dreaming....

YO my people!!! How are you.

I am doing fabulous. 

I love New York and the people here. This work is real. It is simply REAL. God loves all His children and I feel so blessed to help Him bring them back to Him. Ah goodies. 

Get inside my head today:

Preparation day today called for a hair appointment. Um I'm in heaven. The girl that did my hair was from Australia. Her name is Michelle. When she was done with my hair she was headed to fashion week to do Lauren Conrads hair...... You guys!!!!! Woah. Is this real life. I'm dreeeeaaaaming!!!!!!!! Hahahaha. She has done hair at a Chanel fashion show. Michelle is one of my role models. (I even shared some of the gospel with her) haha. She was totally cool. We went to shake shack after that by the flat iron building. YUM. And then we took a trip to the top of the One World Trade Center. SO TALL. Fourth tallest building in the world. Tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Felt like I was at Disneyland!! It was like a ride!!!! The elevator up was like 20 seconds long and we got to the 102 floor. Haha my heavens. And fun fact did you know the top spiral needle thing is as tall as America is old? I don't know how to explain that nor do I remember how tall it actually is. I just remember I got #chills when they told me. What an amazing building. I LOVE NEW YORK. 

We had a really good week. MLC happened! I gave a 20 minute training on consecration. And actually was pleased with how it turned out!! (Thanks for the prayers) :) felt them for sure! I know that the reason I am able to do this work is because of the many prayers said from both me and my loved ones. PRAYER is real. Heavenly Father is always listening. 

Also. Can we talk about HOW CRAZY it is that MADDIE SIKICH is in the YSA Ward that I am serving in!?! We get to be at church together on Sunday's. And go to YSA activities together. What. CRAZIEST. I love her to death. Happy that one of my good friends gets to see me in missionary ACTION. :)

We cleaned the church last week. Our church is giant. 5 floors. It took so long. But we had pizza after with a member. So pizza always wins.

We have killed 5 mice in our apartment. They are the biggest distraction of my life. Get outta here sicko mice!! They are from satan I swear. Trying to mess with our focus hahaha. AH. 

Claver and Saidou are doing awesome. They will be baptized on October 17th FOR SURE. They said no ifs ands or buts. And Alaza will be baptized on October 3rd. And Adriana will be baptized on October 10th. And Marie France is hilarious and I love her and she brought her son to church!!! YES. He's nine and we have been trying to get to her children. We were so pleased to see both of them. So those are our progressing investigators. They are pretty progressing. Like the most serious investigators I've had my whole mission! Blessings. God is good.

Haha yesterday we were walking down the good old streets of Harlem and this is what some guy said. "Wow look at all the snow that just came to Harlem." We get called the funniest names. We stand out. I never knew people treated different colored people so differently. It's fine tho its great we laugh about it all the time. 

To be FRANK, (ha ha I like the word frank..) yesterday was a hard day. Really hard!! And I feel good telling you about it because

"....It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

2 Nephi 2:11

So that hard day was there specifically for my happiness. If it weren't there, I wouldn't ever have happiness!! If I didn't know what the hard was, I would basically be dead and my mission would be pointless. Without opposition, life would result as a meaningless "compound in one." 

But life is meaningful. And that's why we have choice. And that's why we can have happiness. And IT ALL WORKS OUT!!! God is there and he loves me and wants nothing more than for me to be happy. So I'm grateful that yesterday was a monster hard day. ;)

So.. some thoughts of mine as of lately:

Casualty. Or in scriptural terms "carnal security." You guys carnal security is REAL. Carnal security is when we let the natural man get the best of us. It is when we only use worldly, earthly and temporal eyes. When we see with the wrong perspective. When we forget to act with total and complete reverence! When we justify. When we rationalize. (Ps rationalization is the first step toward APOSTASY.) haha. We all do at times because NONE of us are perfect. Right? But we MUST catch ourselves in these small moments of casualness. The small casualties can ADD UP. And we know that by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. That can go either for GOOD or for BAD! If we let the small casualties happen, pretty soon we have one big giant MESS. A mess that satan has trapped you in. 

Nobody wakes up one day and says "today I am going to mess up my life!!!" Like duh? How do you think it happens?? It happens from carnal security. It happens as we are casual about the SMALL and SIMPLE things. 

2 Nephi 28

21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security (or casualness), that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

AHHH. Satan is scary. He's a creep. He makes me sick. What a scary verse you guys!!! Am I right? Every Time I read it I get nervous about the SMALLEST moments of casualness. Those small moments of carnal security. Those small things ARE NOT OKAY. They lead to huge big problems. I want you to take a second RIGHT NOW, and think about what some of your casualties are. What are your moments of carnal security. I have been pondering the same thing to myself this past little while and let me tell you repentance is real!!! No need to panic, just repent. :) repent for the small things. The worthiest people are the ones who are repenting EVERY DAY. And that's truth. 

