And I Make an End of My Writing

Hello Everyone! 

Well, it's hard to believe that this time is actually here. It feels like yesterday that I left on my mission. And here we are, 18 months later. Let me first just say how grateful I am to have been able to serve a mission here in New England. It has been an amazing roller coaster and I am so excited for what lies ahead. I have learned so much and I feel like I have a better understanding of God's plan for me and how I can strive to be like my Savior each and everyday. 

This week was interesting. We got a lot of snow down here in CT and we were "red dotted" for 3 days (we couldn't drive). So the work kind of slowed down this week because everything shut down due to the weather. I felt like it was just Heavenly Father blessing me with more time to pack. But Sister McVey and I did enjoy the snow! She did her first ever snow angel! (Arizona Probs) So that was a lot of fun! 

This week we also had interviews with President Miller! It's always great to talk to him. I think over the course of my mission I have really gained a testimony that I was meant to serve under his stewardship and guidance. Him and Sister Miller have blessed my life tremendously. I am so thankful for the things that they have taught me. One important thing that President Miller has taught me is the importance of obedience and repentance. I think before my mission I had the wrong idea about repentance- I viewed it as something to use only if I did something wrong. This is totally wrong! Repentance is a gift that God has given us so we can strive to become better. It is a daily thing! I love repentance and I love that God loves us enough that he has provided a way that we can change and become better. 

My mission has been amazing. I have truly learned to LOVE being a missionary. There is something special about wearing a tag that shows I represent the Savior. Jesus Christ is our perfect example, and though I am far from perfect, it has been a blessing to have this time set apart in my life to strive to become more like Christ and to try to develop Christlike attributes. I have learned so much about the gospel and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. It was never in my plans to serve a mission, but it has been the best thing for my life. I think it has strengthened foundation that I need to withstand the winds and storms that WILL come (Helaman 5:12). I know that we are God's children. He hears and answers our prayers. He is so concerned for our welfare and wellbeing. He loves us SO much! If we are patient and willing to take a step back, we will be able to see God's hand in our everyday lives. 

I love the people of New England. I didn't know that I had the capacity to love people as much as I do! There are people that I have met out here that I can't imagine living the rest of my life without knowing. It has truly been a blessing to be here in New England. This place will forever have my heart! 

Thank you all for all the love and support you have given me over the last year and a half. I am excited to see you all! 

"And I [Sister Egan] saw that I must soon go down to my grave; and I make and end of my writing upon these plates, which writing has been small; and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieau"  Jacob 7:27 

Love, Sister Egan 

Sister Mitchell and I - I love this lady!

SNOW!

Two Temples

Hello Everyone! 

This week was amazing! So good! I will give you a couple highlights! 

On Wednesday Sister McVey and I were able to go do a session in the Hartford Temple. It was amazing to be able to go inside again. I have a special place in my heart for that temple. We went with a couple women from the ward here in Madison, so it was fun to spend some time with them as well. 

On Friday we taught seminary at 6 am. It was actually a lot of fun! I haven't been to seminary in so long, but it was great! Our lesson was on John 21. Such a good chapter and I learned a lot from it. I really felt like it was applicable to my life right now! That night we had an amazing lesson. It was with one of our new investigators, Jon. He is so prepared. One of his wrestling coaches is in our ward so we all had dinner at his house along with another YM from the ward. Dinner was great and then we had our lesson! We taught the Restoration and it went really well. I could just feel the spirit so strong as we taught about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. When Sister McVey recited the first vision, it was incredible. Jon was saying some pretty amazing things throughout as we asked different questions. One of the greatest things I've learned from Sister McVey is how to ask inspired questions. She is SO good at it! At the end of the lesson she asked him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he said, "Well, I already know it's true." UUUMMMM WHAT?! He is amazing! We are so excited to continue to meet with him and help him progress towards baptism. 

On Saturday we had a pretty amazing day. One of my favorite families in Weston got sealed in Boston. So we were able to go up to be there for it. It was amazing. This was my first live sealing that I've seen, and it was so powerful to witness it. I love this family so much- they are so inspiring to me. I felt so blessed that they invited me to be there for it. Sister Demuth also came, so it was a really good day! 

Life here is good! I love being a missionary. My life is forever changed because of my time here in New England. I love this gospel and I love my Savior. 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, Sister Egan

So many shells!

The Beach 

So

With Michael & Claudia 

At the Boston Temple

I love this Billboard.

We Heart-attacked our Investigators house.

SO Fast! SO Happy! SO Good!

Hello Everyone! 

This week went by SO fast! The days just keep moving faster and faster! This week was so good! We did a lot of teaching and saw a lot of miracles here in Madison. 

