WEEK #57 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

This week has been crazy (as they usually are).
On Monday, we had a great start to the week by going on a hike to St. Mary's Falls with Sister Mismash and Sister Topham and Sister House. It was a good 8 mile round trip and a good time at the top at the falls. They weren't as impressive as the ones down in the San Luis Valley, but the hike was beautiful. Of course, Elder Constantine and Elder Stark and I took a sip from the water falling from the rock and then went and explored around the mountain looking for a geocache on Elder Stark's GPS.

We came back and got base passes for Peterson Air Force Base so that we could get onto base without having someone come out and get us. We had dinner later on and then had a lesson with Tyler Shumway. We also went to the Fosters to have a great lesson and then retired for the night.

On Tuesday, We had our transfer coordination meeting with all of the office missionaries. We had lunch and then met with President and Sister Rehm to finalize all the Trainers and their areas. After that, we met with Brother Powers and had a great lesson. We talked about helping him and his wife progress towards being sealed in the temple. After that, we met with the Ward Mission Leader. That evening, we had a great lesson with Jimmy Avila. We moved back his baptism date to September 10th so that we could prepare him better.
On Wednesday, we got a new van to drive, so we cleaned out the old one. We now have a 2016 Toyota Sienna haha we named it the Turtle Van from Ninja Turtles.

We also got an emergency service call from some Elders in Fountain that needed help doing yardwork for a family that would be evicted if it didn't get done. So we went and helped them as much as we could. We had dinner at the Puzzo's and then headed to Pueblo for exchanges. I stayed in Pueblo with Elder Calderon.
On Thursday, we went to the Pueblo Zoo to do service. We sprayed and washed a pavilion down and then headed out. We had lunch at a place where you can get a Slopper. Which is a huge hamburger that is smothered in Pueblo green chili that is only available in Pueblo, CO.

Elder Calderon then had to take care of some stuff with a booth at the fair that was going to be happening and then we went and stopped by a lot of people. We did some more service for a man who later took us to dinner. We drove back to the Springs and then met up with our companions.
On Friday, we were asked to teach district meeting on service. So we came up with a super short but funny skit about Ammon and King Lamoni. Then we talked about the Parable of the good Samaratin. Afterwards we had a great lunch where the 5th Sisters made us a cake! It was a happy bday cake for me slash goodbye cake for Elder Constantine slash welcome cake for Elder Stark. Afterwards, we went and met with President and Sister Rehm to finalize everything for transfers. After that, we had a good lesson with Joe and Ami on Christ's earthly ministry. After our lesson, we worked on travel arrangements and had dinner in between that. We were able to get through a good bit of them that night.
On Saturday, we had a Training conference call to conduct and I spoke on preparing for the rest of your mission. After that, we were able to run through all of the travel arrangements, fix the spots where we messed up, and manage to transfer the whole mission across Colorado in our heads. All of the teaching appointments we had cancelled so we ran some errands for President Rehm and then had dinner at Chick-fil-a.
On Sunday,we had ward council in the morning and then church right after that. We had a good number of people come to church! Jimmy wasn’t able to make it because he was with his mom who was in the ER. We taught the gospel principles class that day and the subject was developing our talents. One of the things I learned from that lesson was that when we are given more responsibilities, we have different ways to look at it. We can look at the responsibilities as a burden and additional work, or we can look at additional responsibilities as additional opportunities to receive blessings from the Lord. After church, we grabbed some lunch and then had to make some changes to the transfer after we got a call from President Rehm. Once we took care of that, we went out and tried to see a couple of people. A few weeks ago, a couple pulled over to the side of the road as we were walking and asked us to come by their place. We had been stopping by pretty frequently but had always caught them not at home. Well, yesterday, we were finally able to get in contact with them! The wife is a member and wants to get back to church! Her nonmember husband seems really receptive too and we were able to set up an appointment for next week. They are both in the military so working with their schedules will be a little difficult. We are so happy that we were able to contact them. We had dinner at the Mecham’s and then were cut short when the sisters asked if we could come give a blessing to one of the sisters they are working with. We went to the Hospital where the sister was getting ready to have a baby in the next couple of weeks. We gave the blessing and then went to the church to practice in the choir for the special conference that is going to be coming up for the Fountain stake. We stopped by Greg and Shannon too to have Elder Constantine say his goodbyes before he gets transferred tomorrow. It was a great week☺
Thanks to everyone again and just to make mom and dad feel old I want to remind them that I will be turning 20 years old tomorrow☺ Love you all!
Elder Kyler LaRose

