Boston [Mission] Strong: October 2016

Monday, October 31, 2016

Life Is Good!

Hello Everyone!!

Life is good here in Boston! We had a good week! It's crazy that today is Halloween! Where is the time going?

Some highlights from the week:

So we have a new investigator! Her name is Sharon- she is from Uganda! So we got a media referral from some elders in Ohio. They taught Sharon for a few weeks before moving here. She went to church a few times and loved it! So we were finally able to meet her this week. She is amazing! She has a little 3 year old, who is the cutest little thing! Sharon came to our Fall Festival ward activity. Our ward is SO good at fellowshipping and everything went really well! Sharon has a sincere desire to learn and she is so genuine! We are really excited to teach her more!

This weekend we also had a mini-missionary with us! She is 16 and from one of the stakes in our mission. We picked her up on Friday night and dropped her off on Sunday afternoon! It was so much fun to have her with us! She has such a strong testimony and I loved that she was able to share it with us! So we had an event in West Bridgewater for PVC, so she came with us. It was a baptism and it was really cool. The spirit was really strong at the baptism and it made me so thankful that we can feel the spirit!- to have that confirmation that God really does love us and that He is truly looking out for us!

Nothing else too exciting happened this week! We have a pretty busy week ahead of us, so that will be fun!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Egan

Our Mini Missionary - literally!

A sad excuse for a birthday cake. So many things went wrong in the making of this cake! But it works!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Finished at the Temple

Hello Everyone!

So I'm officially back from the temple open house. It really was one of the greatest and fulfilling experiences of my life! I loved just being able to be at the temple all day, and I loved being able to talk to so many people and answer so many questions. On saturday (the last day of the open house) we were in the reception tent and a woman came up to me and told me that she was really interested in our religion. I got talking with her and I was able to bear my testimony on how the community of church is such a blessing and that when we come together we are able to learn from one another and strengthen our own faith. This woman is golden. She is going to be meeting with the missionaries soon! The temple really touches the hearts of those that enter! It will be really interesting to see how the work will progress in that area! Over 51,000 people went to the temple during the open house!

Another favorite part of being at the temple was seeing people from my previous areas! I saw so many people that I absolutely LOVE! I am so grateful for everyone that I have met since being on my mission. There are people that I have met that I can't imagine living the rest of my life without knowing. I also believe that people come in our paths for specific reasons- and that makes me so happy!

So on Sunday we drove back to Weston! As fun as the temple was, it is great to be back! Back in our own beds, our own car. ... but not a key to our apartment. So we had to give our key to the AP's so the new sisters coming into the mission could stay at our apartment a couple weeks ago while we were at the temple. Last week, we met one of the new sisters that stayed in our apartment at the temple and she asked if we had found our key yet. Umm, what? Haha then she told us that the APs couldn't find our key. We then proceeded to call the AP's and sure enough- they lost our keys. So when we came back yesterday we had to break into our apartment. That was fun! Oh the adventures of missionary life. We are still working on getting one haha.

Today for Pday we went to Boston! We went to the aquarium! It was really fun!

Life is good!

Love you all!

Sister Egan

Friday, October 14, 2016

I Love to See the Temple

Hello Everyone!

What a great couple weeks it has been! I am absolutely loving being here at the Hartford Temple Open House! There is definitely something special here. So here is kind of an idea of what I'm doing while I'm here at the Open House. Throughout the day we switch off between the video tents and the reception tent. In the video tents we welcome people and introduce the 10 minute video they watch before going on their tour of the temple. I think I've watched the video over 50x now haha so Sister Demuth and I are trying to memorize it! In the reception tent is where people can go after their tour- there are different displays featuring Jesus Christ, Temples and Families. This is also where people can ask questions. This is my favorite place to be! I love answering questions and being able to teach people in such a unique and spirit-filled setting. People are loving the tours and being able to see the inside!

