WEEK #18 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #18
11.30.15

Hey fam and friends! This week was awesome!
Monday morning we met with Amy and Bode Wolin at an awesome breakfast restaurant called Wade's Cafe! It was really good food and it was also awesome to have them so close:) we then left to the library for emailing. When we finished, we went shopping around different places and I got a really warm jacket at Goodwill for only $8.00!! Then, we went to a park where other missionaries were meeting and had our own little flag football turkey bowl before thanksgiving. There were around 30 elders there to play so we split up into two teams and played. Elder Stark and I bought $10 receiver gloves especially for the football that we would be playing.

I was the Quarterback for my team and was telling everyone where to go and what to do. It was funny because I was drawing up all these trick plays in my head and running them. They worked pretty well too! Elder Hawkins was on my team and we worked well together. The Polynesians that were there didn't totally understand the concept of flag football and we finished with a couple of aches and pains. That night we met with Mitch and settled on December 12th for his baptismal date and he is getting excited:) I can't wait!
On Tuesday we were on track to teach a bunch of lessons but 2 of them weren't even there when we showed up :(. Our last lesson was with a less active member that I hadn't met before. His name is Brother Smartt and there are a lot of issues that he needs to take care of. He told us that he is taking are of his mother who was told that she only has 6 months to live. We offered our support and hopefully we will be able to help them in our next appointment.
Wednesday, we had to fill out the final things of the accident report form from a while ago and take it to the mission office. After another 2 of our lessons cancelled, we met with Kitana and taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ which is: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We are continuing to invite her to church but she still hasn't come. We ha dinner with the Melvin's and assisted in giving Sister Melvin a blessing of healing for sickness. Then we went to our coordination meeting and played volleyball.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! Thursday we woke up to snow and very icy roads. 

On our way to Sand Creek, there was nobody out and about, which was good because we were having fun drifting around the turns. Even the sidewalks were iced over completely, turning the streets into a skating rink. On thanksgiving, the Mission President allows us to watch a movie and so we went to Elder Stark and Elder Villaneda's place to watch The Master of Disguise. We also ended up playing card games and drinking our hot coco. After the movie, we went to the Sand Creek Ward turkey bowl. It was snowing and 19 degrees out the whole time! The sand creek members welcomed me back and it was good to see their familiar faces:) I was on the team with our young stake president as the QB. I caught a couple of touchdown passes and also intercepted a pass thrown to Elder Hawkins haha. We played for about 2 hours. Then we went and got ready for our turkey dinners :) Elder Hawkins and I went to Sister Duncan's and had dinner with her and her 2 kids and her daughter in law. The food was delicious! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, apple pie, banana cream pie, and good ol pumpkin pie to full us up. After dinner, we went back to the sand creek apartment and stayed there to snack on eggnog and hot chocolate. Elder Villaneda and Elder Stark have become like brothers to us and it is so fun to be around them.

Elder Hawkins at dinner

On Friday, we held our district meeting where I talked about how to work successfully with the ward members. One thing that I thought was especially important was being a good missionary. When the members see that you are a hard worker and don't slack off, they are more willing to work with you and trust you with the names of their friends. 

after district meeting

After the meeting, we got a call from the Colburns asking if we could help them move. Sand Creek offered to help as well and so we went over there and helped them move all kinds of things. We moved a big heavy piano all the way down the stairs and into the moving van too. Next we got ready to go to dinner and a lesson with the Choate family, who has 3 kids investigating the church and not 6 minutes before we got there, the mom called and said that she had something else come up. It was pretty frustrating. So we decided to visit Mitch and he showed us some really cool pens that his brother in law makes from bullet pieces.