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

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #56 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WHAT A GREAT WEEK. PERIOD.
On Monday, in the morning, we dropped off the departing missionaries. we took care of tons of stuff that needed to get done like, dry cleaning, house cleaning, car cleaning, and probably more cleaning that I can't think of right now. After that, Elder Constantine and some other missionaries had to rehearse for their musical number in the upcoming Mission Tour. So we went to the Aeroplaza building and I played basketball with the other missionaries. It was a good ol day. We had a good dinner and then went to contact a family that Bishop Hendry referred us to. His name is Joe and he has been less active for most of his life. He has a wife named Ami who is not a member also. They welcomed us in warmly and are just awesome people. Joe really wants to have the priesthood in his home and Ami wants to find more peace in her life. They totally want us to come back and teach them. There is somewhat of a pattern to missionary work here in 5th ward:) We will just have people come up to us and want to be taught. It's crazy how it all works.


On Tuesday, we started the day by wrapping up the tail ends of the miles document. After that, we set out to do some missionary work and got to see a lot of people. We were tracting in this one complex and we got in contact with these people named Anthony and Debra. They were really interested in what we had to say and invited us back to their apartment later in the week. We went to a Cajun restaurant in downtown Springs called Springs Orleans and I got to try some alligator bites! They tasted super good too! For the main dish, we had crawfish et ouffe. It was also great. Tasted like mini lobster. We had a lesson in the evening with Jimmy and talked to him about some of the commandments. He is progressing really well and will be getting baptized pretty soon. That night, we went and exchanged with the Monument zone leaders.
On Wednesday, I stayed in Monument with Elder Stark and we had a great day. Our morning was filled with doing some great service that ranged from mowing 3 foot weeds to playing Yahtzee with older people. We were able to have a great rest of the day just being missionaries and working. It was great to be with Elder Stark again. We had a great dinner and then a lesson at another member's home. At that house, the people there told me that they have a neighbor from Monticello! So we went next door and sure enough, it was Cory Schafer. We bonded over the good people of Monticello and talked about different things.

We took some pictures and then headed back down to exchange back.
On Thursday, we met with President and Sister Rehm to get a better grip on transfers. That went for a while and then we left to have a lesson with Anthony and Debra. Only Anthony was home but we had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and about coming closer to Christ. It was a great lesson. We had a good dinner and then drove down to Pueblo for the mission tour that was happening the next day.
On Friday, we woke up and got things ready for the tour. We have the privilege of having 2 members of the seventy attend as instruct us in this mission tour. Their names are Elder Wilford W. Andersen and Elder K. Brett Nattress and their wives.

