WEEK #105 - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Hey everybody! It's crazy to think that this will be my last weekly email on my mission! I am so grateful for all of your support and the experiences that I have had here. It has been an incredible last week here in Colorado Springs.
On Monday, we went to the church in the morning and played some games there with Gilbert and the sisters. We played water war, that card game from the tonight show. Then, we were able to have someone take all of us to the top of Pikes Peak! 

A member of the YSA had their mom take us up:) it was so much fun! The drive was beautiful the whole way up and towards the top, it looked like you were just driving into the sky! Our ears were popping the whole way up. The mom who drove us warned us that she had depth perception issues and that really made the whole car ride interesting. We kind of thought we were going to die at some points where she would cross the yellow line haha. We made it to the top and it was gorgeous! It was mostly clear up there but there were big dark clouds looming closely. There is a gift shop up there and we got to go and check things out. The dark clouds kept coming in and the hair on Sister Anderson's head was sticking up because of the static electricity in the air! We got some good pictures and then headed down because it was starting to rain and there were lightning warnings. We drove back in a hailstorm for a minute and then it was just raining. Part way down the road, they stop every car and check the brakes and make you pull over and cool off in your brakes are over 300 degrees. When it was our turn, they scanned us and our brakes were 680 degrees! The mom didn't use the engine to break and so we had to cool down for about 45 minutes and so we went into their other gift shop and messed around. We made it back alright and had a couple minutes to email and stuff. FHE was pretty good too! We played a fun matching game thing.
On Tuesday, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Williams! We had a great day there too. We did some service at the YMCA and then picked up one of the young men to teach with us. It was a great day of teaching and then we got to go and teach some members that were back from Saudi Arabia. They wanted to have their son taught the lessons by the missionaries so we taught him all of the first 3 lessons :)
On Wednesday, we started off by going to UCCS and had a good time there! Then we went to the turner house and played bingo with the tenants for the last time! They were all so nice and were sad to see me leave! We had a lesson with Daniel at the church and read the scriptures with him because he didn't read our last commitment. After that we went and helped a person in the sister's ward move out. For dinner we went to Rudy's and got to meet Elder Henning and his companion there and the sisters came too. It was super good and was great to see them. We then went to the church for correlation with the Mt. Herman ward mission leader. As we were leaving, we saw Spencer Pirzadeh leaving too and he was like "boys, get in my car I need to vent" haha and so we got in his car and he told us about all the drama he was going through with girls haha it was a good talk

On Thursday, we deep cleaned our apartment in the morning because if inspections and headed down to the Bishop's Storehouse and helped out there. After we were done there, we weekly planned and discussed everyone that we had been working with. We then met with the elders and sisters over some of the family wards and that was really good. We hope that it will help with the disconnect between the YSAs and the family wards. Dinner was with the Allreds and it was great! Then we drove to institute and had a great lesson there:)
On Friday, we got a call in the morning from the sisters because Sister Anderson got pretty sick that night and she needed a blessing. So we went over and got to do that. We had district meeting in the morning but before that we showed up and made cardboard coffins for Sister Anderson and I because your last district meeting is known as your funeral haha. 

Elder Johannesson conducted the district meeting and it was super great:) we went to UCCS again and handed out free lemonade. After that I went and said bye to Evan McHardy who is super awesome! We had dinner at the church with the sisters because both our dinners cancelled so we just ordered a pizza. The mingle was pretty fun and we just played volleyball but it was a great time. I got to say bye to a bunch of people there.
On Saturday, it was July 29th which means that two years ago I entered into the MTC in Provo and started my mission there! Crazy! In the morning, we went and taught James Jackmon and had a great lesson. He is working towards getting a temple recommend and is super great. We had lunch with the Paige's out in Peyton and that was awesome:) they fed us some good ribs haha. We came back and went contacting for a little bit and then I went home to start packing up my stuff!! We had dinner with the sisters again and then went down to memorial park. A little while ago I had seen that they were doing a color run down there and so I signed our district up to volunteer and throw color at the runners. When we got there, we met the guy running the thing and apparently he is a member and so we got t shirts and he set us up at a good spot to throw color. 

