Kyler LaRose Mission : WEEK #9 - Colorado Springs Fountain Stake

WEEK #9 9/28/2015

Hello Family and Friends! It has been a crazy week! (I have a new address, so see bottom)

Usually during training, the first transfer doesn't really affect us, but we found out the day before transfers that we would be moving into another apartment and would only be covering the Colorado Springs 3rd ward and not Sand Creek ward anymore.

On Tuesday, we went to Lorena's and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She took it really well and thought it was interesting. We are having trouble trying to get her to really have the desire to pray and read from the Book of Mormon. She views our lessons as more educational rather than spiritual. She isn't reading the Book of Mormon, which doesn't make sense because if she wants to know what we believe is true, then she needs to read it:) Our next lesson will focus on trying to get her to have the desire to read. Only through reading the Book of Mormon can our questions about the church or about Joseph Smith be answered. So before everyone left for transfers, we went to Tucanos, which is a Brazilian restaurant that reminds me of Rodizio Grill, where they bring out different meat on sticks. Some of the crazy things I tried were crab and mango sushi and then a chicken heart. The rest of our day was spent moving all of our stuff from the old apartment to the new one. The apartment is smaller and seems pretty ghetto, but it will do:)

My bed in the new apartment with my camo sheets

My desk

On Wednesday, we spent a lot of the day briefing the new Sand Creek Elders on the area and telling them who we've been working with. The new Elders are Elder Dugger, and Elder Villaneda, who is straight from the MTC. One thing that happened due to the transfer was all of the dinner appointments we had were in the ward that we dropped. So we have been cooking dinner ourselves for the past week. A blessing in disguise arrived when one of the members of 3rd ward called us, wondering where we were for dinner, even though she didn't sign up. We met up that evening and she took us to Olive Garden, which is extra gourmet for a missionary:)

On Thursday we drove with the Shawn and Sherri Munn up to the Denver Temple with them to be there for their first time doing their endowments. It took about an hour to drive there from the Springs, and was a pretty drive. It was absolutely wonderful to witness them going through the Temple and I know that The Lord will continue to bless them in their faithfulness. In the temple, I got pulled aside and assisted in doing temple baptisms as well! What a great day it was to be in the temple with them. Afterwards, we went to Deseret Book and then made the commute home in time for dinner.

Me and E. Schilling

Denver Temple

Munn family at the Denver Temple

Friday was a fun day because I received some revelation for myself. With the whole moving apartments situation, our missionary work was interrupted and we were forced to spend our time getting supplies and appliances that were missing from our new apartment. That night however, I was reflecting on the gospel preparation I have received and where it came from. I realized that, a mission is hard with respect to the fact that it is so easy to slip into mediocrity. It is so easy to skim through the pages of scripture without absorbing any true doctrine. It is so easy to justify feelings of nervousness as excuses to not try. It is so easy to have regrets. I will catch myself in these slumps and it sucks. It is no the kind of missionary I ever wanted to be, and here it is, so easy to become. All of the preparation I received is for naught if I don't strive to become the best missionary I can be, a true representative of Jesus Christ. I need to regain that desire to go convert everyone as I did when I first started my mission. Even though this is not likely, it is important to still have that desire.

First blister of the mission

On Sunday, we got in contact with the dinner coordinator and now all of our dinners are going to be filled in and we wont have to go hungry.:) haha we are only allowed $139 a month for food and personal care. Also that night, there was a blood moon outside and I got some good pictures of it.

Blood Moon

TODAY, We were picked up by Jeff (Gunga) and Amy Wolin, who live in Woodland Park and drove us to hike The Incline. On our way over, we witnessed a car crash that was super close to us where a man ran a red light and wasn't quick enough. Everyone was alright, but it was something that doesn't happen very often. To give you an idea of what The Incline is, here are some facts about it. Length: 1 mile, but climbs 2,000 vertical feet. Duration: Under 30 minutes to over an hour or more depending on your fitness level and pace. Trail Difficulty: Difficult. The fastest time anyone has ever done it was in 17 minutes and like 45 seconds. I was the first of the group to summit at 39 minutes and 20 seconds. It was super sunny and hot, which made me sweat real bad. The view at the top however, was incredible. It was super fun to hang out with the Wolins and The Incline was super cool. We didn't go back down the way we came up, but took a switchback trail all the way back down. It was a super fun hike and was really pretty:)