Hey family and friends! We are having troubles with the whole mail system since we changed apartments, so if you mail the letters or packages to the mission office, the mission office will forward them on to wherever I will be living. This week has had different ups and downs.
Me trying to cook peanut butter cookies without baking powder or baking soda
On Tuesday, we exchanged with the Zone Leaders, so Elder Smith, from Canada, came to the 3rd ward and Elder Schilling left to the Zone Leader's area. Elder Smith is a very nice and hardworking missionary and I was really excited to be working hard 110% of the time. Everything about the exchange was great and I learned so much from Elder Smith. Our morning studies were purposeful and focused on those we would visit that day. I loved how Elder Smith gave me a chance to plan out the schedule for the day the way that I felt our time would be best used:) we stayed 100% on task for the whole day and it felt productive despite we had 2 active member lessons cancel on us. That morning, we had prayed specifically that the less active members we were going to visit would be at their homes and be receptive to the light they see in us. Heavenly Father surely answers our prayers because more less active members opened their doors that day than any other day I have had before. We were able to set up lots of return appointments and even shared a lesson with one mother and her kid on the doorstep! Prayer and everything :) the only bad thing that happened to us was that we stopped by a new less active person that had just moved in and she wrote a note to the Bishop requesting that her name be removed from the record of the church. It was sad to have to give that letter to him.
Elder Smith and I were on our bikes for the entire day and as we came out of one appointment, it was pouring rain. We were still about 3 miles from the apartment too! So we put on our jackets and pressed on. At one intersection, there was a river of water flowing down and I had stopped too close to the curb. A car then zoomed past the river and suddenly I was faced with a wall of muddy liquid three feet over my head. My attempts to evade the tsunami were in vain as it showered me completely:) we had only a quarter-mile left to the apartment when the hail came down. Skittle-size chunks of ice began to kamikaze into us motivating us to go faster.
Elder Smith during exchanges
The hail on the roads! Not snow!
When we finally got indoors, we had to completely change out of our soaked clothes and head to dinner. After dinner, we exchanged back with our companions and reported. While our day was successful, Elder Schilling had thrown up twice, contracted a fever, an had been laying down and resting all day. Although I'm sad he's sick, I'm glad he got sick when we were on exchanges. He went straight to bed after that.
On Wednesday, we didn't do much because Schilling was still feeling sick. We only went to the set appointments we had, which is better because he felt worse the day before. We went and did service for the Melvin family, and when I say "we" I mean "I" because Elder Schilling, with sickness and fractured pinky combined, had to sit in the shade to cool down his fever. I helped them break up dirt in their yard and landscape rocks around their sidewalk.
Then we went to a Care and Share facility and sorted food into different piles. Then Elder Schilling needed to go to the store and get some food that he could stomach. On our way to the church for our coordination meeting, Bother Colburn, the young men's president, pulled up next to us at a red light. Noticing each other, as soon as the light turned green we floored it and I was edging ahead until Tiwi, the device that tracks our driving, threatened to give me a violation for speeding. So I could only race until 5mph over the speed limit. When we got to the church, he came over to me and shook my hand and we had a good laugh. Volleyball was fun and I had some sweet spikes.
On Thursday, Elder Schilling woke up feeling EVEN WORSE!! This was annoying becasue we couldn't go to anything except dinner and our evening appointment. So I did some more studies while he rested in bed and even cleaned out a dirty closet with a bunch of old missionaries' clothes and shoes. Among a few bike helmets and like 8 pillows, I even found a old humidifier. I am praying that he feels better soon so that we can go and visit people!
The before shot of this closet
The after
What is going to be donated!
On Friday, we picked up Elder Dugger and Elder Villaneda in Sand Creek for Zone Training. Because the Fountain ad Springs zones were combined, I got to see Elder Tallman, my MTC companion there and have good talks:).
Elder Tallman and I at Zone Training
During the training, the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders talked to us about obedience. They stressed the fact that over half of the missionaries in the mission at this point have not even been out for 4 months. Because we are such a young mission, the disobedient habits of the older generations need to be eliminated so that we can be blessed in our work through our obedience. We also discussed what vision we should have for ourselves as missionaries and what type of missionaries we should strive to become daily. The Zone Leaders had asked me before the training to share the story that Dad shared with me in the MTC about the two missionaries on the airplane. I told them about how we as missionaries should try to emulate Christ as a teacher, a student, a friend, and a brother. Then I bore my testimony on why having an end goal is so important and why we should try to leave the mission with no regrets. I'll be honest, it was a little nerve racking doing all of that because I was standing in front of 40 missionaries teaching them when I've only been out for little over 2 months haha:) Immediately following that, we went to Mitch's house to where his friend, Curtis Rowley, drove all of us up to the Denver Temple so that we could teach him a lesson on the temple grounds.
Me, Mitch, and Elder Schilling
It was really cool to watch Mitch as walked around the house of The Lord, with the ponderous and reverent look on his face. We taught him more about the temple and what happens inside. He has a baptism date for October 24th right now and if everything flies smoothly, he could be back at the temple in November performing baptisms for his ancestors! Mitch even got a little teary-eyed as we were walking the grounds. I am so excited for these next few weeks with him! Our dinner appointment cancelled on us so we decided to go and eat at Texas Roadhouse:) The sirloin steak, mashed potatoes and fries were super delicious as well. Tonight, we figured out that it may not have been such a good idea to eat there because Elder Schilling's stomach couldn't handle it. This meant that we had to cancel ANOTHER evening appointment. We have had too many lessons slip away from us this week and hopefully we can make up for it next week :)
On Saturday, Elder Schilling was battling his bowels all morning and in the meantime, I got up and did my studies. While he was still sparring with his stomach, I swept and vacuumed the apartment. This apartment has gotten a lot cleaner since Elder Schilling has been sick! He started to feel a little better in the afternoon, so we taught a lesson to a less active family, where I used my Plan of Salvation cut outs to get the kids involved:). After that, we stopped by Mitch and finalized some things for his baptism! It looks like Elder Schilling is slowly recovering so that's exciting!
On Sunday, we went to Priesthood Executive Council and Ward Council meetings and then taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Taylor Smith, our recent convert. Church was nice:) Our ward mission leader, Brother Springer, taught the gospel principles class and he is super funny. He works for the Air Force and is one of those guys who can't really tell us everything about his job because of his position. So be simply tells us that he oversees a group of people thy fly satellites around and do different stuff with them... Like fire missiles:). Our nightly appointment cancelled on us again and so we came home, planned, studied, and went to bed.
This morning at about 3:00am, Elder Schilling got a weird pain in his chest that increased to the point where he was almost blacking out. He asked me to give him a blessing of healing, so as he laid on the floor, I placed my hands upon his head and gave him a blessing. He said that it was probably the worst pain he has ever felt, and that as I was speaking, the pain almost immediately subsided. I am so grateful to be able to exercise my priesthood power and to use it to help others. So far, today he is feeling better and we aren't locked up in out apartment:)
I hope all of you have a great day and rest of the week,
Love, Elder Kyler LaRose
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