On Saturday, we were picked up to do service in Fountain, Colorado. We helped move a bunch of things to and from houses and that took out a good chunk of the day. That night, we had a less active family feed us for dinner! We encouraged them to come to church and they didn't :( but they are really nice and have goodness in their hearts.
On Sunday, we went to church and had a good time. It was the 5th Sunday so the bishop discussed with the ward about things that they could do to help the Lord's work move forward in the 3rd ward. He was asking for input so I got up and talked about how missionary work is changing. Tracting isn't as effective as it uses to be and the most effective way to be successful is have the members deeply involved in missionary work. The only problem is, our ward is so old in age that everyone is retired and is comfortable with where they are. Hopefully I said something that helped them gain a desire to help us out a little more. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!! Love you all and can't wait to hear from you!

Kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT ADDRESS:

2605 Serendipity Circle E APT #251

Colorado Springs, CO

80917

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS (use if close to Transfer time, they will forward to where he is at): 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #17 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #17

Hey everyone! First of all, Happy Thanksgiving this coming week! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to go on a mission. If any of you are still wondering if you should go or not, go. A mission will shape you into the very person that you always wanted to become. It has blessed my life immensely so far and I have only been out for about 4 months. This week was good! We had some good snow and chilly weather :)
On Monday, we drove downtown and Elder Stark, Elder Villaneda, and Elder Hawkins all got free haircuts at the Paul Mitchell hair school. Then we went and looked around sportsman's warehouse and dick's sporting goods. We narrowed down the baptismal date with Mitch to two dates: Dec 5th or Dec 12th!! I am really looking forward to those dates.
On Tuesday, we got dumped on with snow and they made us park the mission vehicles because of the bad roads. 




So Elder Hawkins and I decided I brave the high winds and stinging snow and go tracting. While we were knocking on doors, we were also looking for people that we could help shovel their driveway for. Nothing came from it but it was worth a shot. We got a call from the vehicle coordinators and they had us switch our dented Subaru for a Ford fusion while it got fixed. We had a good lesson with the Krings and taught them about the benefit of missionaries and members working together.
On Wednesday we went to the library to research and find talks that would help those we teach. We then has a lesson with the Larsons and they told us that not 5 minutes before we arrived, a car had crashed over he curb right where we had parked. I can't imagine what would have happened if we had been early to our appointment that day. Then we has a great lesson with Brother Suydam on the blessings of the temple. He told us that as soon as the temple prep. classes were done, he would begin working towards getting a temple recommend!! That was awesome. We took Elder Stark and Elder Villaneda to volleyball with us this time and we had a blast. I am so happy that they are in my district because they work hard and are super funny too.
Thursday was a blast. We woke up early and picked up sand creek to make the hour drive to Pueblo, Colorado for our Mission Tour with Elder Marcus B. Nash of the first quorum of the Seventy!! He requested that he shake each of our hands and so all the missionaries lined up. We shook hands with Elder and Sister Nash, President and Sister Rehm, and then Elder Hillyer, the area seventy. Elder Nash talked to us Elders as Sisters about working effectively with members. Missionary work is changing and working with members is the most successful way to do it. He also talked to us about being BOLD. Speaking with confidence, clarity, and all out of love. He also told us that our own personal testimony is such an important tool that really works. We learned from him and the others for about 6 hours that day. We made it home in time for dinner with the Fullers and then went home pooped.
Friday we met with Mitch again and went over to teach Sister King. Mitch really loves coming with us to teach her and that was really special to her and to him. Then we met with our new investigator Kitana for the 2nd lesson and it went great. We asked if she had thought about being baptized mormon yet, and she said that she is going to wait and learn more. There is so much more to this church than most people realize! All we are doing is inviting people to learn more about Christ. Kitana is progressing well and we are looking forward to our next lesson.
District meeting was moved to Saturday for this week because of other meetings and so I talked to everyone about how to teach with power and had them share powerful experiences that they have had in their missionary work so far. It was really great to build upon the experiences of the other Elders. During our free time, we called a phone number that we had received. The man is apparently a Christian pastor for another church, but wants to meet with us and has a Book of Mormon that he said he'd read!! All over the phone, we had a 30 minute lesson and even a closing prayer. It was such a cool thing to do and just over the phone. Dinner was with Brother Springer and we had delicious chili while we went over our coordination together. Right after, we went to the adult session of stake conference, where Elder Marcus B. Nash spoke. Mitch was running a little late, but made it in time for the talks. There were various different speakers that gave talks, but after each speaker, Elder Nash got up with the speaker and asked the congregation 2 questions. What did you learn? What are you going to do with what you learned? There were microphones passed around to the audience members and they answered the questions from Elder Nash! It was really different, but really effective and personal. When it came time for Elder Nash to speak, he declared boldly to the audience that they needed to be doing better missionary work and that they needed to use the full time missionaries as a significant resource. He then had all of the missionaries stand up and further testified of the special witness that we carry. Right after the meeting, we took Mitch up to the front and introduced him to both President Rehm and Elder Nash. Elder Nash got really down and personal with Mitch and really cemented Mitch's testimony. Elder Nash then hugged Elder Hawkins and I and told us to keep up the great work. I am so grateful for Elder Nash's willingness to speak one on one with Mitch.
Sunday came and there was a recent concert / investigator meeting with Elder Nash that we went to with Mitch. It was powerful to hear all of the testimonies come from the converts including Mitch's. The meeting led into the general session of stake conference where we heard from all of the great leaders of the stake, the temple president, mission president, and Elder Nash. He bore solemn witness of the truth of this gospel and delivered an impactful talk. What a blessing it was for me to hear from this great man all throughout the week. I know for a fact that he is called of God to do what he does. After the conference, we got a call from a less active member requesting that we stop by and talk! So right before dinner, we went over to the house and had a great lesson. Dinner was with Patriarch Williams and his wife and they fed us elk meatloaf which wasn't bad at all :) after dinner we went to John Taylor's baptism!! 

