WEEK #74 - Colorado Springs Mission Office - CHRISTMAS!

WEEK #74

12.26.16

Hey Everyone! This week was so awesome and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

On Monday, we started our day off by having Michael's Baptism!! It was short and sweet and there were a good amount of missionaries there to support him. He had asked me to baptize him and that was super special. He is only a year older than me so we are definitely buds.

 After the baptism, we went and hiked up the incline! It was pretty crazy because it was all snowy and there was ice on the stairs. But we were ready to go ahead and do it anyway. The group was 6 of us and we started trekking up to the top. Elder Stark was the first one up and then I followed after him. It was painful the whole way up but we kept on going. We got up there in about 45 minutes and then waited for the rest of the crew to get up. It was really pretty. One of the Elders, Elder Kinney, had a hard time getting to the top but he made it. He was dead tired at the top though. He is pretty frail and skinny and so his legs kept giving out from under him as we tried to come back down. So we went back down the incline carrying this Elder down the whole way on the snowy and icy steps. It was pretty sketchy and we slipped a lot of times. The sun went down too so I had to get out my flashlight and we continued down with that. We made it back in time to get to dinner so that was a blessing. We had incredible hamburgers and left satisfied.

On Tuesday, we were on exchanges with the Valley zone leaders. I was with Elder J. Smith for the day and it was great! At one point, we taught 7 lessons and found a new investigator in the space of 3 hours. It was super great. We had dinner at Jesse and Diana's and then after that I went with Elder Henning to teach the Foster girls. They were crazy and wild and it was a super fun lesson. 

On Wednesday, we started another exchange with the Fountain zone leaders. I was in the area with Elder Johannesson for the day and it was great! we were able to stop by a lot of people and have good lessons with them. We also went over to the house that we were caroling at and talked to the guy again. They are both doing really well and we are going to go and see them next week.

On Thursday, we started another exchange with the Springs zone leaders. I went to the Palmer Park area with Elder Ward. It was great to be there. We spent a good amount of time helping these old people at goodwill do different activities. We had a good rest of the day helping people come closer to Christ and there is nothing better to do this time of year. We came back from the exchange and then Elder Stark cut my hair. It is so easy and convenient to have him do that haha and it's free.

On Friday, we had a good district meeting and then afterwards, we went to the Hammonds for lunch. When we got there, they had a ton of sugar cookies ready for us to decorate and then give out to people! It was so nice of them. We handed them out to some of the homeless people around the area. We went and weekly planned after that and then headed to dinner with Sister Tecurio! The sisters were there too and it was great food. Sister Tecurio had a guest over as well! She only spoke French and was a refugee from Africa. Her family had been killed over there and so she fled the country. It was cool to teach her about the gospel. We taught very simply and Sister Tecurio translated for us.

On Saturday, we had a great Christmas Eve! In the late afternoon, we went over to the Gulls and spent Christmas with them and the sisters. It was super great and so much fun. We played a bunch of games and then got to watch the Zookeeper. 

On Sunday, we woke up and then went to church where our district sang silent night for everyone in the congregation in English, Tongan, and Tagalog. After that, we were almost on our way to Woodland Park, but we got a flat tire and so We changed it and then went to the office and got picked up by Jeff (Gunga). We headed out there and it was awesome! We had a great lunch and then got to open our presents and Skype our families!! I got a lot of BYU clothes and stuff so that was awesome. After the call, we had delicious homemade Chicago Pizza. We also went on a walk, looked at the stars, and then spun dradles:)

  

 It was such a good Christmas and I hope everyone else had a great Christmas:)
Love you all and thanks for everything!!

Elder Kyler LaRose

MISSION OFFICE:

4090 Center Park Dr

Colorado Springs, Colorado

80916

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #73 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WEEK #73
12.19.16

Hey Everyone! It has been a great week! I can't believe that Christmas is in a week!
On Monday, we had to drive up to an area and drive some sisters down to the mission office. As we were helping the sisters move out, some deer were just outside the apartment. So I picked up some grass and walked up to one of the deer. It actually came up to me and I pet its head and then pet its back before it smelled my BO and ran away! It was so darn cool! I missed a picture with it but that's alright. We then had to go up to the northern part of the Springs to run an errand and then we went and played volleyball with some missionaries. It was pretty great. After that, we went and had dinner at the goodbye party for the Mechams! They have finished their 2 year mission and are returning home to Wyoming! They told us that we could come and visit any time after our missions. We sure will miss them.  After that, we went down to Pueblo for exchanges.
On Tuesday, I stayed in Pueblo for the day. We had a pretty great day! We went and saw a bunch of people that they were working with and it was great. I just love going to new areas and meeting new people and making connections. I met one guy who grew up in south western Colorado and he went to the Monticello Temple when it was dedicated and attended afterwards. We had a good time teaching a bunch of people and we had a great dinner. After dinner, we stopped by some people and then we met up with Elder Stark and headed back to the springs.
On Wednesday, we went to the office and sent out letters and stuff. We came back home and then did our weekly planning! After we finished that, we went to see Anthony and Deborah. They were not home unfortunately. It is hard to catch them sometimes. We had dinner with Michael and Marly. That was great! We went over the interview questions with Michael and then after dinner, he had his interview and passed! Then we set up the program for his baptism on the 19th. We are so excited for him and know that the gospel will bless his life.
On Thursday, we drove up to Castle Rock for the final Christmas zone conference. It was great to be up there again. I love Castle Rock. For the final entrance of Santa, I dressed up in the suit and then Elder Stark had a red nose that lit up and a reindeer antlers headband. So he gave me a piggy back into the cultural hall and I was yelling HOHOHO!! It was hilarious. After the conference, we found one of those reindeer antlers you can put on your car so we put in on our minivan and named it Elliot (from Open Season) and it's awesome. We made it back in time to manage the early transfer for the missionaries going home before Christmas. So we made sure things ran smoothly and then took all of the departing missionaries to dinner. After that, we went and had a lesson with Mike and Randi! They are going out of town so they made us open our Christmas presents they got us. They got us both Nebraska Huskers shirts! That was super nice and they are awesome. It was great to be over there before they took off.

