WEEK #31 - Llama Tell You Somethin...

Welcome back, it was a good and exciting week! 

Monday: February 17th

Played some good basketball with the Zone. Great pday, very dreamy... Buncha goofs ;) We had elk steaks with some members, that was good. We froze our butts off walking round at night, gosh it's cold, haha! Also setup about a million chairs at the church for Zone Conference tomorrow. 

Tuesday: February 18th

Zone conference! Ah! It was really really good. President Rees is such a savage, I love it. Our training on Tracting went really well, the Zone was definitely excited and empowered to keep moving forward in the Lord's work! We then had a great lesson with Carol (the one who's been to SLC before) and she had SO many good questions about the Book of Mormon. She wants to learn more and maybe even come to church! Golden. 

Zone Conference training!

Wednesday: February 19th

Did more service in the morning until the APs showed up at our mansion for exchanges. I got to be with Elder Neeley and.... drive the mini van!! Haha, I got to be the missionary mom for the day. Elder Neeley is an awesome AP, we were able to have a really spiritual lesson with Christy while sitting criss cross on her cold hard cement porch outside her house for an hour. Amazing how the Spirit can be in any place where "two or three are gathered in His name" despite many distractions! Christy exclaimed with tears of joy in her eyes, "You have given me hope!" when we bore testimony of the power the Book of Mormon has to heal broken hearts and mend lost spirits. What a great day!

 Service!

Thursday: February 20th

Happy 20th! What a special special day :) We did more service in the morning then walked up to this one lady in her car. As soon as she saw us she immediately scrambled to put the car in reverse and zoomed off, haha! What? Some people are just weird... like me. :) We had dinner at this members house and they have a pet LLAMA!! She brought over the Llama and it started sniffing us and then smelling our breath!! It then tried to KISS Elder Kofford and me... NO ONE gets to kiss me! Goof ;)

 It actually got Elder Kofford, I have pictures as proof, haha! It didn't get me chief.

Oh no Elder Kofford

 Elder Diviney and the APs showed up to stay the night from Montrose. Turns out he'll be the new AP, awesome!

Friday: February 21st

Today was an interesting day. We asked one guy if we could introduce ourselves as he was walking by and he looked down at his watch on his arm and said, "Sorry guys, I don't have any time." Well........ the only problem is that he didn't have a watch on his arm at all.... haha! Some people are just plain rude... and stupid. We had a great lesson with Daniel, he's a stud and getting close to baptism! Knocked a few more doors for the night. 

 Meal of a Savage... ;)

Saturday: February 22nd

Had three great back to back lessons at 11/11:30/12. One guy we taught named Adam actually grew up in Farmington, Connecticut which isn't too far away from Guilford! That was awesome to have that connection, I definitely know for a fact that my time spent in Connecticut was the exact preparation I needed for my mission! Without CT, the trials, and the new opportunities I had there, I wouldn't have been able to connect with specific people out here in Colorado. I love how much the Lord blesses us and we don't even know it! We were also able to contact over 50 people today, picking up two new people to teach. Elder Kofford then burned his pants for his 18 month mark, haha! I still got like 11 months before that happens anytime soon. 

Sunday: February 23rd

Always great to be back to the Sabbath. I love the different spirit I feel each Sunday as I strive to remember my Savior more. We had a few lessons cancel but we were able to give blessings to two people today. I love seeing people reach out to Heavenly Father in that way, by seeking His guidance and comfort through a priesthood blessing.

Good week, all in all at least the Llama didn't get to kiss me. Missionary work is so crazy

Love,

Elder LaRose

 My NEW ADDRESS is:

2946 D Rd. Apt #D-3

Grand Junction, CO 81504

Mailbox - #15

keldon.larose@missionary.org

WEEK #30 - Happy Valentines! An Apostle's Visit 2.0

Welcome back! Hope you all enjoy something out of this week over here in land of GJ :)

Monday: February 10th

Great pday, lots and lots of progress ;) Buncha goofs. We played zone sports and we went hard in basketball. My brother Kyler would be proud of me, haha.

Elder Cruz, bball legends

We had dinner with some great members but we got a text out of the blue from one of our best people that we were teaching. They told us that they were flat out no longer interested. It's very saddening to see people turn so quick, I personally know how much this Gospel can bless them in their life. It's brought me great peace and joy! This Gospel can heal broken hearts, mend fragile relationships, and strengthen family bonds. But it's not my job to force it on them, neither to get upset if they don't see these blessings. I just hope and pray that one day they can respark their interest and seek out what more the Gospel of Jesus Christ can truly bless them with!

Hey! My desk is very organized...

Tuesday: February 11th

Went to District Council! So weird not being the district leader, it was a great training talkin about ways we could be more personable with people as we teach. Went knockin, we met a STUD named Christy. She's been taught by Sister missionaries in Florida years ago, has read the Book of Mormon, and has only been praying to God to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. And she's just someone's door we knocked on, the Lord definitely guides us to those who are elect and already prepared to receive the Gospel message! :) We had a great conversation with this guy named Elijah. He's super humble and has been searching for answers his whole life. Missionary life is all about finding those who are humbly seeking "a more excellent way!" (Ether 12:11)

Sunset Missionary!