John had asked me earlier in the week if I would give the talk on baptism and I couldn't say no haha:) so I gave my talk on baptism and promised him the blessings that come from making this promise with The Lord. We watched him get baptized and it was so cool to see how happy John was through the whole thing. It was a great way to end the week and I couldn't have asked for more.
I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful thanksgiving!
Elder Kyler LaRose

Kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT ADDRESS:

2605 Serendipity Circle E APT #251

Colorado Springs, CO

80917

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS (use if close to Transfer time, they will forward to where he is at): 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #16 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #16

Hey everyone! This week has been such a testimony builder and a blessing:)
On Monday, we went over and played phase 10 with Elder Stark and Elder Villaneda at the Sand Creek apartment. So far, I was undefeated, but Elder Stark won this one:) on the way back from emailing, we were looking for a place to grab a bite. People were saying all these different places, but for some reason, I made an executive decision and said we were going to a place called Schlotzsky's. I thought it was my stomach telling me to go there, but not 10 minutes into us being there, a woman came up to us and asked for a Book of Mormon! We have her a copy and then she left! I am glad that I was able to listen to the promoting of both my stomach and the spirit haha. After we ate, the four of us changed into some old church ball jerseys that we found for the 3rd ward and went to play basketball. The other missionaries were totally jealous of our jerseys haha.

