Week 77

Hola!  I cannot believe this is the last letter I will write as a full time missionary.  I want to give you this testimony. I am sure that God lives. He is big and he is very close. We are his children. We are all so different but he loves us all the same. Jesus Christ is the son of God. He is perfect. He is the savior of the world. He has saved me and he has healed me. I know the power of the atonement is real. I know because I have felt it. I am strong because of my savior. He has given me strength and power to overcome my temptations. He has given me peace when I have felt so bad and he has given me love when I have felt alone. The scriptures are the word of God. Through those words God talks to us. They bring us to repentance. They bring us to salvation and they guide us. God has given us a prophet today, Thomas S. Monson, God still speaks to us and this is the only safety that we have now is to follow and obey the prophets. I know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on the earth. Nothing has brought me more happiness and joy in my life than the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love to be a missionary. To be a missionary is something so special to have this power and authority and to represent Jesus Christ for such a short time. God loves us.
I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Choa choa,
Hermana Egan

Week 76

Hola Buenas Dias! 

Great news is that our golden investigators were going to move away but now they are staying in our area and we are so excited to teach them! They are so eager to learn and accepted a baptismal date on the first lesson! Yesterday we gave them book of Mormons and they all started looking through it and reading it before we even left or finished the lesson! They have been prepared by God. Their problem is that they are all living together and they are all around 25 years old and they aren't married. We had a pretty intense lesson and taught the law of chastity and committed them to live the law. The girl friend yuliana is super ready to be baptized and says that she will start living the law but her boyfriend is unsure and doesn't know if he will be able to but if the girlfriend is on board then hopefully it won't be a problem for him either! We are so excited for them! They are so fun to teach and they have great questions! I love being a missionary!

Hermana Egan 

Week 75

Hola!

Every day is passing so fast we are so busy! 

The lord has been blessing us! we found 5 new investigators and two of them accepted a baptismal date the first lesson! Yuliana is 25 and she is so prepared to be baptized. Her mom is going to church and has been going but she said she was never interested until right now when everything changed and in the middle of the lessons their friends in the other room came in and came to sit in and listen! It was such a great night! 

 It is so satisfying to be a missionary. I love my mission. I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love my brothers and sisters. 

La luz siempre va a superar la obscuridad, 

Hermana Egan 

Week 74

Hola buenas días! 

We have been having many adventures and meeting many new people! We have a perfect area to work there are so many Hispanics here! This last transfer is so busy and the time is flying by there is never a normal day always something special we are doing or need to do! I am making the most of each day! I love to be a missionary. It is something so special. This week a stake president looked at us with tears in his eyes and said "I hope you know who you are." Representatives of the lord Jesus Christ. This is an opportunity that never comes again and I am truly grateful for every day.

By small and simple things great things are brought to pass,

Hermana Egan 

Week 73

Hola! Las días pasan rápidas! Aproveche! 

It has been a crazy week but God is with me and he has been strengthing me and I feel peace and happiness when normally I couldn't. I love being a missionary. God is changing me each day, and has blessed me with many people around me to help and guide me. The missionary work is great I have been getting splits every night and have been with all the members 24/7 because Hermana estrada has been injured. Good things are happening and God is pouring out his spirit on us. Stay strong! 

Dios es grande y cerca, 

Hermana Egan 

Week 72

Paulina and Adrian's Baptism!

Muy Buenas Dias!!!!!

The work is going great and really picking up! We have been finding so many new big Hispanic families! Three new big families this week! Having a car has really been helping especially with Hermana estrada and her injury. Paulina and Adrian were finally baptized on Saturday! They are so happy and we had four investigators at the baptism! The parents have not been baptized yet because they are not married but they want to be married and we have already given them the license papers! We have a family home evening with them and a member family tomorrow night!  We are excited about the work and next transfer! The lord has been blessing us with many miracles. We had kept thinking of a certain street that we should knock there and we finally went and the very first door that we knocked was a super cool Hispanic family and there is ten people who live there and we taught them all and we invited them all to be baptized! They are super interested and we are so excited to teach them! We are having so much fun! Transfers is today! We are almost sure we are both staying here in mount Lewis with the fonsecas but we find out in an hour! Time goes really fast so make the most of each opportunity God gives you. 

Las familias pueden ser eternas, 

Hermana Egan 

Week 71

Hola! 

General Conference was super refreshing and empowering! I was able to go to two sessions in the conference center and the spirit was so strong. I am grateful for Thomas S. Monson the prophet today and I know that he is a man of God and His prophet in our day. 

The missionary life is a great one as always! Paulina and Adrian are finally getting baptized on Saturday and they are so excited! 

Hermana Estrada has hurt her ankle and the doctor says she cannot walk for 6 weeks. She has been super sad about it and she really wants to do missionary work but it has been pretty slow this week because we are always waiting on rides. I think they are going to be giving us a car soon so that will help with the work a lot but we are trying our best to stay positive and to make the most of it. I am changing a lot and I feel very good about it. I feel God's strength with me and changing me. I want to be like him. 

He loves us, 

Hermana Egan

Week 70

Last night we were knocking doors and a dog started to follow us after a while it finally left us and when we knocked the next door the lady opened the next door and the dog ran inside and the lady looked so scared and yelled "que es!?" (What is it!?) and she ran outside and slammed the door and it locked her out. So the dog was locked in her house and she was locked out. Her little brother was in the house but in her room so we were trying to climb up to the window to knock on it because he wouldn't answer the door. We went and told the neighbors their dog was locked in their neighbors house and it was a fun night starting there the good news is we got a teaching appointment out of it! If this family ends up getting baptized we will have such a good story of how we met them! 

