WEEK #9 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #9 9/28/2015

Hello Family and Friends! It has been a crazy week! (I have a new address, so see bottom)

Usually during training, the first transfer doesn't really affect us, but we found out the day before transfers that we would be moving into another apartment and would only be covering the Colorado Springs 3rd ward and not Sand Creek ward anymore.

On Tuesday, we went to Lorena's and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She took it really well and thought it was interesting. We are having trouble trying to get her to really have the desire to pray and read from the Book of Mormon. She views our lessons as more educational rather than spiritual. She isn't reading the Book of Mormon, which doesn't make sense because if she wants to know what we believe is true, then she needs to read it:) Our next lesson will focus on trying to get her to have the desire to read. Only through reading the Book of Mormon can our questions about the church or about Joseph Smith be answered. So before everyone left for transfers, we went to Tucanos, which is a Brazilian restaurant that reminds me of Rodizio Grill, where they bring out different meat on sticks. Some of the crazy things I tried were crab and mango sushi and then a chicken heart. The rest of our day was spent moving all of our stuff from the old apartment to the new one. The apartment is smaller and seems pretty ghetto, but it will do:)
My bed in the new apartment with my camo sheets

My desk

On Wednesday, we spent a lot of the day briefing the new Sand Creek Elders on the area and telling them who we've been working with. The new Elders are Elder Dugger, and Elder Villaneda, who is straight from the MTC. One thing that happened due to the transfer was all of the dinner appointments we had were in the ward that we dropped. So we have been cooking dinner ourselves for the past week. A blessing in disguise arrived when one of the members of 3rd ward called us, wondering where we were for dinner, even though she didn't sign up. We met up that evening and she took us to Olive Garden, which is extra gourmet for a missionary:) 

On Thursday we drove with the Shawn and Sherri Munn up to the Denver Temple with them to be there for their first time doing their endowments. It took about an hour to drive there from the Springs, and was a pretty drive. It was absolutely wonderful to witness them going through the Temple and I know that The Lord will continue to bless them in their faithfulness. In the temple, I got pulled aside and assisted in doing temple baptisms as well! What a great day it was to be in the temple with them. Afterwards, we went to Deseret Book and then made the commute home in time for dinner.

Me and E. Schilling

Denver Temple



Munn family at the Denver Temple

Friday was a fun day because I received some revelation for myself. With the whole moving apartments situation, our missionary work was interrupted and we were forced to spend our time getting supplies and appliances that were missing from our new apartment. That night however, I was reflecting on the gospel preparation I have received and where it came from. I realized that, a mission is hard with respect to the fact that it is so easy to slip into mediocrity. It is so easy to skim through the pages of scripture without absorbing any true doctrine. It is so easy to justify feelings of nervousness as excuses to not try. It is so easy to have regrets. I will catch myself in these slumps and it sucks. It is no the kind of missionary I ever wanted to be, and here it is, so easy to become. All of the preparation I received is for naught if I don't strive to become the best missionary I can be, a true representative of Jesus Christ. I need to regain that desire to go convert everyone as I did when I first started my mission. Even though this is not likely, it is important to still have that desire.

First blister of the mission

On Sunday, we got in contact with the dinner coordinator and now all of our dinners are going to be filled in and we wont have to go hungry.:) haha we are only allowed $139 a month for food and personal care. Also that night, there was a blood moon outside and I got some good pictures of it.

Blood Moon

TODAY, We were picked up by Jeff (Gunga) and Amy Wolin, who live in Woodland Park and drove us to hike The Incline. On our way over, we witnessed a car crash that was super close to us where a man ran a red light and wasn't quick enough. Everyone was alright, but it was something that doesn't happen very often. To give you an idea of what The Incline is, here are some facts about it. Length: 1 mile, but climbs 2,000 vertical feet. Duration: Under 30 minutes to over an hour or more depending on your fitness level and pace. Trail Difficulty: Difficult. The fastest time anyone has ever done it was in 17 minutes and like 45 seconds. I was the first of the group to summit at 39 minutes and 20 seconds. It was super sunny and hot, which made me sweat real bad. The view at the top however, was incredible. It was super fun to hang out with the Wolins and The Incline was super cool. We didn't go back down the way we came up, but took a switchback trail all the way back down. It was a super fun hike and was really pretty:)

That line is the Incline

From the top

The "what have i done?" face

The Wolins and I featuring some girl throwing up

coming through the switchbacks

Have a great week everyone and I love hearing from you!