This week I set a goal to ask everyone for referrals. We saw so many miracles by doing this. We first received a media referral! His name is Robert. He ordered a Book of Mormon! So we stopped by with a member and to give him the book. He was SO happy to see us and he welcomed us in. We asked him what sparked his interest in ordering a Book of Mormon and he said that he was going through some things and wanted to strengthen his faith and he read about the Book of Mormon on mormon.org and he decided to order one! We taught him more about it and we closed with a prayer. After the prayer he said, "wow, I can just feel the power that you all have when you said that prayer". He totally recognized the power of the Holy Ghost. He felt something, and hopefully as we continue to meet with him he will always be able to feel that spirit. 

Another referral we received was from a member. He gave one of his wrestling teammates and Book of Mormon a couple years ago, and this friend of his has since wondered why Mckayd was so happy and different. So we met with him this week. He is so prepared. As we were talking about prayer and faith he had some amazing things to say. He was basically quoting scripture without knowing it! 

On Wednesday we had a Worldwide Broadcast to all the missionaries. This was SO good! Wow, I learned so much! We received a lot of training on the Doctrine of Christ- which is so crucial as missionaries. We help people get on the path that leads to eternal life- but first we all need faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost  and we need to be willing to endure to the end and keep moving forward in faith. It's an amazing process. I love that I have been able to witness first hand how the gospel can really change lives. 

That's pretty much the update for the week! 

Life is good! 

I love you all! 

Love, Sister Egan

I've been practicing my caligraphy- I love this quote though! 

                                                                         Another Chocolate Frog

                  We went to a market/bakery thing with our Recent Convert and I got this fancy hot chocolate

 This really cool picture we saw! From one angle it's Abraham Lincoln and from another angle is Marilyn Monroe

Keeping Busy in Connecticut

Hello Everyone! 

This week was really good! We were really busy, which is always nice! 

On Tuesday we watched Meet the Mormons with a less-active woman we have been working with. She really enjoyed it! I think it's difficult for her to realize that Mormons are real people with real lives, so the movie was able to put a lot of things in perspective for her. She never thinks of herself as being LDS, so the movie hopefully helped her realize that she is apart of a community of people that want to follow Christ as fully as they can. That night we had dinner with a super awesome family! They live out in the middle of nowhere haha! There are SO many trees in this area- and it is so dark! But this dinner appointment was great! They have a son coming home from his mission this week, so Sis. Brault is super excited to see her son! 

On Wednesday we were on exchanges in Groton for the day. It was fun to see a new area. I got to meet a lot of wonderful people there. I was with Sister Halbeisen for the day! She actually took my place in Glastonbury when I went to Weston. So we had a good time talking and sharing memories about Gbury. I seriously loved it there and it was great to talk to someone who totally understands! 

On Thursday we had to make the drive up to Hartford for our Zone Conference. That was SO good! I learned a lot. We talked a lot about finding new investigators and practiced teaching the Restoration. The Restoration is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. We learn many truths because of Joseph Smith's first vision. How blessed we are to know that the Godhead is 3 separate beings, and to know that we are truly created after His image. The list goes on. But I am so grateful for the Restoration of Christ's church on the earth today. Also at Zone Conference I was able to see Sister Demuth! I haven't seen her in a month haha! She is doing great! 

On Friday we had district meeting in Norwich. And then we had a really good lesson with our investigator, Victoria. She has been really shy, but this time she really broke out of her shell and began opening up. She is really great and loves learning about Jesus Christ. Also on Friday night we had a pretty interesting experience. We were meeting with a recent convert- she is great! So we usually meet at the Library, but that wasn't able to work out, so we figured it would be ok if we just went to her house and stayed in the car (because her dad is against having us in his home). So we were in the car parked pretty close to her house... and then we see flashing lights. The Police came! So we had to talk to them and explain what was going on. The whole ordeal took about 25 minutes to clear up. Apparently one of the neighbors called because of a suspicious vehichle. We all just laughed about it afterwards. Definitely not my average friday night as a missionary. 

Saturday was awesome! We went to the temple with one of our Recent Converts to do baptisms. It is so nice having the Hartford temple so close. And it was AMAZING to go inside the temple after it's been dedicated. I love this temple SO much! 

Life is great! I am really enjoying it here in Madison! 

Love you all! 

Sister Egan

Prayer Works!

Hello Everyone! 

Not much to report on this last week! Everything is still going well here in Madison, CT. I really enjoy it here! 

This week was filled with various appointments with Investigators, Recent Converts, and other Less active members of the ward. I really enjoy getting to know people, so that was fun this week as I continue to meet new people here in the ward. 