On Friday, we drove up and took all of the missionaries to the airport! It's crazy to see another good batch of friends finish their mission. After that, we had out district meeting and then had lunch at the Hammonds. They are the military relations couple that replaced the Mechams. After our lunch, we had a meeting with president and talked about who my replacement could be. We also talked about the transfer coming up. That evening, we had dinner with the Grays and that was great. We drove up to northern springs to go on exchanges.
On Saturday, I was with Elder Hagman in 5th ward. He was in the MTC with me and it was great to have a day together. We woke up to tons of snow on the ground, but nobody told us to park our vehicles so we took our minivan Elliot out there and tore up the streets. We figured out how to drift in the minivan too and that was awesome. You just have to stomp on the E brake and then you start sliding haha. It was awesome. We went to a baptism and then helped some people move. We went and saw Jose and then contacted come referrals we had gotten. We had a good lesson with the Puzzos and then went to the Severe's for dinner. We went over to the Rodriguez home after that and had a good lesson about building a foundation on Christ. It was definitely a cold day that day and it got down to -8 degrees. We exchanged back and then came home for the night.
On Sunday, we went to church and there was like nobody there. Lots of people have headed out of town for the holidays. We had another recent convert lesson with Tyler Shumway and then we went to dinner with the Katalins and the Mismashs. After dinner we went caroling as a district for the last time. This time it was in our area and so we selected a street to sing at. On the 3rd house we sang at, we were invited into their home and they gave us all apple cider to warm us up. (it didn't rise above 10 degrees) John and Karen were there names and they were so sweet! We talked about our missions and also about the Book of Mormon. They totally accepted a copy and said that they were really interested in what we had to offer them! We sang them another song before we left and then continued on caroling! It was pretty awesome!
So excited to see my family next week! hope you all have a great Christmas! Love you all!

WEEK #72 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

Hey Everyone! It has been another great week!
On Monday, we started our day by going to the hospital to give somebody a blessing. We went into the ICU and he looked pretty weak. But we came and helped with the blessing. Later in the day, we went and checked out some stores and then picked up some elders to play basketball with us. We went to the church to play and it was great.J It was a good all-around game and it got close between the two teams down at the end haha. Then we went to dinner with the Hess family on base and had some great homemade Mediterranean food! Yum. Later, we went over to Mike and Randi’s and helped them out with their family history. It was really cool to get them going on thatJ
On Tuesday, We had the Fountain and Colorado Springs stake Christmas zone conference. So in the morning, we went there and had a good time. Everyone thought it was pretty funny that I was SantaJ. We went to see the man in the hospital again and checked up on him. We were able to have him talk a little bit and so we shared a scripture with him. Later, we had correlation with our Ward Mission Leader and the sisters. It was good and when we came out, it was snowing! That night, we met up with Elder Henning and Elder Smith and the Mechams and they took us to Texas Roadhouse! It was great as usualJ.
On Wednesday, we got called in the morning to go and give another blessing. Sister Ramos met us there and we were able to pay a visit to her nonmember friend. We hope that she recovers well! Sister Ramos got us hot chocolate from the hospital and then we were off to MLC with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders. The council was good and it was productive. A whole new group of leaders had come and gone and I am still on the council haha. I have been to 12 MLC meetings, which makes a year total haha. After MLC, we had our interviews with President. It was good and I am very grateful for him and Sister Rehm and all they do. I invited them to my homecoming talk in CT haha. We went and met with Anthony afterwards and had a great lesson! We set a baptism date for him for the 31st of December! He is really hoping that this will change his life. After Dinner, we went and had a transition lesson with Michael. He is a person that the sisters had been teaching. He got to know us a little better when we would work out with him in the mornings. So, since he hadn’t been progressing a whole lot with the sisters, we took over the teaching. It was a great lesson and we are both excited to be meeting with him now.
On Thursday, we went to the East and North stake Christmas zone conference. It was really great. Santa again made an appearance and got a lot of pictures with Elders on his lap. Elder Stark was a good elf as well! After the conference, we met with James Lindley. He is a mentally disabled member that faithfully attends each weekJ He called us and told us that he wanted the sisters and us to come over so he could give us a present. He gave us boxes of Christmas cards that we could hand out to our investigators and stuff! It is going to be awesomeJ We went and saw Jose after that and he was on his medication pretty heavily so he was just being a wisecrack the whole time we were there haha. We didn’t have anyone signed up for dinner that night and so we went to Crave Burger! Delicious.
On Friday, we had a good zone training with the zone. Our zone was split again so there were only half the amount of missionaries there this time. After Lunch we went and saw Bobby at the hospital. He was not awake so we left him a note. We went and had a lesson with Tyler Shumway and that was great. Whenever we have gone over, his dad (who is less active) has never participated with us. He would either be on the computer or somewhere upstairs. But in this lesson, he came and sat down halfway through the lesson. It was surprising to us but it is a step in the right direction. Afterwards we went to the church to practice a song with the sisters and then we headed over to the Rodriguez home. We came home and had a late dinner and ended the night well worn out.
On Saturday, we met with President and Sister Rehm and discussed more about transfers. Afterwards, we figured out what we would be doing with the group of missionaries that would be departing before Christmas. Then, we went and met with Michael and when we showed up, He told us that he wanted to be baptized on December 19th! We are so excited for him and he is totally ready. Then we went and had a lesson with Jesse and Diana and that was really good. They are facing the usual new member adjustment but they are really excited about the gospel. After that, we went to our ward Christmas party. There was a pretty good turn out and Sister Jenkins, Sister ‘Iongi, Elder Stark and I sang ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ in Tongan for everyone. It wasn’t too shabby.
On Sunday, we had ward council in the morning and then got to church. We got to teach about the Second Coming in gospel principles class and then made lunch. We stopped by a lot of people and found a new less active member that we were able to meet with. We then went over to the Nielson’s and attempted to make gingerbread houses. It didn’t really work so we just had gingerbread and milk with our dinner. Michael and Marly came as well and it was great for them to be there. After dinner, we went caroling with the district and had a great time out in the cold singing songs. Sometimes, people would even turn us away from singing. I don’t think that many people realize that we are just trying to bring happiness into their life. There are so many ways that we can find happiness. The world thinks that happiness only comes in a few ways, but the gospel gives us infinites ways and reasons to be happy. I love this gospel and this time of year!
Thanks for all the support that you have given me and I look forward to your letters! Love you all.

