Week 36

HOLA BUENAS DIAS!!!!!!!!

TRANSFERS: I need to pack for the first time in my whole mission for 8 months. I am going to miss this house and this area and all the people in it who I have known for so long so much. BUT THE AMAZING THING IS I AM STILL STAYING IN THE BUENA VISTA BRANCH!!!!!!!!!! I COULD NOT BE MORE HAPPY RIGHT NOW! I am going to where Hermana Gaines was and she is leaving! I will miss her so much but hermana tolman is staying in our area! which is a great thing because if there is anyone that i trust it is her to care for our people and bring them to the gospel and to church where i can still see all of them! No one saw this coming. The other crazy thing is that I am getting another companion from ogden, Hermana Arnell. so we are white washing the area (two new missionaries in an area) so that is always hard because i dont know any of the people there but we do have an advantage because i know all of the members in the branch and they can all still come with us everyday so that is excellent!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY TO STAY IN THE BRANCH! and I already know hermana arnell and i am so excited to be companions with her! she came out at the same time as me! and i already love her! and hermana tolman will still be in the branch and we can still be with all the recent converts and take care of everyone! yay! we are so happy! I am so excited for a fresh start and for the first move I have ever had! ahhhh!!!!!!! so exciting! and we will be living with a member know but we already know her from the other sisters and we love her! we have a car in the new area but as long as hermana arnell is okay with it i think we will give it to the elders but we will see!!! 

okay i am reading the book Jesus the Christ right now. It is so amazing. Everything that I read in Christ's life applies to ours! it is amazing how that is true with the scriptures it really is! I will tell one story but this has happened so much! okay we were on our way biking to a dinner and hermana tolman goes down. i just hear it and see her slide completely twisted and down on the road under her bike. miraculously she was fine. but you can see the fender damage in the picture. so we tried to brake it off because she cant keep riding with it like that but we need a screwdriver. we are already going to be late and then for all of our appointments that night. a car drives by us and then another one. I say to hermana tolman wow this is just as the good samaritan we just need to wait for the good one. literally as i said this the third car pulls over. super weird y great! he asks what we are doing out here. we told him we are missionaries!!! and asked if he has ever talked to missionaries before! it turns out he has! he also has the screwdriver and is fixing the bike as we are talking...great! it turns out he is catholic which is hilarious because we joked that it was the two mormons who drove by us first without stopping. he said the missionaries used to come a long time ago but he would always send them away because he was too busy but he says he feels bad and he hopes that wasnt rude because now he thinks he is more ready to learn and he said that he is actually really interested in our religion and the church! miracle! so we got his address and turns out he is in the north part of the branch so we gave the referral to the north sisters hermana gaines y allen and they have visited him once but now i am going up north and can teach him! i am very excited! so many things had to happen for us to meet him it was such a miracle!!!!!!! I am so grateful for this last transfer I had with hermana tolman I know that we have done good work here and that we have done a lot of sowing seeds. I feel great and there were so many miracles and blessings! and I am excited for a new start tomorrow with sister arnell!!! 

God is merciful. Every experience that happens to us is because of his mercy. Our trials our to save us. My weaknesses are to make me humble. My hard times and problems are to help me apply the gospel of Jesus Christ and become closer to my father in Heaven. My sins so i can learn repentance. When we do not understand everything in the scriptures it is because of the mercy God has for us so that we will be accountable for what we are ready to learn. I love God's perfect plan for us. I have given my life to Him. I have complete faith and trust in Him. I am so grateful for his endless mercy and forgiveness. I love repentance and I love when I can recognize my sins so that I can begin to overcome them. It is such a blessing. I love the commandments and I am so grateful for the way to joy and happiness that God has clearly and plainly given freely to us. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the son of the only true and living God. I testify of Him in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