Hey I don't mean to sound preachy but that's just been on my mind. #nocasualties 

I LOVE YOU ALLLL.

ALMOST as much as I love NEW YORK. Ha!!! No teasin. I would love New York even more if my loved ones were here. 

Anyways love you bye!

ABBB 

Hiii I'm a missionary

A good week!! A good week! 

Still here. Still me. Still a missionary. Still in NYC. Still seeing miracles. Still keepin on. :)

Today we went to the doughnut plant. Those beloved doughnuts you guys. Wow. P days are our treat days. It's our reward day. Or fat day. The one day in the week that WE get to pick our treat. So that's another plus for P day.

We are finding people like maniacs!! What's going on!!! Haha we got 2 new baptismal dates this week! Happy. I really do like when the work is going well. (I mean it's always good.. But it's the BEST when we are busy.) 

Here are some real thoughts!

So I have almost been living in Manhattan for about 1 year now. That is kinda unheard of for a missionary. Usually people go upstate then city then upstate then city etc. I guess I'm just a city chika. Wha. Hahaha you guys It's so fun!! But I don't know how much longer I can take the physical stress it puts on me. I go to sleep EXHAUSTED. And then wake up even more exhausted. Haha it was a hot day yesterday. I almost screamed down in the subway station. (HAHA no. I didn't almost scream) I may have felt like it. But I didn't. I get claustrophobic. It gets so hot and SO yucky. Makes me sick. I say prayers in my head all the time when I feel so gross. Ha!! Never have I ever felt as yucky as I have on my mission. But with that, never have I ever felt as good as I have on my mission. Such extreme feelings it's weird. But good. GOOD. So there's some of my thoughts inside my head. 

One of the funniest moments of the week was when Sister Sam and I found ANOTHER MOUSE living with us. We even caught the criminal on camera. HE IS SO FAST. I hate him. We were both a mess. I was crying and she was whining and we were both shaking and we looked at each other and just started laughing hysterically. Hahaha tears in eyes and all. So we were discussing how we were ever going to sleep that night with a mouse running around and we decided there was no way. We would have lost all sleep and been tossing and turning. So we decided to bunk our beds together and then move the other bunk bed into our bedroom. So we could both sleep on the top bunk. (We have a two bedroom apartment) So anyways, we bunked our beds. We were sweating and so tired it was some heavy duty lifting. Then we went and un-bunked the other beds and we started to head towards our bedroom. So then came the challenge... THE BED WOULDN'T FIT THROUGH THE DOOR. We were dying. After all of our hard work so far and now we were stuck. Haha we were in our tight little hallway with a huge bunk bed in hand. Never. Have I ever laughed so hard. It was possibly the best funniest moment of my life. I could not breath I was laughing so hard. The sounds we were making, the awkward positions we were in... Good golly HILARIOUS. I was even still in my pros clothes. (Aaaaand not to mention it was like midnight by the time we FINALLY got it through.) haha we were in bed late. #woops #repent #lateforbed. But really one of the top funniest moments in my life. We were so tired. That's the latest I've stayed up on the mission I believe. Confession!! Haha.

Okay we got the greatest new investigator Alaza. She is 15. We found her at Central Park. She was riding her bike and we wanted to give her some free lemonade. So we did! And then like 10 minutes later she came back and said wait what church do you go to? We told her and then next thing you know she was on her way with a Book of Mormon and an invitation to come to church!! Then you can guess what happened next. She came to church!! And stayed for all 3 hours!! And then we taught her the very next day. And set a bap date for October 3rd. Yahoo!! She is totally the cutest thing. I took a pic with her and our recent convert anaiya. We LOVE HER. 

As for our French speakers.. They were supposed to be getting baptized on September 6th. But we had to push it back! We haven't been able to teach them all of the lessons due to their busy schedules and the time it takes to teach through a translator. Just some difficulties! But we are not worried about them at all. They said they are for sure getting baptized because they KNOW it is the right thing to do. They felt it. They feel the Holy Ghost so strong. I LOVE THEM MY HEART COULD BURST!! They are literally the coolest people ever. 