WEEK #71 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WEEK #71

12.5.16

Hey Everyone! It has been a fantastic week!

On Monday, we got up early in the morning to make the drive down to the San Luis Valley. We wanted to take the most scenic route we could, so we went through Woodland Park and then once we got past the mountains, took the road straight to the valley. It was such a gorgeous drive! The temperature didn’t rise above 18 degrees on the way there. We got there, emailed at the church, grabbed some Taco Bell, and then went to Zapata Falls! Since it is so cold in the valley, we were expecting the waterfall to be frozen, and it was! The drive there was great and we went with basically all the missionaries in the Valley. Our van made it up the dirt road to the trailhead pretty fine so that was good too haha. We had a blast at the falls. Most of it was all frozen and it was really cool looking. We took a bunch of pictures. At one point, an Elder decided it was a good idea to jump from the base of the falls onto the ice below. Sister Anderson was at the bottom videoing Elder Tallman and I at the waterfall, but when the other Elder jumped, he broke through the ice, which made the part Sister Anderson was standing on become weak and collapse. We were laughing at her when it went up to her knees, but when she slipped again and went under the cold water up to her chin, then we slid down the ice and helped her up. We immediately went to the car and I gave her the shirt I had packed for the night. She changed into dry clothes and we were sure to get all the victims warm so they didn’t get hypothermia. It was a pretty epic day. We went to some appointments that evening with the zone leaders and it was great!

On Tuesday, we started our rounds of Christmas zone conferences. These conferences are shorter and there is a Christmas lunch provided after each of them I have the special privilege of dressing up as Santa and handing the missionaries their gifts from the mission haha. It is humiliating every time haha. After the conference, we made the long drive back the way we came. On the way back, we saw tons of wildlife. We saw deer, antelope, buffalo, and elk herds! It was so cool. We made it back and grabbed some dinner and then had to go to the office after that.

On Wednesday, we got together with the district and practiced singing our special music number we would be doing at zone conference. We are singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” in English, Tongan, and Tagalog. It is going to be great. We then went to Peterson AFB and renewed our base passes to allow us to get on. We picked up the baptism record for Tyler Shumway and were able to get that officially turned in to the mission office haha. For dinner, we got to go to the Calls again! They are a family in the Sand Creek ward that is just awesome! It was great to be over there for the evening.

On Thursday, we drove down to Pueblo for their Christmas zone conference. It was really great! We got to hear from President Rehm, then he explained the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative which is freakin awesome. I hope everyone does it and checks it out at Mormon.org It is completely oriented to doing small acts of Christ like service each day in December up to Christmas. Then we had some time to sing Christmas hymns and then a short testimony meeting. It was really great. Again, I was Santa, and that was pretty funny. I am trying to get a picture with President Rehm on my lap. We drove back after the conference and Elder Stark was feeling dead so he crashed. I then made some phone calls and was able to set up a bunch of lessons for the next day. We went to a place called George’s burgers and gyros and ordered some delicious gyros. It was Elder Stark’s first time having a gyro and he thought they were great. We ended the night by spending good time with this less active guy playing basketball. He had only said like 3 words to us whenever we would go over to the house, but now we are able to connect with him and he is friendly with us now.

On Friday, We had a good district meeting and then a good lunch at the Mecham’s. This was the last time that we were going to be able to have lunch with the Mechams! They are finishing their senior mission and are going back to Wyoming. After that, we cleaned up our apartment for the upcoming inspection. We then were able to go and see Anthony and Deborah. They are slowly and steadily progressing. We taught them about the Word of Wisdom and they really liked it! They both committed to live the Word of Wisdom. We saw Jose again too and he is doing alright. He is still in a lot of pain that keeps him from doing much. So he is feeling a little worthless. Dinner was with the Mecham’s and the sisters and we went to Red Robin. After that, we went and met with the Rodriguez and were able to have a great lesson with them! They expressed interest about coming back to church and that was awesome. It was good to finally get in and have a lesson with all of them.