It was so much fun! We got to cake all of the runners and then got to throw the color at each other too haha. After the runners were done, they told us to go to the stage where the DJ was and we got to throw T-shirts and color packets into the crowd. He gave us a shout out telling everyone that we were missionaries and we love doing service. We got to go in the crowd with buckets and everyone loved it. We drove back and cleaned ourselves up from all the color. Haha it was a great night.
On Sunday we had a great time at church. It was great to be around everyone and I got to say some more goodbyes there. We then went contacting with Gilbert and the sisters down at memorial park. That was really fun and we were able to hand out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon to some kids there. We came back and then drove to dinner with the Lorenc's and it was great! I am going to miss them. We got to go over to the Evans and roast s'mores with them and the sisters. It was a lot of fun. 

Then we drove up to monument and had a great lesson with Dara. I realized part way through that these are the final lessons that I will be teaching as a missionary. When I was bearing my testimony I kinda tested up and it was really powerful. That was it for the night and then we came home.
Today we will be going to hike Stanley Canyon on the Academy and then going to FHE. Tuesday is going to be transfer day and on Wednesday we will go to the temple and then on Thursday I will get picked up by my family!!!
I am so grateful for who these two years have shaped me to become.  I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had here for anything. I will love the people of Colorado for the rest of my life and am so grateful for the many friends that I have made here. I know that what I have been teaching is true! I know that the fullness of the gospel is restored to the earth today through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is the very evidence of this and that it is truly the word of God. Thank you to all who have followed me through this adventure of a lifetime. I love you all and will see you soon!

-- 

Elder Kyler LaRose

****HOMECOMING TALKS****

Aug 3rd @ 11am. Monticello 1st Ward, Monticello, UT (Stake Center)

Aug 20th @ 9:30am. Madison Ward, Madison, CT

FUTURE EMAIL: klarose21@gmail.com

WEEK #104 - Cheyenne Mountain YSA - 10 DAYS LEFT!!! (says the MOM!)

**yes, this mom is excited!!
*** DATES TO REMEMBER***
-6 Aug @ 11am, Monticello 1st Ward, Monticello, UT (Stake Center on Main Street) - Elder LaRose will do a Homecoming Testimony
-20 Aug @ 9:30 am, Madison Ward, Madison, CT - Elder LaRose will do his Homecoming Talk


WEEK #104
Hey everyone! time is short again this week.

On Monday, we went and hiked 7 bridges down in Cheyenne Canyon and it was great! We had a great time as a district there. Afterwards, we met Bishop at the church and had dinner with them. FHE was pretty fun! We were supposed to play capture the flag but because of the rain, we played volleyball.

On Tuesday, we did some service at the YMCA and afterwards went down south and contacted down there. We went to UCCS with a snow cone machine and got to hand out free snow cones to the students there! it was a great tactic because tons of people came and talked to us then. After that, we went to the church and started making dinner. We all decided that since Gilbert feeds the missionaries all the time, the missionaries would make him dinner instead! So we met Gilbert and the sisters at the church and had some pizza and wings. It was pretty good! We got to have a good talk with Gilbert too.

On Wednesday, we went to UCCS in the morning and had the snow cones again. We were able to meet a lot of people too! We went and played bingo and had a great time there. After a good lesson with Daniel DeFord, we had dinner delivered to us.

On Thursday, we went to the storehouse and helped out down there. We did some weekly planning and then went and did some finding! We had dinner and then went to institute which was really awesome. Brother Goss taught the lesson and we discussed the talk from Elder Holland about staying in the choir. We were having a good discussion and then he opened it up for everyone to bear their testimony about a hymn and then we would all sing a verse from that hymn. It was really great! I loved it a lot.

On Friday, we had a good district meeting that was taught by the zone leaders. We had the other district join us and that was good too. Afterwards, we did some finding Mt. Herman and then visited some of the family ward missionaries to coordinate YSA efforts with them. I got to see Elder Lloyd again out of that visit so it was good. We had a great dinner at Drifters with Kristin Mason and then had a good time at the mingle. We played this cool game called escape from Alcatraz. It was really fun.

On Saturday, I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and stayed in the area with Elder Williams and Elder Johannesson. We went to Canon City in the morning and ate for free at big burger world and got to see Elder Nelson. We talked with him about the YSAs and it was great. After that we went to memorial park and went contacting there. We showed up and there was a pro wake boarding contest going on and a ton of people there! I love how we plan to go somewhere and there is awesome stuff happening when we get there and tons of people for us to talk to. We were going around the park and there were some young guys playing basketball and so we went and asked if we could play! They said yes and we were able to play with them for a short time. Afterwards, we invited them all to the YSA and one of them accepted a Book of Mormon! It was great. We also got to run through a bouncy house that was set up haha. We met with more of the family ward missionaries too. We had dinner at the Jensens and had to drive up to Larkspur to get to their house. It was a YSA social for the Mt. Herman ward and we got to talk to a lot of people. At the table we were at, we shared a ton of funny mission stories and life stories with the people there and had good laughs.