Elder Kyler LaRose

EMAIL: kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT AREA ADDRESS:

NEW ADDRESS

2605 Serendipity Circle E APT #251

Colorado Springs, CO

80917

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS: 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #8 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #8

Hey everyone! Lot of funny things have happened this week!
So FIRST, on Monday, we went and played basketball with the zone and literally five minutes before we were going to be done, Elder Schilling caught a basketball off of his pinky finger and he thought that he broke it. So we had to leave early and I have to drive him to an urgent care that President Rehm told us to go to. Two hours later, the doctor came in and and told him that he had fractured his finger! It's a pretty small fracture, but they put a splint on it and told him to leave it on for 6 weeks. Because we were at the doctor for so long, we had to cancel our dinner appointment and out lesson with Mitch.

On Tuesday, we had our lesson with Mitch that we missed on Monday. We taught him about eternal families and eternal marriage and he really enjoyed that. We then went to the annual Book of Mormon BBQ for the Sand Creek ward and had super delicious hamburgers and hot dogs. 

Sand Creek Book of Mormon Barbecue 

On Wednesday night, we had planned to visit Doug Thomas, who is a homeless man who used to come to church and stuff before he got into his present situation. He told us to come and teach him in the vacant field where he sleeps and we were going to go, but we decided that it would be a better idea if we rescheduled to a less sketchy time during the day. Then we played volleyball with 3rd ward and Sister Grow and Sister Sema from the 6th ward.

On Thursday, we did a lot of service. We helped move boxes out of this one lady's basement and then weed whacked the backyard of another person's yard. And when I say "we" I mean just me because Elder Schilling is useless when it comes to service haha. That  night, we had dinner at the Munn's and they are a family who has just recently come back to the church and are going to go to the temple this next Thursday! What is really cool is that they invited us to come with them for their first time! Normally, on this mission, we only get to go to the temple once and that is at our halfway point. the only exception is if you have a recent convert or recently reactivated member go to the temple too! So I already get to go to the Denver temple this Thursday! I'm super excited:)

On Saturday, we did even more service! It seems like Elder Schilling is secretly scheduling more and more service because he knows I will have to do it all haha. We pulled weeds (which is the second most-common type of service) and then moved furniture in and out of a house (the most-common type of service). So this is the end of my first transfer! Because I am in training, I stay with my companion in our area for two transfers. BUT there were some changes made concerning us; We now no longer cover two wards! They took Sand Creek away from us and we kept 3rd ward. I am kinda sad because they are the ward that has taken me under their wing the most. I don't think anyone will be buying me 10 pound Costco cakes in the 3rd ward :( We probably won't have dinner every night too. This also means that we will be moving into a different apartment that is at a better location for just 3rd ward. 

Today, before we came here for emails, we had to go to a follow up appointment for Elder Schillings fractured pinky. They aren't going to operate on it or anything because it wasn't displaced when it got fractured so that's good. 

Love you all and can't wait to hear from you! I'll let you know when my address changes, but for now, we will see what happens.

Elder Kyler LaRose

EMAIL: kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT AREA ADDRESS:

2328 Washo Circle

Colorado Springs, CO

80915

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS: 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #7 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #7 

Hello family and friends, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LONDYN:) it looks like you had a fun bday:)

So on Wednesday, Elder Schilling got ANOTHER flat tire:/ so we had to drive to a central location and walk around everywhere. It’s weird when we are walking around, because you notice things like people getting into their cars, pulling out their phones, going into their house, doing something in order to avoid a conversation with us, and it’s so sad to think that people now avoid the opportunity to meet someone new and potentially have a new friend. We in this world are too content with where we currently are. I have learned that there are so many ways to better ourselves each day and that we can learn so much about ourselves from a genuine conversation with a stranger. Later in the afternoon, we went and had a lesson with Lorena, who is a referral we received from a member. She is a single mother who is currently battling cancer for the 2nd time. She said that she is "spiritually shopping" and is interested in what our message is. Golden. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith and she was very receptive and interested in that principle. At the end of the lesson, we invited her to pray and to feel for and answer from God of our message. We also asked her if she would be baptized as her knowledge and testimony would increase and grow. She told us that she couldn't answer that question just yet, but was still interested in what we have to say. What a blessing it is to bring joy into other's lives.

