I Love Fall!

This week has flown by! I feel like yesterday was Monday! We had a good week and stayed really busy. On Monday we went on a hike with our district. It was so beautiful. People say that they live in New England for these 3 weeks. The leaves are just breathtaking. I love driving around and looking at the beautiful reds and oranges. I love the FALL!

On Tuesday we went to service and then to visit Laurie. We shared Alma 7 with her and discussed Christ's Atonement. I think it was exactly what she needed. We love going to see Laurie! The rest of our day was really busy and we were able to see Gloria and Eoin. We taught the Restoration again. We wanted Gloria to remember the simple truths of the Gospel and it was a bonus that Eoin could be there and participate.

On Wednesday we taught Mikele. She is gradually learning about Jesus Christ. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and really focused on The Atonement. I think she really enjoyed it, it's just a matter of helping her understand the need for a savior in our lives. She loves God and has a really strong relationship with him. She knows that He answers her prayers, she is just hung up about Jesus Christ. So Sister Barrett and I are working hard and studying a lot to help Mikele understand our Savior and His Atonement.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference! I love being with other missionaries! We had great trainings by the AP's and President Miller gave a really good talk about Becoming more the like the Savior. He talked about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to BECOME. It is so true. As we focus our lives on the Savior and allow the different experiences we go through, we can BECOME who the Savior needs and wants us to become. Also at Zone Conference we got black boxes (TIWIs) put in our cars. The TIWI tracks our speed and location and other agressive driving. And if speed or doing anything wrong, it yells at you. I didn't even make it out of the parking lot before the thing was yelling at me! 

On Friday we had a really good district meeting. And after District Meeting Sister Barrett and I went and helped Sister Wolff. Sister Wolff is such an amazing woman. She loves everyone! We went to her house and she needed some work done, but she also insisted that we carve pumpkins. So we carved pumpkins! After we carved our pumpkins she asked us to assemble a bamboo bird cage for the singing canary she is going to get. This bird cage. Oh my goodness. It was so confusing, but we got it all put together. Later that night we went to pick up our mini-missionary! Our mini's name was Talbot. She is such a sweetheart! I had such a good time with her! She reminded me so much of Ashlie! So it was fun to have a "little sister" come out with us!

On Saturday we went and did service and then went and visited Sister Bennett. Sister Wolff had insisted that we drop off the pumpkin she carve to Sister Bennett... so we did. We had a good chat with Sister Bennett and shared an uplifting thought. We read 2 Nephi 9:39. If you read this, the first letter of the last five words spell out SMILE. If we focus our lives of Jesus Christ we become more happy and SMILE more! That night we had our ward Trunk or Treat! It was so much fun to see all the costumes! People are so creative! We had such a good time with our ward members! I really love Avon!

I am so thankful for all the support! Thank you for the prayers, and keep them coming! 

I love you all!

Love, Sister Egan

Pictures from our hike.

They put the spire on the Hartford Temple.

Me and the other Sisters at Zone Conference.

Fall Is In The Air

Hello Everyone! 

Fall is definitely in the air! The weather is getting colder and the leaves are really changing. Sister Barrett and I had a good week and we have another good week coming up!

On Tuesday we had a really good lesson with Laurie (a less active we have been working with). We talked to her about hope. We read out of Preach My Gospel and then we read 2 Nephi 31:20. It was really good to hear what she had to say. I feel like I learned a lot in this lesson and how I can have more hope in my life. That night we were able to go to our dinner appointment at the Patterson's. Brother Patterson is employed by the church and is the site manager for the Hartford Temple that is being built. We made the connection that he was the site manager of the Spokane Temple! How fun is that! Their son is on his mission in Costa Rica- and his trainer was from Spokane. Andrew Pew- He was in the Shawnee YSA ward with me! Connections all around! 

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to help serve lunch to the construction workers that are building the temple! It was so fun to meet them and personally thank them for the work they are doing. The Temple is coming along well. The granite is going up on the outside and the inside is pretty far along too. (I'm not allowed to go inside- so this is all from what Bro. Patterson and Elder Holbrook are telling me). Anyways, later that day all our appointments cancelled. We went around to Less Actives and invited them to our ward activity. Then we found an Irish Shop. Well of course we had to go inside because Sister Barrett is from Ireland. This was too much fun. There were so many souvenirs that said "EGAN" on them! I bought a couple things because how could you pass up a bookmark that says "EGAN" on it? Sister Barrett and I bought matching pins to put on our bags, they are so cute! 