On Sunday, We had good meeting in the morning and then had a good time at church. After church, there was a linger longer and we got to have some good taco salad and talk with some of the people that came! We had a less active member show up and that was great. We went contacting at cottonwood park for a little bit and then headed back to the church to have a lesson with Mac, a new person that was passed on to us by some sisters. Dinner was with Sarah Baker, Amiera, and Daniel Alworth. They are all awesome and we had great home made pizza. It was a really great week Love you all!

Elder Kyler LaRose

Elder LaRose

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

6480 Honey Grove Apt. 105

Colorado Springs, CO 80923

WEEK #103 - Cheyanne Mountain YSA

Hey Everyone! This week has been pretty awesome. We don't have much time today so I will keep things pretty short!

On Monday, We went and hiked Mt. Herman and that was really fun. That is such a beautiful hike and this was my 3rd time doing it. I got to set up my hammock at the top too and chillax for a little bit.









We came back and had dinner with Sterling and it was great! FHE was really fun too. We met individually as wards and made ward flags or banners for next week's capture the flag activity.

On Tuesday, we went and got free slurpees because it was 7/11 day. We got to go to the YMCA and paint fences and then we took Elder Johns to an urgent care because his toe was hurting. Turns out that he broke it! So that was interesting! We had dinner at Brother Arnold's and then went to a rodeo parade that was happening in downtown Springs and got to talk to a lot of people there!

On Wednesday, we had a busy day and we drove around the whole city that day. We had interviews with President Stevenson and it was really good! He shared an awesome scripture with me that is about finishing strong. We went and had a transition lesson with the sisters for a Less active member that is really awesome that moved into our ward. We had dinner with Arien and then later that night met with Gilbert and that was a really good talk.

On Thursday, we went and did service at the Bishop's Storehouse and then were asked to help some sisters move out of their apartment because they got bed bugs. After that we did some planning and then had dinner at the church with Lexi Chatterly and Laura Coke. They made us some awesome fajitas. Institute was really good too.

On Friday, we had a good district meeting with everyone and talked about obedience! Afterwards, we went to UCCS and went contacting. We got info from two people there and they are really awesome so we hope that it goes somewhere! We did some finding and then had dinner with Evan McHardy. He is super awesome and dinner was great. For the mingle, we went to cottonwood park and played some games there. We played soccer and it started raining and we got soaked which was super fun:) We went back to the church and played volleyball because of the weather.

On Saturday, We had lunch with Gilbert in the morning and it was awesome. We went contacting that afternoon at Cottonwood because we had heard that there was a disc golf tournament going on there. We then drove to Woodland Park and met with the missionaries out there and stopped by some YSAs they knew! We were able to meet some of them too! We had dinner with the Martellaro's from Pueblo!! It was so great to see them. They picked up Elder Perrins too and brought him along so it was like a reunion haha. We also saw the Thomsons there too! It was so crazy.

On Sunday, We had a great time at church and had a couple of nonmembers there! After church, we went contacting with Gilbert and I had to ride in his trunk haha.

 Dinner was with Miriam, Kelly, and Amiera! It was a lot of fun being there with them. We had a good lesson with them and then did a couple of mad libs with them and they are hillarious:) It was a great week

Thanks for all the support and I will talk to all of you next week!

Elder Kyler LaRose

Elder LaRose

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

6480 Honey Grove Apt. 105

Colorado Springs, CO 80923

WEEK #102 - Cheyenne Mountain YSA - SAW MY FAM!

