WEEK #18 - The Death Cow and the Death Deer #OnlyInRita

Hope this email finds all of you well, thanks again for staying in touch with me!

Whatta wack week with weed... haha :)

Plus almost died this week but that's kinda expected to almost happen here in Rita... buckle up for this one

Telephone fun, haha

Monday: November 18th

Great day, went hiking with Elder Garstin. Emailed family, friends, and played piano. We had another killer lesson with Roberta! She seemed ready and excited to meet with us again :) We covered about the role of the Book of Mormon in restoring Truth! She asked us, "Why do you think there are so many interpretations of the Bible?" To which I replied that it was because they didn't have the second witness of the Book of Mormon to clarify the truths taught within, that's why there's a billion churches on the Bible and ONE church that is founded on both the Bible and Book of Mormon: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! A witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon can reveal an understanding of all of this to you. :)

Tuesday: November 19th

Woke up at 4:30am and drove to Junction getting there at 7:30... I bought a gallon of Orange Juice to chug so I wouldn't fall asleep and die, haha! I most definitely thank Heavenly Father for His protection over me and Elder Garstin as we drive. Zone Conference was awesome! President Rees definitely has high expectations for all this principle based handbook stuff, I'm excited for it! Afterwards, I got to go on exchanges! My fellow Zone Leader Elder Davis got to come with me to Naturita (yessssss...) and Elder Garstin got sent to the Spanish speaking area, haha. Elder Davis is an amazing Elder, we connected instantly. I drove and we got home round 8:30pm, geez haha. 

Wednesday: November 20th

Happy 20th! ;) Elder Davis and I woke up to RAIN. It's been 2 months since we've had rain. We had a great lesson with Tina and Karen on patience through trials/pressing forward through setbacks. Tina seems to still enjoy our lessons at least! For service, Elder Davis and I got to feel cool and lift wood up and down. We pick dem up and put dem down ;) 

 Exchanges with Elder Davis!

CRAZY STORY:

It had rained all day today so our driveway was REALLY muddy.... do you see where this is going? Haha :) So I'm drivin the Rita Rav and we get down to the valley thinkin all is well... As Elder Davis and I casually talk missionary talk we aren't aware of the impending danger that lies ahead. Nearing one of the ditches, to our sudden amazement both the back wheels start sliding and swerving every which way in the mud! Dirt was flying everywhere, flinging mud onto the windshield, and covering our view! Using my natural 'Rado mountin man blood that began coursing through my veins at 90mph I wrestled with the fishtail back and forth as we near an impending ditch... Elder Davis was crying out for his mom, I was crying out for my mom too but yellin "YEEE HAWW!!" at the same time, making a desperate attempt to bolster some redneck confidence in me. ;)

Finally after spinnin the wheel back and forth a few times the car comes to a stop as we finally regain our bearings. To our amazement there was also a COW 10 feet away in front of our car... we ALMOST hit it, but it was just chillin there and after having this intense and awesome experience one would think you'd move on, right? Well Elder Davis and I were so surprised at when all a sudden this FAT MEAT SLAB infront of us nearly killed us haha! After nearly escaping almost certain death, Elder Davis and I ended up just takin a picture of the cow... We called it the "Death Cow" haha, wonderful...  #OnlyInRita 

(Just so you know this isn't the story where we almost died... keep going ;)

Death Cow... haha

Thursday: November 21st

It was really awesome that in 24 hours I already made such a great friendship with Elder Davis. Sadly we re-exchanged, but Elder Garstin is just as savage ;) 

MIRACLE:

We had an amazing miracle teaching this lady Pam. She had read from the Book of Mormon and fully understood the Restoration. She expressed a desire to be baptism by one holding proper priesthood authority and was willing to learn more about our truths! THEN she ran over to her neighbors house and brought her friend in to meet US! We gave her friend Terra a Book of Mormon and she was very open to learning more how it could help bring her closer to Christ, especially if our Church had the restored priesthood authority! So we were able to start teaching both of them and encourage them to come to church. Elder Garstin and I were SO hyped in the car driving home! We were singin praises to our God to say the least :)  I love flippin Naturita... now for another good part... 

