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

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 :)