I've been out a month!

I got some packages this week- I feel so loved!

Downtown Hartford, Connecticut

On exchanges with Sister Miereles.  She's from Brazil.

Wearing my Goodwill Dress on Goodwill Road!

The Week Flew By!

This week flew by! I can't even believe it's Monday! So last Monday we went to the stake center and played basketball and volleyball. One of the sisters in my zone played volleyball in high school and it was so much fun to play with her! That night we went over to a new family's house for dinner. They just moved here from Colorado. They are such a sweet family. I have found that I connect well with the 3 year olds. Maybe it's because I miss the Riplets so much! On Tuesday we went to our weekly service. We volunteer at this place Gifts of Love. It is an awesome place that people can come in and get food and clothes for their family, and we get to help them pick out different things. While we were there on Tuesday the weirdest thing happened. This woman walked in and came straight over to Sister Barrett and I. She looked very closely at my name tag and said, "I'm reading the Book of Mormon". We were so surprised and we perked up immediately. She is reading the BOOK OF MORMON!!! She had a lot of questions and we were able to answer them and teach her a little bit more about what we believe. She asked for another copy of the Book of Mormon, which we gladly gave to her. We got her contact information and I am looking forward to stopping by and checking up on her! 

On Wednesday we decided that we needed to make brownies for this less active gal in our ward. We made them from scratch and let me tell you.... they were awful. We messed up so badly! So gross. We were so embarrassed to bring them to anyone, so we threw them away and went to visit this lady anyways. We had a great lesson with her and invited her to the Relief Society activity the next day. 

On Friday we had a lesson with our recent convert Gloria. We have been teaching her son Eoin, but he is really on and off and he didn't want to be apart of the lesson this week. But Gloria did invite her friend John over for our lesson. John is a minister at his church, but is always interested in learning more about religion. We quickly ditched the lesson plan we had for teaching Eion and decided to teach about the Restoration. Before we got started Gloria had asked me to share how I decided to come on a mission. So I shared with her my story and how I came to know that I was supposed to serve a mission. She thought it was amazing and I know that John felt the spirit in our lesson that night. What an amazing experience. We walked out of that lesson so happy and excited to teach him more!

Saturday was interesting to say the least. Everything we planned fell through and I felt like things couldn't get any better. It was just a tough day. Sister Barrett and I decided that we needed a scripture to live by. I encourage you all to read D&C 58:3-4. It is a great scripture that has really helped me this past week. I know that there is a great work to be done in this area! I am so happy to be here. I love my Savior. I love this work. I love you all!

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

Our Car :)

Elder Nixon (BYU Basketball Player), Sister Barrett, and Me

Hart & Soul

I made it! I made it to Boston! So we landed in Boston Tuesday afternoon and then went to the Mission Home. We had dinner and then all the English speaking sisters went and stayed the night at another set of sisters' apartment. They were so pumped to talk to us and get to know us. It was "WICKED". Seriously every other word was wicked when these sisters were talking to us! So the next morning we went back to the Mission Home fro breakfast and some more training. Then they took some of us to downtown Boston. My group went to Copley Square. There we had to go street contacting. Probably one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. So after that we went back to the mission home for more training and things. That afternoon we went to the Forces Unite meeting to get our new companions. Here they trained us a little bit more about driving and other misc rules in the mission. They said that we didn't have time to watch this video of driving safety because all the drivers in New England are awful and you need to be super careful, but they assured us that only 1 or 2 of us would be driving. Then all the trainers walked in. AHHH this was so scary. They called my name and I got a picture with the Mission President and his wife and then he called..... SISTER BARRETT. She is from Ireland. She is adorable. You're probably wondering if she has an accent. Unfortunately she doesn't. She's been out for so long that she's lost it. I was a little sad about that because how cool would it be to pick up an Irish accent on my mission? But because she is foreign... I get to drive... everywhere. I was super nervous about this at first because they scared the living daylights out of me during the meeting when they were talking driving. Anyways we are assigned to the Avon, CT ward. The new Hartford Temple is being built in our ward boundaries! How lucky am I? Our area is so beautiful. I love it! It is hot and humid and I am learning to embrace my big hair. We live in a little Snow White Cottage.It is so cute! The AC is broken right now, but other than that it is in pretty good condition. 

So my first day in the Mission field was jam packed. We woke up and ran. It's great because everyone knows I love running. After our studies we went to a PVC (Portable Visitors Center) church tour. These are unique to our mission. Basically it is a bunch of super nice displays that missionaries set up with ipads and tvs inside a church building. Then other missionaries go out and street contact and invite people to come watch videos about Christ and learn more about what we have to say. This has been super effective and a lot of people have set baptismal dates! I will send some pictures of it so you have a better idea of what the PVC is.

There is a woman, Gloria who was recently baptized. The missionaries have been teaching her son who is 13. Apparently Eoin has been super on and off and usually locks himself in his room when the missionaries come by. No worries... I invited him to be baptized. That would be the second scariest time of my life. But anyways he said that he wants to be baptized and he sees the importance of it, he just isn't ready yet. I will definitely keep you updated as we continue to meet with Eoin. 

I am super excited to be here! I know that the Lord is preparing people in this area for the gospel! I am so grateful for temples on the earth today. I feel so blessed to be serving in an area where a beautiful temple is being built! I love you all!!

Much Love, Sister Egan

​So this is the PVC. Super cool! So exciting that it's only in my mission. MBM is the best!