We had the funniest moment last week as we were teaching them. So imagine them as they talk, it is in broken english. Haha you know when someone tries to speak English and it's just all grammatically wrong and it's just hilarious? Well that's how they are. Well we asked what some of the differences are between our church and their church in Africa (to see their understanding of the priesthood and all that) hahaha Claver goes well. "In Africa we have lots of Joseph's, but no Smiths." Hahahaha. Again I couldn't stop laughing. Claver is the sweetest. He and I could be best friends. We laugh with each other all the time. Love love love. Never knew I could love people so much. (And it's like a charity love, not IN love) hahaha. Anyways. I hope I get to be at their baptism. I will cry if I am not... But I might probs get transferred. Ahh!! We'll see.

Anyways. We have MLC on Friday. President asked me if I would give an interactive training on consecration. So if you want to pray for me I would be the happiest girl in the world. ;) I don't know why president asked me out of all the amazing missionaries. But hey. I'm willing. Haha just need some extra prayers that I can really bring the spirit!! Thx. Love you.

I will leave you with a scripture that I loved this week.

Jacob 4:12 it says:

"... For why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?" 

I just really loved that question. WHY NOT speak of the atonement of Christ? We are Christians right? So why not share that with others? Ask yourself that question. And ponder. I LOVE YOU. 

(Sorry to cut this short) have much to do with my P days dwindling in this lovely favorite city of mine :)

BYE LOVE ABBB!!!

Sister Dunford the actress...

It WAS a great week k!? 

I LOVE TO SHARE THE GOSPEL. I kid you not, I'm doing it for the rest of my life. Why did I never share the gospel before my mission!?! Well I guess it was just a lack of knowledge or something. PS- you should all read "The Power of Everyday Missionary Work." My invitation to you. (Mom, Dad, Kylee, McCall, Ellie, that means you.) I will follow up. 

So let's see I will start with some of my favorite investigators. Claver and Saidou. The coolest French speaking Africans. I hope you remember the story I told about Claver not too long ago. (The one about him having a dream that missionaries talked to him.) Okay well anyways. Like two weeks ago they had a big question and it was like really stumping them. Claver and Saidou are Protestant. And they are very good people. (Like oh my gosh I can't explain how good and pure they are) anyways. Claver asked why he had to be baptized *again* if he had already been baptized in his church. He said "my church says only *one* baptism." So we knew right then that he was having confusion with the priesthood and the great apostasy and all that fun stuff. Well we had like THREE lessons just to answer that one question. With the language barrier and everything it just wasn't making 100% sense to them. (Even with French speakers!) Well. On Sunday, Sister Sam and I decided to fast for them. We seriously love them and want nothing more than for them to progress and receive the blessings from the gospel. So fast forward after fast Sunday we met with them again to have a lesson. We brought another French speaker and we went right into the lesson! (Wish I could include all the details..) but this'll do!!  The whole lesson I could see that Claver and Saidou were being enlightened and things were making sense. It was like 20 minutes into the lesson and Claver stopped us and put his hand on his heart and started sharing his thoughts in French. Our member present then translated it for us and Claver said that he finally understood why he has to be baptized again. He explained that he felt so happy and he felt peace and that he was SO happy that he met us. I wish I could remember his exact words but all I remember was that it was SUCH A TENDER MOMENT. I just wanted to jump for joy!!! Sister Sam and I looked at each other with the biggest smiles. 

This. Work. Is. So. Fulfilling. It's SO HARD. But SO GOOD. I know this experience is small but it has strengthened my testimony of the power of fasting. I believe in the power of fasting!! I am so grateful. My heart is full. I'm grateful for Claver and Saidou. I'm grateful for their open hearts. Their softened hearts. I love them!!! After the lesson Claver said "I want to be the first missionary in Burkina Faso." YESSSSSS. "This is what dreeeeeams are made of." (I'm singing that. Lizzie McGuire.)

We had an APF in Central Park on Saturday. LOVE. The diversity is fabulous. The park is beautiful. I love to talk to people. It's my fave!! We talked all about family trees. I showed EVERYONE my family tree. I had it pulled up on my iPad from family search. (So yes, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, great grandma, great grandpa... I introduced you all to these New Yorkers.) even showed them pictures of you!! everyone thought it was SO COOL. (Blessed technology, I love it.) They wanted their own family tree. That spirit of Elijah is the realist thing ever. Met some wonderful cool people. Woweee! 

Today we saw a man fighting a wall. Hahahaha. Like I was dying. Too funny. (Oh Harlem.)

Sister Sam and I are green smoothie fanatics. We LOVE THEM. I have a wonderful book called clean green drinks. It's my best friend on the mission. Just for your information. 