This week was full of many miracles! And each day it was fun to look for even more miracles. I'm going to preface this story by first apologizing for not keeping you up to date on our different investigators in Weston! There is a lot of work going on right now! The Elders are taking over our area while we are gone. But anyway, we have an investigator named Cindy. We thought she was planning on coming to the Open House next week, but Sister Demuth and I happened to be in the reception tent and we looked over and there she was! Cindy was with her friends that are members. They all just loved to tour! Sister Demuth and I got to answer a lot of her questions and just get to know her a little bit better. Cindy's daughter died a few years ago, so the plan of salvation has been of comfort to her. Just to know that her daughter is in a good place. I am just so grateful that we just so happened to be in the reception tent at that time! Not just a coincidence.

I also got to see Sister Giard and Gwen from Glastonbury. That made my day! I love that family and it was so fun to quickly catch up with them and see how they are doing. Sister Giard is one of the activity day leaders and Gwen is just loving church! Will is doing well. They postponed his baptism for a little bit. He was feeling a lot of pressure, but I know one day it will happen. They are just an amazing family and I feel so blessed to know them.

So life is good! The temple is so beautiful- I wish you all could be here to see it!

I love you! Thank you for your love and support!

Love, Sister Egan

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Temple Open House

Hello Everyone!

These last couple weeks have been amazing! Last week Sister Demuth and I drove down to CT and moved in with members of the ward down there. We will be staying in CT for the duration of the Hartford Temple Open House! We have been able to help with the tours this last week and it has been an incredible experience so far!

On Friday of last week we got to go inside the Temple. We were the first official tour! This temple is amazing. Absolutely spectacular. It just fits so well with The Farmington Valley area and I love all the artwork inside. There were 8 paintings commissioned for the temple- all of which have inspiration from the area that the temple was built. I am a little biased, but I do have to say that this is the most beautiful temple I have ever been in. (the photos online do not do it justice) But please take a look online!

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/hartford-connecticut-temple-open-house?cid=HP_TU_27-9-2016_dPAD_fEVT_xLIDyL2-3_

On Saturday we did tours for the contractors and the neighbors of the temple. It was so fun to talk to people and to hear about their experience inside the temple. Everyone had such positive feedback, and they understand why it took so long to be completed. That night we also went to the General Women's Session of General Conference. It was a great session and I learned a lot! It made me even more excited for General Conference this weekend!

On Sunday we went to the Avon ward. This was the ward that I started my mission in and it was so much fun to see everyone! All the kids are so grown up.... and I've only been out of that area for 9 months! I can't even imagine how much everyone at home has changed! That night we did tours for missionaries and their investigators! So that was fun to have missionaries take the people they are teaching to have an enlightening and spiritual experience inside the beautiful building.

On Monday we had a training by Elder Wilson of the seventy. He took us on another tour of the temple. This tour was a lot more detailed. We learned more about the architecture and design of the building. It was really neat to learn about some of the details that went into this beautiful temple. The last room you go through on the tour is the sealing room. We all were able to sit in there and just listen to him talk. He told us that everything we do in the church, (meetings, programs, etc) helps prepare us to be sealed. I thought that was really interesting. But I guess it is true that being sealed is the crowning ordinance.

This whole week we have been able to meet a lot of people! This week was the VIP tours and today the open house to the public officially started. It was great to be able to answer questions and to hear about peoples' experience inside the temple.

On Thursday night Sister Demuth and I drove back to Weston to spend pday in our area and also to watch General Conference in our area as well. We will go back to Hartford on Sunday and stay down there for the duration of the tours. Today for pday we went to Boston! We had a great time! We got lost on the T (subway) but we were able to see a lot of cool sites! So it has been a great week! I am really looking forward to General Conference! It's hard to believe that it has been 6 months since the last session! Oh how time flies!

I hope everyone is enjoying fall! The leaves are still turning colors and it has been beautiful!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Egan