It has been such a crazy week with Paulina and adrian the ones who were suppose to be baptized on Saturday the mom the day before changed her mind and said that she wants them to wait until week until they know more and are more prepared so Paulina and Adrian were so sad that they couldn't be baptized and they were begging but the good thing is that the mom is going to stop working and now she wants to take the lessons too so we will be teaching the whole family yay! 

Everything has been going great and we are having lots of fun! I am so excited for general conference next week! I know there is a living prophet of God on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson, and I am so excited to hear Gods words to us. 

Hermana Egan 

Week 69

My new companion....Hermana Estrada

We were a part of the temple cultural celebration and it was incredible! I felt the spirit of God so strong and there was so much joy and excitement from the thousands of youth that danced and sung. It was the first time I have been to one and same with the dedication! I cried the whole time and when I found out that the three dedications were different I wanted to go to all three but we only made it to two of them. It made me so excited for general conference coming up! I will be able to see it in the conference center again yay! Paulina and Adrian are getting baptized on Saturday! We are so excited! They are the kids that came running up to us on the streets telling us that they went to the temple and want to be baptized and now they finally really are! Their dad went to the temple with them and he is coming to the baptism and the confirmation but the parents cannot be baptized with them because they need to get married first. The mom wants to be sealed in the temple! Hermana Maldonado is coming back for their baptism! I feel very happy and motivated! Hermana Estrada helps me a lot she is great! I want to work so hard and we have been doing everything we can and we are meeting so many new people! I am very grateful for my experiences every day. Hasta la aproxima! Hermana Egan

Week 68

All of my companions!!!!!! Hermana Arnell, Maldonado, Vergara, Gaines, Tolman and Rickett. Every companion except for Hermana Estrada (my new one) and Hermana Mejia who was a visa waiter and is in Argentina!

Hermana Tolman

Hermana Maldonado

Pres. and Sis. Hiers

I love Ogden!!!!!

The Fonsecas

I am so grateful for the opportunity that we had to hear Elder Holland. The spirit spoke to us individually and it is something I will always remember. I love the Utah Ogden mission! And I love our area! There is so much work here and lots of Hispanics I love to serve in Ogden! I am so happy to be a missionary more than ever before I have stronger desire to talk to everyone and share with them and change them. I think maybe because of the open house and now it feels so refreshing to go out and do finding!
Training is harder than I thought it was. I am growing a lot. Hermana Estrada is a great missionary with lots of faith. She is doing well she is happy and we are working hard. We teach, contact, and work well together. We are very different but we have been having many spiritual experiences!
Yesterday when we were contacting we met a Hispanic lady named Maria and in the beginning you could tell she didn't really want to talk to us and that is the coolest part because the spirit completely changed her. After we gave our testimonies to her and after Hermana Estrada finished she said I know that you are representatives of God with tears in her eyes. I wanted to cry too the spirit was so strong and I have never had someone we just met recognize us so quickly we have an appointment with her on Wednesday and I am so excited to teach her the only problem is that she is going back to Mexico in two weeks she is just visiting but I am so glad that we met her.

The spirit of God changes us,

Hermana Egan

Week 67

It is so fun to train a new missionary! I remember everything of how I felt in the beginning and from the MTC. Hermana Estrada is the name of my new companion! She is from Guatemala but she was living in Oregon with her family before her mission. She is a great missionary! She is so excited to be here and she has a great desire to share the gospel she is very pure and she has been an example to me just in this first week. It helps a lot to be training a missionary because it makes you want to be the best you can for them. It is also great because you can do whatever you want because they don't know anything and they learn everything you do and teach them so you can be as obedient as you want and help them to become the missionary that you want them to be! So fun! And I am so happy to have another native companion! Yay! I have all gringos for the first 9 months and all natives for the last ones. The temple open house is over and now we have tons of time again to work our area so that has been great. We don't have a car so we are back to biking and it is so fun and we are very happy about that! We had a lesson with our investigators Manuel and Melissa and they accepted a date to be married! We are so excited for them and this is a great progress because we were teaching them before and they never did.
We had the meeting about the new Spanish radio initiative and the church is going to have commercials on ALL Spanish radio stations in Utah! Wow yay que emoción! We are so excited we have new pass along cards and a new website only for Spanish. It is so cool there is a huge new focus on the Spanish for the missionary work and it is exciting to be here at this time when everything is happening! And on Saturday Elder Holland is coming we are all so excited! And I am preparing by reading all of his talks during my personal studies!
Remember what is the most important.
Hermana Egan

Week 66

Cada día es una día nueva! 

