5 Investigators in One Week!

Hello Everyone! 

Another week has come and gone! It's crazy to me that tomorrow I hit my 2 Month Mark! I feel like it was yesterday that I was giving my Farewell! I feel so blessed to be a missionary! I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He lives and loves everyone of us. He is mindful of His children and wants each of us to succeed. This week I was able to really see God's hand in my life. First of all, we were able to get 5 new investigators! I am so happy that the work is finally starting to pick up in this struggling area. 

On Tuesday we had a really good lesson with our Less Active. She has been doing really well and has been coming to church again! We talked about the importance of paying tithing and also fasting. That went really well, and I think Laurie has a greater understanding of the importance of Tithing. Later that evening we went to the church to print off a couple things. There we found out that Elder Richard G. Scott passed

away. He is now reunited with his wife! He was an extraordinary man. He blessed the lives of so many people!

On Wednesday we had a lunch appointment with a woman in our ward. She is from Panama and has a really thick accent, so I sometimes have trouble understanding her. She had her family in town and they don't speak any english. So Sister Gelbach was interpreting and making the conversations go around. They fed us traditional food from Panama, and it was so good. It was this beef stew type thing. I'm not really sure what was in it, but it was good! Then we went to this woman's house and met with her and her two daughters. We had a really good lesson with them and got to know them a little more. They are seem really interested in the church and we were able to pick them up as 3 new investigators! 

On Thursday we had a lesson with one of our other investigators. This lesson was really good and McKelle's kids were able to sit in the lesson as well. They paid attention and asked a lot of questions. The spirit was really strong! I invited McKelle to be baptized. She said that she needs to learn more about baptism, but she is really open to the idea of baptism. It was good to get an idea of where McKelle stands and how we can better teach her. That night we were able to pick up two more investigators. They live down our street and we have been wanting to meet with them for a long time. They love God and have a quite a bit of exposure to the church. I am really excited to continue to meet with them!

On Friday we had our District Meeting! It was so fun to meet all the new members of our district! We did a lot of digital missionary work that afternoon and then that night we went to our dinner appointment. They ended up taking us to Olive Garden and then to a really cute ice cream shop! When we got home, I walked in the door and I saw a MOUSE scurry across the floor! AHHH! We tried to get rid of it, but it never came out from underneath our dryer. We have no idea where it went! So our mission this next week is to get rid of it! 

On Saturday we had the opportunity to have a booth set up at Avon Days. The Portable Visitors Center Sisters came and brought the Book Of Mormon Display. We had 93 copies of the Book of Mormon in various languages. We were able to talk to people about the temple that is being built and teach them more about our Church! It was an amazing opportunity! Later that evening we went to the church and watched the General Women's Broadcast! It was so good! It was everything I needed and more. It was a great preview to General Conference this upcoming week! My favorite part about the Broadcast was "God didn't design us to be sad". Our Heavenly Father wants us to be HAPPY! By truly following Christ and serving others is when we can find true happiness and joy! 

Thank you for all the prayers and love! I miss you all! 

Love, Sister Egan 

Saying good-by to Elder Dawson - he's going to Rhode Island

Avon Days

Staying in Avon

This week seemed to fly by! So many things were happening and we were staying really busy! On Friday we got Transfer Texts and Sister Barrett and I are both staying in Avon! I am really excited to be staying in this area and working with our ward members. 

This week we had exchanges with the Glastonbury Sisters. I went to Glastonbury with Sister Lind! She is awesome! She came out the transfer before me. Sister Lind is from Utah and she also played volleyball in high school! We get along really well and it was so fun to teach with her and meet some of the people they have been teaching in that area! 

A woman in our ward is really involved with the Senior Center her in Avon, so she asked Sister Barrett and I along with the Senior Couple at the temple site to come to the Senior Center to talk about the temple that is being built along as well as answer the questions they might have. One man kept talking about Joseph Smith. It was so funny! He would get up to throw something away and then as soon as he would sit down the first words he would utter would be, "Joseph Smith" in his old shaky voice. Later on Thursday we went to this woman's house and there a family was going to meet us do help this woman with Family History. We stayed for a really long time getting her set up with Family Search and entering names. I think they got a lot done! What a blessing Family History is! 

On Friday we had t-texts right after District Meeting! Everyone was so crazy and excited and I really had no idea what to expect! Big things are happening in the Hartford Zone! Like I said, I am staying, but I am sad to see some of the missionaries go! 

On Saturday we were able to go help out the Canton Elders with Sam Collins Day in Canton. It was like a little town fair thing and the Church had a booth set up. Sister Demuth (My MTC companion) was there and it was so fun to be with her! I had a lot of fun talking to people and answering questions about the temple! 

I feel so blessed to be able to serve where the Temple is being built! 

Thank you for all the prayers and support! I love you all!

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

My New Comforter

Sister Lind and I

Meet Bianca

At Sam Collins Day with the other missionaries

Blessings of the Temple

Hello Everyone!

Another week in Avon has come and gone. It is amazing to me how quickly time flies! I feel like it was yesterday that I was writing home! This week was full of ups and downs. We had a really great week planned and everything... I mean everything seemed to cancel on us. This was pretty discouraging because we are working so hard! 