Pday shopping

There was a member that drove us home from a dinner appointment one night and (they are wealthy) he has a nice car and it goes fast. Hahaha. It was a thrill!!! What a fun thing driving through the city. Driving through tall buildings and looking at all the lights. I loved every second. In moments like that I want to cry because I love this city. It's amazing! (Dad I thought of you because this member likes to step on the gas too.) (he was showing off his speeding skills, you would have loved it.)

Funny:

Marie-France, our investigator, told me that I was born to be an actress. HA HA HA. Why do people keep telling me that? You guys New York is making me consider acting classes or something. HOW FUNNY. No teasin. But I mean what!!? Actress? Definitely like the 5th time I've been told that I need to be a movie star. Everyone says I have an actress personality. Hahaha. I tell you this because it's funny. Please laugh with me.

We went street contacting with our recent convert Natasha. SO fun. Haha she's the coolest. We gave her some cards to pass out and she was so in!!! We had fun picking people to talk to. (Yes we have to pick and choose here because there are just TOO MANY people) We always walk up to the people you would never expect to ever be a Mormon. Ex: tatoos, cigars, etc. haha Natasha was dying. But thank heavens for the spirit. It is the spirit that guides us. no way could we hit all of them. I love my mission. 

Oh. My. Good. Crap. THERE WAS A MOUSE IN OUR APARTMENT. The screams were hilarious. I saw it Monday night as I was on the phone talking to the district leader and he thought we were being kidnapped or something. Haha. Then we lost it and couldn't find it. We did not sleep that night. Not kidding. Sister Sam said I was sleep talking all night and whining about mice. Woopsies haha. Well guess what. We are professional mice exterminators. We bought ourselves some handy dandy MOUSE TRAPS. And guess what. After 4 hours. SNAP. Dead. Bye bye mousey!! Hahahaha so gross so horrifying and SO hilarious. Good memories. Who knew the mission would teach me life skills like that? I will be such a good homemaker, mother, exterminator, one day. Hahah #lifelessons #howtokillamouse 

dumb mouse

Another good experience. Small but good. We went to a park to contact some people. I turned to Sister Sam and said wait. Let's pray. Haha (picture it) so cute. Anyways we prayed right there in public. For all to see. That's always fun and cool to see people watching us. Anyways we both had a Book of Mormon in hand and within the first three people we talked to, they were gone :) passed out. Easy peasy lemon squeezey. Those blessed souls don't even know what they now hold!!! The FULLNESS. THE TRUTH. THE HAPPINESS. Answers to every single question they could ever have. The Book of Mormon has SO much stinkin power. That book has changed everything for me. Literally. I obviously for sure wouldn't even be HERE if it weren't for The Book of Mormon. I would not be me. My ancestors would not have been who they were. I would not be Abbey Marie Dunford. And my future children would have complete different lives. I would never have gotten to be the missionary me. Sister Dunford the missionary would have NEVER existed if it weren't for that book!!! (Goodness I know that I was always supposed to be Sister Dunford) it was always in Gods plan for me. It's just TOO RIGHT. And just THAT alone helps me to know the Book of Mormon is true. Just my call to New York alone helps me to know of The Book of Mormons truthfulness. There are so many good fruits that have come from that book. Good fruits don't come from bad seeds. Therefore the Book of Mormon MUST BE A GOOD SEED. There would be no church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints if it weren't for that book. Most of the time I don't think we even realize the impact that the Book of Mormon has had on our lives. It's quite interesting to think where my family and I would be without that book. Im forever grateful for The Book of Mormon. Especially as a missionary right now. As missionaries we are questioned quite often. We are objected. All that jazz. Heck, I question myself sometimes. I question why this, why that, I don't understand this, I don't understand that. 

Ezra Taft Benson said this:

“… The only problem the objector (you) has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation."

It all comes down to that book. It either is true, or it is false. That's what YOU/WE/ME have to find out. 

I love the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is true. There is no way that it is not true. Not only because it logically makes sense to me, but because of the Holy Ghost that has testified of it to me. And never mind that it logically makes sense to me, if you took away all logic, I still know the Book of Mormon is true. The spirit has literally engraved that in my heart. I don't need to see the golden plates, or the first vision to know the Book of Mormon is true. Because I have my very own witness. It's SO comforting to have The Book of Mormon back me up in this work. It is my most powerful tool out here. It is my sickle. I will "thrusteth in my sickle with my might.." D&C 4. 