On Saturday, We conducted a training call, and I accidentally announced myself as Elder Stark. He started cracking up and had to leave the room for a second. After that, we had our apartment inspection and got a perfect score! Our hard work paid off. We then met with President and Sister Rehm and discussed the upcoming transfer. After that, we went over to the Puzzo’s and had a good lesson there. Dinner was at the Lieshman’s and it was hilarious. They are a super awkward couple and the sisters were over there too so it was a blast. After dinner we played this fun card game called Deer in the Headlights. Sister Lieshman is less active and so it was good to have fun with her. The sisters are going to be teaching her regularly now. After that, we went over to Greg and Shannon’s and helped them prepare for their lesson that they would be teaching on Sunday. It was good to be over there and they are doing really well. They are still going through a lot of crap, but they know the church is where they need to be. They are awesome.

On Sunday, we practiced our special music number with the district in the morning and then we went to church. Mike got to pass the sacrament for the first time too! Also, Michael Sheehan is another person that we just picked up teaching from the sisters! We have already been friends with him so he is excited to have us over. We went and met with another investigator James, we hadn’t met with him for a while because he was going through the process of being kicked out of his home and was a little busy with that. He is a pretty humble guy because now he is living in an RV and it is pretty beat up. But we were able to meet with him and to just listen to him talk. We talked about a bunch of different gospel topics and he is really wanting to get into the church. We are excited to be working with him more frequently again. We went and had dinner at the Churchills and that was great We watched the Christmas devotional at the church and sat by Mitch, who was there as well When it was over, we went and had our first round of District Caroling!! We sang like 2 songs at each door and then shared a message about Christ from the Book of Mormon. We were pretty successful and there were like no slammed doors because we were caroling. We finished the night with hot chocolate, brownies, and call ins at the office. It was a great week

Hope you all have a good week ahead of you! Love you all. 

WEEK #70 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

This week has been a great week!

On Monday, we went to the Olympic Training Center and took a tour of the campus! It was pretty cool:) I remember vaguely being there as a little kid when we visited the Springs. So the tour started off with a cool video about some athletes and then we went and walked around the campus. It was pretty cool to see all of the different training areas for the Olympians. We saw places like the shooting range, the wrestling room, the pool, the gyms, and the exercise rooms. There was so much for all the athletes to do! After the tour, we went and took some pictures outside with the statues and at the Olympic rings. It was pretty great. 

On Thursday, we started out Thanksgiving by going and playing in a Turkey Bowl!! Since our ward wasn’t having one, we got in touch with the Sand Creek ward and went to play with them. It was cool because Elder Stark and I were there last year as well. This time, it was not snowing but we still had a great time

After that, we met with President and went over the new missionaries' applications and then went to the airport to pick them up! It was good to see all of the newbies come off the plane just ready to go:) We took them to have dinner at the mission home and it was great! There were only 6 new missionaries that came out this transfer.

On Tuesday, we woke up a little earlier and headed to breakfast with the new missionaries. After that, we drove them down to the Aeroplaza building and did a little orientation to the mission. Then, I got to monitor transfers while Elder Stark taught the Trainers. The transfer went really smoothly. We are planning travel arrangements so that we have everyone spread out so they arrive at different times to control the amount of missionary traffic in the building. This time it was smooth. After lunch, I taught the trainer and new missionary meeting and then transfers concluded! Another transfer past already. It's going by too quickly. We had an appointment with Cynthia, but she didn't answer the door when we showed up. To celebrate our work with transfers, we went to Texas Roadhouse and had a good dinner. We at buckets of their delicious rolls haha.

On Wednesday, we did some weekly planning and then at noon, We went and did service for Operation Turkey. What they are is an organization around the world that helps bring home cooked meals to families in need on Thanksgiving. So they buy, cook, carve, and deliver a bunch of turkeys. What we did was help out with the carving. We went and carved a ton of turkeys. I carved probably 10 turkeys that day. After that, we went to the office and figured out some things for the miles document. We didn’t have anyone signed up to feed us that night so we looked around the area to see what restaurants were close by. We found this German restaurant called Edelweiss and we had to go. The food was super delicious and I got a full plate with Spätzle and Jagershnitzel J It hit the spot.

. Afterwards, Elder Stark gave us haircuts. We went to dinner at Mike and Randi’s and it was greatJ we had great turkey with green bean casserole, stuffing, and cheesey mashed potatoes. It was great food and great company. We got to watch a PG movie as well so Elder Stark and I watched Finding Dory. It was pretty good! Worth the watch.

On Friday, we had a good district meeting and then we went and had lunch at the Mecham’s. We had to play a couple of rounds of Spot it too before we left. Afterwards, we went to the office and while we were there, Elder Stark and I put on these fake mustaches on that his friend sent us and made some funny videos. It was great.

On Saturday, we got to go to the Temple with Mike and Randi for their first time and that was awesome! We got to do baptisms with the youth in the ward. After that we went to Five Guys and then made the trip back home. It was so neat to be there at the temple with them. Such a great spiritual strength.