Transfers are tomorrow! I will be staying in mount Lewis and Hermana Maldonado is leaving to go to Logan! And I am going to be training a new missionary! Yay! I am so excited! We find out who it will be and meet them tomorrow! I am so happy to stay here in the ward and with the Fonseca I love it and this family so much! I want to be the best missionary ever and teach the new one everything I know! There is two natives coming and three Americans so who knows if she will need to learn Spanish or not but she will learn fast in this house! :) it is hard for me to speak English now at the open house I need to change my brain because I think in Spanish now. we only have one week left of the open house it went by so fast and it was incredible but I am also excited to have so much time to go out and find people to teach! So many exciting things are coming up and time is going so fast especially being in the temple so much. It has been great so many people have come every day it is crazy the line is huge but it moves so fast but never goes away. We are able to share our testimony every day with thousands of people literally on a busy day 100 people every 10 minutes and in the whole open house 700 people pass through every 10 minutes. And tons of people come who are not members who just want to see it is so cool especially of the Hispanics! We have also seen so many general authorities! So cool! Today Elder Armado was in our video and he spoke in general conference in April! So cool to meet him! Both of my trainers went home yesterday and finished their missions. Hermana Rickett and Hermana Gaines. Ay que triste les quiero mucho. I love them so much. But I am so excited for the new missionaries to come and to meet my new daughter yay! 

La fe puede influir cualquier circunstancia. 

Les quiero,

Hermana Egan 

Week 65

Buenas Dias! 

This transfer has been so fast and this is our last week. The open house has made it pass quickly I think but what a wonderful opportunity and blessing we have had. Yesterday we brought a family we are teaching through the temple and it is a silent tour but we were able to explain everything to them and teach them as we went they have a lot of great questions and it was amazing the kids want to be baptized and are begging their parents that is pretty cool!

 I am excited for next transfer to have the full time to work because now with the temple we only have about three hours a day to teach. We find out what happens on Tuesday but we are all sure that Hermana Maldonado is leaving and I am staying. I loved being with Hermana Maldonado! She is a great missionary we have worked so hard together and she has helped me so much with my Spanish I love only speaking it all day I have learned so much. She also teaches me Portuguese in the temple while we wait for more people! I am getting pretty good and she says I don't even have an accent. Oh also every day in the temple every one ask me where I am from and ask if I am from Pennsylvania why I have a Mexican accent so confused. Hahaha. But even when Hermana Maldonado leaves we only speak Spanish in this family and house because Hermana Fonseca doesn't know English so even with the new companion I know we will speak so much so I am so happy to be here! 

I love serving in Ogden! It is so exciting and so many Hispanics! Yay! Oh something else cool is that there were people protesting outside the gates of the temple almost every day and one asked how he can go in they said he can go in now just like that and he did and he felt the spirit so strong and now he wants to be baptized! That was pretty cool I thought. 

God has a plan for us to return to him and live with our families forever in happiness! He has given us everything to succeed and he does everything he can to help us back without taking away our agency. We achieve eternal life every day by each decision that we make. We can change and improve every day through our savior Jesus Christ. Que Felicidad! 

Hermana Egan 

Week 64

Me encanta la misión Utah Ogden. Es la mejor misión de todos! 

Our president announced this week that our mission is going to do a program for the radio! We are so excited we are going to be trained for it next week! I am so grateful to serve here in this mission because we have had so many opportunities with facebook, iPads, the temple open house, and now he radio oh and we are getting smart phones in a two months! :o it is crazy to have so much but I know that it is hastening the work and it is so cool to be a part of it. 

Yesterday when we were walking down the street a man called out to us from his porch "are you both speaking Spanish?" And he asked me "what is your culture?" He is from El Salvador and he was so surprised that he saw a Hispanic girl and a white girl walking down the street talking Spanish so fast back and forth. He was amazed that I understood and he was so impressed. And after we invited him to church and the open house and he says he wants to come! It made me feel so good and it reminded me how much God has helped me and I remembered a year ago when I could understand a word. Living with the Fonseca and Hermana Maldonado has helped me so much I love it! I love having a native companion. I am sad because president already told me that Hermana Maldonado will be leaving and we only had one transfer together. But I know that she will be needed somewhere else. Change is good I have found out. 

Everyone in the temple asks me where I am from because they say I have an accent and they are all surprised when I say Pennsylvania haha. Many blessings are coming for the temple open house! It is so pretty I love this temple! Yesterday while me and Hermana Maldonado were walking down the streets some kids on bikes stopped us and asked are you the missionaries? The Mormon missionaries? I went to the temple with my friend and I loved it and I want to be baptized! Many blessings are coming from the temple. We are excited to teach their family! 

Recuerde el poder de la oración. 

Hermana Egan 

Week 63

Es un buen día en la misión Utah Ogden! 

Time is going so fast especially that we are in the temple every day. The time when we are not we are so busy teaching which I love! We have been receiving a lot of referrals! Almost every day someone calls us with a referral and we do not even have time to contact them all. Many blessings from The Lord. Sorry so short today there is almost no time with the temple we don't have p day anymore just a few hours to do everything! I love you! 

Hermana Egan 

Week 62

Hola! The temple open house has been such a blessing! It has been hard to be honest. 6 hours is a long time and we are usually hungry and tired from standing and smiling and being perfect but i know that the lord is blessing us and we have seen miracles already! We received a referral from the open house. The member called us and told us that he took his non member friend to the temple open house and that he loved it and felt the spirit and something special there. He invited him to be baptized in the celestial room and he accepted! Now he wants to be baptized and to receive the missionary lessons. We are so excited what a miracle from God! We have been finding a lot of people to teach and we have been teaching non stop with members every time we are not in the temple! We received another referral from the elders for a woman named Diana. She told us that she was thinking about the missionaries because she had talked to them once before and she saw them that same day outside of her house. We had our first lesson with her on saturday and she came to church on sunday! Also the sisters before us had an investigator who they have taught a lot and has never come to church and he came this sunday with his family! We had so many people come to church on sunday it was such a great day we were so excited! Working in the temple each day can be hard but it helps me to remember while i am feeling tired that the lord is blessing us and many people will come to know the truth as a result of our service! Hermana Maldonado is great! We are working very hard and I love the area here! There is lots to do! The gospel that Jesus Christ established has been restored to the earth. Nothing makes me more happy than to share this message with the world and the people around me on these streets here in Ogden! 