Hey everyone! This past week was such a great week!! It's probably the most interesting week of my whole mission haha. Also, shoutout to Mom, Tony, and McKayd for having birthdays
On Monday, we woke up really early in the morning to drive to Manitou Springs and hike the incline!! I got to meet my mom, dad, and McKayd there! McKayd entered the MTC this week so we were able to get permission for me to see him before he left!! It was so cool but really weird at the same time haha. I would look to one side and see my family and the other side and see the missionaries haha two of my worlds were colliding. The incline was really fun! I didn't try to race up it this time and stuck with my family the whole way up. The view was great:)

We left and showered at the church and then emailed really quick before we met back up with my family at Mod pizza. We then drove to a park where the other missionaries were. I got to hang out and talk with my family and we got to play some volleyball together too. It was all of the LaRose's on one team and I'm pretty sure we were undefeated. Dinner was at Hu Hot and it was delicious. The Wolins joined us there too:) Afterwards, we took mckayd with us to FHE with the YSAs. It was pretty awesome to have him there. We had a nonmember show up and that was really sweet.
On Tuesday, we woke up early again and went straight to Monument for the 4th of July parade! We got to work the booth for an hour and that was cool. It was slow at first and then things picked up. McKayd and I were able to talk to a lot of people and twice the booth people told us to stay in our booth area haha. It was awesome. Then we got to go and march in the parade and hand out candy to everyone! Mc and I were on the sides the whole time passing out tons of candy and pass along cards haha it was great.

We went to the church building for lunch after that and then had to say goodbye to each other. It was hard but I know that Mc will do great in Singapore and will change many lives. Crazy to think that this time has come! Now there are 2 Elder LaRoses out there:) We drove to Fox Run park and met up with all of the YSAs that were there. It was really fun to be there with them. For dinner we went to Steak and Shake with the district and then went to memorial park to go contacting and talk to all the people there. We got to watch some of the fireworks too!
On Wednesday, we got to go and visit some people and played some bingo with the old people at the turner house. We did a lot of finding down south and then had dinner with the Harlines and that was great. Their mother was there and it was good to meet her too.
On Thursday, we drove down to the office for an emergency transfer! We are getting another companion with us and are covering the Mount Herman YSA ward as well. Elder Johannesson is our new companion and it is going to be awesome! I am looking forward to more work and it will be great. We went weekly planning for a little bit and then our car was having some difficulties and so we had to switch it in for a different one. We made ourselves dinner before institute.
On Friday, We had a welcome tour with President Stevenson and that was good. I believe that they will take great care of the mission over the next 3 years. It was raining really hard for a little bit and so we met afterwards to have a mini district meeting. Then we went to UCCS and went contacting for a little bit. We were going to go and see Anitra with the family ward missionaries. Unfortunately, she wasn't there when we had set our return appointment. We went to dinner at Dairy Queen and then showed up for the mingle. We played volleyball and then headed out for the night.
On Saturday, we went to stop by someone we had met before and they weren't home unfortunately. We went contacting at Cottonwood Creek Park and were able to talk to a few of the people that were there. We had a great first lesson with Petula! She had read a little bit from the Book of Mormon and was saying "Why don't more people know about this??" it was really awesome! We are excited for her growth! Dinner was in northern Springs and then we also got invited over to a house for some catfish too! It wasn't too bad haha.
On Sunday, we had ward council with both wards. Church was really good too and Jake was able to make it there! That was really cool. We had a lesson with Daniel Alworth afterwards and then had dinner with the Lorenc's. Another lesson with a less active, Daniel DeFord and then a lesson with Dara before we wrapped it up for the night. It was a great week:) I love you all and thanks for all the support!

Elder Kyler LaRose

Elder LaRose

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

6480 Honey Grove Apt. 105

Colorado Springs, CO 80923

WEEK #101 - Cheyenne Mountain YSA

Hey everyone! It has been another awesome week!
On Monday, our district went down south and went hiking! The hike that we wanted to do was blocked off temporarily so we decided to do another hike called Helen Hunt Falls. It was a short hike to the top but was really pretty. Our district is really awesome so that makes it fun when just being with them.  We also set up my hammock and got some good pictures.

