Are you ready for another weekly?!
Thanks again for all who read these, maybe one day I'll say something that'll be just what you need to hear! Or I can make you laugh, either one will suffice ;)
Monday: October 7th
Had a great time talking with the fam and emailin all yall! We went to our "patch in the back" friend again and while we were 20 FEET away we got nailed by a huge stench of WEED! 20 feet away from this lady's house... haha, it got even worse as we knocked and she opened her door. The smell was on our clothes for a solid half hour after that haha! We had a lesson with Roberta where we taught the Word of Wisdom (health guidelines we follow in the Church) and she started laughing when we mentioned coffee and tea. She remembered that she tried to offer us tea before and wondered why we kept saying no haha ;) Roberta is really progressing well, please if you have time, please pray for Roberta that she'll be able to overcome the fears she has and be strengthened in living the Gospel! Thank you :)
Classic Sunset of 'Rado in 'Rita
We drove up through San Miguel Canyon/Dallas Pass and the view was absolutely stunning!! Many beautiful yellow Aspen trees (my favorite!) and such jagged mountain ranges. I love Colorado :) I got to have an interview with President Rees (mission president) and it was great getting some advice from him. To save us 300 miles, we decided to go from Montrose to Grand Junction and stay the night with some Elders before Zone Conference. As I was driving to GJ the highways are right next to WEED FIELDS all the time. We could smell the weed through our car as we drove by the fields.... haha! Another day in Colorado ;)
Wednesday: October 9th
Since we stayed overnight in Grand Junction we got to go to Zone Conference in the morning! (Bunch of zones together to council) It definetly was a revelatory experience. One quote that I came up with from it is, "There is more joy in the journey than the destination." I believe this to be true! The process of our becoming is so much more rewarding than the act of overcoming. When we develop our faith in Christ and set high goals for ourselves, even if we excersize faith and trust God but it still doesnt work out, then we can still be happy to have gained such experience along that journey. :) My wise dad once taught me a powerful lesson that, "We dont pray for wins, we pray for victories!" Some people "win" but they don't change or gain anything from it. Some people lose and they let it control and discourage them from striving to become better. When we get a victory (whether win or lose) we know that we have gained something and learned something from that experience. Hence there is more joy in the journey knowing that you are being blessed so much for your righteous efforts!
The first signs of snow!!
After I got to go on exchanges with my Zone leader Elder Jensen! (Elder Gunson got to stay in Naturita) Elder Jensen is AWESOME. We drove to San Juan (his area in Montrose) and we talked abunch in the car, he's a great listener and really respected my "life" story haha ;) Sorry Wednesday is so long but it was SO GOOD!
CRAZY STORY:
Alright, so San Juan is a Spanish speaking area. I don't speak Spanish. Like at all :) I took Latin for heavens sake in high school haha! Elder Jensen and I got to teach this kid and his parents ONLY SPEAK SPANISH. So, I got to teach the entire Restoration while my companion translated for me in Spanish! What an awesome experience, I truly could feel genuine love for them even though I had no clue what they were saying back! The Spirit wasn't any less stronger in that lesson like in my English ones. It reminded me that the Gospel really will be preached to all nations, kindreds, tounges, and people! What a blessing it is to be a missionary, but I would be nothing without everyone single one of my family and friends that I've met over the years to mold me into the person I am today. Thank you! <3
Thursday: October 10th
Today Elder Jensen and I decided to be SUPER quick today hopping from place to place. We were going so fast that we were sprinting to our car and as Elder Jensen was pulling out of the parking spot he rolled down the window and I JUMPED INSIDE the window as he was turning and we sped off to our next lesson... haha! We were laughing so much, I totally just sent it inside the window and then somersaulted in my seat to get upright. I'm crazy. Please stay away from me if you don't want to catch this craziness too ;) I love being a missionary! Elder Jensen was trying to teach me some Spanish. I'll let you judge how well I'm doing at it by this experience... so Elder Jensen in Spanish told me "Hey, I'm a robber and I'm going to kill you." And so I responded in Spanish by saying, "Me encanta su camisa!" which is translated to "I love your shirt!!" Haha ;) I hope you got a kick outta that one for all you Spanish RM's... We had dinner with Paulo and he gave us some amazing Mexican food. I kinda wish I could speak Spanish, hopefully I'll learn a little bit more as my mission continues!
Friday: October 11th
Before heading back to 'Rita to reexchange, Elder Jensen and I found a new person named Hosea to teach and guess what... I ONLY talked to him using Spanish!! We walked up to him in his yard and I said, "Hola Señor! Me gusta su casa! Somos misioneros" Haha :) This means, hello! I like your house and we are missionaries. I'm basically a Spanish missionary now... that's right ;) Just kiddin, I had like a headache this whole exchange just trying to understand all the Spanish but it was a fun challenge nonetheless. Once Elder Gunson and I got back to Rita through Dallas Pass we went to this person's house and we saw their GRANDMA hitting a WEED PIPE!! She's like flippin 80! Cmon.... haha, you could see the smoke was curling in the air long after but our clothes still reek of weed.... yet another day in Colorado haha :)
New winter coat finally :)
Saturday: October 12th
We got to go to the Nucla festival which was really awesome. Then we had a lesson with Tina! We are helping her overcome a couple of severe addictions, halfway through she told us, "Sorry guys, I gotta smoke a cig." To which I responded with, "Well, instead of smoking that cigarette why dont we all get down on our knees and say a prayer?" She agreed and as soon as we, and her kids knelt down with her she started crying and the Spirit filled the room! The love of God for everyone in that room was just so tangible. How could I ever doubt of His love? How can I ever doubt that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true? I've seen His Atonement work miracles through others lives and through my own life, healing us from the wounds of sin and wrapping us in His love. It is my only desire for you reading this to feel of Christ's love for you! He is there. He is waiting for you, please know that you are never too far from His loving arms. This Gospel is who I am, and I'll remain steadfast in my faith even until the end of my life! If that doesnt show you how committed I am I dont know what will ;)
Some sailboats that reminded me of CT haha
Sunday: October 13th
Today we ALMOST got Tina and her kids to church! They were dressed and everything but Tina decided to go hiking instead. Ugh, we'll keep working on her :) We ate dinner at the house and then showed up to Dan's lesson. But...... there was dinner, again! I swear I'm going to get so fat on all this food. We taught Dan the Plan of Salvation again and he prayed and felt inspired to set his OWN baptismal date!! He told us he wanted to get baptized on his birthday which is February 1st, it's a bit far away but I'm glad he's committed :) Hopefully I'll still be in Rita without being transferred out to see him receive such great blessings of being baptized.
Crazy times this week! And I learned an invaluable lesson of the power of true forgiveness. <3
Love you all!
Elder LaRose
P.O. Box 821
Nucla, Colorado 81424
EMAIL: keldon.larose@missionary.org
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