On Thursday we did some digital missionary work. We were able to skype a girl from Brazil! It is so fun to skype and teach people from around the world. We taught her the restoration and found the nearest church to her house. So hopefully she went! Later that night we were able to meet with Gloria. We just stopped by and she surprisingly let us in. We watched a talk from Conference and addressed what has been holding her back from coming to church.

On Friday we had our District Meeting. Everyone showed up! We had the zone leaders walk in, and then the Sister Training leaders walked in, and then the AP's walked in! Holy cow, it was a packed District Meeting. It was really good and the training was on making sure the environment of the lesson is a place where the spirit can reside. It is so true. Without the spirit, nothing would or could happen. The spirit is the one that really teaches and touches the hearts of the people we teach. 

On Saturday we went around and found Less Actives and invited them to the ward party coming up this week. We were able to meet with Brother Pond. Brother Pond is 96 1/2 years old. He is a sweetheart. We went to visit him in the Old Folks home and he graciously let us in. He was so confused why we were there, but then it all clicked with him. He WAS in fact baptized. We had a good chat with Brother Pond about the Savior. 

On Sunday during our studies in the morning we heard some noises outside. We didn't think much of it, because we have acorns and other things falling on our house everyday. We just thought it was normal. Sister Barrett joked that it might be a bear getting into our trash can. We both forgot about the situation... until we walked outside to go to church. Sure enough our trash can was tipped over and it was completely empty.... then we looked in the trees by our house... there was our trash. A bear had come and taken our trash. NOT OKAY! I'm just really happy I didn't look out the window when we heard the noises! Church was really good. I am so grateful I get to partake of the Sacrament every week. What a blessing that is. While we were at church a family asked if we had dinner that night, we didn't so they invited us over. As we were driving home from church, it started snowing. It's October! I am not ready for Snow! It didn't last very long, but there were definitely snowflakes falling from the sky. We then went to our dinner appointment and we had delicious soup on a nice cold, fall day. Yumm! 

I am really looking forward to this next week! We have Zone Conference and Interviews with President Miller. And we are getting a Mini Missionary on Friday! She will stay with Sister Barrtett and I for a couple days! I am really excited for that!

Thank you all for the support and love! 

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

Beautiful Fall!  The picture doesn't do it justice.

Matching pins with our names on them.

Missing Trash

Found It

Wilford Woodruff Memorial

Hello Everyone! First let me tell you how beautiful New England is! Pictures do not do it justice! I love all the leaves changing and the chill in the air! 

On Tuesday everything fell through, so we went to check out a Media Referral we had gotten. His name is Ronald Marriott. When we got there and asked why he had requested a Book of Mormon. He responded with, "Well, I'm a Marriott." I thought that was pretty funny. We got talking and he has a pretty interesting story. He told us of his past lives and how is was burned at the stake. Then he gave us an entire science lesson. It was quite the experience.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with McKelle. We taught her about the Godhead and told her the story of Christ's birth. The idea of a Savior is really foreign to her and she doesn't understand why Jesus needed to come to earth and what his purpose was. I think the lesson went really well. Sister Barrett did an amazing job answering her questions and making it clear that God sent His Son for each and every one of us. Our member help was able to connect with McKelle, so that was good too. They have kids similar in age and they seem to really get along. That night we had dinner at a new couple's house. They are expecting their first baby, and they are just so cute! They met at BYU! We talked about General Conference and I learned a lot from their insight and from what they got out of conference. 

On Thursday our lunch appointment fell through, so we went back to the church to do some digital missionary work. I was able to get in contact with a man that lives in England. We ended up skyping! We talked to him about life as a missionary and he seemed really interested. After we skyped we got in contact with the Missionaries in his area and gave them his contact information. I love that I have the opportunity to teach and talk to people from all around the world! 

On Friday we had a Zone Meeting! I love being with all the other missionaries in my zone! At zone conference we talked a lot about the importance of nightly planning and how we can be more effective digital missionaries. Our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders challenged us to give away a Book of Mormon everyday. This challenge will be really good! It will help Sister Barrett go out of our way to find new people to teach and talk to.