Love, Hermana Egan 

Week 35

this week i learned to always do our part in the work and if something doesn't work out dont be sad because it is not suppose to. this week we have been focusing on getting members to lessons we set a goal to have 20 of our lessons this week with members present (this was a super high goal for our mission but we made it and got exactly 20 we were so happy!) but anyways the point is everyday we are calling lots of the members to find who can come! we were trying to get a member to come to a lesson we had with miguel and we tried 3 or 4 different members and no one could do it we were really frustrated until we ran out of time and had to go so we couldnt get a member the lesson was our first one after dinner. right after we went into dinner they called and cancelled. then it made sense why we couldnt get a member. so that made sense to me and that was enough and then it was even a greater plan or blessing then i could see. our dinner was with blanca and lorena our recent converts and my favorite family ever! towards the end of the dinner lorenas non member friend comes over. because miguel cancelled we could have a lesson with her right then and if we got a member and miguel cancelled we would have toward the member the address of our back up and we would have had to rush to bike to meet them right after and couldnt had had the lesson. it was such a miracle to me! the lesson was so amazing! she was super receptive and prepared to hear the gospel and she felt the spirirt the next day was la noche de talentos en la rama and we invited her to come to the activity and not only did she come but she danced and performed in the show with lorena y blanca! we have had three lessons with her since and she is so amazing we are so excited to teach her and she already has the best fellowships ever! I know that heavenly father always has a plan for us. We cannot understand but if we trust with faith we can accomplish his purposes. I love the gospel! and i love the scriptures they change me every time i read them and it is a blessing to recognize my sins and know the next thing i must work on to overcome! la noche de talentos was so much fun! i cannot describe the heart spirirt and devotion of this branch. the members magnify their calling. they are all willing to help. and the devotion and generosity is unbelievable. it was a talent show we had but it was also for la obra misional and every one brought non members friends it was so well organized they had tons of movies and pamplets and book of mormons and in between every talents they talked about the gospel and talents and the different organizations of the church and it was so perfect fun and spiritually uplifting this branch knows how to have activites and how to work i love them so much! then after the activity i told hermana morales and hermano morales that it was perfect and incredible. and only said there is always something that we can improve we try to make one thing better each time so we can always progress and they told me the things that they are going to change for next time. they are such an example to me! i love them! on sunday during the sacrament meeting i could not stop smiling because i felt so much joy and peace the spirit so strong and so much gratitude to be serving right here. I know that this is Jesus Christ's church on the earth. and I am so grateful to be his servant at this time!

Que tengan un buenisima semana y predicad el evangelio!

Hermana Egan

Mas fotos de la noche de talentos

Week 34

For the first time yet we taught la trinidad (the godhead) in a public bathroom stall. teaching everywhere we go! (the lady cleaning in there was hispanic) okay members, you are amazing! help the missionaries! and go teach with them because they need you! we have been teaching a family of non members but they have family who is members who live up stairs who are inactive. when we are downstairs teaching the member upstairs always comes downstairs and we try to talk to him but he usually makes up an excuse and runs out the door. we have tried knocking upstairs a couple times but there was no answer. one time we go with hermano morales and after the downsatirs visit he says lets try upstairs too. as soon as hermano morales start starting to them they say pasenle, pasenle! (come in) of course. and we had a super spirirtual amazing lesson and they both commit to come to church on sunday! sure enough on sunday there they were! there are people you teach for many weeks and say each time they will come and never do. for this family it only took one lesson with a member they were so ready to come back they were just waiting for someone to ask them! it was so incredible since then we have had a family home evening with them and another family and they are super ready to learn lots more and be super involved! i love them so much they are so fun! i love being a missionary! so many funny things happen everyday but so many miracles at the same time! I testify that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and that he died for you personally. That if you were the only person on this earth he would have come and the pain he felt was because of your sins and because he loved you. If Christ had not come to save us, we could never be forgiven of our sins or live with god again and he would never even live again after we died. The power of the atonement of Jesus Christ is real it is something that you can feel and receive every day of your life. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I am humbled and grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a representative of Him. 

Hermana Egan

Week 33

HOLA!!!!!!!

this is the posters we made for hermano morales the best ward mission leader ever!!!!!!! i love this branch with everything i am!!!! i never want to leave!!!!!! we know every single member and every thing about them and i love them each so much!!!!!!!!!! the members are incredible they trust us and love us and our eager to work with us! they will all help out in any way that they possibly can and it is so humbling because they are all in need themselves but they will give anything that they do have. the branch is on fire!!!! we saw numbers on sunday for this last week and the numbers are better than they ever have been and everyone i so excited!!!!!!! once you get something going it just keeps going and the spirit spreads to everyone!!!!! 