Our lesson with Mitch went really well and we are going to set a baptismal date with him the next time we meet:)
On Tuesday we had time from 12:00pm until 5:00 pm to tract! After a couple of slammed doors and curses, we came to a house and could hear a woman crying inside. We knocked and she came to the door with tears streaming down her face. Immediately, we asked "What's wrong?" and "Is there anything we can do?" and "Are you okay?" She seemed resistant at first, but we continued to offer help. Between sniffs and gasps, she told us that she had just found out that her nephew had died in a car crash. I then bore my testimony to her about the plan of salvation, and about the chance we have to live with our families again in heaven. She seemed comforted by this and she accepted a Book of Mormon and sad that she would read it. We gave her our  number and she said that we could come back next week so that she could learn more. We left the doorstep by saying a prayer with her and leaving good wishes. That, was incredible. When powerful experiences like that happen, I look back at what led us to be there at that moment. That morning, we had an appointment cancel on us. If that appointment hadn't cancelled on us, we would have been in a completely different area. As a back up, we had planned to tract in a specific area, but for some reason, we decided to work in a different area, which turned out to be where we met this woman. The Lord continues to bless our lives continually. That evening, we had a lesson with the Keyes and then the Krings. It is good for us to have these lessons with active members because it can remind them of their own testimonies and hopefully encourage them to share our message with others. Our dinner was a lot later than usual, and it was with the Hanchetts, who are a young couple who got married just 6 months ago. They are really funny and can relate to us pretty well. It was a good day and we were pooped at the end of it.
On Wednesday, after our lunch and studies, we went to go see the 2 potential investigators, Nancy and Joan, that I contacted with Elder Reimer. Neither of them were home, but we were able to get some more information on them. We had a lot more free time again, so we went knocking doors for a little longer. Nothing came from it other than a few good conversations. We had a lesson with a less active member, and he has been coming to church for the past couple of weeks!! It's good to see him progressing. That night, we had coordination meeting with Brother Springer and a good game of volleyball afterwards.
Thursday was an alright day, we were at the apartment for most of the entire day for a few reasons. First, we had a really good weekly planning session that took up a good chunk of our time. Then we had to wait for the housing coordinators come by and inspect our apartment. We did really good and got a "celestial" score on our checklist. For dinner, a member was going to meet us at Golden Corral and as we were on our way there, we were rear-ended by the car behind us! We were in the left turn lane, and the car came up to us and BAM! We jolted forward, but it wasn't too bad. Elder Hawkins and I looked at each other and he said "Dude, we just got hit!" The damage wasn't too bad to the car because we had our bike rack on. It only put a big dent in the bike rack and a dent in our trunk. Nothing happened to his car.

After the collision, we got out and I got the information from the dude that hit us. Then we called the vehicle coordinator and he told us what to do and that we were going to have to do a lot of paperwork now. So after all of that craziness, we had dinner which was with the Tanners. Terry Tanner, I found out, actually grew up in Dove Creek, Colorado and his family owns the bean plant in town. It was really cool to talk about or stomping grounds.
Friday was Dad's birthday!!! happy bday:) 

First Snow!

We woke up with sore necks from the whiplash of the collision, but other than that, we were alright. We had Zone Training too and got lost on our way to the building. It was funny because we were trying to find out where we were on this big map of Colorado Springs that I bought. We learned about how to make our planning more meaningful and how to set goals that we could actually reach. I found out that Elder Tallman, my MTC companion, was called to be a trainer too! He got his call from President Rehm later because he is training Elder Davies who is from England and was waiting for his visa. He saw a Taco Bell and said "It's just like the movies!" so after zone training, we took him to Taco Bell for the first time in his life haha. Afterwards we filled out the paperwork and stopped by the police station to get some more forms. After that we took Mitch to teach with us again and he was solid:) Our next appointment was with a less active member, Sister Christian, who told us that she was going to bring a nonmember with her to the lesson!! The friend's name is Kitana and she is a 19 year old mother who is living in the basement of Sister Christian with her husband who is also less active. We taught about the restoration and Kitana received it really well. At the end of the lesson, we invited her to ready and pray about the Book of Mormon and to come to church and she said yes! It is so amazing to have that miracle happen!
Saturday was our day of service. We met up with Elder Johns and Elder Clancy who are serving in Falcon. They picked us up to go do some service for the homeless. 

homeless service with Elders Johns Clancy Me and Hawkins

We did things like give them food, give them toiletries, and give them clothes they needed. That was really cool. After we got back, we went to sand creek and did some more service with them. This time we sorted meats into packages for a food bank.
Sunday was a good day! We saw Doug Thomas there! (He is the homeless man we were going to teach in his field) We were able to teach him a lesson before church and he stayed for the whole meeting:) after dinner, Elder Hawkins and I had the opportunity to give a blessing to Sister Christian. We are so glad to be a help to others :)
What am amazing week it was! We got 2 new investigators and are excited to see the good news we share bless their lives:) love you all!
Elder Kyler LaRose.

Kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT ADDRESS:

2605 Serendipity Circle E APT #251

Colorado Springs, CO

80917

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS (use if close to Transfer time): 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #15 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake TRAINER + DL!

Hey everyone! It's been a great week.
On Monday, for Elder Schilling's last lesson with Mitch, we watched the restoration video which is really great. Mitch really loved it and felt the spirit a lot.

Elder Shillings last time at Monica's

On Tuesday, we went to the sand creek apartment and helped them pack up for transfer meeting. I had to be at the stake center at 1:00 for a meeting with the new missionaries and trainers. There were only 5 new elders to choose from, and there were 2 spanish elders and 1 visa waiting elder, so really, I only had to choose between 2 elders. President Rehm announces that the new missionary would be "serving in the Fountain Stake (check), in Elder LaRose's district (check!), with Elder LaRose!! So my new companion will be Elder Hawkins from Portland, Oregon! I am so excited and ready to go and do work with Elder Hawkins. He sounds like an awesome guy and we have a lot of the same interests.

Elder Hawkins and I at transfer meeting

After the meeting and after taking everyone's luggage out of our car, we loaded in Elder Hawkins stuff and got ready to leave. We dropped off his stuff at the apartment and then went straight to our appointments. We first had a lesson with the Keys, who are the elders quorum president and the relief society president. Dinner was with the Merkling family and he is the ward clerk. Our last Lesson that night was with the Krings. Then we had to go to the store to get these new missionaries some food. Elder Dugger, who used to be in Sand Creek, was moved out of that biking area because he was having some respiratory problems. So they moved Elder Stark over there to finish training Elder Villaneda. Elder Stark came out with me and is super awesome. I'm glad he's in my district. So we took them to Walmart and bought some groceries.