yeah our toilet overflowed:/

On Thursday, our weekly planning was interrupted when we realized that our toilet had flooded and there was water all over the bathroom floor (luckily it was ONLY water). We threw down every towel in sight and even an old blanket to soak the water up. I then had to scoop the toilet water out of the toilet with a cup and pour the water into the sink. Luckily my lifeguard experiences with poop in the pool had battle hardened me for this moment:) So because Elder Schilling still has the "cripple bike" we set out on foot and walked for the entire day. Although it took forever to get to places, It was a very productive day, As we were walking, we had a good conversation with this old guy who was a little crazy and all over the place, which made it a little fun. We talked about the importance of church and a little bit about the Restoration. SO, after that, we were walking near the stake president's house and we saw a funny looking car deriving toward us. It had a pole sticking out of the top of the car and at the top of the pole was a ball. As it got closer, we realized that the ball was a bunch of cameras and that the car was covered in Google Maps logos! The one day that we decided to walk everywhere was the day that we made it onto Google Street View! I don't think the pictures are updated yet, but if you ever want to check, we were at the WEST intersection of DESERT VARNISH DR and GARDENSTONE DR. You should see Elder Schilling and I on the NORTH side of the street. I keep checking every Monday, but it hasn't been put up yet. After that happened, nothing else that happened that day could make me not smile haha.

On Friday, the whole day just felt unproductive. I felt that we weren't doing enough to help bring others unto Christ. We set up a few return appointments and did some small service for the Schlosser family. Dinner was earlier than usual and we got home at about 6:15 with no appointments later that night. So we whipped out the cripple bike and tried to fix it one more time. We took out the tube and after close examination, we finally found the leak. So we patched it up and now we can finally use our bikes! Then Elder Schilling went up to his bed and sat there. Still feeling inadequate and unproductive, I decided I needed to take charge and do something. So I went into our study room and cleaned out, rearranged, and organized the whole room, and after teenage boys have been living there for multiple years, the room looked super dirty. I spent the rest of the night making that area a more spirit-friendly environment, because a clean space to study is the best place to receive clean and inspiring revelation from the Spirit.

 On Saturday, we drove straight to the Zone Leader's apartment to get a ride to the Fountain Stake Day of Service at Garden of the Gods. In each of the mission vehicles, they have a device called Tiwi, which tracks speeding violations, aggressive driving, and so on. The one in the Zone Leader's truck is broken, so, Elder Reimer was speeding and driving like a crazy man haha. We also had Elder Gutierrez and Elder Buxton with us but there weren't enough seats so Elder Buxton rode in the bed of the truck all the way there.

First selfie with Elder Gutierrez and I

When we got to Garden of the Gods, we got a Mormon Helping Hands T shirt and met up with the other missionaries in our zone to get some tools.

Fountain Zone

What we did was tear up the "wayward trails" which were branching off the main trail and seeding them with the natural vegetation of the area. We had nearly 175 people show up to do service, and they are only used to having groups of 50 or 60. So we went to work in the sun and had a fun time with Elder Gutierrez and Elder Liptrott tearing up the trails with pickaxes.

Garden of the Gods service

As I was doing this service, it reminded me of my purpose as a missionary and the purpose of each of us. There are many people who walk these "wayward trails" that might seem fine, but can lead us to injure ourselves spiritually and even hurt others around us. As a missionary, my job is to bring those people off of the trails and then destroy that trail so that we are not led to walk on it again. I thought that this was a cool physical representation of my purpose. I know that as we keep pressing forward and never letting the adversary gain ground, the Lord will bless us to no end and will be there to press forward right beside us. This mission is so dear to me already and is shaping me into the man I have always wanted to become.

I love you all!

Elder Kyler LaRose

EMAIL: kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT AREA ADDRESS:

2328 Washo Circle

Colorado Springs, CO

80915

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS: 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #6 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

Hey everyone! its been a pretty busy and fun week!

On Tuesday, we had Zone Conference which is where the Mission President and his wife visit us (the Fountain and Springs zones) and teach us about how to be better missionaries. I got to see Elder Tallman there, and we had a good time catching up:) The vehicle inspectors were there and when they were all done, Elder Schilling and I were awarded with having the cleanest car at the conference! It was pretty funny and we got to pick out a Colorado key chain as our prize. President Rehm then spoke to us about becoming better missionaries through studying the examples laid out in the Book of Mormon. Specifically, we talked about the 2000 Stripling Warriors and how we can acquire some of their attributes like being firm, undaunted, exactly obedient, and powerful in their faith. I have always loved learning about the Stripling warriors and Alma 57:20-21 has been one of my favorite few scriptures! 

20 And as the remainder of our army were about to give way before the Lamanites, behold, those two thousand and sixty were firm and undaunted.

 21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.

At the end of the conference, the departing missionaries each came up and bore their testimonies. As one just beginning his mission, hearing how solidified these experienced missionaries' testimonies were helps me to continue to strengthen my own knowledge and truth in this Gospel. 