Elder Andersen gave that talk in conference about learning the dance and also hearing music. Needless to say, we were well instructed. The conference lasted most of the day and then we ha a mission leadership council after that. We came home after having dinner in Pueblo and crashed.
On Saturday, we went to the Aeroplaza building and got ready for the second round of the mission tour. Here is what I learned in the past two days from such great leaders. Elder Nattress talked about our own testimony of Christ and encouraged us to share our testimony as much as we could. He said to "let everyone know that you know." From Elder Andersen he talked about knowledge. Specifically head, heart, and soul knowledge. Head knowledge is intellectual or book learning. There is no desire necessary. Heart knowledge comes from desire, feeling the spirit, and wanting to change. Soul knowledge is application, becoming, living, and having diligence. He also talked about faith and how to make it powerful. He said,
1. Know and love the Lord Jesus Christ
2. Conform your desires to His
3. Work hard
Some other things he said are "Gratitude is a prerequisite to receiving a spiritual witness."
"Every calling I have had, I have felt less and less adequate. But I have become more and more confident in The Lord."
"Powerful faith can convert a future promise into a present reality."
We were truly uplifted and benefitted by having such great men and women teach us. After the tour, we were invited to a barbecue at the church for a different ward. As we were there eating, a random person came up to us and asked us to tell him more about the church! He is super interested in learning more and told us that he would make it to church on Sunday. That was such a cool miracle. That night we had another lesson with Joe and Ami and they are really hoping to progress.
On Sunday, we had ward council in the morning and then went to church we had Jimmy and Erich come. We had a great time. After church, we went tracting for a good while and were able to talk to a lot of people. We had dinner at the McEchrons and they fed us some good stuff. We came back and got to go to the stake priesthood meeting. It was awesome because I saw a ton of people from 3rd ward (now called rustic hills ward due to boundary changes). I even got to see Mitch again and that was great:). They talked about sanctification and I came up with a phrase to describe it. It goes, "Sanctification is a covenant commitment to consecrate consistent change." I was pretty proud of that one haha. So it was decided on Thursday that Elder Constantine would be leaving the area so he could train. Which means I now have a new companion to stay with us for a week before transfers. I don't know if you remember, but my new companion is Elder Stark!! We served around each other at the beginning of our missions, he was in my district, as zone leaders we saw each other, and now he is my companion! Crazy! It's so awesome and I am so excited:) what a great way to end the week:) Elder Stark is from Antioch, California and we are literally brothers :) we have a little too much in common not to be haha. Love you all and don't forget to be awesome

Elder LaRose


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

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #55 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WEEK #55
8.15.16

Hello everyone! Another great week has gone by.
On Monday, we woke up early and made the 3 hour drive to the San Luis Valley. We went down to have pday with the Alamosa missionaries and then to have an exchange on Tuesday. It was way fun going down there:) There were lots of sagebrush fields and beautiful mountains. In Alamosa, we went to a place called Zapata Falls, where there is this cool waterfall that you can hike to. We followed the trail up to the creek and then walked up the creek to the waterfall. It was great meeting some new missionaries and making new friends:)

On Tuesday, we stayed in Alamosa with the zone leaders there to do an exchange in their area. Their names are Elders Hughes and Legaspi. It was great to spend the day with them and we were able to teach a lot of people, find new investigators and help people set a date to be baptized! It was pretty awesome. We had a super full day and it was great to have a full day to just work. As assistants, the time we have in our area is limited. That's partly why we have sisters covering our ward too. So it was great to have that.

On Wednesday, we made the 3 hour drive back to the Springs early in the morning so that we could get back and go to work. We did our weekly planning that day and got everything squared away. We had to go to the mission office and work on getting the miles spreadsheet all filled out and everything. We had dinner at the Rodriguez home and had a great lesson. They have 2 kids that haven't been baptized yet but are wanting to be so that is great. We did some stop bys and finished the night with a good day behind us.

On Thursday, it was my Temple Jubilee trip!!!!! At the halfway point of our missions, we get to go to the temple with the people that we came out with. The group that I got to go with is probably the best group to have ever gone:) both the Elders and the Sisters. 

We had Elders Tallman, Stark, Lloyd, Carlson, Hagman, Clancy, and I with Sisters Topham, House, Sturgeon, Hiatt, Ward, Woodson, Norcross, Copling. Super great group of misisonaries. Many of whom are in leadership positions in the mission. I got to drive the big van up and all of my brothers got to ride with me:) I love all of them so much haha. We loaded the vans and then drove to Costa Vida for lunch. At one point, one of the stoplights turned yellow so I sped up to make it through the light. Everyone in the van was like OOHH. Elder Lloyd even did a police siren sound effect and fooled half the van that I was getting pulled over. It was a great drive up. We had a lot of fun exchanging stories from the past year:) 

We got to the temple and took some pictures and so naturally, we had to get a jumping pic with the Elders. I think it has been rubbing off on me from mom. She always likes jumping pictures. 