We all went and got root beer floats and then headed to dinner. We had dinner with Laura Coke at Mod pizza and that was really good. For FHE, we did a service project where we made cookies for each other and wrote them a nice note. It was pretty cool!
On Tuesday, we went and did service at the YMCA and pulled weeds around the front. Later, we had a good lesson with Samantha! We went with Sister Anderson and Sister Miller, Sabrina, and the zone leaders. Samantha was pretty weak and had to lay against the wall while we taught her. We found out that she lives in the pikes peak ward and so we transitioned her over to the sisters. We also received permission from President Rehm to have her baptized quickly because we aren't sure how long she has left. So we were able to have an interview at set her baptism for Wednesday. After the lesson we were helping Samantha walk to her car but she couldn't get the strength to stand so I had to carry her down the steps to Sabrina's car so she could get a ride. After that, we went to an appointment that we had set up with an investigator, but they had cancelled on us so we ended up heading to dinner. Dinner was in Monument with the ward clerk so we had to drive up there. It was super delicious! Then we went back to the church and met the Sisters to help make the programs for Samantha's baptism.
On Wednesday, we went contacting at UCCS and had a good time there! We got to talk to a lot of people. There was this one guy who came jogging around the corner and so I took off with Book of Mormon in hand and ran next to him and tried to talk to him but he just told me to F off and so I stopped running haha. It was pretty funny. We then went and played bingo at the turner house and that was awesome. Right after that, we went to zone conference. This one was a goodbye zone conference for President and Sister Rehm! They have finished their 3 year mission as mission president and wife! We got to learn from them one last time and then got to give them our goodbye hugs. After the conference, we hurried to Samantha's baptism! For such short notice to the ward there were a lot of people there! It was probably one of the most spiritual things I have witnessed. Samantha was on the ground against the wall. Sister Anderson carried her into the font and then Elder Nelson got to baptize her. I was able to confirm her after she was baptized as well. It was such a great time.

Then we had dinner with the Allreds and the Mt. Herman Elders! It was really good. Then it was Sister Anderson's birthday and so we went to the church and celebrate for her by taking root beer shots haha.
On Thursday, we had a pretty good day. We did some studies and then wet to the mission office to drop off some stuff. Afterwards, we did our weekly planning. We had a great lesson with Anitra about the gospel of Jesus Christ and she loved it. We were really bold with her and she was intrigued! It was great. We had dinner at Papa Murphy's and then headed to institute! It was pretty awesome:) we learned a lot. Then we went with the other YSA missionaries and left balloons and a sticky note on President Rehm's door before they left Colorado. Then we exchanged with Mt. Herman.
On Friday, we had a good district meeting in the morning. Our district is the best. We had a great lunch afterwards too and then Elder Smith and I went down south to knock on some doors. We saw a tank and took an awesome picture with it:)

We were able to find a new investigator down there and it was awesome! We had dinner with James Jackmon and the sisters at the church and had some awesome chicken and macaroni and cheese. For the mingle that night, we had an awesome activity planned. They had a big water fight and we got to participate! We had an investigator show up too! His name is Ben and he is awesome. It was so much fun.
On Saturday, we went contacting downtown at Acacia park and set up some slack lines for some people to try out! it was really cool and a unique way to find people to teach. However, there was this one homeless girl who only had a shirt and underwear on that tried to do the slack lines and it was pretty awkward for everyone. Haha. We had lunch at the Skirted Heifer which is a really awesome burger place. We went tracting later on in the day and were able to find someone whop really wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon! That was awesome. We had dinner with Spencer Pirzadeh and John Bahr and that was really fun. Then we met with a member, Nick, at the church and wrapped up the night.
On Sunday, we had a good meeting in the morning for ward council and church was really great too. Afterwards, we went contacting with Gilbert and the sisters at memorial park and met some really awesome people. Then we came back and met with some other missionaries to coordinate YSA efforts in the family wards. So I got to see Elder Perrins again because he is in a ward that we cover! That was really cool. We made ourselves dinner and then went to the Work of Salvation Fireside where we got to meet President Stevenson for the first time! It was a great week and I love you all!

Elder LaRose

WEEK #100 - Cheyenne Mountain YSA

Hey everyone! This week has gone by pretty slow but that's usually hat happens during the first week of the transfer.
On Monday, Elder Nelson and I went and got haircuts in the morning at Paul Mitchell hair school. They usually do a good job. We went and emailed and then went to lunch. We met up with the rest of our zone at cottonwood park and had a good time there.