Wednesday: February 12th

Had a good MLC call, and we picked up two people today to start teaching. Elder Kofford and I worked a bunch till we got home. Pretty stressful at times but it's good. 

CRAZY STORY:

Okay so every single FREAKIN lightswitch in this mansion apartment is haunted I swear! I'll be just waking up at 6:30 and walk over to turn the lightswitch on and it shocks me!! THEN I walk over to turn my desk light on for personal study and that flippin thing shocks me too!! Haha, I swear, every lightswitch here is just waiting to shock me. Living here keeps you on your toes though, haha :) 

Elder Kofford's expert leakage solvent

Thursday: February 13th

Did some more service today for the KidsAid. It was a pretty hot day outside, nice and warm. Perfect top ramen weather... haha! ;) We had two good lessons, one about the purpose of trials and another about the blessings of the Restored Gospel. Both themes are related to each other so much, we must somehow find and show appreciation to God for our trials. We may not always understand why we had to go through such things, but the important and most vital thing to understand is that you have a Father in Heaven that loves you. He wants you to be happy and progress in this life, we don't always know how or when, but we do know He loves us!

Friday: February 14th

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Goof. Today my mom sent these in the mail and when Elder Kofford saw them and I explained to him our crazy LaRose tradition he said, "You are NOT touching my face with those" Haha! :) Also, allergies must've loved me today cause I had a stuffy nose all day, haha.

This one's just for you mom... ;)

We flat out had a CONVERSATION with someone in freakin Spanish, haha! It was funny cause all I understood and found out was that they were Catholic, and all that they got from us was that we were missionaries of Jesus Christ. I took Latin, I don't speak Spanish haha. But all in all, never tell me the odds though... ;) Great Valentines day!!

Mom! You didn't send me enough candy for my trail!

Saturday: February 15th

Today we worked hard trying to invite a bunch of people to church cause Elder Niel L. Anderson, an Apostle of the Lord, is coming! This'll be the second time I'll meet him on my mission. We had a lesson with this lady named Crystal. She was interested in the Book of Mormon, I hope she's all there! Elder Kofford and I planned more for Zone Conference next week.

CRAZY STORY:

We were teaching this one guy at his house. He was totally high. We're trying to teach him about God and he straight goes into this long story where he ends with, "I've died 8 times you know. And God has a marijuana field waiting for me up in heaven. God's taking care of it for me right now." Ah ha, every classic Colorado dream... haha! ;) #OnlyInRado

You know you've been in Colorado too long when you think this reads, "WEED FOR SALE"

Sunday: February 16th

Stake conference was amazing. Elder Anderson is such an amazing disciple of Christ. He truly is an Apostle of the Lord and I bear witness of that! He talked about the importance of following the counsel of living prophets and apostles. As well as how the world is descending in unbelief so must we strengthen in our own hearts and families hearts that Jesus is the Christ and our Savior. The rest the night we worked hard and found some more people. Also very very proud of all the time, sacrifice, and faith it takes to have trust in the Lord and His will for us.

Love you all, keep strong in the faith even if it's hard - it's worth it!

Love,

Elder LaRose

My NEW ADDRESS is:

2946 D Rd. Apt #D-3

Grand Junction, CO 81504

Mailbox - #15

keldon.larose@missionary.org

WEEK #29 - Land's End Life!

Week 29 already, holy cow. What a goofy and flippin awesome week! :) Land's End has been different from Rita but still pretty fun!

Monday: February 3rd

Today was the second time I've ever had Zone sports on pday. Last time I had only been in the mission field for 4 days, haha! In Rita we never went because it would've been a two hour drive... like all things in Rita! It was great to see the Zone and get to know them. My family were all super excited and laughing when they heard I got transferred to Grand Junction, haha! We've been through that place SOO many times growing up. I always thought it was just a hot, desert gas station... and now I'm a missionary in it! :) We had a good lesson with Daniel, he's 12 and super cool. We're hoping to get him baptized in March!

Maverick! Look at all those spitz

CRAZY STORY:

At the local Maverick just a block away from our apartment there was a shooting between a couple of people cause they were fighting about the Super Bowl. One guy was fatally wounded and another was injured pretty bad. Crazy things happen here in Grand Junction! This is the third shooting that's happened here within a few blocks of our apartment in the course of a WEEK. So saddening. 

Tuesday: February 4th

Had a mission wide zoom call and then went straight into the ZL training at combined District council. It was good, we were able to get a lot of principles across to the Zone! :) We were blessed to meet this cool lady named Dayrest. We taught her the focus this Gospel has on families and the peace that is found in the Book of Mormon! She got really excited to learn more and we committing her to reading more in the Book of Mormon to found out this truth for herself! What a unique opportunity we ALL have to seek personal revelation for our own lives and discover so many new joys the Lord has in store for us as we Follow Him! The AP's (Assistants to the President) stayed the night with us. That was funny, it's good to see that we are all just missionaries trying to do the right thing. Those two Elder Neeley and Elder Finch are awesome. 