 After we got back to the Springs, we went and had a lesson with Anthony and Deborah. We are hoping to help them start progressing again. That evening, we had the baptism for Jesse and Diana! I was asked to baptize Jesse, and confirm Diana. Elder Stark was asked vice versaJ The baptism was great and we were happy to see them so happy. After that, we celebrated by going to Burger King and getting ice cream.

On Sunday, we had ward council in the morning and then went to church. Church was really good and we were asked to teach Gospel Principles. It was about the Gathering of the House of Israel and so that fit right in to what we do full time! After our church, we hung around so that we could be at the 18^th ward sacrament meeting to confirm Jesse and Diana. It was really great to be there for that. Dinner was that evening on base with the McEchron’s and the Hess’s and had some great curry. We had a lesson with Greg and Shannon that evening and then finished the week by taking call ins.

It has been such a great week and I hope that everyone had a great thanksgiving! Love you all!  

WEEK #69 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

Hey Everyone! It’s been a super busy week this week.

On Monday, we started the day by going on a sweet hike with Elder Buxton, Elder Yarmo, and Elder Meyers. We went and did the Seven Bridges hike, where it’s a cool path that crosses over a stream 7 different times. We took some good pictures and it was way fun. After we got back from the hike, we went to Memorial Park and had a birthday party for Elder Constantine and Elder Pexton. It was great! We threw a football around, played some volleyball, and President and Sister Rehm came to celebrate as well. Dinner was at the Bishop’s house and that was really good.

On Tuesday, we had our Transfer Coordination meeting at the office and got things layed out for the transfer. Because of the holidays, the transfer is a little weird since the departing missionaries fly home before Thanksgiving. After that meeting, we had lunch with the office missionaries and then met with President and Sister Rehm to discuss transfers. We prayed and confirmed who the next trainers should be and then talked more about the transfer. After that, we were going to have appointments full but then they all cancelled on us! So we went to the park to talk to people. We then had a coordination meeting with our Ward Mission Leader and then headed to dinner with the MechamsJ They took us and the sisters to Rudy’s bbq which is this super good steakhouse thing. I got some smoked brisket that was super delicious. We then played a couple rounds of Spot it and then headed home. We worked on a little more things for miles. As well.

On Wednesday, we drove up to Castle Rock in the morning and had our final zone conference there. It was so much fun and the conference went great! We enjoyed spending time teaching up there. We came home through the scenic route and made it in time to go have an interview with Tyler Shumway for his baptism! We had dinner over at Mike and Randi’s and got to teach Mike the final parts of the Restoration. It was a great day.

On Thursday, we had time to do our weekly planning and so we did that. In the afternoon, we met with the departing missionaries and got their luggage and everything all packed away. In this departing group, two of my companions are finishing their missions! Elder Buxton and Elder Constantine have completed their 2 years and are headed out. Crazy to think about! When we got them all loaded up, we took them to dinner at the mission home and had a good feast. After that, Elder Stark and I went and had a lesson with the FostersJ they are doing really well. Then, we went and played basketball with a bunch of nonmembers at the church. The Elder’s quorum is setting up basketball for each week and that is going to be really good for getting people to come. We then went back to the mission home and spent the night with them.

On Friday, we loaded the missionaries up in the 12 passenger van and made the trip up to the Temple. We stopped at Costa Vida on the way up for lunch as tradition holds and then went to the Temple. We did an endowment session and a sealing session. The temple is such a great place to be and I love going each time. We made the drive back and had dinner at the mission home. President Rehm had seen that the BYU Young Ambassadors performance group would be in town and so he got 10 tickets for the departing missionaries and us to go and see them! The theme was very fitting for the occasion too! It was titled ‘Welcome Home’ haha. They performed really well and it was fun to be there. Elder Constantine went up to one of the singers afterwards and told her she was pretty and then she told him that she was married haha! That was super funny. We came back to the mission home after that and prepared for the next day.

On Saturday, we shipped off the missionaries at the airport and then went to the office with President to talk about transfers. We did a training call at 10 and then finalized everything for transfers with President. We started to type up the documents needed and then ran over to a baptism that the sisters were having. They asked us like 5 minutes beforehand to sing a hymn in English and then in Tongan!! So we practiced once right before, decided it was alright, and then went and did it. The spirit definitely helped us out on that one. After the Baptism, we went and took our car to get an oil change. We finalized some more things before dinner and then went to the Saturday session of Stake Conference. The theme was about missionary work so we were excited to hear about that. Elder Bat, a general authority was there and he was a great teacher. Something he said was “If you want your kids to stay out of trouble, have them do missionary work.” I thought that was awesome. After the conference, Elder Stark and I stayed up late figuring out Travel Arrangements for all of the missionaries. Once it was done, we both crashed on the couches in the living room haha.

On Sunday, we went to Stake Conference and it was again really awesome. Elder Bat spoke again and I liked when he said “The only power the Devil has is the power we give him.” Another great conference. Afterwards, we went over to teach Jesse and he fed us lunch. We taught him about all of the commandments and then we played some card games with them. Then, we went and had one last lesson with Tyler before he left for Utah to be baptized. He is really excited and will do well. We had an awesome dinner at the Mismash’s and enjoyed being over there with them. They are such great members and literally carry half the ward on their backs. We really appreciate them. After that, we got typing away at the Travel Arrangements and took calls from the zone leaders. We were again up late typing everything and getting it all sent out. Elder Stark and I got home and just crashed again.

It was a pretty exhausting week but we are so happy to be serving the LordJ Thanks for all the wishes and have a happy Thanksgiving!!! 

