June 25, 2019

Hey,

This will be my last group email of my mission.  Crazy how fast time is going. I will return the evening of the 4th of July. 

This past week has been a blast. We have done some training with the recently arrived missionaries.  We went on splits.  I was here in Oslo for that.  And we ate some really good Phillipino food and worked at a food bank.  Surprisingly, working at the food bank in 3 hours helps us talk to more people about the Gospel than stopping people on the street all week.  So many miracles in service and putting ourselves out there. 

I have been terrible with writing group emails but I hope from a couple of them, you can read and see how amazing it is to be a missionary.  It is a ton of work but it has changed my life.  I will forever be grateful to be able to serve here in Norway.  I know that God loves us. That Jesus Christ lives.  I know that Joseph Smith did see God and Christ when he prayed.  And I know that by reading in the Book of Mormon and praying that we will get answers to our prayers.  It is always worth trying.  

Da sees vi

Med Vennlig Hilsen

Eldste Egan

June 4, 2019

Hi Family,

This past week has been great. I went on splits in Fredrikstad and saw some of the members. They really know how to treat you like family. We played basketball with about 12 guys around my age. Let's just say basketball is an American sport and we gained a lot of respect.

We had a dinner with a member from the Philippines on Friday. He by far makes some of the best food I have ever had. It's so good but he doesn't use any recipes so when I ask he says he just makes it.  

I am currently on a boat in the middle of Tau and Stavanger. The view is amazing and Priekestolen was way fun. It was super funny to be able to pin point who members where on the hike just by the way the FAMILY looked. But it was also a little funny because my companion and I both didn't shave this morning because we woke up so early so we looked like we had been camping. 

I will fly back to Oslo tomorrow night. Only 6 more flights until I am home. 

I have figured out some good places to eat hopefully for when we come back. 

Love you

Elder Egan

May 21, 2019

Hey everyone!

This past week has been awesome.  To start it off, this week was Norway's Constitution Day which means a day of parades and a billion Norwegian flags.  It was fun to be in the Capitol and to see the king of Norway.  

Norwegian Constitution Day is the national day of Norway and is an official  public holiday observed on May 17th each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai ("seventeenth May")

The Norwegian Constitution Day is very non-military. All over Norway, children's parades with tons of flags form the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands between schools. The parade takes the children through the community, often making stops at homes of senior citizens. The longest parade is in Oslo, where some 100,000 people travel to the city centre to participate in the main festivities. This is broadcast on TV every year with local reports from celebrations around the country. The massive Oslo parade includes some 100 schools, marching bands, and passes the royal palace where the royal family greet the people from the main balcony. 

On Sunday after church, we had a Boodle Fight with many of the members from the Philippines.  Boodle Fight is a delicious meal, not a fight.  This means all the food is put directly on the table over some banana leaves and then you eat everything with your hands.  I have never felt so full from eating in my life. It was delicious. 

My companion and I (Elder Fry) are blessed with a grill in our apartment, the problem is that we haven't had propane so we haven't used it yet.  We went to go fill up the van that we drive with gas and thought might as well try to get propane.  Our old case was a 5 kilogram and we went to go refill it after we paid for a refill of 5 kilograms and they only could refill the 10 kilograms containers so we got an extra 5 kilos of Propane for free.  Blessings because that stuff is expensive!

Transfers are this week and I will be staying another one here in Oslo.  By the end of my mission I will have spent 10 1/2 months in almost the exact same area and the same ward.  

The sun now rises early and doesn't set until late so I feel that dark skies have stopped to exist again!

The work is going great.  I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the miracle of prayer.

Eldste Egan

May 7, 2019

Hey Everyone!

This will be the only email I get off today but we had an amazing week of 2 zone conferences. One of them being in my old area of Stavanger. It is always amazing to be back and to be around the missionaries in the western part of Norway.  We luckily got home on late Wednesday night even though the Pilot Strike was going on. 

We had another amazing zone conference on Friday.  During the middle of it, we look out the chapel windows and see snow falling.  It has gotten cold again here and even though the snow hasn't stuck very much, it still has been happening.   

Good things are happening here in Oslo.  We've had chances to teach this week and we are helping someone prepare to be baptized a little later here in May.  

Time is counting down here in Norway and I am so grateful to be serving here. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and that anyone who reads it and prays WILL receive an answer!