Dios nos ama.

Hermana Egan

Week 61

Ogden Temple Open House

Hermana Maldonado 1st day biking (she fell in a hole)

Last day in Clearfield with Luciana and Julie

I love serving in Ogden! It is so different from all my other areas! It is so fun to walk around on the streets and there is people selling tacos and bands playing in the park I love it! I love my new companion Hermana Maldonado! She is from Spain and a great missionary! We work really well together! and we only speak spanish because she doesn't understand english yay! all day every day only time i speak english is in missionary meetings once a week it is so great I am learning so much! We also live with a senior missionary couple in our ward from columbia. They are the nicest ever and they are super involved in the missionary work and they help us with whichever thing! Living in this house is so different from all other places i have lived on my mission I am part of a spanish family here we are always with the fonsecas and they are the best! We are also biking and we have a huge area and it is really hot but it is really fun! and it is really good we are biking because the fonsecas want to feed us 5 times a day and always give us our favorite things. We had our first day of the temple yesterday! It was great to be in the temple but it was exhausting after 5 hours and that was just the first day! :o I am excited for this transfer I feel that I am in a new mission. Faith can influence any number of circumstances. Jacob 4:4-7

Hermana Egan 

Week 60

 Our Ward Mission Leader and his family in Clearfield branch.

Hermana Thomas (return missionary)

Bountiful Temple with Johnny, ezzy and our bishop.

Transfers are tomorrow! I am so sad to leave everyone that I love here and this golden area but I am super excited to go to mt Lewis in Ogden! It is a Spanish ward instead of a branch and my new companion will be Hermana Maldonado who is from Spain and doesn't know English! Yay I am so excited she will help me so much! I also got a new calling as a media specialist I will still be a sister training leader but just do both so I will be dealing with all the problems with our iPads and technology in the mission but they do more good than not. I know God has given us these tools to hasten the work. I think I will be able to get permission to come back to clearfield to go to the temple with Carolina because we have that planned next week! I also may be able to come back for the baptisms of the people we are teaching now because I am so close and president has been giving permission lately so hopefully I can still come back to clearfield soon I really have loved this place! And the temple open house in Ogden starts next week! I am excited we are going on Sunday to be trained for it! Mission life is crazy good and I am excited for new happenings in Ogden! I know there are people waiting there. I know that God is our Heavenly Father that He knows us and loves us. We lived with him before this life we are here to learn and grow and He is waiting for us to return to live with Him again. He has prepared the perfect plan so that we are able to do it and He has given us our Savior Jesus Christ who makes it possible. I know this is true and it makes me so happy. 

Hermana Egan 

Week 59

This week was great! We have been finding a lot of new people to teach! We met a man who was really nice but didn't seem that promising but we made a return appointment anyway and when we went back we met his wife who is super prepared to hear the gospel! We love teaching her! We also were visiting former investigators from last year and we found a couple who are willing to take the lessons again. One of them has a baptismal date for this Saturday so we are praying a lot for her and going every single day to make sure she is ready. The temple open house is in two weeks! We are so excited! Transfers is next week I really hope I stay again but who knows because we have both been here together for 4 and a half months and we both want to stay! This morning we hiked up the mountain and did our studies there. It was super spiritual and awesome! I was so happy we hiked by a really pretty waterfall. 

Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. 

Hermana Egan 

Week 58

Los milagros pasa! So many miracles tonight! We had a super powerful lesson with a woman who knows the church is true and wants to be baptized but her family doesn't want her to be baptized. We asked her if she believed that Jesus Christ healed the sick if she believed that Jesus Christ performed miracles when he was on the earth. She said yes and we testified to her that if she does what he has asked and is baptized that God will soften the hearts of her family so that she will be able to. She wants to be baptized on the 19th! The spirit was super strong we found another woman today and in the beginning she was really doubtful and kind of saying no but after we gave our testimonies she agreed to have us come back and we are going to teach her whole family. We set up a lot of lessons today and it was so great! Also Carolina who was just baptized told us that her friend wants to take the lessons and be baptized the only problem is we need to wait a couple weeks until she comes back from California. The Ogden temple is opening next months so in a couple weeks we will be serving and helping out there yay! Today I am grateful for my family. God has given us families to bless us. I know that through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ we can have an eternal family we can be together forever and live with our Heavenly Father again. 

3 Nephi 13:19 

Hermana Egan 

Week 57

Carolina was baptized on Saturday and everyone was so happy! I love her and her mom so much! The baptism was super spiritual and my face was hurting from smiling so much. Carolina has changed completely in the beginning when her mom was baptized she told her no not Mormon I don't want to be Mormon ew no and now she is bringing her non member friends to church and telling them her testimony of why she got baptized. We are planning to go to the temple with her next weekend! Bishop Eckert was so happy and he told us that we have done a great and marvelous wonder here in the ward. I love the clearfield 20th ward so much. The members are all excited about the work and between us and the elders there have been so many baptisms almost every single week! Heavenly Father has been blessing the ward so much and with the success we have been having there has been opposition also. We had a super spiritual correlation meeting where there was a lot of conflict but it ended with the spirit and all the members realizing that the contention was from the devil and he is here working too because he knows the potential that his ward has and all the good that is coming. I love being a missionary! So many miracles every day! 