Elder Kyler LaRose

WEEK #68 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

Man! This has been one busy week!
On Monday, we we went and saw Jimmy Avila in the morning before he left for Arizona for a while. We had a great lesson there. He is nervous to leave his mother at home because she is getting pretty old and he is her caretaker.  After that, we did some shopping and then were going to bowling until we showed up at the bowling alley and there were these High School teams competing against each other! They were all getting like gutter balls and when one of them knocked some pins over they all cheered haha. But they had taken all of the lanes so we didn't get to go. So for a little bit, we went and played basketball and volleyball at the church. We had dinner with a family that has one of their unbaptized kids being baptized this coming week! It was great to go over there. After that, we went and saw Cynthia and were able to get in touch! We had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and are hoping to keep a consistent rhythm to our meetings. We had to clean our van that day too for the upcoming zone conference.
On Tuesday, we went and had Zone Conference at the Aeroplaza building for the Colorado Springs stake and Fountain stake missionaries. We were having our vehicle inspected at this one so in the morning we made it smell nice and stuff. The Zone Conference went well! We learned a lot and it was good to be around the missionaries. Our part went well too and there was great participation. Afterwards, we drove some elders back to their apartment and then headed to dinner with General Taylor and his wife on Peterson AFB. Dinner was great and we got stuffed! After that, we went to see Jose because he was in the hospital again. So we went over there and he said that he was probably going to be there for the rest of the week. So we had a good lesson there and then came home after a good busy day.
On Wednesday, we had like the whole day free which is rare sometimes in the position we hold. So we were able to pack it full with things to do and people to see. We started the day by going to Memorial Park and weekly planning. After we got things all set, we went to the Hospital to see Jose again. He was feeling depressed because the doctors weren’t really sure what they needed to do with him. So our visit was good for him. After we saw Jose, we went on a ‘blitz’ with some other elders. That is where Elder Stark and I split off with the companionship for a couple hours and both work in their area to help them find some people to teach. The area we were in was actually my first area I served in, 3rd ward. So it was great to be in the familiar area. We went and stopped by a lot of people that I had been teaching when I was there and were able to meet with them again. Some of them had temporarily stopped meeting with the missionaries and so it was good to help the area get moving again. After the blitz, we met back up and then Elder Stark and I went to dinner. His parents had given him some money to take the both of us to a good dinner. So we treated ourselves by going to Tucanos! It had been a while since I had been there and it was absolutely delicious. After that, we went and saw Mike and Randi. We taught him more parts of the Restoration in better detail. Mike is just doing greatJ He is such a great member that already brings strength to the ward here.
On Thursday, we had the opportunity to go to the temple with the missionaries that were hitting their halfway mark. It was a small group, but it was a great time. Elder Tu’ifua was in that group, who Elder Stark trained when we were serving around each other in 3rd ward and Sand Creek ward. It was great to be in the house of the Lord and to feel the peace that accompanies it. At the temple, we were able to do baptisms and then an endowment.

Afterwards, we got done a little earlier and so we went to Deseret Book to look around at stuff. The drive to the mission home was good and we had a great dinner waiting for us when we arrived. After that, there was a mini testimony meeting and it was awesome. We then took everyone back to the mission office and they headed back to their areas.
On Friday, we had a good district meeting. We all coordinated and wore floral apparel haha. The Elders wore floral ties and the sisters wore floral dresses.

We were asked to teach as well and we talked about using the Book of Mormon in teaching. It was a good quick lesson and there were some good ideas passed around. Afterwards, we went to lunch at the Mecham’s and it was great. Then we met with President and Sister Rehm and talked about transfers. There were some ward boundary changes in the North stake and so we had to discuss how that would affect the missionaries and then make some changes. We went to the hospital again to visit Jose and he is doing better. We had dinner that evening with the Fosters and that was funJ We had awesome spaghetti and meatballs. Then we went over to see Jesse again. He is progressing well towards baptism and his wife, who wasn’t too fond of it, has been having her heart softened by the spirit because she asked a question about if she were to be baptized! It was a great lesson and we made it out with some good cupcakesJ. That night, we were coming home and there were tons of cop cars stationed out with their lights on right by our apartment complex. Come to find out, there was a manhunt going on for two people who had stolen cars and then ditched them. One of them was armed and they told us to go into our home and to lock the door. Elder Stark and I wanted to form a vigilante possy and catch this guy but we did what they said. Haha good ‘ol 5th ward.
On Saturday, we were running really behind on watching instructional videos from The District. So what we did in the morning was got the projector, put it up on the wall, and binge watched The District so we could get caught up.

We saw Jose at the Hospital again and were able to get him a large print Book of Mormon for him to study. Later in the afternoon, we were able to get in and see Anthony and Deborah! We had a really great lesson about the Sabbath day and talked about how going to church helps us. They were both really excited to come to church the next day. Dinner was at the Severe’s and that was pretty awesome. They had actually lived in Germany when my dad was serving his mission there and he went over to do his laundry and stuff at their place like every week! So they had us over and we had a great dinner.