We went to the temple and then did baptisms as well as a session. It was so great to be in the temple with the great friends that I have made on the mission so far. We had a good drive back from the temple and went and had dinner at the mission home. After dinner, we had a little fireside in the basement and then a little testimony meeting. It was spiritual and uplifting:) we then said our goodbyes and went home.

The other 5th ward sisters. Sister Topham and Sister House

On Friday, we had a good district meeting in the morning. Elder Butterfield has been doing well. We then had lunch over at Elder and Sister Mecham's place. They are always super cool. After that, we went and met with President and Sister Rehm to talk about transfers and different things. With 27 new missionaries coming out, we are selecting lots of good trainers for them. One of the things that is going to happen is Elder Constantine will probably leave me to train. Which will land me with another companion by next week haha. Pretty crazy stuff. After we had our meeting, we went over to Francis and Rafael for a lesson. It was pretty hard for Elder Constantine to teach them. He has this thing where he tends to shut down when he doesn't feel like he's helping anyone progress. So we are hoping that they can begin to progress a little more. We had a good dinner with the Rodriguez family and are working with their kids so they can be baptized too.
On Saturday, we were excited to get out and work because it was a full day for us to devote to missionary work. We began the day with prayers to bless us with a successful day and they sure were answered:) We went to the park to have a lesson with someone but they didn't show up. So we walked around the park and saw some tents and bounce houses set up. Come to find out, there is an end of the summer festival that they do each year called the Springs Spree! What a blessing it was for us to find that and to talk to so many different people. In the afternoon, we went and taught brother Jose. He is one of the funniest people I have taught and so the lessons are always great:) We went back to the park to talk to more people and then we  headed to Peterson AFB for dinner with the Hess family. He is the Elder's Quorum President and they are an awesome family. The sisters came along too. We had a lesson with a less active family and then were asked by the Puzzo's to give them a blessing. We gave the mother, Sjont'e, a blessing for her depression, and then gave their 6 year old daughter, Summer, a blessing. Summer was having a hard time because she said she kept hearing satanic voices in her head and that they wouldn't leave her alone. So, with the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, we commanded the voices to stop and blessed Summer with a confident and clear mind.
On Sunday, we started early with Ward Council and then had a lot of people show up to church. There was even a man who walked in wanting to be taught! His name is Mynor and he is really focused on turning his life around right now. We will give our best to him to do that. Also, you'll never guessed who showed up to sacrament meeting. Mitch Beville! He is a recent convert that I got to teach and baptize while I was in 3rd ward:) He came to 5th ward becuase of a scheduling issue and he didn't want to miss church:) It was so great to see him. After church, we went and had a lesson with Tyler Shumway and set a baptism date with him! That was super cool. Later we got a call from the Sisters asking if we knew how to change a flat tire haha. So we went over and showed them how. We gave another member of the church a blessing, and then went to monitor another emergency transfer. This time, it was because some missionaries were finishing their missions. Elder Tibbitts, my former companion was one of them:) We had dinner at the mission home, and then stayed the night there, took call ins, and got to bed so we could rise early and take them to the airport. It was a great week! Love you all
Elder LaRose



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

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #54 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WEEK #54
8.8.16

Hey family and friends! It's been another great week.
On Monday, we had a blast. We started off the day by going up to Monument to hike Mount Hermon with Elder Stark and Elder Johnson and their investigator Lizzie. Elder Constantine and I started a little later than them so we tried to catch up to them but took a wrong turn on a trail. So we just went until we could see the area and then went trail hopping and bush whacking until we caught up to them. It was a good long hike and our legs were super tired. The view at the top was so worth it too. Lizzie is super invested in the gospel and is just golden.

After we came back down, we drove back down to monitor an emergency transfer that was happening. Then we got groceries and cleaned the apartment before we met the Wolin's at the mission office to get ready to go to a Sky Sox game! The game was awesome and it was great being there with everyone. We were happy to see the Sky Sox win also:) It was a great night.