I Made it to Boston

All of the Missionaries coming to Boston on August 11th, with President and Sister Miller.

My New Companion Sister Barrett.  We will be serving in the Hartford, Connecticut Area, Avon Ward.

Time Flies When You Feel the Spirit

Is it really time to leave already? I feel like I just got here! This has been a super awesome experience. I can say that I have honestly loved being at the MTC. It is amazing how close my District had grown in the last week. They are my best friends and I am so happy that most of us are going to Boston. So just a run down of last week- Tuesday night President Russell M Nelson spoke at the MTC devotional. I feel so blessed to be able to be at the MTC when an Apostle of the Lord could speak. It was a great talk. He spoke on the importance of obedience and how if there is only one person you convert on your mission it should be yourself. I really appreciated his talk and the words he had to say. The rest of the week was pretty much normal MTC life. We taught our investigators and did a lot of role-plays. It's amazing how comfortable I have gotten teaching others about the Gospel. On Friday we had our In-Field Orientation. This was supposed to prepare us for the Field. Instead it pretty much scared me half to death and made me so nervous to leave the MTC. The MTC is a very safe place and I am really nervous to finally be in Boston. Although I am sad to leave the MTC, I know it's time. I really don't think I could stay here for much longer. Sunday was another awesome day. Church is always great at the MTC and the devotionals were really good!

Besides all the great things that happened this last week, I got really sick. Like really sick. I finally went to the doctor and was able to get a prescription. The MTC is just a petri dish of germs. So many people are sick. Thank goodness for medicine because I'm finally getting over it, just in time to fly to Boston. 

I am so thankful for all the letters I have gotten since being here! I feel so loved! I also feel the strength of your prayers- so keep em coming! I couldn't do this without you! I am looking forward to the next phase of my mission. I know that I am needed in Boston and can't wait to get there! 

Love, Sister Egan

Look at my photography skills...

These are some of the elders in our district- they are also going to Boston!

These Sisters are in our Zone. Jessica knows Sister Keller on the far right! What a small world!

So these Elders are from Tahiti and Tonga. We met them our second day here and we run into them all the time. They are learning english so they are going to be here for a while. They knew we were leaving so they each gave us shell necklaces. It was so nice of them!

These Elders are also going to Boston

My District

Sister Sherman and Me - a week after entering the MTC together.

Hello From the MTC

Wow. I can't even believe that I am here right now. It has definitely been quite the experience. Words cannot describe the atmosphere here. I really love it. As you know there was a lot of trouble getting here. I felt like Satan was just putting every obstacle in our path so we couldn't make it here. I am so thankful for the Sherman's and their willingness to help me out! I kept thinking to myself that our flight delay was a sign that I shouldn't go on a mission! But we were finally able get on a plane to Seattle and then to Salt Lake. I was able to sleep most of the flight which was nice. We even ran into missionaries in the Seattle airport that were on their way home. Their words of encouragement really helped me because I was super stressed out about getting to the MTC. We finally made it at about 5:30.... yes we could have driven and still made it before then. But anyways Sister Sherman and I went inside and were directed to classrooms. We missed orientation and I still don't know anything. I feel like a deer in the headlights most of the time. I missed singing Called To Serve with all the missionaries which I was really looking forward to! I'm pretty bummed about that.

So basically we just spend most of our time in classrooms studying and preparing lessons for our "investigators". It is really hard work. But it is good work. I love my companion. She is awesome! We get along really well and I am so thankful for her. My District is really great too. We are the only sisters in my district, so I feel completely outnumbered. But anyways, teaching is so hard. I come out of a lesson feeling so down on myself. I feel completely inadequate to teach because I feel like I don't know anything. I am really trying to study specifically for our investigators, but then they will ask a question and I have no idea what the answer is! Everybody says that the first few days are the hardest and it gets so much better after Sunday. They were right. Sunday was AMAZING! I am so lucky to have been at the MTC on a Fast Sunday. What a spiritual experience. So we woke up and then had study time, then we were able to go to Mission Conference (only on fast sundays). The Mission Presidency spoke and it was so great. They talked a lot about how we were prepared in the premortal life to serve missions and then how we need to have faith in every footstep. This was kind of the theme of the day. Fast and Testimony meeting with my branch was really spiritual and and I could really relate to everyone. I know that I am not the only one that feels completely inadequate and that other people are having a hard time too. But anyways, we had mor studying and then relief society and then more studying and then we were able to walk to the temple and take pictures. It was really nice to get a change of scenery! We then had a devotional. Sherri Dew spoke and it was awesome. Please go and read the 3rd verse to "Hark all ye Nations". We sang that with all the missionaries (ALL 2700)! Super Powerful. We then were able to watch a recording of Elder Bednar's talk, "Character of Christ". This really hit home! We all need to turn outward when times get hard and put off the natural man that would normally turn inwards. So basically Sundays are awesome. Today we were able to go to the temple. I was super excited to go through the Provo Temple for the first time! It is beautiful and SO big. 

Well, I love it here! It has been a super great experience! I have complete respect for the Elders and Sisters that stay here for 6, 9 or even 12 weeks. I am getting a little tired of being in this confined area. I am so excited to go to Boston next week! I love you all!

Sister Egan

Made it to the MTC

With my first companion, Sister Demuth in front of the Provo Temple.

Pouring Rain in Provo