we had a lesson with flori and stephanie and as soon as we sat down they told us that they dont want to get married anymore and if they do they want to wait a couple years. :o we said okay lets start with a prayer and we will talk about it. by the end of the lesson flori had already left to go get the marriage papers!!!!! we left even before we could leave! this was such a great experience for us to teach us the power of the word of god and the spirit of the lord. There is no way that two girls 19 and 20 could convince all of these people to get married and be baptized and change all these things about their life. It is the power of the spirit and the power of the truth and only that. It is so amazing! It is really easy to doubt ourselves and to feel that we cannot do it sometimes but if we have the faith the holy spirit can soften any heart! it is so incredible!

right now i am reading Jesus The Christ. I am only about a fourth of the way done and it is already sooooo amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! i love it so much and every one who hasnt yet must read it!!!!!! in one of the chapters that i have read this week it was talking about when christ scattered the merchants out of the temple and how they all left but why did they leave and none of them asked by what authority jesus had to do it. it says because sin is weakness. this is the truth. righteousness will always have power over sin. sin is weakness and when we sin we know that we are wrong. when we are obedient to gods commandments we are strong and we are confident. nothing can take us down when we are with god and well with him. I love the commandments of God. I cannot imagine if we did not have them we would be so lost. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth today and the only one. The church has been restored exactly as it was when Christ organized it himself. I am so grateful to be a member of His church and to have this opportunity to represent my Savior and preach the gospel!!!!!!!!!!! 

Hermana Egan 

Week 32

My new companion - Hermana Tolman

WE ARE HAVING A BODA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(wedding) ohhhh i have never been so happy after a lesson we felt like we were floating around on our bikes so happily! one of the less actives we visit, and one of our best friends, who really isnt all that less active anymore, really pretty much active! :D, had her baby at 3 in the morning on new years day!!!!!!!!!! it was the first born baby in all of cache valley for 2014 so they won a bunch of diapers or something i think! Her boyfriend is a non member and we had had one lesson with him before, Floriberto, and he is so prepared to hear the gospel it is amazing! after our first lesson he told us that he wants to change his life and he is ready to do it! so we went to go to the hospital to visit stephanie after she had her baby and flori was there too! we were just going to give her a gift and visit her but we ended up teaching the plan of salvation!!!!!! I have never taught the plan of salvation as amazing and spiritual as this. There was their hour old baby laying next to us who had just left her father in heaven to come down to earth! Flori was so open and eager to learn and the whole time he kept saying "wow i never knew this before" we told him that he needs to get baptized to live with his father in heaven again and that we are here to help him. his response was "lets do it!" now if only everyone said this... but it was sooo amazing!!!!!!! we also told them that they must be living all the commandments before he gets baptized and that they must be living the law of chastity and they must get married. they said that they know that they need to be married but they just never got around to doing it! we told them we can help!!!!!! and we are having the boda in two weeks!!!!!! and flori is going to be baptized the week after!!!!!!!! the whole branch is so excited for them!!!!!! they also want to be married in the temple and they know that that is their goal to be married for eternity so that they can be together after this life!  THEEENNN... yesterday we taught rigoberto, (it is all about the bertos) and he and his girlfriend are in the exact same situation and they want to be married and rigo wants to be baptized!!!!!!!!! we were wondering what in the world is happening and where all the miracles are coming from but everyone knows that the church is true and everyone wants to be baptized!!!!!!!! so incredible!!!!!!!! and rigo wants to be married in the temple and be sealed and he didnt know that he needs to be married first then baptized then married in the temple hahaha but we are here to help him and we know he can do it!!!!!!!!!! we have found so many new hispanics to teach lately!!!!! we dont even know where they all come from but we meet so many new people every day it is so fun!!!! the sad thing is when their are controlling husbands that has happened a lot lately when the wife knows it is true and wants to be baptized but she cant because her husband wont let her join the church so sad. but we found this other golden person named santos and we taught the restoration! i think i have taught the restoration more this transfer then i have my whole mission!!!!! we made the goal when we started to find new investigators and talk to every person we ever see and the lord has definitely blessed us with success!!!!!!!!!!! the hard part is narrowing it down to the those who are really ready for the gospel right now! and knowing who we must focus on! and oh my goodness yesterday was the most incredible lesson with another new family we had met the daughter before but never the mom! the daughter is so cute i love her so much and she kept saying i look so familiar but i dont think i know her! but i love them! yesterday we brought one of our recent converts to the lesson and oh my goodness there is no secret to missionary work but if there was it would be to bring a recent convert to every lesson! she was so amazing! and said all the right things and the exact things we were going to teach but she didnt even know what we were going to do it was incredible! they are already best friends!!!!!!! and by the end of the lesson she was asking us for a book of mormon instead of us giving it to her!! when the missionaries say something the investigator always says "but i have a question" and then when the member says something the investigator is always like "ohhh yeah i see what youre saying" IT IS AMAZING! ME ENCANTA LOS MIEMBROS!!!!!!!(i love the members) if you are a member go to all the lessons with the missionaries and share your testimony and help these people because they need you and if you are not a member then what are you waiting for you need to talk to the missionaries pronto! 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!