I pray that you will all find your own personal witness of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. Because with that witness, you can withstand any of satans blows. ;) Read The Book of Mormon every day. Pray about it everyday. Share your testimony and share the actual BOOK itself to others. Go pass out a book to someone and tell them it's changed your life. And I can promise that GOOD THINGS WILL COME. :) (take that how you want) #blessings (Okay sorry I'm done ranting about my favorite book.) Actually. no I'm not done, I'm going to go pass one out right now. Ha I love you. I love this work. I love to be able to help further my Heavenly Fathers work here on earth. What a blessing to be a part of it. 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

Love abb!

lemonade life

Yo.

It's me. The missionary in NYC.(Rhyming)

Fabulous week! Today has been a nice day. We went to Madewell and to the metropolitan museum. My 3rd time going there. But let me tell you, I could spend a month in there because there is so much to see. It's huge. So it's been a good day. We are now eating at magnolias bakery and that equals happiness. I AM SUCH A HAPPY CAT RIGHT NOW. 

So we got to go to the temple twice last week. That was perf!!! We went to do baptisms with NATASHA my fave recent convert. It was so good. I miss doing baptisms! I hadn't done baptisms in over a year. So it was great. Very refreshing. Literally. Hahahaha I felt like I was swimming for a second :) I have not been in water for over a year!!! Obviously I've showered. But like fully immersed in water. So that was a fun feelin. Loved it. 

We did an APF on Saturday. Sister Sam and I planned it. Free lemonade! And talked about Thomas S. Monson. Modern day prophets. We met a man who claimed to be John the Baptist. He also told me his eyes could turn any color he wanted them. So he tried to show me. All I saw was brown. So that was fun! Haha I think he was bipolar because one second he was yelling at everyone saying "MORMONS ARE THE BEST. MORMONS ARE THE BEST." And the next second he was screaming at us that we were "FALSE PROPHETS. FALSE PROPHETS." Hahha. I was a DYING LAUGHING mess. He was a hoot. So fun.

We also helped out with this street fair called Harlem Days. We had laptops set up and we helped people figure out their family trees! That was great. people LOVE their family history. It was real good. Way hot. And I was sweating. But that's my life these days so just gotta get over it. 

We gave our bus driver a Book of Mormon. He still loves us. He was asking all sorts of questions and we were thrilled!!! We found out his name. It's Edgar. He goes "call me E." HAHAHAhaha. I love E. It was funny because when we bopped on the bus he's all "it's my favorite persons!!!" Lovely E. We like him. 

HAHA. This is just the funniest/scariest thing of my life. Okay. So there was a man last week that asked the elders if he could marry one of the sisters in our apartment building and they were like uhhh... No. When they told us we were like just laughing about it. We were unsure which sister missionary he was talking about. Well today, we were going to target and on the way there this man stopped us. I will summarize what he said. He said he watches us and knows that we are never home at our apartment because we are always out on our quest. Hahaha and then he confessed his love to me. Told me that when I am done with my quest I could live with him. He asked if he could learn about the gospel from us. Then told me he would never forget my name. Then he told me he loved me. And then I stood there wanting to cry Hahahaha. We just died. We were like uhhhhhhhh..... WHERE ARE THE ELDERS WHEN YOU NEED THEM. Anyways we are keeping a close eye out for this guy. Hahah. Hilarious. 

Also we had a zone conference and it was AMZNG. I am so rushed right now trying to hurry this email so forgive me for the quick ending!!! I will email more next week :) I also had a good spiritual thought to share but my time is cut short!! Sorrrrry!!

I am doing SO GOOD. I love this work. Looooove it. 

Love ABBBBB

sugar cookies

Heyooo!!!

Started the day out right by eating a SWIG SUGAR COOKIE. What's up breakfast!!! It was a delight to my soul. A member made them for me. I was happy. So the day has been good! We just got out of the temple too. And that made the day even better. A nice little break from this crazy life and city I'm in. I love the temple. 

Okay it was another great week. We had such a fun service opportunity on Saturday. We went to Central Park and we helped blind people exercise! So I met such a cool person named Owen and he held my arm and we walked 3 miles! We talked the whole time. Owen has such a cool spirit. And I LOVED that because he was blind, ALL he knew about me..was my personality. He couldn't see me. He couldn't judge me off of what I looked like. He didn't have that first impression judgement. He only heard me and could feel my spirit! HOW COOL. For a second I was like awhh why can't we all be blind. But I mean no. I'm grateful for the blessing of sight. I'm grateful that as we were walking I was able to SEE this beautiful city. To look at the amazing buildings. I'm grateful that I got to meet Owen and help on his morning exercise. What a blessing!! I was able to feel his wonderful spirit and have my perspective change for a second. I loved that.