We played some basketball with a group of kids that challenged us and that was pretty fun. I stuffed this one kid really hard haha. We signed transfer journals and stuff like that and then went to dinner. FHE was really fun too. They had water balloon volley ball going on and it was a good game but actually ended up into a huge water fight. The missionaries were all over it and I got soaked. I got a bucket of water and threw it all over Sister Anderson and Jhazmine Haha then someone blindsided me with a huge bucket of water haha it was a lot of fun.
On Tuesday, we had transfers and I got to say goodbye to Elder Nelson. He was a great companion. I was on exchanges with Elder Burrows and we went and had a lesson with Samantha. It was a great lesson and we were able to help her feel that peace. She is going through more treatments and they are taking toll on her. We were able to set a baptism date with her for July 15th! She is so prepared to have the gospel! She has the most incredible faith that I have ever seen. She is learning to trust that The Lord really does have a plan for her. We had to help her stand up and walk to her car because of how weak she is feeling. It was a good lesson. Then we got back and met our companions! I got to meet Elder Johns. He is from Fredericksburg, Iowa and has been on his mission for about 20 months. I am looking forward to these last 6 weeks! We wet and did service at the YMCA and they had us sand down a fence to get it ready to paint. After that we went to the store and got Elder Johns some groceries we were supposed to have another lesson with Bernadette but we showed up to a note on the door that was pretty mean. We jut laughed it off and said "oh well" and headed home.
On Wednesday, We had a lesson out in Falcon with some of the sister missionaries out there that are teaching this YSA age girl. The lesson was awesome and filled with the spirit. She has already been reading the Book of Mormon and is super awesome. The member's house we had the lesson at had a son that introduced Tori (the girl) to the gospel. It was so awesome. We came back to the Springs and played some bingo with the people at the Turner house. Afterwards, we went and had another lesson with Samantha. We met her at UCCS and were able to find a study room. We talked a lot about how she is doing and taught her about the Restoration and about the priesthood. We were able to giver her a Priesthood blessing too. It was so powerful and Samantha truly felt the Spirit and peace come over her. We had a lesson with an investigator but they weren't there when we showed up. Our next lesson was with AJ and Sean Kenner and that was good. They are some pretty awesome people. We came back home and had a late dinner after that.
On Thursday, We had to drive some Elders down to the mission office in the morning. While we were there, we got a call from Samantha. She found out that her cancer is terminal and that they want her to kind of just live it out. They gave her from as little as 10 days to a couple months to live. It is really hard news for her to hear and she is struggling with all of it but has such incredible faith. She sure knows that God has a plan for her. We had a lesson later that afternoon with Lexi and that was good too. We did some weekly planning and then had dinner. Institute was really good too. We talked about Charity. In Moroni 7:44 it talks about meekness and lowliness of heart. That is actually a huge part of Charity. Being meek is an important prerequisite to having charity! Charity is an important prerequisite to our salvation as well. It was a great lesson.
On Friday, we had a good district meeting and then had lunch together. We then went to UCCS and talked to the students there on campus. We ran into a couple of members too! Afterwards, we did some finding and were able to have a couple people invite us back. That was really awesome. We had dinner with Gilbert at Chick-fil-a and that was awesome. For the mingle, we got to go hiking with all the YSAs at Ute Valley park. That was really fun:)
On Saturday, We had a pretty good day. We went downtown and went contacting there. afterwards we went tracting for a good while and were actually able to have a really great lesson with these two guys from Alabama that had just moved in. We had good talks and the lesson was like 2 hours long! They had a lot of questions that were really good and we were able to answer them all really well. We had dinner at Sister Evans house and it was great.
On Sunday, we had a good day at church! There were a good amount of people there. Things are thinning out for sure with summer being here. There are a lot of people that are gone. After church we went with Gilbert and the sisters contacting at memorial park. When we got there we got to have a lesson with Samantha over skype. We found out that she actually lives in the Sister's ward boundaries so we had a transition lesson there. Because of the seriousness of Samantha's condition, we were able to talk to President Rehm and he gave permission for her to be baptized as soon as we teach her everything. So we are thinking that this next week she should be able to be ready:) We went contacting around the park and were able to have some pie with a pastor that was celebrating his birthday haha. We then had dinner again with Mike and Randi and that was awesome as always. It was a good week.
Thanks for all the support from everyone!! Love you all

WEEK #99 - Cheyenne Mountain YSA

Hey Everyone! This week has been another great week!
On Monday, we went to Palmer Park for pday. It is an awesome park that is in the middle of Colorado Springs and it feels like you are in the Mountains! It was really fun. We hung around and then went and hiked along a trail. We got some good pictures along the way haha.

