Week 39

This week has been hard! and great! we have done more contacting and finding here then i have my whole mission, we do it every day, and there is a lot of rejection. which i am grateful for that. The prophets were stoned and cast out, and the Savior himself was rejected when he came to the earth. I am grateful to feel a tiny piece of that, but it is so different from our last area because there we were teaching lessons all day each day. I have learned a lot, and have changed a lot. Hermana Arnell is super awesome, she is such a powerful missionary and we have had some of the coolest experiences together this week. Not a lot of clear success but a lot of seeds and definitely a lot of spirit. I cannot explain how much I love each person we meet, talk to, and teach. I love them so much and for that it is very hard and very sad sometimes. We have had a lot of fun too. I am really grateful for fun and all fun things we have been given in this life. I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time in this place. I am grateful for my weaknesses so that i can build and grow and learn. I know that we are all struggling. We do not need to feel alone or sad about our mistakes, weaknesses, or sins. We only need to look forward to Christ and never look back. Change a little more now and help someone else because we have struggled too. Sometimes people think that we are missionaries and are perfect or holy or something but when we share experiences of when we really did struggle the people can connect to us and see that we are normal humans like them, and i think this can help everyone. I think we need to admit our struggles first to be able to change them. and most of the time a lot of us struggle with the same things. and it goes both ways, sometimes i feel inadequate to be able to help some people or some of the members here who are super strong and active. they seem that way but they are struggling just like me and all of us. my eyes have been opened a lot this transfer to a lot of issues and even just reality and i have learned more of how important the spirit is. The spirit has told me things that i could have never known on my own and for that i was able to help when i myself wouldn't have. 

Hermana Egan

Week 38

My new companion - Hermana Arnell

Before change I always think I do not want it because everything seems wonderful already, but after the change we can see our growth and what we could not see before. I am so grateful for change and progression and God's plan for us. I have learned this week is that good things do actually keep us from better things. I have learned never to be complacent with where I am with myself or anything. A few days ago I talked to a man who thought he was so super happy that we could not possibly have anything to offer him. This made me very sad, because I knew that his happiness will not last. Then I looked at myself and decided that i need to change even more myself, what we are doing, how we are doing it and everything so that we can be changing every single day and becoming who we can be. Yo estoy muy agradecido por todos los experiencias mi padre celestial me ha dado cada dia y en mi vida. Estoy bien feliz para servir en la Utah Ogden Mision a esto momento!

Con carino, Hermana Egan 

Week37

It is so strange to be in a new area for the first time but still in the branch! It has definitely been hard so far this week, but is has been an exciting challenge! We have no idea who to teach or who anyone is which is so amazing because we have nothing else to influence us we have been led by the spirit so much! It has been great. many funny times to always remember but also some really amazing spiritual ones! last night a grown woman and her two kids were laughing hysterically and even on the floor for a long time because they said my pupil was 'tan grande' so big and theirs were normal and chiquita little. it was a very odd experience. but also i met a non member when i was outisde of our area who lives in our area who is super awesome and that we can teach it was such a miracle how the whole thing worked out. but we are very excited for this transfer! to start things going here! i know that there are many people here that the lord has prepared to hear the gospel we are just still working on finding them! i am so happy to be in the branch because i can still be here to see the baptisms of the people we were teaching! it is so fun to see everyone from my old area on sundays! super great! I know that the prophets have not ceased and that God has not left us and neither will He ever stop to talk to us. There is a prophet of God, Thomas S. Monson, on the earth today. I am so grateful for this knowledge and for the guidance and clarity we receive through the living prophets. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that God spoke to those people also in the ancient americas. I know that He speaks today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church the same he organized himself when he lived that has been restored today through latter-day prophets. I have so much joy to know and to share my joy with other as a missionary! 

Hermana Egan 

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