On Tuesday, We had exchanges with the Castle Rock Zone Leaders and that was fun:) We did some training on some logistical stuff with them and then had lunch. Afterward, I went with Elder Lloyd and did some finding and then some contacting at Memorial Park. We had a lot of good conversations with strangers. We then went to a apartment complex and stopped by Francis and Rafael to see how they were doing. We had a good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and it was good news to them. They are slowly coming around to the truth haha. We also had a lesson with Brother Jose Rodriguez and it was great. We then had dinner in Falcon and I went with Elder Filips. After dinner, we were surprised by Elder Mecham, one of the senior missionaries, with MORE Sky Sox tickets for that night. It was actually "Mormon night" and there were tons of people there from the stake! We got to go with some of our recent converts. I also got to see a lot of people from both Sand Creek and 3rd ward! That was really cool.
On Wednesday, we went to the Aeroplaza building for breakfast befor the Mission Leadership Council. I was asked to conduct that meeting and it went really well! We had a pretty productive time and decided on a couple of different things like: A new Key Indicator to track which is less active members with an activation date, and We also came up with a mission theme. The theme stems from when Elder Marcus B. Nash visited the mission and goes as follows. In this mission, we obey the Lord, whom we love, with a willing heart. It was great. After MLC, we worked on some things with the miles document and then got a call from the Monument Zone Leaders. Their car was in the shop being repaired and so they called us to see if they could come with us to do some missionary work. We worked around the area and then checked back at the shop but their car wasn't going to be finished until the next day. So we took the Elders up to their place and spent the night with them there so that they could have a ride to the church in the morning.
On Thursday, after we dropped off the Elders, we drove back to the springs and then went to go do service at the Ute Valley Park with the RMFI. So we spent most of the day restoring trails that people had created themselves. We first broke up the ground that the trail was made up of, and then we transplanted some of the natural vegetation from around the area onto the path, then we seeded the path with seeds that would grow over the social trail, and then covered the trail with pine needles, branches, and pine cones (which is apparently called duffing). It was a great hands on job that we got to do with some other missionaries. Afterward, we showered and then went to the Peterson AFB to help the Mechams with a dinner that they were having for anyone on base. We helped with dishes and then got to mingle with a lot of the people on base. That was great because we are not allowed to otherwise proselyte on base. We met a lot of people and I even met someone from good ol' Dove Creek, CO. It was a great opportunity for us and we were able to give a Book of Mormon to someone who was interested in learning more about Christ's ministry. We had another great lesson with Jimmy that evening and got a great discussion out of him! He is loving the gospel more and more and it is wonderful to see his faith grow stronger and stronger. We finished the night with a lesson at Greg and Shannon's They are just the most incredible people. Just about 4 months ago, they began investigating the church. I remember teaching them when I was a Zone Leader and was on exchanges in 5th ward. They have since quit heavy drinking and smoking, using drugs, turned their life around, and were baptized 40 days later. They have been sober ever since and have not missed one single week of church since. They are incredible and are one of the favorite places and people that I like to be around. It was a great lesson.
On Friday, we had a good zone training from the zone leaders, Elder Van Shaar and Elder Pexton. They talked about charity and some other things. For the activity, they had everyone split into 4 groups and create a song or a rap that related to charity:) Our group was pretty excited about our rap haha. When it ws our turn to present, we started with a good beat and the Elder Constantine rapped our lyrics. It was probably the best one;) Afterwards, we met with President Rehm and decided on who would be trainer candidates for the upcoming transfer. We also worked out another emergency transfer for an elder that would be going home for medical purposes. After the meeting, we went and had a lesson with Francis and Rafael again. We taught a little bit more about the Plan of Salvation, focusing on our divine nature and the fall of Adam and Eve. It went really well. Afterwards, we headed to Peterson AFB for dinner. Dinner was at the Taylor's and that was cool. Brother Taylor is a general for the Air Force and, from what I heard, is the only active duty LDS general in the Air Force. Dinner was great too.
On Saturday, we went on exchanges with the Springs and Fountain Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Van Shaar for the day and we had a great time:) After our studies, we went and visited one of the investigators they were having trouble contacting and were able to catch him at a good time! We talked about his struggles and were able to have him commit to come to church the next day! The rest of the exchange went really well, We were about to head to a baptism and then it started poring rain down on us. So we had to sprint the 50 yard length to the car and get going. We got soaked even in that short space! The baptism was for Lizzie, the lady we went hiking with to Mount Hermon. It was a great baptism and she was overjoyed at the great experience it was for her. We had a great rest of the day and then met up with each other's companions at night.
On Sunday, we had a great fast and testimony meeting. A ton of people that we didn't recognize showed up and bore some powerful testimonies. It was wonderful to have Jimmy there. I sat with him and he is progressing well. After church, we worked on some miles stuff for the mission and then had some lessons with the Greys and then the Fosters. All the Foster girls were hyper that night and it made the lesson fun and interesting:) We came back after a great day and a great week and got some rest.
Love you all and thanks for everything!