Wednesday was really fun. So to tell you a little more about Elder Hawkins, he really loves to work on cars, play sports, and be outdoors. He is the oldest in his family by a minute to his twin brother. He also has two younger twin brothers and then a younger sister as well. He played football and baseball in high school and got some baseball scholarships to be a pitcher and a 2nd baseman for the University of Oregon!! But what amazes me about him is that he turned those scholarships down so that he could serve a mission. Before we were made companions, I had been praying for a companion that would be well prepared and have a strong desire to do missionary work and I am so happy that I got one. The first thing that we did today was go out and visit a group of less active members and find more people to teach. One time, we walked up to a house and could see the lady through the window. When we knocked, she got up and went to the door and locked it and then went back to her place haha. Oh well... We were able to set up a lesson with a less active member and she is really promising. She really wants to get back to church and everything. Later we had an active member lesson with the Larsons and and practiced teaching the restoration. Our first coordination meeting, Brother Springer couldn't make it, so we met with Brother Munn. After that we played volleyball with the ward and got Elder Hawkins meeting all of the people.
Thursday, following our studies, I had to get on a conference call for all of the new District Leaders. I was also asked to give a short 4 minute talk on exchanges during that too. The conference lasted an hour and really helped me become more comfortable with being a District Leader. We went and taught 2 less active members today. The first was Brother Brown, who talks so much that we decided to prepare subjects instead of lessons to teach. The next lesson was with Brother Whitmer. His wife who was not a member died a couple of years ago and he has been wanting to become temple worthy so that he can go there for his wife. We taught him about the blessings of the temple and encouraged him on his path to the temple. That night, we had 2 lessons with active members, the Johnsons and the Robins.
On Friday, we had my first district meeting as a district leader and it went really well! My district now consists of Elder Hawkins and I, Elder Stark and Elder Villaneda, and the Zone Leaders Elder Reimer and Elder Smith. We did out accountability, where we bring the names of those we've been working with to the district to discuss and provide insight. Then I have a lesson for the remaining amount of time. I had everyone read and bear their testimonies of the scriptures that they chose to put on their missionary plaques. After the meeting, the sand creek elders came with us to lunch and the library, where we printed off a couple of talks. We went and saw Phyllis King and took Mitch with us again! We taught her about our heavenly family and she really enjoyed it. After that, we had a less active lesson with Sister Christian and taught a practice lesson on the restoration. We must have for a good job because she was in tears and the end. We set a return appointment with her and are encouraging her to come to church and to share the good news of the gospel with everyone she can. That night Brother Munn came and took us to the Taylor's home, where we taught John about marriage and missionary work. John says that he wants to be a soldier when he grows up and so we read to him the part in Ephesians where it talks about putting on the armor of God. After the lesson, Sister Taylor said that she felt impressed to ask for a blessing of comfort. I have the blessing and Elder Hawkins and Brother Munn stepped in. It was really awesome because right before we went over to the Taylor's, Elder Hawkins and I were talking about how important and cool blessings are. That night, we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder Hawkins went to 18th ward with Elder Smith and Elder Reimer stayed with me in 3rd ward.
On Saturday, pretty much the whole day was open without any appointments. So for 3 straight hours, Elder Reimer and I went tracting. A new approach that we have been using while tracting is using a survey to get people talking about their religious beliefs. The survey questions are:
1.) Is a close, strong family important to you?
2.) Should churches provide better programs for families and youth?
3.) Do you believe in God?
4.) Do you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God?
5.) Have you ever asked yourself questions like "Why am I here on earth?" and "Where will I go after I die?" Do you think there are answers to those questions?
6.) Do you believe the bible to be the word of God or just a history book? If you knew there was another book of scripture written by prophets that testifies of Jesus Christ, would you read it?
7.) Do you pray?
8.) If so, do you feel that God hears and answers prayers?
9.) How do you cope with a crisis in your life?
10.) Would you like to be happier than you are now? What would make you happier?
These questions were super effective with getting us good gospel discussions with people. We were able to teach two people a lesson and leave them with a word of prayer right there on their doorstep. We left the 2 people copies of the Book of Mormon to read and told them to call us any time they had questions about the book. One of the ladies we taught said, "I'll take the Book of Mormon, but I probably won't rea..... yeah.... you know... I will read it." Right there, the Holy Ghost testified to her of the magnificence and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. She went from not going to read it, to softening her heart and being willing to read. I am so glad that the Spirit touched her heart and hope that she will act on this prompting. After we finished tracting, we went to Paul Mitchell hair school in downtown Colorado Springs, where missionaries get free haircuts. I had a guy named Daniel cut my hair and he did a really good job! At dinner, we switched back with Elder Hawkins and Elder Smith.

New haircut and scarf

On Sunday, we had good meetings with the ward leadership and introduced a lot of people to Elder Hawkins! Church went well and as we walked back to our apartment, we were heckled by some passer-bys which is always a treat.
Well I am looking forward to the next few moths with Elder Hawkins and the Colorado Springs 3rd ward!! Love you all and thank you so much.
Elder Kyler LaRose.

Elder LaRose

EMAIL: kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT ADDRESS:

2605 Serendipity Circle E APT #251

Colorado Springs, CO

80917

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS (use if close to Transfer time): 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916

WEEK #14 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #14

Hello family and friends, more crazy news this week! (See Sunday)
On Tuesday, we had to take Elder Dugger to a doctors appointment and
so we were stuck there. It was pretty cool thought because the
building we were in was right across the street from the Olympic
Training Center. After that, we all headed to the church to
Specialized Training, which is where our mission president and his
assistants talk to our zone specifically about issues that need to
come up. We learned how to really work with the church leaders and
getting them to help us find more people to teach and people to work
with.
On Wednesday, we helped a family move and that was pretty gross
because they are hoarders and everything was covered in dog hair. We
visited 2 less active members and were able to teach them some lessons
and encourage them to live the gospel to the fullest. That night was
the last coordination meeting and volleyball session that Elder
Schilling would be at!