Ha en kjempe fin uke!

Med Vennlig Hilsen,

Eldste Egan

All of April 2019

April 23, 2019
Happy Easter!

This week has been a blast as we have had tons of time to be on the streets.  We got some big Easter posters with a picture of Christ and it has been fun having a street stand!

Everything in Norway shuts down during Easter and most people aren't home which make missionary work a lot more difficult.  

We heard some amazing talks in Church this Sunday.  I love the focus of the resurrection of Christ and the message behind it.  We know that because Christ was resurrected, that we will be resurrected.  

Hope you all have an amazing week!

Eldste Egan

This week was fun and also long. Easter in Norway means let's party and go on vacation. Nobody here really cares about what Easter means. If you ask them on the street "what does Easter mean to you" you will either get response #1 of "it means I can go to the mountains and do absolutely nothing. Or #2 "I worship Satan and will have fun in hell"

But because of Easter all of the streets are pretty empty and nobody is home. It makes for a long weekend of walking around doing nothing. But President and Sister Tew had a lot of missionaries over on Friday evening and it was a blast. We had these burritos made with lamb and the tortilla was nan bread. (I don't think I spelled that right)

Saturday a member reached out to us and invited us over for dinner. He said he knew we probably had nothing to do and because nobody was home we probably weren't getting fed. It was way fun as we ate dinner on the roof of the building he lives in. You could see the city from a whole new perspective! And the food was amazing. We had Turkey! This is the only place on my entire mission that I have had Turkey besides with Americans in Stavanger on Thanksgiving.

Sunday we had a small miracle and a person I taught a little bit my first time in Oslo who had been meeting with missionaries for about a year before I got there came to church again on Sunday. She is one who begged the missionaries to get baptized for months and has done personal progress and everything but because her parents were Muslim and she was under the age of 18 we couldn't do it. We have been trying our best to get back in contact and out of nowhere she shows up to church. We will be meeting with her today and hope it all goes well. 

If you don't get an email or a longer email from me next week, it is because I had to stavanger on Monday and will be there until late Wednesday night.

I head to Fredrikstad in the morning for 2 days and then zone conferences begin on Friday. 

It's going to be a busy but fun week! Love you.

Travel arrangements have been made for me to come home.  

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Your trip

Booking ref:

PLSVZO

CheckMyTrip

Document Issue Date:

09 April 2019

Baggage Info

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Traveler

Easton Taft Egan (624728-R)

Agency

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT

50 East North Temple St

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

Telephone

801 240-5111

Fax

801-240-5115

Agent initial

KK

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Thursday 04 July 2019

Delta Air Lines DL 9345 (Operated by Klm Royal Dutch Airlines, KL1142)

Departure

04 July 09:20 AM

Oslo, (Gardermoen) (+)

Arrival

04 July 11:10 AM

Amsterdam, (Schiphol Airport) (+)

Duration

01:50 (Non stop)

Distance

595 Miles

Check-in

Booking status

Confirmed

Class

Economy (B)

Baggage allowance

1 Piece(s) for Easton Taft Egan

Seat

(Aisle seat, No smoking seat) confirmed for Easton Taft Egan

Equipment

EMBRAER 190

Flight meal

Snack or brunch

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Thursday 04 July 2019

Delta Air Lines DL 163

Departure

04 July 12:50 PM

Amsterdam, (Schiphol Airport) (+)

Arrival

04 July 02:53 PM

Minneapolis/St Paul, (St Paul Intl) (+)

Terminal: 1 - Terminal 1 - Lindbergh

Check-in

Duration

09:03 (Non stop)

Distance

4,152 Miles

Booking status

Confirmed

Class

Economy (B)

Baggage allowance

1 Piece(s) for Easton Taft Egan

Seat

(No smoking seat) confirmed for Easton Taft Egan

Equipment

AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300

Flight meal

Lunch

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Thursday 04 July 2019

Delta Air Lines DL 2819

Departure

04 July 05:35 PM

Minneapolis/St Paul, (St Paul Intl) (+)

Terminal: 1 - Terminal 1 - Lindbergh

Arrival

04 July 07:24 PM

Salt Lake City, (Salt Lake City Intl) (+)

Terminal: 2 - Terminal Unit 2

Check-in

Duration

02:49 (Non stop)

Distance

988 Miles

Booking status

Confirmed

Class

Economy (B)