We went to MLC on Friday. And that was swell!! As always, I love MLC. President Smith is the coolest. We talked a lot about being a Christlike missionary. Talked about how we are neither a "number pushing" missionary or a "people person" missionary. But rather a Christlike missionary. Because a Christlike missionary is both. A Christlike missionary gets high numbers, AND cares about the people. He isn't in it JUST to get high numbers, but His high numbers are the result of love and devotion and diligence and motivation. I want to be a Christlike missionary. I want to love everyone around me. I want to be diligent and motivated. I want to be the BEST that I can be. I love to be a missionary. I am so pumped to become a better Christlike missionary for these last few months of my mission. MY MISSION IS THE BEST. I'm so happy I came. 

Hahaha something funny. There is a bus driver that really likes my companion and I... HAHA. The other day we were on our way home and we were like 6 stops away.. Well he turned around and smiled and goes what stop you guys getting off at? And we were like uhhhh the last? And he goes (in this happy funny voice) "this bus is runnin express to the end!!" haha (meaning the bus would skip all the In between stops.) Hahaha we were laughing so hard as he literally skipped all the stops and just dropped us off. We for sure got home on time hahaha. People love the missionaries!!! 

On Monday we had zone meeting. So the zone leaders and I taught that. Kind of a recap of MLC. It was great! The spirit is real. And it was there. And we all had like tears in our eyes. I really love the spirit. It is one of my earnest desires to always have it with me. In preach my gospel it tells us that it should be one of our earnest desires. I want to live my life in such a way that I always have that goodness with me. I always want a third member of the godhead with me. How lucky and special we are if we just live worthy we can have such an amazing gift. I love the Holy Ghost and I would be a lost lame sista without it!! 

A funny moment. We had a rough lesson with our cool investigator from Africa. Haha. We had two members present and they just TOOK OVER. We were dying. DYING. (A piece of advice to the members..) DO NOT TAKE OVER IF THE MISSIONARIES INVITE YOU TO A LESSON. Hahaha the members are there to testify. Not to take over and (try) to teach. It was just a mess. I've had a few of those happen with members. Haha BLESS the members hearts. It's so nice of them to come teach with us. But hey, it gave Sister Sam and I somethin to laugh about the whole night. And no I'm not blaming it all on them. It actually wasn't that bad. It was just one of those moments where you are squeezing your fists and clenching your teeth and impatiently waiting for the lesson to be over. HAHA. Opposition in all things yeah? Gotta know the bad so you can know the good!!!

One last quote from my fave Thomas S. Monson. It is just a GOOD one for everyone to remember and especially missionaries (that are planning on never going home) hahahah. It was a good quote for me to read. So here!

“Sometimes we let our thoughts of tomorrow take up too much of today. Daydreaming of the past and longing for the future may provide comfort but will not take the place of living in the present. This is the day of our opportunity, and we must grasp it.” 

I am GRASPIN my mission. I love New York. I love the people here. I love the gospel and I am SHARING it like crazy. I love you! 

Love abbbbbbbb!

stellar week

GOODNESS GRACIOUS. What a good week. I just really love being a missionary and just when it gets hard it gets SO GOOD. I am reaching a new level of perfection as I am overcoming the trials of the mission. I love it. Stay tuned for some goodies!!! I have much to share. This might be super random. Here we go!

Transfers are today! 

Guess who's staying in the central manhattan zone!? Me!! And Sister Sam :) no changes for us! Looks like we get to finish Sam's 12 week training together! WOOO! Haha she was oh so relieved after we found out. Those transfer calls are death man.... It's like opening your mission call every 6 weeks. YOU NEVER KNOW JUST WHERE YOU'LL GO. haha we are happy to stay. Because we've got a busy area. I absolutely LOVE the people we are working with. I think I might cry when I have to say goodbye to them! But it's okay. Life goes on. 

ANYWAYS. Our week. 

It started out real nice with a super great organized weekly planning session. Thursday's are weekly planning. We kind of dread when it comes (not going to lie.) But when it's over it's always so nice to have the week planned out. We do a good job with weekly planning. It was pouring rain on Thursday and we got to be in our apartment listening to it rather than trumpin through puddles in Harlem. I loved it. Made me want FALL so bad. (I stinking cannot wait for the fall.) FALL IN NEW YORK.  come sooner.