I bought thermals and boots so I decided to be a thug

On Thursday I reached the 3rd month of my mission! Time is flying too
quickly. In the morning, I went to Train the Trainer where I learned
about how to work with a new missionary. One thing that stuck out to
me was to let the new missionary take the lead in lots of things, even
if he isn't comfortable with it:) I learned a lot and am so excited to
be training! After the meeting, we went to Elder Schilling's doctor
appointment and the doctor was actually impressed with his range of
motion in his pinky finger. The doc cleared him to play sports and is
not having him do stretches periodically. For dinner, we were given
money instead of sitting down and eating with the family, so we
decided to go to Texas Roadhouse and had some delicious rolls and
sirloin steak.
On Friday, we went to district meeting where I taught everyone about
how out missionary purpose affects our work. It was Elder Schilling's
last district meeting as the district leader too. Everyone was a
little hyper and so when It came my turn to teach, I had to reel in
everyone back to the lesson.

Me giving my talk on the conference call

 So our purpose as missionaries is to
invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored
gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance,
baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the
end. Ultimately, our purpose should become the purpose of those we
teach. We should inspire our investigators so that they will have the
desire to share their newfound knowledge with others. Preach My Gospel
says, "Through a modern prophet, god has restores knowledge about the
plan of salvation, which is centered on Christ's Atonement and
fulfilled by living the first principles and ordinances of the
gospel." The beautifully restored truths of the gospel bring us
clarity, understanding, and peace.. So much that it moves us to change
our lifestyle and to share it not only with those we love, but with
those we do not yet know. So after district meeting, we went and
visited Mitch and taught him about baptism and receiving the gift of
the Holy Ghost. It got him excited again and we are going to set a
date with him at our lesson on Monday night.
On Saturday, we didn't have any appointments and so Elder schilling
packed away all of his things to get ready for transfers. That night
we went to the chili cook off and trunk or treat that the ward hosted
and had some delicious chili. Bishop Obenchain made a really spicy
chili and named it The Final Judgement. I tried a bowl full of it and
it did have me sweating. As missionaries, we aren't allowed to dress
up in costumes so I said that my costume was a missionary. It was a
fun night!



Me at Trunk or Treat dresses as a headless missionary

On Sunday Elder Schilling finished up packing and then we had our
studies. Around 7:45 we got a call from the mission president!! He
normally doesn't call on Saturdays and Sundays before transfers unless
you are going into a leadership position. So I thought that Elder
Schilling was getting called to be a Zone Leader until he handed me
the phone! My hands began to shake. President Rehm then asked me if I
would accept the position to become the District Leader replacing
Elder Schilling. I accepted and then President reassured me that I
would do fine. Again, I am humbled to my knees. Then talking with
Elder Schilling about it all, he said that I am the youngest District
Leader under President Rehm and possibly before that! All in one day I
will go from greenie and Junior Companion to Senior Companion,
Trainer, and District Leader!! I don't know how I am going to do it,
but at least I have The Lord to help me. I couldn't think of anything
else for the rest of the day and church just flew by.
I'm looking at a whole slew of additional responsibilities, but The
Lord qualifies those he calls and hopefully I am so qualified.
Love you all and have a great week!

Elder LaRose

EMAIL: kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

CURRENT AREA ADDRESS:

2605 Serendipity Circle E APT #251

Colorado Springs, CO

80917

MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS: 

4090 Center Park Drive Ste 4

Colorado Springs, CO 80916