God loves us. 

Hermana Egan 

Week 56

We are so excited for everything coming up! Missionary work is so exciting! 

Everything is ready for Carolina's baptism on Saturday! We are so excited for her! We had an amazing lesson with her and her mom. Her mom is a recent convert and is so happy for her daughter who has finally made this decision. We were talking in the lesson about how God answers our prayers and we were showing Carolina all the ways that god has blessed her and answered her prayers when her mom shared the most powerful testimony. We were all almost crying she told how you prayed every night that God would soften Carolina's heart and that she would come to church and want to be baptized and how she knows that God has finally answered her prayer. We have another lesson with them tomorrow at the bishops house and we are so excited! 

Tonight we are doing an MTC for the members of the ward to help them to feel better prepared missionaries and to be more engaged in the work this is the second one that we have done and the first one was a success every one was having fun and learning a lot and we had the members doing role plays and everything. It is a great way to work with the members and gain their trust. We are planning on doing it once a week every Tuesday night. 

I love being a missionary! 

God loves us and is involved in our lives. He wants to bless us. We need to have faith and act upon it sacrificing and we will see miracles. I know this is true and it makes me so happy. 

Hermana Egan 

Week 55

Many miracles this week! Heavenly Father is blessing us! This sunday we arrive at church 15 minutes before it starts and we see Carolina's mom but not Carolina. I was so sad we went and talked to her mom and she told us that she didn't get out of bed and that she wasn't coming. We decided to leave to go to her house and go get her. When we ring the doorbell she opened right up all ready for church and said oh yeah of course i am going i was just about to leave! we were so happy! and she was wearing the dress we gave her because she told us she has nothing to wear. Not only did she come to church but she brought a non member friend with her and that night we had a lesson with both of them and Carolina is so excited for her baptism and the friend is coming too! We finally made contact with a golden referral that we received from 2 different people but could never find them home and we have a lesson tomorrow and she is interested and wants to learn more so we are so excited! We had another first lesson last night and invited Edwardo to be baptized and he knows that he needs to and he is now preparing! Heavenly Father has been blessing us with more people to teach and they are coming from no where! I am so grateful! This week has been great! and I am so excited for this transfer! I know that God loves us. He loves us with a perfect love that never changes.

Hermana Egan

oh and humberto the recent convert who we went to the temple with has been going out with the missionaries and sharing his testimony with everyone and now he is going to baptized someone on saturday because they ask that he is the one to baptize them! ahhhh we were so happy and excited!!!!!!! he is the best and there every sunday super early and same with johnny and he is still planning and preparing to serve a mission! yay for super awesome recent converts!

Week 54

WE ARE BOTH STAYING AND WE ARE SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!! We thought one of us would leave because we have been together for 3 months but why not make it 5! YAY! I love it here in the south it is so fun and there are a lot of hispanics! I love a new transfer a fresh and new start with renewed obedience and diligence. I love goal setting, repenting, and changing! I love our mission president! He gave a very powerful testimony about change and repentance at the leadership meeting yesterday. One thing that he said that I love was if you have a reputation for something, change it! We preach this every day but it was what we all need to hear. We can change with Christ. He gives us strength and I know that is true because He has strengthened me. Here is Humberto at the temple! I don't have the picture with us and the fellow shippers because my camera wasn't working but here he is! It was a great day to be able to go to the temple and for his first time after his baptism! I love the temple and I know that it is the house of the Lord. We are so close to God there and can feel His spirit. 

It is another great day in the Utah Ogden Mission!

Hermana Egan

Week 53

On sunday our past investigator randomly showed up to church smiling so big in her hot pink dress! I was so shocked and so happy. for those of you that don't know the the first half hour of church your heart is pumped so hard and you are waiting anxiously and nervously to see if all of the people you are teaching are really going to show up or not. and its that long at least in the hispanic wards because they are always late. but anyways when she came in i wanted to cry we were teaching her a month ago and i love her so much. She wants to change her life and she reads the scriptures and prays every night and she told us it always makes her feel good. but the thing holding her back from baptism was going to church it was really hard for her for a few reasons so we ended up dropping her because she wasn't coming. but she told us when she was in church that we need to start coming again to teach her. and we had a lesson that sunday night with her and she is willing and ready now to change and sacrifice all of her fears. She says that she wants to come to church every sunday and she has the baptismal date for the 28th of June now! She is so excited we made her a paper that says the 28th and she has it on her mirror to remind her of the promise she is going to make with Jesus Christ and to reminds her to read and pray. I love her so much and transfers are next week. If I leave here I will be so sad not to be there and I love it here so much! I want to stay forever! I love Hermana Vergara too and I hope we stay together but it has been 3 months so who knows. I can testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses our lives. No matter what we have to sacrifice and change to follow Jesus Christ we will be happier with the blessings that He has for us rather than the things that we think will make us happy. He knows us better. There is true happiness in righteousness and obedience to God's commandments. Pray for an opportunity to serve someone today then look for it, act and serve! You will be even happier! 