We came back and had dinner with the Porters and they are fun. They are the YSA representatives for one of the stakes we cover. For FHE that night, we had a good lesson and then played volleyball and it was pretty fun.
On Tuesday, we had a full day all day. We did service at the YMCA and then went and had a lesson with Naomie. She is a YSA investigator and we were able to talk more about the Book of Mormon. She seems curious about what we believe and hopefully we see some real interest coming from her. We went down south for dinner and had a great time with Brother Arnold. We had a lesson after that that was the most intense lesson I have ever been in. It was an older lady and her son that we showed up to and when we walked in, she was on the phone with someone (we think it was her pastor or something). We looked at the table and she had documents about Joseph Smith printed off and Elder Nelson and I looked at each other and were like, "Here we go..." The lesson was pretty awesome! They were definitely confrontational but we were able to testify so strongly with the spirit and were able to refute their claims against us. It was so strong that it led to a change of heart in the older lady and she invited us back! It was really cool to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost with us in that lesson. We met with two YSA girls, Angela and Ashley, after that and actually had a really beneficial lesson. They had a lot of great questions about what we believe and we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon too. They both took copies and we are going to be going back this week sometime.
On Wednesday, We helped Naomie move out of her apartment and then met with Samantha! Samantha is the girl who is a cancer survivor and who had her 4 year old sister pass away two weeks ago. When we saw her for this lesson, she told us that she went back to the hospital and that they found out that she has cancer again... I almost cried. She also said that this time around, she only has a 25% chance of making it through.... I almost cried again. She is such a sweet girl and I hope the absolute best for her! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and she loved it. She want's to be baptized when she is ready too! Please keep her in your prayers! She started treatments this week and her parents left yesterday to go back to Japan. After that, we went and played bingo with the old ladies and it was awesome. We then went to the Academy and had some lessons with a couple cadets. Dinner was way out there but it was really great. We had it with Lauren Filichia and her family. We had another lesson with Anitra! We met her last week and taught her by the poolside. We went over the Plan of Salvation with her and she accepted it pretty well.
On Thursday, we had a lesson up in Black Forest in the morning and that was nice. We did our weekly planning that day and stopped by some people. For dinner, we went to Red Lobster and had some good food there because it was National Lobster Day! haha Thanks to Nana and Papa for that one!! Institute was incredible. Brother Goss is a great teacher and talked about the doctrine of the Holy Ghost and the Role of the Holy Ghost. I learned a lot from that lesson.
On Friday, we had a good time at district meeting and talked about teaching together in unity.

Afterwards, we went to UCCS and talked to the people out there. We were going to have a dinner with a less active member, but he didn't answer us about where to go and so we made stuff on our own. The mingle was pretty fun too. There were only a few people there and it was really great.
On Saturday, we went contacting at Memorial Park and there was a Celtic festival going on and so we got to see and talk to a lot of people with kilts on haha. It was a really good day. We stayed down south and knocked on some doors down there. Dinner was pizza at the house where a bunch of YSA guys live and it was pretty cool being there.
Sunday was great as well! Church was really good and Gilbert gave an awesome talk.

Elder Nelson and I also got roped into singing in sacrament meeting. So we went up and sang How Great Thou Art. We went contacting for a bit after church with Gilbert and the sisters. It was pretty good! Dinner was with Mike and Randi and the APs haha it was good to see them and the other missionaries there. They made us awesome tacos:) We found out that Elder Nelson is going to be transferred! I am really sad to see him leave. We have had tons of great laughs over these past 6 weeks. I will be getting Elder Johns and he seems like a pretty cool guy! We will have a good time together:) Thanks for all the support from everyone! I love you all:)

WEEK #98 - Cheyenne Mountain YSA

Hey everyone! What a great week!
On Monday, our zone met up in Manitou Springs for pday and we had a great time. We went to this little place called graffiti falls and hung out there. It's a waterfall that is near a bridge that has tons of graffiti around it. Had some fun climbing around and then came back down the trail to a cave where we went inside for a little bit.










