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