After dinner, we went and prepped Tyler Shumway for his baptismal interview! He is going to Utah to be baptized out there and so we need to prep a couple of things with him before he leaves. We are so excited for him! It was a good lesson.
On Sunday, It was my dad’s bday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! LOVE YOU!!! Haha, we started the day by going to Ward Council and talking about the people we are working with. Then, we went to church and had a great Sunday. Anthony and Deborah didn’t show up and we were pretty sad until we got a text from them saying that Anthony had a seizure in the shower while he was getting ready. We just hope that they are doing well and are keeping them in our prayers. After church, we went and gave Angela Avila, Jimmy’s mother, a blessing at the hospital. She is recovering well and just keeps trooping alongJ We went to the Park and talked to a lot of people there. Dinner was a Michael and Marly’s and we had come authentic Cambodian food. We had these rice paper wraps with noodles, lettuce, herbs, beef, shrimp, and SQUID!! There were little squids in the meat bowl!! I love to try new things and so I went all in. I’m not sure if I would make it myself and eat it again, but it was really neat to try it! Definitely a new thing to add to the list.

We then went and collected Key Indicators from the zone leaders and then headed to bed.
It has been a great and busy week and it only gets busier from here! Love you all and have a great week!
Elder LaRose

MISSION OFFICE:
4090 Center Park Dr
Colorado Springs, Colorado
80916

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #67 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

Hey Everyone! It has been a great week this week!


On Monday, we had a good Halloween and got to go shopping AND
we went to Colorado College to see an original Book of Mormon. It was really cool to see the original copy.

 After we went shopping, we went to the church and had a good couple of rounds of Basketball! After we were done with that, we went over to Michael and Marly’s to carve pumpkins with the sisters. We are not allowed to proselyte on Halloween night, so we had a good time playing games and then we got to carve our pumpkins. I put a BYU logo in mine! As we were leaving to go home, we drove past this one car and there was totally a clown in it!! It was super freaky looking and so Elder Stark sped away quickly.

On Tuesday, we made our way up to the North/East stakes in Colorado Springs to have another Zone Conference with the missionaries up there. The conference went well and Elder Stark and I ended up changing a couple of things around that ended up making things go a lot smoother in our teaching portion. After the conference, we went and picked some stuff up from the Aeroplaza building and then went to our dinner appointment. We had a really great lesson on prayer there. Prayer is really key to receiving blessings from the Lord and gaining a testimony. I like the scripture in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 18:20. Basically it says that if you pray and ask for something good, and believe that you’ll receive it, then you will receive it! There is no metaphorical meaning to this verse, it is straight up and trueJ That night, we went to pick up Elder Calderon. He is leaving for home a couple weeks early so he can attend a wedding. So we picked him up and then came back home. Sisters Topham and Anderson tried to scare us that by having us expecting Marly to drop off some leftovers. When they knocked, they tried to jump at us with masks on. We didn’t get scared but we did get confused haha.

On Wednesday, we woke up at like 5:50 and went to the church to workout. After that, we changed and went right to the airport to send Elder Calderon on his way. Then, we went and got ready for MLC. We showed up and had a good breakfast. This MLC was a really good one! We spent a lot of time talking about how we can help the missionaries have a deeper love for their Savior Jesus Christ. After that, I got ready to go up to Castle Rock again with Elder Lloyd for Exchanges! We made the drive up there and went straight to dinner which was with a family that I hadn’t been able to have much success in setting appointments. That was great to see and the family is really happy to have the missionaries over now. We had some other appointments that night and then we had some time to see some families like the Grats, the DeGolyers, the Snows, and Bishop RolfsonJ It was so good to see all of them againJ
On Thursday, we had a great day in Castle Rock. We hopped on our bikes for most of the morning and went to go see a ton of people. Being there that day really helped me to see some of the fruits of the efforts that I gave up there. We were able to get in touch with people that we just couldn’t contact when I was there and things went really well! We started the afternoon by having an investigator come and do a “church tour” which is where we go around the church to the different pictures and teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We take them through talking about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We show them the baptismal font and end the tour in the chapel at the sacrament table. It is really a spiritual environment and the lesson went really well. He told us that he wants to be baptized! We then went and taught a family that had just moved up from Blanding Utah! I expressed my pity and told them I was from awesome MonticelloJ It was all good and we had a good lesson with the kids about the Plan of Salvation. We then went to see a less active member that recently went through a bad divorce. He is humbled and really wants to hold the Priesthood. So we are working with him to get to that point. We had dinner with Sister Alvarez and Esther and Andrew Wolfe! It was great Mexican food and they were all glad to see me again! After dinner, we went to have a lesson with Noe. As we were waiting at a red light, we saw this mouse running across the intersection and then a flipping OWL came down and swooped it up! It was so cool haha. We had a great lesson with Noe and he is doing really wellJ He is so close to baptism and absolutely loves the church. He attends the YSA ward in Parker and has made some really great friends there. He is looking for an answer to his prayers but doesn’t realize that he has gotten answers. He even got to shake hands with Elder Ronald A. Rasband and felt how awesome that was. We met up with our companions later that night and Elder Stark and I drove back down to the Springs.
On Friday, we had Zone training in the morning and that went really well. For lunch, we went to Cici’s pizza and they again didn’t say WELCOME TO CICI’S. lame. It was good though. We met with President and Sister Rehm after that and talked about the upcoming transfer. We made dinner for ourselves after that and then had a lesson with Jesse and Diana Howard. We had a good lesson on the Plan of Salvation! They both said “It just makes sense!” it went really well.
On Saturday, we went to help clean the church building and then had to dip to go do a training call. We got a call after lunch asking if we could go give a blessing to someone at the Hospital. It was a nonmember who was in a car jacking and was shot. He is recovering well and we were able to give him the blessing. We also went to see Elder Soller, who had taken a tumble off of a cliff and is in therapy to recover from his injuries. He is doing well and we are absolutely keeping him in our prayers. We got to meet both of his parents and they are there to help him out. We had dinner with the Hendry’s and then had a lesson with Tyler Shumway that evening. He is progressing well towards baptismJ
On Sunday, we had a special stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake City. We got to hear from Ulisses S. Soares, Devin G. Durrant, Ronald A Rasband, And this one lady whose name I forgot and I’m sorry! They talked about temples, teaching in the Savior’s way, and being an instrument in the Lord’s hand. We had some appointments with some people that Elder Stark found while we were on exchanges. We talked to this guy named Tovi who found the bible while he was in jail and turned his life around because of it. He accepted a Book of Mormon and wants us to meet him at the park where he fishes for our next meeting. We had dinner over at the McAllister’s and that was fun. They are in the Sand Creek ward and are willing to feed us when we don’t have people sign up. That evening, we had the work of salvation fireside and got to hear some amazing testimonies from recent converts to the church. It was a great time!
Thanks for all the emails! It’s so good to hear from all of you and have a great week!