On Saturday we went to the temple site to see people from Sister Barrett's last area. They had come down from Greenfield, MA to see and learn more about the Hartford Temple. It was fun to meet the people that Sister Barrett served with. Then we went to the Wilford Woodruff Memorial Site. For those that don't know, President Wilford Woodruff was born in Avon, CT. In MY area! How cool is that! The memorial site is just a rock at a park, but it is still pretty cool! That night everything else kind of fell through, but we were able to hand out our Book of Mormon for the day and then we went to our dinner appointment. We went to the Pulley's! I just love this family! As we were sitting around the table, the 3 year old was sitting on her older brother's lap and she started laughing so hard and the next thing we knew, Alice had wet her pants all over Thomas. It was so funny! We were all laughing so hard! Then Brother Pulley started giving Thomas a hard time for wetting his pants! Oh memories! For our message that night we talked about the Liahona. We had one child sit at one side of the room and then we blindfolded another and we had the one blindfolded try to walk to his sister without any direction or help. We did the same thing again, but the second time Emma was able to direct her brother. Then we talked about the Liahona and how it works according to faith. In Alma 37 it says that it is as easy to give heed to the Word of Christ as it was for Nephi and his family to give heed to the Liahona. We all need to feast upon the words of Christ because they will tell us all things which we should do. I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I love the Book of Mormon and its teachings. 

I love and miss you all! 

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

Wilford Woodruff Memorial

I Love General Conference!

Hello Everyone!

This week was really good! I have been missing home quite a bit, but I am so grateful for everything that was talked about in General Conference! I felt like all the talks were meant for me! On wednesday we had a really good lesson with our investigator, McKelle. We extended a baptismal date, but she just isn't ready yet. She wants us to teach her more about the Savior because she doesn't really know much about Jesus. She didn't grow up with a religious background, so we are excited to teach her about Jesus and his ministry. Later that day we had the elders come do service at a member's house. Her husband died 5 months ago and she needed help moving some furniture around her very large and fancy house. I love Sister Gelbach! She always makes me smile! Sister Gelbach is from Panama! When we got there she had made a lot of food for us. We really had no idea what the Elders were getting themselves into... The furniture she needed to be moved was quite large! While the elders were figuring out how to get the dresser out of the door, Sister Gelbach took us on a tour of her house! I felt really bad because I wasn't doing anything! It was a lot of fun though! We were able to share a message with her about how we can find happiness in this life. God didn't design us to be sad!

On thursday we went and helped the other sisters in the zone with their digital mission work. They were switched to google+ and they asked us to help them get started. So we were there for a while. Then we did our planning for the week. Then we went to a lesson with our recent convert, Gloria (Her son is Eoin). This is the saddest situation. Gloria hasn't come to church in over a month and Eoin locks himself in his room everytime we come over. I haven't seen him since my first lesson with him about 2 months ago. Anyways, Gloria has a lot of doubts right now. I don't even know what to do. While we were there I felt like the only thing I could do was bear my testimony. I was so sad when we left. I know that the gospel brings happiness and I just want Gloria to be happy!

Friday was the best. We had our district meeting and Sister Barrett and I gave the training. It was on "God is our loving Heavenly Father and How the Gospel Blesses Families" I think it went really well and we were all able to learn a lot. Then we went home and got all bundled up to go to the PVC (Portable Visitors Center) Tour in Hartford (I did this my first day in the mission). I seriously love doing this. We just talk to random people in the streets and invite them to take a tour of the church building and to watch videos. Doing this makes me so happy. There are always a lot of missionaries there so it is fun to bond with them and also just talking to random (usually crazy) people is always fun haha. We invited this one guy to take a tour, he put out his cigarette and came on in. We ended up setting a baptismal date with him! It was so great to see him have a desire to grow closer to Heavenly Father and to make the necessary changes in his life to do so.

GENERAL CONFERENCE! I lOVED IT! I am so grateful we have a prophet and apostles on the earth today! It was amazing to sustain three new apostles of the Lord on Saturday afternoon! One of the major themes talked about at conference was Centering our lives on the Savior. As we center our lives on Jesus Christ we can BECOME true disciples of him and we can be perfected only through him so we can have eternal life. 

I love this gospel. I love my Savior. I am eternally grateful for his atoning sacrifice. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I am so grateful to be a missionary!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

Two Months!

New England in the Fall

Hartford Temple