Kyler LaRose Mission : WEEK #44

Hey everyone! It's been a pretty crazy week this week!
On Monday, we first helped a family move out of the ward and then they gave us pizza for lunch. Then we went to the outlet mall with the Spanish Elders and looked around a couple of the stores. That evening, we drove to Parker to exchange with the French Creek Elders. So I went with Elder Stewart for the next 24hrs. As we were finishing up dinner, we got a media referral to go and contact. So we headed out to see if anyone was home. Unfortunately, no one was home at that time.
On Tuesday, we went and did service with Sister Carson and Sister Tucker at one of their investigator's homes. Elder Stewart and I mainly did weeding and edging around the yard. Afterwards, we went and contacted a couple of less actives and such. We then got a call from Sister Tucker wanting a blessing, so we went over and gave her one. When we exchanged back, Elder Tibbitts and I went to dinner with the Burnett's and then had a great lesson at the MacGill's with one of the youth.
On Wednesday, we had our Zone Conference at the Parker South stake center. It was a good long meeting but we were spiritually fed! It went from 8:30 to like 4:00. I got to conduct the meeting and as I would look out to the missionaries, I felt pretty happy for them. They are all great missionaries and we are blessed to have them in our zone. One of the parts of the conference allowed Sister Rehm to talk to us. She spoke on motivation and what motivates us as missionaries. I was taking notes and then I had these lines come into my head so I started writing them down. I have never written poetry before, but this one seemed to work out alright. Here is what I wrote:
There will come a time
Unto men and women of every kind
Where trial and year will knock you down,
Sin and fear bring you to the ground.

Above you stands the Savior near.
You lift your eyes and then you hear,
"Come and take my hand, don't fear,
So I may lift you up and wipe your tear."

And because He drank from the bitter cup,
You reach out your had and He lifts you up.
Then you let go and continue on your way
Only to have Satan lead you away.

Back on the ground, you wonder why
You should continue on, should even try.
Again you lift your eyes to see
The Savior there, so lovingly.

What we need to know and understand
Is to never let go of that extended hand.
For when we grab on and never let go,
We rise and let Him take us to a higher home.

There will come a time
Unto men and women of every kind
To follow Him and to choose the right,
So take His hand to arise and shine.

Pretty good for a beginner right? I credit that one to the influence of the Spirit. It was a great Zone Conference. Afterwards, we went on exchanges with the Elizabeth Elders. So I went to Elizabeth with Elder J Smith. He is just finishing his training as a new missionary and he is a stud. He is just rock solid and a really great missionary and teacher.

We had a good time at dinner and then went to have a lesson with one of their investigators. We taught the Plan of Salvation and she understood it really well! She really wants to get baptized too and we are happy for her. After the lesson we went into their backyard to try to scare the fainting goats that they had. Now these ones were more on their game than others. Just yelling at them wouldn't work. So what we did was distract them while the dad lit a noise maker firework. So as we distracted them, he tossed the firework right behind them and it went off. All the goats stiffed up and fell over and couldn't walk anywhere! It was hilarious!
On Thursday, Elder J Smith and I helped the member they live with move in a piece of granite into the shower they are building. It was super big and weighed about 600 plus pounds. We had six guys there shuffling it around and we finally managed to get it into place after a good couple of heaves. After that, we took off to do some service for a less active member and helped shovel out some stalls! My favorite! We then went to visit this one member and then it started raining super hard and hailing! They said that there was a tornado watch going on right then and told us to get inside. It just kept raining and hailing super hard and luckily no tornado touched down. While we were there, the members had us give a lesson but it had to be done the traditional way that they have done it. So what they do is they select an object in the room at random and then I have 3 minutes to prepare a small lesson based on that object. So what they selected for me was a roller for your sore muscles. So after 3 minutes I gave a lesson on how when we get knots in our muscles, we use the roller to straighten them out and to roll out the knots. Likewise, when we sin, our heart (which is a muscle) gets a little sore or a little harder and may have some knots in it. Luckily, Jesus Christ atoned for each of our sins and provided a way for us to overcome our weaknesses. So we must use the roller of the Atonement to roll out the knots that sin creates in our hearts. This will allow our heart to strengthen as well. They then gave me a rating at the end and said I had a nice solid 8 and that not many missionaries had done that before haha. It was fun. We then exchanged back and had dinner at the Young's. we then went to mutual and helped decorate cupcakes to deliver to different people. I used my natural cupcake decorating skills that I got from Aunt Janell:)
On Friday, we had a good district meeting and then went to lunch. Bonaventure was pretty fun and we had a good time. We played Yahtzee and had to coach them through it each round but it was fun. We had dinner with the Kendall's and it was really good. Next we had a lesson with the Spears and we had them do the pick an object thing. So we had to relate a spaceship and a cardboard box to the gospel. And it worked out! That night, the Assistants to the President drove up and we exchanged. I stayed up here with Elder Constantine and Elder Tibbitts went with Elder Buxton to the Springs. So we got some crazy news from the assistants that night too. We found out that the Parker South stake (half of our zone) would be leaving the Colorado, Colorado Springs mission and would be going to the Denver North mission. Luckily all of the missionaries in that stake will stay in this mission and will be transferred into different places Tuesday. That is crazy for us because we have half as much paperwork and stuff to worry about now and can focus on proselyting in our area more!
On Saturday, Elder Constantine and I went way out to Sedalia to find someone and unfortunately they weren't home. It was a beautiful drive though! We had lunch at Piezanos in Sedalia and it was delicious! It reminded me of the East Coast pizza. We came back and were able to have success as we attempted to talk to everyone. Dinner was with the Prescott's and they cooked smoked BBQ Ribs that were delicious! We had a good lesson at the Shifflet's too. We exchanged back and it was good getting to know and learn from Elder Constantine.
On Sunday, bishop's son Jake just got back from his mission to Oslo, Norway. He gave an incredible homecoming talk and is a really great guy. The first thig he said to us when he met us was "what's your number? I'm available anytime for any appointment" we are looking forward to having him at our lessons and stuff:) we then met with Ammon and his friend again and had a good lesson on overcoming the natural man through selflessness. We then went to Sedalia for dinner with the Polson's and then got to go over to the Watts for a good lesson on the Atonement. We then were invited to Jake Rolfson's open house thing and were able to meet some really cool nonmembers there.
On Memorial Day, we picked up the Spanish Elders and then met with the Elizabeth Elders to go out fishing on the South Platte river! So we went down to the river and met up with two of the youth in our ward down there, Blake and James. We had tons of fun just fishing and being together. I didn't catch any fish this time, but I caught some nibbles! Out of everyone, we caught probably 5 fish. Oh and Elder Taylor caught a monster stick too:) after we wrapped up fishing, we went to say goodbye to all of the Parker South missionaries. It is sad to see all of them leave but hopefully I will see them around at some other point in my mission. It was a great Memorial Day.