Leaving Avon

I am leaving Avon! I have really grown to love this area over the last 6 months, and I am really sad to say goodbye. But I am also ready for this new adventure. I am going to Framingham, Mass! I will be a full time digital missionary. I am really excited that I have this chance to teach people from around the world via skype. 

This last week was pretty normal. But on Wednesday we had a Worldwide Mission Broadcast. It was really good. Two things really stuck out to me. Elder Anderson quoted Elder Richard G. Scott when he said, "Always have His name on my lips". I love this. I thought it went along nicely with what Elder Oaks had to say. He said to always have the Doctrine of Christ engraved in hearts. Both of these statements can go hand in hand. It is so important to always talk of Christ and bear testimony of Him through our words. But as we engrave the Doctrine of Christ in our hearts, we will begin to act and become more like the Savior. So as we do both these things, we will become a walking testimony of Jesus Christ. 

On Thursday this week we had a mission-wide "Car Fast". All the missionaries gave up their cars for the day. In December, Elder Packer of the Seventy came to our mission. He said that missions without cars see more baptisms. And then he promised us that if we made that sacrifice that we would see the blessings. We were able to get the members more involved and excited about missionary work. They took us to different appointments and we did a little bit of visiting teaching with the women in our ward. It was also a great opportunity to serve. We helped out with one of the families in our ward and just did a couple things around the house, just to help her out a bit. It turned out to be a really good day! 

On Friday we found out that I am being transferred! As I said before, I am really excited for this new adventure. It will be different for sure! But change is always good!

On Saturday we went to a baptism of a little boy in the ward. It was a really good program. I love the spirit that is felt at baptisms! After the baptism. everyone was freaking out about this snow storm we were supposed to get. It's sometimes hard being a missionary because we are out of the loop almost 100% of the time. We had no idea we were supposed to get this big storm. It didn't turn out that bad. Avon got only about 4 in of snow. 

Sunday was great. I could just see God's hand in everything that day. We got to church and two of our investigators showed up. Sacrament meeting could not have been better. I think it was geared directly at our investigators. Then Sunday School was perfect for them. It was exactly what they needed. And Relief Society/Priesthood was the cherry on top. Everything was what Dana and Paul needed. I was so happy! I knew that the spirit was there and that the people that participated in the various meetings were divinely inspired. It was great. After church we went and said goodbye to different members of the ward. We were able to drop by Gloria's house one last time. She kind of let us in, and I just bore my testimony to her. It breaks my heart that she no longer comes to church, but I wanted her to know how much Heavenly Father loves her and is aware of her. It was a good experience, something I will never forget.

I am really excited for this week and all the craziness this next adventure will bring! Thank you all for all your love and support! I love you!

Love,

Sister Egan

Sister Bennett is one of my most favorite human beings

The Pulley Family

Simsbury, CT

My District

Snow Storm

Camron and Thomas helping us clear our car

A Busy Week!

Wow, what a week. I feel like this week I was drinking out of a fire hose. I got some water, but it mostly just hurt. I don't even know where to begin. On Wednesday we headed up to Boston for MLC. This was a great meeting. The spirit was really strong and we were able to discuss the mission and how we can become more consecrated missionaries. There is always something more to be done and always something we can work on. But I kept thinking of something my Dad told me last week. You cannot coast uphill. The journey will be difficult. Missions are difficult and the ride is mostly uphill. There is no way that we can coast uphill, instead we will have to stretch ourselves and push ourselves along the way. And through that process we will become more like our Savior. 

On Thursday we had interviews with President Miller. He is an amazing Mission President. I am so thankful that I have the chance to work with him and learn from him. We spent most of the day at interviews, and then that night we finished planning our Zone Meeting.

Friday was quite the day. We went to Zone Meeting in the Morning and it was so good. The Spirit was really strong. We talked about Unwearyiness and our motivation for serving a mission. We also discussed the different changes that will be taking place in the mission. And then we talked about goals for the Hartford Zone for 2016. We discussed the culture of the Zone and how we can make it "A City Upon A Hill". We have a temple that is being built and we KNOW that there are souls that are prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. 2016 is going to be a great year. I am so excited that I get to spend the entirety of this year serving the Lord. Anyways after Zone meeting we all went into Hartford for the PVC tour. We met some pretty awesome people. I saw this old man walking on the street with his cane. Sister Allen and I ran across the street and we started talking to him. He was wearing a baseball cap from Alaska... which happened to be the same hat I bought when I was in Alaska 2 years ago. So we talked about Alaska and then I asked him if he goes on daily walks around the neighborhood. He said he was supposed to but didn't. So then we took the initiative and took him for a walk around the chapel and showed him the different displays about the church. He said that he looked into the Mormon church when he was a young man. I think he is ready. He loved what we talked about. I love being a missionary!

On Saturday morning we had an amazing lesson with the Pescatello's. They are great! We mainly just answered their questions because they are practically LDS. They own a house in Orem and their daughter is baptized and goes to BYU. They came to church on Sunday and it was a perfect Sacrament Meeting for them. All the speakers spoke on finding joy and peace in their lives, even when things get difficult. It was a great meeting.

I love you all. Thank you for all the love and support! I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

I love my boy Preston!

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone!

This week absolutely FLEW by! It feels like yesterday that I was emailing! 

On Tuesday we woke up to SNOW! It was only a couple inches, so that was nice. Everyone says we are going to get hit hard this Winter, so we will see what happens! 

This week we did a lot of stop by's and visited with a lot of members. It was pretty fun! We also did a lot of Digital Missionary work. We skyped a couple people and we talked to a lot of new people via google+. It has been a lot of fun doing digital missionary work and being able to skype with people from around the world. 

We had to be inside at 6 on New Year's Eve, so Sister Allen and I had a good time coloring to finish 2015 strong. As this new year has begun I have pondered on what goals and resolutions I want to make for 2016. I will be on my mission for this entire year, and I am so excited. This year is going to be great. 

The YW President in our ward asked if Sister Allen and I could teach on Sunday on goals and all the different choices that we have to make in our youth. And then I had this flashback to 2014.  I remember my Senior year, right as 2014 was starting. Jessica and I were both in YW and we were sitting in the back. My mom was giving a lesson on Goals and New Years Resolutions. It was really good and inspiring. It must have really inspired Jessica because she leaned over to me and in a whisper she asked if I wanted to do a 1/2 marathon with her. I thought she was completely crazy... but sure enough I did that 1/2 marathon. I admit that I could have done a better job training to make it a more positive experience, but I finished it. All 13.1 miles. We can relate this back to our own lives. Right now we can choose if we train or not. If we train by making good decisions and by working our way towards salvation we will be able to cross that finish line someday and stand at the judgment bar in front of Heavenly Father and our Savior proudly. Because we will have worked had and trained, we will be able to say that we did our best and did all we could. Looking back, the 1/2 Marathon I ran was not a positive experience. There are a lot of things I wish I would have done differently. I don't want to look back on this life with that same perspective. I want to be able to reflect and look back saying I did ALL I could to become like my Savior. I did all I could to return to live with my Heavenly Father.

I encourage you all as you are making goals and resolutions, to ask yourself how and what you can do in 2016 to strive to BECOME like the Savior. 

Thank you for all you do for me! I am loving being a missionary! It is the greatest thing! 

I love you all!

Love, Sister Kellie Egan

It Snowed!

Sorry, Mom, I wasn't wearing my coat!

The Lake by our house froze over and we needed a picture

GIANT dog

Eating Dragon Fruit!

Teddy Loves Me!