!! It's so fun. It can be anyone. But do it! :) pretend you're a missionary for a second. Get out of your comfort zone! It's good for you :) hahah okay so now that I am blind from staring at my iPad for so long I will peace out!! (And I just poured my heart out via email) haha I love you all. Have an amazing week.

thuggin in the projects 

Love,
Sister Dunford