CRAZY STORY:

So we were checking up on a less active family that lives in Rita. So we knock on the door and hear a few people yell, "Come in!" So we open the door and step inside the house only to see 6 people in the house, wide eyed, and WEED EVERYWHERE. Haha!! There was weed on the table, there was weed splayed out on the floor, weed hanging from the walls, I mean there was WEED every step we took. There was three teenagers on the couch all wide eyed goggling at us missionaries while they had pipes and bongs in their mouths! The dad of the family was on the floor smokin weed, he said, "Uhhh... now's probably not a good time guys..." And so we shook their hands and left, haha! I guess they just didn't expect the missionaries to walk in on their "party," I wonder why... ;) 

#OnlyInRita

This explains Rita perfectly...

Friday: November 22nd

Today was really fun, we nailed a THICC pile of plans for weekly planning... haha, that's what Elder Garstin called it ;) I'm so glad I get to serve in the Naturita....

CRAZY STORY: Like.... CRAZY....

I was driving from Nucla to Naturita at 8:15pm to finish some last rounds of people. Strangely enough, every person we talked to during the day told us to be careful on the roads... do you see where THIS is going?? So we dismissed it as something causal, but as we were driving it was pitch dark and there was a car behind us and a car coming from the other lane going REALLY fast. Just talkin with Elder Garstin, all a sudden I heard a giant THUD and see the oncoming car NAIL this huge buck!! The buck was hit so fast it slid across the road spinning like a hockey puck and we almost hit it as its body skidded past us! We then got showered with tons of sparks and peices from the other car's bumper which got shattered. Luckily our car wasn't damaged by the sparks and metal, but we turned around just to see the car that hit the deer speed off towards Nucla, dang! The car swerved really hard and ALMOST hit us head on! I got to call 911 and report the hit n run to the Sheriff who took care of it. That experience right there taught me the importance of being grateful for the Lord's protection and safety over us! We could have hit that deer, the car could have swerved into our lane and hit us, so many worse case scenarios... and yet we were protected. I thank my Heavenly Father deeply for watching over me and Elder Garstin tonight! We called that deer now the "Death Deer" haha. So this week we almost nailed the Death Cow AND the Death Deer!! Holy cow... haha, holy deer as well. #OnlyInRita!

Saturday: November 23rd

Well... my mind is blown. Remember that deer story I just told you about? Well, first thing this morning we put in plans to drop by someone we're teaching named Dan. We wanted to go over cause these past two weeks he's avoided us and stopped progressing. We pull up to his trailerhome and we see Dan, his gf Linda, and another guy all outside around Dan's car and...

DAN WAS THE ONE WHO HIT THE DEER!!!!

WHAT. Yeah, you heard that right, OUR person that we are teaching was the SAME guy who nailed that deer last night!! His whole front bumper was destroyed and pieces were blown everywhere. We asked Dan "what happened" all innocently and he told us that he hit a buck on his way coming back from work! Are you kidding me?! Dan was alright thankfully, but Elder Garstin and I gave each other that, *we know what really happened* look... Dang! Of course it would ONLY happen in Rita where you almost die because someone you were teaching nailed a deer and almost swerved their car into yours. Wow. Thankfully the Lord protected BOTH of us from any further injury, but how CRAZY is it that this happened? Haha, what a crazy miracle...

Sunday: November 24th

Well today was pretty chill. No cows. No deer. No dying. Felt really weird NOT being in mortal danger today, haha! I'm just kidding ;) We taught a few member lessons and had a great time in Norwood. The Spirit hit me like a brick wall when we walked past this random bike shop and I couldn't physically walk past the shop. I was legit stopped in my tracks, so I followed the Spirit and walked into the bike shop! We talked with the owners and they were actually really interested in meeting with us! We setup for next week to come back, what a really cool miracle! I love the guidance Heavenly Father gives ALL of us... we just need to listen!

Flippin awesome frost

Well, Death Cow and Death Deer might want to seek revenge on us this next week, so please pray that they don't... gosh...only in Rita! :)

Love,

Elder LaRose 

P.O. Box 821

Nucla, Colorado 81424

EMAIL: keldon.larose@missionary.org