Hermana Egan

Week 52

We found a new investigator this week that we are so excited to teach! We found him when we were visiting the members and we started with all the families that we did not recognize the names off the ward list and this one we visited wasn't a member but had just moved in and he wants to be baptized! I know that God guided us to find that man it was such a miracle! I am so grateful to be serving with Hermana Vergara! I love her! I know that our companions that we serve with are inspired of God. It has been a hard week and a spiritual one! I know that we will face opposition when we follow Jesus Christ but we will feel God and His spirit with us as we are faithful. The gospel of Jesus Christ makes me so happy every day! I am grateful to have this opportunity to serve as a full time missionary! I have learned that we really are the happiest when we are serving others and when we forget about ourselves! 

Hermana Egan

Week 51

Johnny and Humberto's Baptism (Humberto on left)

Johnny and Humberto were both baptized on saturday and Humberto told us after that he felt his heart pounding so much of the spirit of God! We were so happy they were both confirmed on sunday during our ward conference and humberto has already been ordained a priest and has a temple recommend and we are planning on going this saturday with him! and Johnny will get his this week also! Johnny wants to serve a mission and we are so excited for him! The members here are great and are helping us a lot! Especially Bishop Eckert he is great! Right now we are finding as always and we have been having lessons with the members this week and have been teaching the restoration so we are hoping to see fruits from this but as of now we are continuing on! Hermana Vergara is great we have been having a lot of ups and downs and spiritual experiences and I love her! I have been telling people I am from mexico and some of them believe me! hahaha I tell them the colonies which is where there are white people. Being a missionary is so fun! and hard too but so fun! I have seen God's spirit change people this week! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom on earth. 

Hermana Egan

Week 50

4 more days for johnny and humberto! we are so excited for them! and johnny told us last night that he wants to serve a mission i was so happy i wanted to cry. life is good and hard. and I love my mission president, President Hiers, you can see Christ through him and in his eyes I am so grateful to serve with him. Hermana Vergara is great and so funny every day is a new funny story of joy and heart break. I love being a missionary! Our water went out this morning and my whole body is so sore but i love it i need to work out a lot harder now that i am no longer on bikes i decided. I love the members here and we are becoming good friends. 

 I love the scriptures and I know that God talks to us through his words. 

For ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace: 

the mountains and the hills shall break before you into singing 

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

Isaiah 55:12 

There are lots of anti people here and each time we find them is when i feel the holy ghost testifying so powerfully of truth. 

Yesterday there was such a crazy lady but God gave me quiet and happy peace even while she was attacking us. 

God is always with us. I know that.

Hermana Egan

Week 49

After we emailed last week we got a phone call that we needed to move out by the next morning and we didn't know why but we only had a one hour left of p day to pack and we had lessons all night starting at 6 so we ran around and packed so fast and we left the next morning and it wasn't until then when we found out why and we were moving to another house in syracuse because we are going to be covering the spanish branch in syracuse now in addition to our ward in Clearfield. We are so excited!!! This is the first time we have covered more than one branch or that i have heard of anyone doing that in the spanish program so it has been very crazy. our area is huge and we have been so busy! We are pink washing the syracuse branch so now is our second pink wash in a row so there is lots to do! and the sisters that I have covered have completely changed also so i am sad because i loved them and the people they were teaching but now i am excited to meet all the new ones! that is how it goes! We have two solid investigators of pure gold that will be baptized next week and they make me so happy! They are reading the book of mormon every day and praying. I love them both but we are doing so much finding especially in the new area because there were no investigators the elders were teaching! The Lord has blessed us so much here in Clearfield and now we just need to start again in syracuse!
Moroni 7:33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

Hermana Egan

Week 48

Today was transfers and me and Hermana Vergara are both staying the area! We are so happy! I love this area and our investigators! We have 2 who will be baptized in a couple weeks and I love them so much! On sunday we went to salt lake for a regional conference with one of the apostles, Neil A. Anderson, and we had two investigators there! They loved it and were able to see salt lake after! There is a returned missionary in our ward who helps us a lot and he has helped us to improve our teaching a lot. I have learned so much I feel like I have just started being a missionary but then you can see how far you have come and realize that must have taken time. I am so grateful today for the scriptures, for the prophets who have written them, and for all the people who have sacrificed, even their lives, so that we can have them in our hands today. They are sacred and they are god's words to us. I love the scriptures. God talks to us through his words. God has given us so much. What a nice life we have here.

LES QUIERO!!!

Hermana Egan

Week 47

Next tuesday is transfers but considering i was 9 months in logan i think i will die here so i feel pretty safe but you never know. The white people here keep telling me I have an accent lately. One said I have a hispanic accent and some say it is from pennsylvania who knows but it is pretty funny. This sunday we have a regional conference in Salt Lake City and we are so excited because our investigators are going to come and we are going to show them temple square and the christ and everything! yay! also everyone in the ward is talking about giving the whole area to us! We are gong to be so happy! right now there are elders here to in the north but our president and ward mission leader says that everyone wants the sisters and not the elders so they are going to call president so they can get rid of the barrier of areas and we will have it all! who knows if that really happens but wooooo that would be so great! hermana vergara is hilarious we are always laughing it is so fun! i love it here! last transfer was sad a lot and lots of crying but this transfer has been fun and funny! we have really funny investigators we love them so much! the only problem is two of them didn't come to church so they lost their baptismal dates we are going to push them back because we do not feel they are ready so that was really sad because they were both going to be baptized this saturday but we will need to give them new dates. anyways everything is great here in clearfield time is going by so fast it has been so crazy this transfer was a day. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! and easter was great i love the holidays because the people are always more willing to hear about Jesus. I know that He lives and because of Him we can all be free and happy! 