Hot Air balloon in the morning

On Wednesday, we went to the Library to create the baptismal program for Taylor on saturday. Once that was done, we went and visited an older couple in 3rd ward. We didn't know them very well, but Elder Schilling made the mistake of asking them where they were from.... an hour and a half later we walked out after hearing both of their life stories and their kids life stories haha. We were able to share a message on the restoration of Christ gospel in these latter days briefly and then we had to go because of out other appointments. Unfortunately, many of our appointments with less active members, whether it be service or a lesson, tend to fall through. But as a missionary, the best thing that I can keep doing is to always look at things in positive light.

saw this and laughed

On Thursday we biked all the way to Mitch's house in 3rd ward, which is over 5 miles one way. Mitch wasn't at his home so we decided to go and contact a referral we had gotten. Her name is Lorena and she is a single mother who is battling cancer. Because of her situation, she told us that she has been "spiritually shopping" and was told by her friend about our church. Immediately, we were able to recognize her sweet spirit and set up a time for us to come and share our message. She has much potential and is likely to become our next investigator. As we left her house, Elder Schilling got a flat tire on his bike and it took a couple of hours to figure out how to patch it up so that we could bike to the church. 

Once we got to the church, we locked our bikes up and then walked around looking for people to talk to. As usual, people would go into their homes or close their garage doors as they saw us approaching. At one point, some kid yelled out of his car as he drove by "I love Satan!" I just had to laugh and keep walking. When dinner time came, it started to rain a little bit. Elder Schilling's tire was flat again and so he had to walk his bike all the way to the members home, while I peddled very slowly behind him. After dinner, we hauled his bike into the back of the member's truck and thankfully didn't have to walk the 5 miles back to our town home.

gorgeous

On Friday, we helped more people move. I didn't get any cake from this one, but I definitely am getting bigger muscles because I lift all of the heavy stuff ;) After lunch, we had Zone training, which is where only the Fountain zone meets up and is taught by the Zone Leaders. We were given a new challenge to converse with 10 strangers every day and after they challenges us, they said "You have 20 minutes to go talk to as many people as you can! Elder Schilling took us walking through a park and we were able to talk with 4 people and even do some weed-pulling service. The most people contacted that day was 11 by the APs because they went to an apartment complex, where they could talk to more people. When we got back, The zone leaders put on a skit about becoming "hunters of men" where, they pretended they were hunting a deer, while relating it to church principles. It was super funny and had everyone laughing. That night, we visited the Taylors again to teach John before he gets baptized. At the end of the lesson, Mary Jade, her oldest daughter, who has a physical disability that reminds me of Albert from 17 Miracles, asked for a priesthood blessing before she went into surgery in a couple of days on her spine. We were humbled and grateful for this family's testimony of the healing and comforting power of the priesthood.

On Saturday, we were at the church for most of the day because we had lots of baptisms to go to. First, we went to the baptism of 8-year-old Mason Harrop, who is a kid we had taught before his baptism. Us Elders were invited to be a part of the confirmation, which was really neat. After that one, Elder Schilling and I had time to prepare for the baptism of Taylor Smith! There was so much support for her there and even her nonmember mother was there to witness the special and sacred performance of the baptism. 

Elder Schilling was the one who baptized her and we are both so happy for her. When we got home, we wanted to go biking around our areas, but Elder Schilling doesn't know how to fix a bike flat. So I helped him take the tire off and replace the tube. and to get in back on, Elder Schilling started to unscrew part of the brake. I tried to fix the brakes to how they were, but there was absolutely no spring left in them. We ended up having to take it to the bike shop to get fixed before dinner.

On May 
On Monday, (Labor Day), the libraries were closed so that's why I'm writing emails today. We first went to the Labor Day picnic that the 3rd ward was hosting and we had some nice hamburgers and hot dogs, with lots of desserts and sides to choose from as well. 

Labor Day activities with 3rd Ward.

We played a little bit of basketball with the youth and then went across the park to some baseball fields to play softball. It was nice slow pitch, so I got good hits each time I was up to bat. It was fun to play with everyone and watch them enjoy their Labor Day. We then went shopping, where I got myself some Denver Broncos fanwear :) 

I love you all and love hearing from you!, plus I think my companion is a little jealous of me for getting all of these awesome packages! haha

Elder Kyler LaRose

EMAIL: kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT AREA ADDRESS:

2328 Washo Circle

Colorado Springs, CO

80915

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS: 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916