We also had our Zone Meeting this week! I really enjoyed just being able to participate and take notes. I really learned a lot about following the spirit and being worthy to have the Spirit as a constant companion. 

I want to just share a quick experience that was really simple, yet profound. 

So we got to Zone Meeting early and Sister McVey and I were sitting on the couch in the foyer. We were waiting for the ZL's and STL's to finish their meeting with the District Leaders. Our Zone Meeting evenutally started and it wasn't until we were getting ready to drive back to our area that we realized we didn't know where our phone was. I knew that we had it while we were waiting in the foyer, so we searched and we still couldn't find it! We asked everyone to check their bags in case they picked up our phone thinking it was their own (all our phones are the same). But still nothing! We checked everywere- in our car, under the couch, our bags. Then, our awesome Zone Leader looks at me and says, "Sister Egan, have you prayed about it?". It honestly had not crossed my mind. I felt so bad! Afterall, I am a missionary! So we stopped and we said a prayer. Right after I said the prayer, I checked under the couch... again. And there it was! Then we said a prayer of gratitude. 

This was just a little example of how prayer works. God truly loves us and is constantly looking out for us! He hears our prayers! (even if it is to just find a phone)

I love you all so much! 

Love, Sister Egan

The Atlantic Ocean

Add caption

Saying Good-bye

What a crazy last week it has been. Crazy but good! The beginning of last week was mostly me just getting all my stuff packed and ready to go. We were pretty busy running around and saying goodbye to people. That's always the most difficult part- saying goodbye to those you love. I loved serving in Weston! I learned a lot while I was there and I grew in so many ways. I am so thankful for the people that I met- life changing people. I think that is one of my favorite things about serving a mission- is that I get to meet so many amazing and wonderful people. People that I can't imagine living the rest of my life without knowing. God definitely puts people in our paths for specific reasons. 

On Wednesday (Transfer Day) we took the new sisters to the mission home because they stayed with us the night before and then we took all the new missionaries into Boston to go contacting. It's always fun seeing how each group reacts to going. This group was a little reserved, but also really excited to be a real missionary outside of the MTC. We spent a majority of the day at the mission home helping out, waiting for my ride to come take me back to CT. They came and then we made the trek back to CT. 

It's been a fun transition! I am really loving this area. There are amazing people here and we are teaching a lot of people. We are also seeing so many miracles here. For instance, today on our way to come email we got a call from a random number. We answered the phone and it was a young man who was wondering what time our services are at. He and his mom are moving here from Texas this week and they want to come to the Mormon Church. How amazing is that! Heavenly Father is truly looking out for us. 

One scripture that has been on my mind this week is Mosiah 4:27. I think it is so applicable now that we are making resolutions and setting goals. If we are diligent, we will win the prize. This is a great promise that the Book of Mormon gives us. I have definitely gained a stronger testimony and appreciation for the Book of Mormon. It is true, I know it is. It has been a source of comfort and revelation in my life. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Stay warm with all the snow and the wicked cold temperatures back in Spokane! 

I love you! 

Love Sister Egan

Saying goodbye to Michael and Claudia and their family. I LOVE THEM!

Saying good-bye to the Tardiff's

Sister McVey and I

Apparently you can use a leave blower for the snow!

SNOW!

My favorite Senior Couple went home on Friday. I love them! 

So much snow! Sister McVey wasn't wearing tall boots, so I plowed the way to the door haha

Back to Connecticut - Last Transfer

Happy New Year's everyone! 

I hope you all had a great week! 

This week was really good! We finished the week by going to 3 baptisms in our district on Saturday. It was awesome! The Lord has definitely blessed our mission as we have worked towards our goal of 50 baptisms in November and again in December. We have exceeded our goal and by doing so, there have been so many people that have made covenants with Heavenly Father and have entered the gate! It's amazing! 

So the news this week is that I am getting transferred! We found out on Friday. I am going to Madison, CT. So back to Connecticut. Sometimes I like to say that I was called to the Connecticut mission haha. But I am so excited! It's right on the coast, so that will be fun. I haven't seen the ocean at all since I've been on my mission, so I finally get to see the Atlantic ocean! I am very excited to be with my new companion, Sister McVey! I got to know her pretty well while we were working at the Temple Open House! She is such a sweetheart! I've heard nothing but amazing things about the ward, so I am really looking forward to it! 

As for New Year's- we had to be in by 6. So we got home, had some dinner and I started packing! Fun Fun Fun! I am really excited to see what 2017 brings me. As I reflect on 2016, I am so thankful that I have been able to spend the entire year as a missionary! I have learned and grown in so many ways. I am so thankful for the amazing people that I've been able to meet! So many amazing things! 

I love you!

Love, Sister Egan