Love, Hermana Egan

Week 46

It is so fun to be a missionary! But we actually have no time today oops! so this will be very short! This week we found an awesome new investigator! He used to be a little gangster he told us but he wants to change his life and he is willing to change and learn more! He is so great and we are so excited to teach him! When we went to visit Jose we found out he was smoking which is so sad but we know he can do it but he only has 4 more days to make it to his baptismal date to be a week clean so we are praying a lot for him but he is our favorite person ever! We have been doing tons of finding and finding lots of great people to teach! All the hard things that we do and that happen to us are for our experience and will be for our good! How good to know I read that in the scriptures today! The scriptures are so good we should all read them even more! They teach us everything! and they speak to us and were written for us! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Hermana Egan

Week 45

Conference was so great! I loved it! We had an investigator who was going to come to a session in salt lake and we had tickets but they cancelled the night before we were so sad so we didn't go to salt lake but we planned to watch each one of the other sessions at a different investigators house and they all cancelled except for one and the one that didn't cancel is a single man so we were bringing a woman with us so we could go in and the member cancelled so we couldn't watch it with him. but the great thing was he watched it on his own!!! we were so happy and he loved it! I love this new area this transfer is going by so fast and there is so much to do! Yesterday we met the most awesome and prepared person ever her name is micah and we taught her the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ on her porch and invited her to get baptized on the 29th of april and she said yes! and she was so excited! me and hermana vergara were so amazed after it was crazy she is the best person ever! the only thing is we went to her house because the neighbors told us they were hispanic but she ended up being polynesian but we taught her and the elders were super happy! so that is great! sometimes people run away when they see us coming here it is a little funny and a little sad. This is something that I loved from conference:

Truth is always opposed. Why did they not let Jesus alone? Because He is the truth. I was thinking about Jesus The Christ and all the outrageous things that happened to our Savior and they stand as a testimony of Him. We can use the opposition we feel and the temptations as a motivation because We know that it is the adversary and that he is trying to rob us of the truth. I loved it. 

Les Quiero!!!!!!!

Hermana Egan

Week 44

HOLA QUE TAL. This week has been fantastic! and I am starting to love this area as we are finding more and more people here! These first couple weeks we have been working a lot with the members and last week we met with a returned missionary in our ward who was an AP in his mission and who wanted to help us. He was great! after he helped us we had tons of ideas to find more people and i was so excited! We decided to go through the list and do every single thing and we knew that we would find if we did. Now we are a good ways through the list and we have already found a few solid investigators! We are so excited! Yesterday at the dinner we shared the message with the family and asked who they had in mind during the lesson. The mom told us a name of one of their neighbors and later the mom got up and left and the dad came and then he told us the same name seperately. We decided we better go to that house in that moment so we went right after the dinner and the young women was just getting home at that time. We taught the lesson and invited her to be baptized and she accepted a date for april 26th. Her mom is a recent convert and she says that she wants to be baptized because she has seen the change in her mom. She is super ready and prepared and she wants to come closer to God. We didn't do anything it was such a miracle! and I am so thankful for inspired members! I love the members! and I love spanish! Hermana Vergara helps me so much and I feel more confident in the language then ever before! She is a great helper and companion! Another one of our investigators came to church on sunday! He is old and can't hear very well. During the sacrament he asked me very loud in english "what is the bread for?" and you have to yell to talk to him. he also asked during a song really loud in english, "you can read in spanish??" it was very funny. He speaks both english and spanish but he says he prefers church in spanish. He told us he likes church and is going to come every week. We keep meeting great people who are ready to hear the gospel and there is not enough time in the day to teach them all! We are super busy. that is how i like it but it sure is a vida loca. You should read Doctrine and Covenants 19: 15-20. I know that the atonement of Christ is personal. In order to experience it, we must have courage. Once we have repented and are baptized there is no greater joy then to know that we are made clean through our savior and that we can make it back to our Father. 

Les Quiero a Todos!

Hermana Egan

Week 43

Birthday party from my Logan area (should have been with week 42)

I think I came to another mission! wow everything is so different here! (and actually literally, in the beginning we were so lost that we ended up out of our mission boundaries a couple times because we are right on the border :o) it was definitely a shock to me and especially to find out when we got here that not only are we pink washing but that we are also opening this area because there was no one working it last transfer and there is no one being taught here! the houses are more spread out and the hispanics are mixed in there somewhere and that is the main challenge right now is finding them all. we have been trying lots of different things to do finding and get this area started and going. we have heard crazy stories about the elders that were here before so i guess there is lots and lots to do! the great thing is the members here they are all so excited to finally hacve sisters and they already love us and our willing to help us and they are excited for the missionary work. We have been working a lot with the members here to try to get referrals. The missionaries down here are super great! and they know how to work so i have learned a lot already from our leaders! Me and Hermana Vergara are very different I am finding out but that is good and means there is lots to learn! She is a great teacher and very clear and bold. I love taching with her the challenge right now is getting the lessons! oh and hermana vergara is from mexico and spanish is her first language so we speak spanish all the time and she helps me so much it is such a blessing also the other elders in the ward are both mexican and we all only ever talk in spanish so it is great for me because it helps so much in buena vista we were all gringas (white girls).This has been a crazy week! oh and i did not sleep for the first 5 days of this transfer and I felt like I was hit by a supernova but i kept going somehow like always and now i am sleeping and feel great! I have been studying and thinking a lot about sacrifice today and I know that it is only after we sacrifice that we can recieve more faith and all christlike attributes. The more understanding we have, the happier we are. I love the commandments. The commandments and the laws are a manifestation of Christ and his attributes and they are the way to become more like our Savior and to be HAPPY! I love the gospel of Jesus Christ it is so happy and incredible! I know that we all have the power to change through the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that the power and strength we can recieve is real and wonderful! 

