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.