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

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net

WEEK #53 - Colorado Springs Mission Office

WEEK #53
8.1.16

Hey! It's been such a busy but great week!
On Monday, we went to the church and played some basketball with a bunch of other missionaries at the Aeroplaza building. It was a lot of fun and there were more missionaries there than I had seen in a long time. Towards the end, I was feeling pretty sore and I also got a blister on my foot from it. We had a pretty good time. We had dinner at the bishop's house that evening and it was great! They are a great family and are a great help to the ward. Afterwards, we nailed down everything we were going to do for the zone conferences.
On Tuesday, we got up a little earlier and went to the office to pick up another van to drive to the church for the vehicle inspections. Today's zone conference was with the Colorado Springs stake and the Fountain stake missionaries. The conference went well and we learned from President Rehm on how to measure success as a missionary. Sister Rehm talked about true repentance and then we instructed the missionaries on developing a relationship of trust with the Lord for 50 minutes. It was really great teaching the missionaries. We talked first about the components of a trusting relationship and then moved on to talking about a having a willing heart to put God's will above our own even when it conflicts with our will. We also talked about having the faith to act upon God's will for us. We need to always be aware of His guiding hand in our lives and not be afraid to let that hand move us to change. We wrapped up our instruction by committing the missionaries to set a goal to improve in the following areas: I put Heavenly Father's will first, even when it conflicts with my will. I have enough faith to do what Heavenly Father asks of me. I actively work towards being the missionary that Heavenly Father can trust with anything and anyone. It was a great meeting and It was fun to see everyone in the southern half of the Springs. We had a good rest of the night and got to see a couple of people in the area before bed.
On Wednesday, we headed up to the northern part of the Springs for zone conference with the North stake, East stake, and Castle Rock stake missionaries. It was good to see the people from my old zone and it was good to see Elder Lloyd again. I also got to see Elder Tallman and Elder Stark there too:) It was great. We had a good time at the meeting and instructed the missionaries well. At the end of the conferences, there is a little bit of time where the missionaries can ask President Rehm some questions. They are usually pretty entertaining. This time, someone asked President what his favorite scripture was and he said, "I can't pick one, I usually just tell them one so that they go away." haha. We came home after that and then got ready to go down to Pueblo. We packed the van with stuff and then headed down to stay the night with the Pueblo Zone Leaders, Elder Calderon and Elder Hagman. Elder Hagman actually came out with me and was in the same MTC district with me and Elder Tallman. It was great to see him again.
On Thursday, We had zone conference with the Pueblo stake, Alamosa stake, and Manassa stake missionaries. Again, it was great to be there with all of the missionaries and had a great final zone conference. We held the meeting at the outlook building and that is the furthest South I have ever been in the mission.