Baggage allowance

1 Piece(s) for Easton Taft Egan

Seat

(No smoking seat) confirmed for Easton Taft Egan

Equipment

AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319

Flight meal

Refreshments for purchase

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General Information NORWAY OSLO MISSION MISSION PRESIDENT WAYNE L TEW PH B/XXX XX XXXX-1270 H/011 47 6741-3750 2018004@LDSCHURCH.ORG *** PLEASE CHECK YOUR ITINERARY TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RESERVATIONS ARE BOOKED AS REQUESTED *** . *** THANK YOU FOR CALLING CHURCH TRAVEL-801-240-5149*** . ** ELECTRONIC TICKETS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED AND ARE READY FOR TRAVEL*** *** WE HAVE 24 HOURS AFTER TICKETS ARE PURCHASED TO MAKE ANY CHANGES AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. AFTER 24 HOURS ALL APPLICABLE CANCELATION OR CHANGE FEES MAY APPLY. *** **NOTICE**ARRIVE AT THE AIRPORT 1 HOUR PRIOR TO DOMESTIC FLIGHTS AND 2 HOURS PRIOR TO INT*L FLIGHTS WITH REQUIRED STATE OR FEDERAL PHOTO ID AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTATION IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE, OR SIGNIFICANT DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE MISSIONARY TRAVEL (800)537-3537 OR (801)240-5111 EMPLOYEE TRAVEL (800)537-1232 OR (801)240-1000 GENERAL AUTHORITY TRAVEL (800)453-3860 OR (801)240-1000

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March 26, 2019- 100 days until coming home!

I loved being back in Stavanger and I am super excited to go back this week! Awesome week in Norway.  This week was fun and had some busy moments and not so busy moments at the same time.  It all stared with taking a flight last p-day to my old area of Stavanger. We got there early enough to go on an amazing hike with some of the missionaries and with President and Sister Tew.  We then had an amazing zone conference on Wednesday with home made Cafe Rio for lunch.  Wow was it good!

On Thursday we drove to the airport to pick up one of the new senior couples. We then spent the rest of the evening on the streets contacting.  To be honest, nobody talked to us that evening except right towards the end when we approached this man and right after we said something he stopped and said, "I am not interested but I know 95% of the people here wont talk to you so I will talk with you" ha ha made my day!  And of course by the end of the 15 minute conversation we were talking about the gospel. 

Friday was another amazing zone conference in Drammen.  And to end the night, we ate some Kebab.(meat and veggies roasted on a skewer)

Saturday was amazing as I had my first lesson since being in this area.  It was a Norwegian man from the top right corner of Norway. His dialect was a fun one but we are excited to meet with him again this week. Another miracle this week was during my last transfer in Stavanger, my companion and I started teaching these 2 younger boys.  They were baptized on Saturday and even though I only taught them a couple of times, it truly has been a blessing.  I know that serving mission benefits your life and others!

It's still winter here in Norway.  It's been a proud week for the Norwegian people as the Norwegian coast guard has rescued many people from the stranded Viking Sky Cruise ship off the western coast in the Norwegian Sea.  Almost 500 passengers were taken off one by one from a helicopter in an amazing rescue done in horrible conditions.  Thank goodness everyone is safe. 

If you haven't, go read the Book of Mormon!  

Have an amazing week!

Eldste Egan

March 21, 2019

Hey Mom.

I am writing you on a plane using my phone. I am on my way to Stavanger for the next 2 days.  

I will be doing the Dalsnuten hike today and then busy in the evening.

This week has been great. It went by extremely fast. We had an amazing zone conference here on Wednesday and it was fun to see Elder Hansen and joke around. 

On Thursday we went on splits and the Fredrikstad Elders came to Oslo.  We had a really great time and it was fun being around Elder Welch (another Elder from the MTC)

We are really trying to get things going in our area but it is slow and go. I still haven't taught a lesson since being in this area but we should have some things lined up for this week hopefully. 

Yesterday we had an amazing meeting with President Tew. I learned so much from it and it will really shape the rest of my mission. 

I also talked with President Tew about schooling and I don't want to take the economics class until my sophomore year. We will be talking but overall things are starting to line up. It fully hit me this week that I will be heading home soon and I just can't believe it.  Time is flying. 

 

Love you,

Elder Egan