Elder LaRose

MISSION OFFICE:
4090 Center Park Dr
Colorado Springs, Colorado
80916

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #66 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WEEK #66
10.31.16

On Monday, we drove all the way down to Alamosa again to spend our Pday there. We left early in the morning and got there at like 10 and did our emailing. We left for the sand dunes again and took a couple vans full of missionaries with us. We took a pretty epic picture of the vans haha. The dunes were so much better than last time! It felt a lot better being in a 5mph wind versus the 50mph wind from last time. We had a great time with everyone and made great memories.

After we got back, we went to dinner with the zone leaders and then worked in their area for the night.

On Tuesday, we had our first Zone Conference with the San Luis Valley Zone. It was a great conference and it is always interesting to listen to what President and Sister Rehm speak on and see how much it relates to what we had prepared. We gave a good lesson about coming to understand our mission. We took the Plan of Salvation questions (Where did I come from? Why am I here? & Where am I going?) and applied them to the mini-life that a mission is! On a mission, coming to understand and know these questions is vital. Where did you come from before your mission? Why are you here on your mission and how do you know that? and Where will this knowledge take you and who will it help you become? It was a great conference and there were a lot of great comments. I also got to see Elder Tallman again and that is always a treat:) We had dinner in Monte Vista with Sister Anderson and Sister Topham and then drove up to Pueblo that night.
On Wednesday, we had Zone conference in Pueblo. Again, it was a good zone conference and it was great to see all of the missionaries. After the conference, we went and got dinner with the zone leaders at Sunset Inn Grill & Bar and got Pueblo's classic Slopper. A huge hamburger covered in green chili. We went to some appointments that night and then begun our exchange in Pueblo. I would be staying there for the next day.
On Thursday, I was with Elder Stewart in Pueblo. We started our day by going and unloading food from the bishop’s storehouse to give to people who are in need. After we did that, we went and did some service at the Zoo in Pueblo. We went and hung up some Christmas decorations around the park and got them ready for display. They are already putting lights up and we haven’t even had Halloween!





When we got done at the Zoo, we did our studies and prepped for the day. We had a good full day of contacting and stopping by people to visit. Elder Stewart even got lost and ended up driving like 10 miles in the wrong direction trying to find this one address. We went and had dinner and then afterwards, we were able to find a really good potential investigator for their area. We then were part of a Just Serve meeting for a couple minutes before we had to leave and drive up to the Springs. We exchanged back that night and got some rest.
On Friday, I began my first full day back in Colorado Springs since Monday haha. It was good to be back. We had a service project as a district in the morning where we went and helped set up care stations for refugees. We set up tables and then brought pallets of rice and vitamins and other things down. Some of the pallets weighed over 5,000 lbs. After that, we went to the Mechams and had district meeting. We had to leave a little early to go attend the departing luncheon for the vehicle coordinators, the Tufts. They are being replaced by the coordinators that were here at the beginning of my mission, the Stokers. After the luncheon, we met with President and Sister Rehm to discuss a couple of things that we needed to do for the transfer. This transfer is going to be a little weird but a little easier as well. After we met with President, we had dinner with the Fosters and had pizza. It was a fun time being over there. In the evening, we had a lesson with Jesse finally and it went great! We talked to him about baptism and he accepted a date for November 26th! His wife is still thinking and praying about it but we are excited for them both.
On Saturday, we had a training call in the morning and in the middle of it, some Elders came to our apartment with a broken phone and so we helped them with that too. We got our apartment inspected too and passed! We went to see a lot of people and they were actually home. We met with Jose and Jimmy and got in contact with Joe & Ami and Anthony & Deborah. That night we had the ward chili cook off and it was great! Elder Stark and I even entered in and submitted our own chili! Tons of people dressed up and it was a good time. We had to be the judges for the cook off too and we got to try all of the good chili.

 Then we handed out candy at our trunk for trunk or treat. It was a fun day.
On Sunday, we had a great day at church. The lessons were good and we learned a lot. Afterwards, we had lunch with Mike and Randi. We definitely left stuffed.

We did a little more preparation for Zone Conference and then had a great dinner at the Hess’ home. We came back and got some documents prepped to be sent out and then took call ins that night. It has been such a great week! Love you all


Elder LaRose

MISSION OFFICE:
4090 Center Park Dr
Colorado Springs, Colorado
80916

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net