AMOR PAZ GOZO, Hermana Egan

Week 42

HOLA MI FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!!!!! LES QUIERO!!!

I AM LEAVING BUENA VISTA! MY HEART AND SOUL GO OUT TO THIS PLACE. I LOVE IT AND EVERYONE HERE. BUT I AM SO EXCITED TO ADVENTURE SOMEWHERE ELSE AND MEET ALL NEW PEOPLE AND LOVE THEM JUST AS MUCH!!!!!!!!! My new companion is going to be Hermana Vergara! I know her a little but and she is great so I am super excited!!!!!!!! we are also pink washing!!!!!!!!!!(both missionaries are new in the area and before was elders and it is white washed by sisters) which is super fun! and kind of crazy because i white washed(both missionaries are new in the area) this transfer! i am super excited! and i was called to be a sister training leader so i am very excited for that and to be able to serve more missionaries in a new way!!!!! I am so grateful for the time that I have had to serve here. I am so grateful for the experiences and opportunities that my heavenly father gives me everyday. I know he has blessed me with so much charity on my mission, and cannot say that i feel it for every person i meet in the same way but there have been such certain people that i love so purely and it makes it really hard when you are so invested in them but i know that we have made a difference and have helped them. this week we have a few super intense lesson and with a lot of tears but super spiritual and great! there are so many people here that i will miss but there has to be at least someone that i can help down in clearfield! oh that is where i am going did i forget to say that? Clearfield 20th. SOUNDS GREAT! CAN'T WAIT! I feel like my whole mission so far has been one transfer up here in logan! wow the time is running and we have got to run with it! God loves you and hears you! 

PARA SER MISIONERA ES LA MEJOR!!!!!! HOY ES UNA BIA BONITA!!!!!!

con carino,

Hermana Egan

Week 41

GREAT THINGS HAVE HAPPENED!!!!!!!! Caesar Hernandez was baptized on saturday and it was a joyful day for everyone and for the rama Buena Vista! It was the biggest baptism I have seen on my mission. We had to have it in the chapel because there were so many people there! All of his family are super strong members and he was never interested and every one thought that he would never be baptized. Every one was waiting for this day for a very long time. It was so amazing for me to be in this area for so long now because i have been able to see the work that has been done here and the progression and changes of the people. My very first week of the transfer I taught Caesar's son, Larry, and we gave him a book of mormon and he was super awesome! Larry was baptized a few months ago and that was one of the main things that helped his dad to change and soften his heart was the change he saw in Larry that he could not deny. I taught Ceasar when I was in the south and I was so glad that I was only moved right here so I could still be a part of his baptism! Everyone could feel the spirit. The family is super strong and they are converted, it is a miracle. After the baptism his daughter in the bathroom asked me if i taught her dad and with tears in her eyes hugged me and said "you helped my dad, thank you so much." It was so humbling and amazing to know that as missionaries we can be a part of the lords work in bringing salvation to every soul. 

Another miracle is that we are teaching someone named Pili! She is someone that I met when I was serving in the south she is friends with some less actives in the branch and i met her over at there house. she is catholic and when we were teaching she seemed a little uncomfortable because she is very firm in that and uninterested but then a second time when we were visiting them she was there again and i was able to become friends with her and by the end she felt a lot more comfortable with the missionaries and we were all talking and laughing. anyways i felt so good about her the second time even though she didn't seem very interested or promising but i went for it anyways and asked her if we can come visit her and teach her more and she said yes and gave us her address! and she lived in the other area (the north) but then i got transferred up here which i so cool that we are able to teach her!  we have had a couple lessons with her and she is hopefully going to come to the relief society activity on saturday! 

The other miracle is one day this week i was super sick. (the most sick i have been so far on my mission) but I knew that I will still work as hard as I can and not stop or slow down because I have made that decision a long time ago. I never want to waste the lord times and there is no time to waste when it comes to the salvation of souls! but anyways, we went out and i tried my best not to look or act sick or miserable. the miracle is we taught amazing lessons that night! and during the lesson while we were teaching i felt the spirit working through us and i did not feel sick at all i felt light and happy and great! and we were able to teach wonderfully! then as soon as we left and the door closed the sickness hit me again immediately. It was a manifestation that i was not feeling better by natural causes or because i was simply better but that heavenly father had blessed me with health to be able to do what i needed to for His work and the re-occurring sickness in between appointments was a blessing in itself (even though i definitely did not see so at the time) to be able to recognize god's hand and help. 

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. His atonement is a real power that we receive after our action and repentance. He has healed me. I cannot explain the pain that I had and the joy that I have to know that, I have sinned, but that I can become clean and pure through my Savior and that I can live with my God again. It requires something of our souls to know God and to feel Christ's atonement. It is not easy to repent, but there is no greater peace and joy. I know this because I have experienced it and have felt Christ's redeeming love, and it has changed me. I know that I can always change with Jesus Christ and can become a little more like Him each day. 

sigue adelante con fe!

Hermana Egan