Silly Abbey stuff:

When it rains in New York City, it RAINS in New York City. Wet. Wet. Wet. Yuck. Subways, ew. Busses, ew. Puddles, ew. Umbrellas, poking eyes out. Wet missionaries, ew! But I'm a true New Yorker these days. This might give you just a tiny glimpse of why. Ha! It's funny because when I first got to the city (10 months ago) I remember getting on subways and kinda being grossed out, like not wanting to touch anything and being really careful when I sat down, etc. well you should seeee. me. now. I am over it. Hahaha if there is an open seat I happily plop on it with no fear of germs, or anything. Haha if there is an open pole to hold on to, I am HOLDING on to that pole. Hahahaha. My body has got to be immune to all germs now. Haha last week we got on a bus and most of the seats were taken. There were two empty ones so sister Sam sat down in one and I looked at the one next to it, and there was just a big puddle of water. Like somebody had set their umbrella there. Well I looked at it, I thought about it, and I sat on it. The man across from me started laughing so hard. I was like whatevs. I look/feel gross anyways. Might as well sit in a puddle. Sitting in puddles like its no big deal. Just  thought it was funny. Thought I'd give you an idea of how I feel. Haha!!!

We went to eat at the legit HARLEM SHAKE. Haha. It was funny. Famous little restaurant. It was good. Those shakes tho... They are really Harlem shakin it here in Harlem. It was good. 

ohmygoodness we talked to SO many cool people this week. Literally never hesitated to open our mouths. Saw lots of little miracles and tender mercies. Wish I could share them all. 

Hahahaha another funny Sister Sam quote as we walked by a billion garbage bags on the side of the road: I said, "ew why do flies always go to smelly places!?!" And Sam, (with ALL seriousness) goes, "If I were a fly, I would be sittin on flowers." I just was laughing so hard. If you could just hear her sweet little voice hahahahahaha. 

We got to go to one of our recent converts daughters birthday party! It was at the park and it was too good. Here's a cool story while we were on our way there. We had gone over to help Mike bring a lot of the stuff to the park. We called a taxi to help bring everything over. Well. Long story short: the taxi drivers daughter is from Draper Utah and she goes to BYU!!! She is a member!!! I was like What. The. Heck. Dying. Out of all the cabs in NYC and this man picks us up? We gave him our info. Gave him a pamphlet. He is goin to be baptized one day.. I just know it:) he was SO happy and nice to us he didn't even make us pay. What a fella. Coincidence? NO. Right time. Right place. All that. Yep! 

We had a little conference yesterday with all the YSA missionaries in the mission. There are 4 sets and we are one of those!! It was so cool because President brought up how he has felt so strongly ever since he got his call to New York City to really work with the YSA wards. And Sister Sam and I are in a YSA ward. We are going to do some more amazing work here. I just love being here. 

A funny moment:

Hahaha yesterday we were sitting on the subway and Sister Sam was standing and I was sitting. Well I was just blankly sitting there zoned out as we were traveling to our next appointment not really paying attention to my surroundings. Haha sister Sam started laughing a little bit and I was like what on earth why is she laughing. Well when we got off the subway she busts up laughing and told me that the man across from me on the subway was drawing a FULL ON SKETCH of my face. Then obviously I started busting up laughing as well!!! Hahaha she said it was like an amazing picture of me that he had been drawing as soon as I sat down. I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE. Hahaha. She's all "you looked beautiful in that sketch!!!" I just thought it was so funny. Wish I could go get that picture and send it to you! Sheesh. Some talented New Yorkers. Who sketches on the subway that quick!?! #thatman I'm still laughing about it. Sister Sam said it was like exactly my face. Oh my heck why. It's funny. Hahah!! 

On a more spiritual note:

I LOVE OUR INVESTIGATORS. Oh my goodness.

One in particular. A woman named Marie! She is stellar. She is in her 40's. She has like 5 kids. She and I are SO similar. She loves to shop. She loves a good outfit. She loves whole foods. (And let me tell you I could LIVE in whole foods) especially the one at Columbus circle!!! Anyways. We just have a lot of similarities. We both have the same attitude. Same sassy personality sometimes. She's just so cool. A DREAM INVESTIGATOR. She comes to church every week. Reads the Book of Mormon. And PRAYS. She just recently started praying and it is the coolest thing of my life. Last night we had a lesson with her and asked her to pray at the end. At first she was hesitant but then realized that we desperately wanted to hear her pray. So she did. Oh. My. Goodness. SHE MAKES ME WANT TO PRAY SO MUCH BETTER. You guys Marie is BEST friends with her Heavenly Father. She has a full blown father/daughter relationship with him. I wish you could hear the sincere words that came out of her mouth. As I was listening to her calm heartfelt words to her Father in Heaven I felt so much motivation to come to know my Father just like Marie knows Him. She inspired and motivated me to pray EVEN BETTER and even MORE than I do now. I pray literally like 106 times in one day. And I'm ready to have a sincere conversation with my Heavenly Father 106 times a day now. (Not that I wasn't  before..?) But hey, let's be honest. WE CAN ALL IMPROVE ALWAYS.

