Monday, November 16, 2015

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








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