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Laurie, she is working on coming back to church. She really wants to work towards going back to the temple so we shared with her the "Blessings of the Temple" talk by President Monson. . So we have been meeting with Laurie for a while now. She really wants to go to the temple! She told us about the first time she saw the temple as a young girl. She was in Hawaii and she saw the Laie Temple. She really wanted to go inside, but then found out that you have to be a member. Eventually she found the missionaries and was baptized. As I was packing all my things for my mission I decided to bring a picture of the Laie Hawaii temple from our trip last year. I had no idea why I thought I should bring this picture. As Laurie was telling us how much the temple means to her, I finally realized why I brought the picture. I needed to give it to Laurie! I wrote a scripture on the back of the picture (John 14:27) and gave it to her. She was elated when I gave it to her. She was so happy and thankful! She told me she was going to hang it up on her wall! It was an amazing experience to know that I was directed to bring this picture. I didn’t know why at the time, but I was able to see God's hand in my life.  Laurie is awesome and I’m glad she shows such enthusiasm to go to the Temple

That night we had dinner at the Senior Missionary Couple’s house. The Elders came and it was so much fun to be together. The Elders eat SO much! It was crazy, I was getting sick, just watching them eat! 

On Wednesday we woke up especially early to drive to Return & Report in Weston (Right outside of Boston). I had been nervous about driving to Weston for a long time because the drivers in New England are crazy!! We made it safely! It was so good to see all my MTC buddies! Everyone seems to be adjusting well. I got so see Sister Demuth! I love her! She is serving in Weston. We had training and then lunch and then it was time to drive 2 hours home. New England is so pretty and I am so excited for Fall to come! The colors will be so beautiful!

This week for District Meeting I was in charge of Training. I felt so inadequate to be giving a training, because I have only been out for a month and I don't know anything haha. I think it went really well! I love my District so much! It is just so much fun being with other missionaries!

On Saturday we woke up really early so Sister Barrett could take the ACT! I was wondering what I was going to do during the 5 hours she was in the test. Luckily the Sister Training Leaders decided to pick me up! I got to be in a trio for the day! We taught a couple lessons and we were able to pick up a new investigator! After the lessons we went and participated in the East Hartford Community Clean-up! It was so much fun! I was raking leaves and it reminded me of all the years of raking leaves in the Catholic Charity Clean-up thing! Good Memories! 

Sunday was so good! I love church! We had a musical program during Sacrament Meeting. It was really uplifting and spiritual! The other meetings were really good too! We came home and then went to our dinner appointment. We had my favorite meal- Salmon. Of course the Sister gave me the largest piece of fish! Just my luck! 

I love you all! I am so thankful for all the support and prayers! It means so much! Thank you for all you do!

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

Happy Labor Day!

This random lawn decoration/ animal thing we found at Service

Reunited with Sister Demuth!!!

Jesus Love U!

​Service with Sister Miereles and Sister Lind.

#HAPPYINHARTFORD

This week was really good! I am so grateful to be serving in this wonderful area! It is so beautiful, especially now that the leaves are starting to change. I love being outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and to take in the beauty of New England. I still can't believe I am in Connecticut!

So this week we had a lesson with our investigator Stefano! It went pretty well! We taught about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. At the end of our lesson we asked what stuck out to him. We were both thinking that he would say something about the doctrine or about Joseph Smith, but then he said that he thought it was so amazing that we were SO sure that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. This bore testimony to me of the Power of bearing testimony. Whenever we as individuals bear testimony, we are able to bring the spirit to the conversation.

On Wednesday we had to go get our tires changed. So we went to the local place and sat there for a couple hours while they took care of our car. We had gotten our car evaluated and inspected at Zone Conference last week and they warned us that our tires were really bald and that we should be really careful driving. This scared me! So for the last week I was trying to be even more safe and cautious while I was driving! So changing our tires took up most of our day.

On Friday we had Zone Meeting! It was so good! We talked about FEAR. This made me evaluate my own fears as a missionary and how I can better overcome these fears. We also talked about how we can help the investigators and members overcome their own fears to share the gospel. I really got a lot out of the meeting. SO GOOD! I also was apart of a musical number at the meeting. I played the piano while Sister Barrett, Elder Stewart, Elder Maughan, and Elder Tilly sang and then Elder Dawson played the violin. They all had amazing voices and they all sounded really good! After Zone Meeting we went to the Hartford Temple Site. They have a trailer set up with pictures and pieces of granite that they are using for the temple. We had a lesson with a woman named Laurie. She is a less active woman that is working on going to the temple. She loves temples and thinks of it as going "home". I love this! Temples are truly the house of the Lord and when we go we are able to feel at peace. I feel so blessed to be able to be serving here in Avon- the temple is being built in my ward boundaries!! The temple should be done sometime next year. They still aren't sure,

On Saturday we had a lot of administrative work to do. We were invited to a wedding reception along with the Elders in the neighboring ward. The reception was at our church building and we were at the chapel to put in our ministry report so we stopped by the reception for a little bit. It was super cute! I met this man whose son in serving in the Spokane Mission! It was so funny because I didn't even tell him where I was from- it just came up in conversation. He is serving in Moscow- I think his name is Elder Wilcox. So keep an eye out!

Thank you for the continual support! I feel the power of your prayers everyday! 

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

This is the Hartford Temple - they have the plastic on it right now to protect the granite before it is sealed.  It should be coming off pretty soon.  And the Angel Moroni should be put on within the next couple of months!

At Zone Meeting

Ben & Jerry's Makes Everything Better!

Beautiful Connecticut :)