President Joseph F Smith said this:

“We do not have to cry unto him with many words. We do not have to weary him with long prayers. … Let the prayer come from the heart, let it not be in words that are worn into ruts in the beaten tracks of common use, without thought or feeling in the use of those words.”

You guys. Please remember that when you are praying, you are talking to your lovely amazing Father. No need to have anything less than an amazing heartfelt conversation with Him!!

Questions for you to ponder and ask yourself!

Do you share with your Heavenly Father your innermost beliefs, feelings, and desires? Have you shared with Him the secret ambitions that lie in your heart? Can you pour out your heart to Him? And do you practice listening for His responses?o you share with your Heavenly Father your innermost beliefs, feelings, and desires? Have you shared with Him the secret ambitions that lie in your heart? Can you pour out your heart to Him? And do you practice listening for His responses?

Whatever your answers are, I invite you to Improve them. There's always room for improvement :) let's all follow lovely Marie's example and truly SINCERELY speak to our Father like he is our Father. Because he truly is. I know that. I know that I am His daughter. I LOVE HIM. I love His work. I'm so grateful to be a part of it. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. 

Love abb.

Sasster Dunford

Hey you guys! 

I literally went back forth in my brain today of weather to write a group email or not. I was SO close to not. But here I am. Writing a group email. Hopefully it won't bore you!

It was a harder busier week! 

Went on two splits. Or exchanges! Whatever you want to call them :) haha wow those wear me out! But they are so good. Being a sister training leader is great. But it's also sometimes a challenge. Challenges are the best. They equal growth. I love growth. Well. Spiritual growth. I won't go as far as saying I love physical growth. Hahaha I'd really appreciate if I could shrink physically and swell spiritually. Hahaha!! Okay I will stop there.

I am really loving my companion Sister Sam. We are just way too similar!!! Our brains are. We think the same all the time. We are just so happy together!! It's rare that you find us upset or sad or discouraged. I LOVE IT. I love when two companions work at the same level and it's like boom happiness. 

A few FUNNY quotes from Sister Dunford and Sister Sam this week:

"Wow, if I were an ant I would never put forth that much effort to climb this high!!" -Sister Sam after we found some ANTS in our top floor apartment! Hahaha I was like crying laughing after she said that."

".... they moved from China to Asia last year!!" -Sister Dunford as we were talking about some members in the ward. (Um geography classes needed.) I don't even know what to do with myself. 

"BUGS BUGS there are bugs crawling on me!!!!!!" -Sister Sam woke up screaming one night HAHAHAhaha turned on the light thinking there were bugs crawling everywhere but slowly awakened to realize she was dreaming and sleep talking hahaha. 

Anyways. I wish I could remember all the hilarious moments. Because there are so many!! Sometimes time will like freeze as we are walking through the streets of Harlem and I will just be like DYING over my life right now. Like WHAT. AM. I. DOING. It's so funny. A lot of little moments like that. 

Example: knocking in the yuckiest most disgusting smelliest project buildings in the whole wide world. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! Hahah. Time stops sometimes and I'm like woah this is weird. But most of the time it's like "yeah this is life." Don't even remember what it's like to not knock doors in yucky buildings. Hahaha. 

I think the city does things to people's brains. We've all lost our minds here in New York City. Because every time I go somewhere upstate or even to Central Park I'm like ohhhh "my brain is back!!" Haha I just thing the city is so chaotic and crazy. But I love it. Weird. 

Transfers are in one week. What! I think I will stay here another transfer! But we will see. YOU NEVER KNOW. They don't call them "shock calls" for nothin! "May the odds be ever in your favor." For reals!  

Hey I best be moving on with my lovely P day in NYC. 

Let me leave you with a quote that smacks all missionaries in the faces!! Hahahah. It's straight up motivation!! 

"Missionaries who understand their purpose understand that the world has NO ACCESS to atoning grace and salvation except through them and the church they represent. When you walk into a home, what are you offering them? Access to forgiveness, grace, and exaltation. And guess what? Newsflash. Without you, they don't get it."

-Elder Dowdle

DUN DUN dunnnnnnn. Whne I read that I'm like GOODNESS GRACIOUS I need to be passing out the gospel like throwin out at EVERYONE. Which we do. But yeah. I'm ending this email now. 

I love you!!!! 

Love 

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