FELIZ DIA DE LOS REYES MAGOS AYER!

HERMANA EGAN

Week 31

we dont have very much time because things are closed for the holidays so we all need to share but yesterday such a miracle was given to us we have been praying to find new families and new investigators because we have just dropped a lot of them that have not been progressing and we have found so many people! every single day we find at least three new investigators everyday we arent really sure what to do with all of them!  but anyways yesterday was so amazing!!!! there was a car a couple days ago who were just rolling down their window and talking to us because we are missionaries and we asked them if they knew where any hispanics are and they told us a few apartment numbers so we knocked all of them and none of them answered (thank goodness so that we could get to the last one) and the last door we knocked was the cutest most amazing family from puerto rico. the mom is so amazing and she is a professor at utah state. oh my goodness as soon as we met them we knew that they were super prepared to hear the gospel. the mom is super educated and so nice and she has such a strong testimony of christ and god already! she is amazing! then she told us about the vision she had when she was in puerto rico which is the reason that they moved here. she had a vision and there were the letters of utah in big letters spelling it out and they were shining so brightly white then she heard a voice that told her to ask her husband if they should move here and when she asked him he felt a burning in his heart of happiness. the spirit was super strong. we told them that we knew that god has sent them hear to utah to hear and find the truth. to find his one true church and we taught them about the restoration. when we invited them to be baptized they said that they already were but we told them that it was not valid because they did not have the authority or the priesthood it was so incredible! and it was so amazing oh my goodness we were so happy after this beaming of joy. heavenly has blessed us so much. his children are ready to hear the gospel! and the baptism of miguel was so great he is such a good spirit. after the baptism he kept saying how good he felt over and over again! everything is so happy! I love the gospel of Jesus Christ- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know this is the kingdom of God and earth and that it is the only true church which the fullness of the gospel. 

AMOR AMOR AMOR,

HERMANA EGAN 

Week 30

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!! I am so happy!!! I have never had so much fun! I love being with Hermana Tolman! we are already best friends! and we are still riding our bikes around and talking to every person we ever see even the ones that we think are hispanic who really arent but then they can lead us to where they really are! Miguel is finally being baptized on saturday! and he is so happy! He is so incredible! The first time that he walked into an lds church building he started crying because he could feel the spirit! and he memorizes everything that the missionaries give him to read! He wanted to be baptized a while ago but him and his girlfriend were not married and now they are so that he can be baptized! it is so amazing! It is so fun to be a missionary at christmas! everyone gives us stuff and then we give it away to everyone else and they are so happy! people give things to the missionaries but we dont need anything but all of our investigators do! so it is great! there have been SO many miracles this week! it is so great to have a fresh start! everything has been so funny lately but amazing! a couple days ago we had a lesson with a man who could see or hear very well and hermana tolman asked him to say the prayer and then we all sat with our arms folded and eyes closed for a minute straight then hermana tolman said the prayer. i had to try so hard not to laugh. and we have found so many new people to teach! we made a goal to talk to every hispanic we see anywhere no matter what the circumstance or how far away or awkward it may be and we have met so many people because we are actually doing it! I am so grateful for this time we have to celebrate our saviors birth! everyone is more nice and more open to hearing the gospel it is so wonderful! i think i have never been happier than when our branch went caroling together a few nights ago! nothing else feels that good! the whole branch running in the snow to the next house with cookies and a keyboard and jingle bells and everyone is so happy and cold and throwing snow and laughing and the people we visit are so happy to have the spirit brought to them and they feel so special it is so fun! i love everything! feliz navidad!!!!!!!!!!

hermana egan