The Outlook building

I had gone there once before when Elder Nash of the Seventy came and spoke. The mission boundaries go another 3 hour drive South, all the way down to Northern New Mexico. Elder Constantine had served in Pueblo before, so after the conference, we had dinner with a family he was working with at the time. It was pretty cool. We came back to the Springs and then did our weekly planning. That night, there was a huge storm that hit Colorado. It was super windy and there was lightning everywhere.
On Friday, we woke up to tons of big hail that came down and did damage to cars and houses, smashing the windows, busting siding, and denting cars. The aftermath was obvious with trees that were blown over and all sorts of stuff. It was crazy.

HAIL!

Fallen Tree

It was also the date that a year ago, I entered the MTC and started my mission! Crazy how fast it goes. We met with President and Sister Rehm in the morning and discussed different things for the upcoming transfer. We also had to coordinate an emergency transfer because of an Elder that was being sent home early. After that, we went to our district meeting where we had President there to go over some boundary changes to some of the wards that the district members covered. We then finalized everything with the emergency transfer and then headed to a lesson with Francis and Rafael. It was a good lesson and they are great Christians, but they seem a little stubborn to accept the full gospel and the blessings tied to it. We are continuing to teach them and hopefully they will begin to open their hearts. We then had a lesson with Jimmy and that went really well! we talked a little bit more about the Plan of Salvation and then about baptism as well. Jimmy has been coming to church regularly and he loves it! In our lesson, we set a baptismal date with him for August 27th:) he accepted and is so ready to prepare himself to be baptized. After that lesson, we went and got packed to go to the ward camp out that the members had planned. We got our gear and headed up to Woodland Park to drop by Amy and Gunga's for some camping gear. Then we continued on past that to the Farish campgrounds. We got there in time for dinner and had a great evening. Sister House and Sister Topham also got to come because they are covering 5th ward too. We had S'mores, sang campfire songs, and had a spiritual devotional given as well. As night came, we set up our camp and I burned a tie to mark my 1 year mark. Then, thinking we were going to be tough, Elder Constantine and I decided to sleep under the stars. He had a hammock and I just had a mat, sleeping bag, and tarp. The stars were incredible and you could clearly see the Milky Way Galaxy. That is, until the clouds rolled in super quickly and started dumping rain on us at 2am. My tarp was doing a pretty good job until I peeked out and saw Elder Constantine scrambling and trying to get to the van haha. Then parts of the sleeping bag were getting wet so I took off into the van as well. We tried to get as much sleep as we could there.
On Saturday, we woke up mostly dry and then went on a hike with the Sisters for exercise.

Breakfast was great and afterwards, Elder Constantine and I had to go into Woodland Park so our phones could get service for a conference call that we had to do at 10.

pix taken by Amy Wolin where Kyler went to drop off camping gear and make the call

After the call, we went back to the camp and then went hiking with some nonmembers that showed up to join the fun. We went bouldering too and then had a good lunch before we took off. We drove home and then showered. That evening, we were able to have a couple of lessons and then got to go to the park and had a good conversation with some Jehovah's Witnesses. We gave a blessing to a less active member that night and were able to help her too.
On Sunday, we had church in the morning and had a great meeting with lots of people who showed up. This Sunday was different because our ward is the ward that reached out to the Deaf community and has interpreters each Sundayfor them. This Sunday, however, a couple of the Deaf people got up on the stand and gave their talks in American Sign Language while one of the members vocally interpreted for us. It was really neat to see:) For the combined 3rd block, we learned about how to reach out to the Deaf community and how to interact with them. After church, we helped some people move out of our apartment complex out of the blue. We also stopped by a couple of people and set things up for later in the week. We went to the baptism for Michael in the 16th ward and that was great to see. It is always great to see someone who has allowed the fog to move from their eyes and then see the significance and reality of what this gospel has to offer us. Then we went to the office to enter in the statistics for the mission that week through call-ins. It has been a super busy and long week but I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve the missionaries around me. As I looked around at all of the missionaries in the zone conferences, I felt the Lord's love for each of them. I am grateful and humbled to be among so many great and faithful servants of the Lord. I look forward to the great times ahead for me and the challenges that will come to help me learn and grow. I love you all and have a great week!
Isaiah 55:8-9

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

kyler.larose@myldsmail.net