I got to set up my hammock out there and that was pretty awesome. For dinner, we went to Rudy's and it was sooo good. Hannah Blanchard and Gilbert took us. FHE was pretty fun too. There was a scavenger hunt around town that was organized and it looked really fun. We didn't go on the hunt because we didn't have enough people in our group so we stayed at the church and played some games.
On Tuesday, it was a pretty good day. We spent some time at the YMCA doing service by pulling weeds around the building. It was a nice hot day so we got tan while doing it. After that, we went down south and did some contacting down there. It is pretty difficult to find young single adults while knocking on doors in apartment complexes. We didn't meet too many people in the places we went. However, right before dinner, we knocked on a couple of doors and were able to find people that want us back! One of them is a college student at UCCS named Angela! She is Buddhist and is also a philosophy major and so she wants to learn more about what we believe. It was pretty cool. We had dinner with the sisters and a member from their ward and it was pretty awesome. We had a good day.
On Wednesday, we started the day by going to UCCS and we got to see a miracle happen that day! Right as we started to talk to people, a girl we saw at the parking garage had followed us to where we were. So I started a conversation with her and said, "Have you ever talked to missionaries before?" She replied with "No, but I have always wanted to!" Her name is Samantha and she has been through a lot. We got to talking to her and introduced the Book of Mormon to her. She openly accepted it and it was wonderful. She also opened up to us about some of the trials she has been going through. She is 20 and is a cancer survivor and has been in remission for about a year. That caused her to have side effects like balance issues, and overheating. Also, when we talked to her that day, she told us that her 4year old baby sister with Down syndrome fell out of her crib, broke her arm, went into a coma, and when she was given the anesthesia, she never woke up, and that was only 6 days prior. Her parents are in the military and were stationed in Japan at the time all of this happened. It's pretty crazy how he is handling all of this and we were able to really help her out. We used the Book of Mormon to talk about God's love for us and about hope for those who have passed on before us. She said that the lesson really helped a lot and we gave her a conference talk from Elder Holland to watch. We are so happy that she was led to us. She is such a sweet girl and deserves all the love that we and God and His gospel have to offer her. After that miracle, we got to go and play bingo with the ladies at the turner house. It is always a new adventure when we go over there and it's great haha. Then we got to meet with one of the cadets who is pretty cool and talked about missionary work with him. He sent us to this house that was nearby and told us to knock on it. It was actually a house of missionaries for another church. It was awkward but pretty funny too. Dinner was out in Falcon with Jhazmine and Gilbert. They are some of my favorite people so it was awesome. We then drove back to the springs and had a lesson with Amiera about missionary work. She is really funny and is working with some of her friends so that is great. We stopped by one more person but they weren't home.
On Thursday, we had a good morning and then Samantha invited us to join her for lunch. So we went to Chipotle and got to talk to her more. She is definitely struggling but wants to meet with us to feel that peace and relief. It is definitely going to take time too. You don't just get over your sister's death in a week. Later we had a lesson with Damion Howard and got to talk about missionary work with him. Afterwards, we did our weekly planning and then had dinner on our own. Institute was really great that night too. We had one of the return missionaries bring one of his friends, Jake to institute and he loved it. Jake recently moved to the springs and isn't sure he believes in God. However, he wants to believe and feel the peace that God offers us. It was really cool.
On Friday, we had a good district meeting with everyone and learned about using the scriptures in our teaching. That is something that I can definitely work on. When we use the scriptures in our teaching, it automatically brings the spirit into the lesson. After district meeting, we actually got to go and record a song that Elder Nelson and I wrote. It's pretty good aside from the fact that I am in it but we had a good time there in his home recording the different parts and stuff.

We had dinner with Gilbert and the sisters at Red Robin and it was delishhhh. The mingle was fun too and we got to play volleyball. We had a less active member come to that so it was really cool.
On Saturday, we had a lesson in the morning but they cancelled on us. Our lesson later in the afternoon also cancelled on us so we had an open day pretty much. We went to Costa Vida or lunch with the other YSA missionaries. The sisters had stolen my wallet and froze it into a block of ice haha. So I had to break the ice around it and unwrap it all. No damage was done. We went contacting at Fox Run park and didn't have a whole lot of success but ran into a couple of members there. They gave us some food and then we continued on our way. We got to talk to this guy named Anthony and it was really cool! He was sitting by himself and so we went up to him and started talking to him. He was really open and had a lot of great questions. We got his info so we can contact him later. Our other two appointments we had cancelled on us so we went and stopped by a couple of people before going to dinner at the Paige's out in Falcon. They are so awesome! We got delicious ribs and Dutch oven potatoes. They also told us that they are going to be going on a special diet as a family for a month and so we got to leave with a TON of food from their food storage. It was mana from heaven. They are hilarious too so we had a good time.
On Sunday, We had a good day at church and then went contacting afterwards. We also had a great lesson with Jake. He is a new investigator that we have. Another great week in the books! Love you all!
Elder LaRose