Wednesday: February 5th

We had a MLC zoom call today and then interviews with President Rees. Me and Elder Kofford do a lot of short bursts of tracting. We knock a few houses on one street and a few on another. It mixes things up and we get to walk and be out and about. I like it :) We met this cool girl named Molly, she gladly took a Book of Mormon and seemed interested. I always love seeing the fruits of our efforts, sometimes it's not always like that. Some days the Lord just intends us to work hard and not care about whether there is any result of our efforts. I know the Lord has guided me personally to specific people that I can relate to and help deepen their conversion to Christ! What greater privilege is there than to bear the name of our Savior?

GJ is known for having vast amounts of orchards!

Thursday: February 6th

Did some service at a local children's hunger business. Then we went to Train the Leaders with President and all the new district/zone leaders. It was a really great meeting! We then knocked on a bunch of doors and met this lady named Carol. She is super sweet and actually talked with the sister missionaries in SLC! We setup a time to meet again. Went by Rainy again and she was actually home! She said she hadn't read what we asked her to but when we started talking about how much peace/comfort doing so brings us she started crying. We bore testimony to her that the power of Christ's peace is real! He can heal ANY broken heart because He loves each of us. Rainy thanked us and seemed to have a renewed commitment to meeting with us. She's needed peace in her life for a long time. 

Friday: February 7th

Elder Kofford and I felt prompted to knock this dark house and it opened to this lady named Misty who was praying for a sign from God about what path she needed to take in her life! We introduced the Book of Mormon as another set of scripture that Heavenly Father revealed to mankind to help answer questions of the soul and bring that direction she was looking for. What a cool miracle! :) We had dinner with some members... gosh, I swear I'm going to get SO FAT over here in Land's End, haha! I'm too used to bread, cereal, and pretzels. Strand me on an island with those and I'll be just fine ;) 

Saturday: February 8th

Today was good, we had an old hardcore Marine guy call us and ask Elder Kofford, "Is Elder LaRose still your companion? I want him to drop down and do 100 diamond pushups" Haha! Today it was flippin 55 degrees in Grand Junction, I had a short sleeve on... in February!!  Haha, what the heck is this Grand Junction.

 55°... in February! 

At night we went tracting and this lady heard us knock on the door, saw that we were missionaries, turn on the porch light and started flickering the light on and off super fast as a signal for us to go away... haha! Some crazy weird people over here. Also met a member who was from the one and only place of Blanding! (Some backstory, Monticello and Blanding have been very bitter rivals for the longest time) We had good fun poking at each other's home town, but don't worry I roasted Blanding pretty good. Monticello is best, Go Buckaroos! :)

Sunday: February 9th

Sunday is always a special day. I love partaking of the sacrament, such beautiful symbolism. Bishop Smith, who's over the Land's End ward, got up during sacrament meeting and said, "We have a new missionary in the ward. Is he here? I'm going to invite him to come up here and have him bear his testimony and introduce himself" Dannnng, callout! Haha :) That was awesome to bear my testimony on the spot like that. We had a good lesson with Hank and Stacy then we went back to Brother Laws the Blanding-ite! We went over Come Follow Me (scripture study program) and had a great discussion. We both can't help but tease each other and throw a little mud back and forth between Monticello and Blanding ;) One old guy asked me and Elder Kofford for our first names. He then said, "Keldon and Makoy?! You guys sound like a couple of outlaws from the wild west" Haha, I love this ward!

Beautiful painting of hometown Monticello temple by Sister Wynn

Sooo many more people over here than in Rita, but I'm kinda liking Grand Junction. It can't ever top a trailerhome in the middle of the wilderness though... ;)

Have a great week,

Love you all,

Elder LaRose

Sorry not too many pictures this week, super busy! :)

My NEW ADDRESS is:

2946 D Rd. Apt #D-3

Grand Junction, CO 81504

Mailbox - #15

Love,

Elder LaRose 

keldon.larose@missionary.org

WEEK #28 - Transfers! Staying Rita?

How much crazier can these weeks get?! Hope you enjoy reading this :)

Monday: January 27th

Today was a great day! Lots of progress ;) We setup a bunch of lessons and were able to relax at the church calling family and emailing friends. 

biking anyone?

Tuesday: January 28th, Transfer News!

Today I gave my last training in District Council for the transfer! It's been so awesome to able to prepare these trainings and help uplift the District in their discipleship and missionary efforts. 

Goodbye District

After, we drove up to Telluride again! We stopped and talked to a lot of people, most of them weren't really interested. It was pretty cold, but Telluride is a really nice place! Definitely far above my missionary pay grade but hopefully I can take my family here afterwards. :) 

Goodbye Telluride!

As we got off the Gondala and were walking to the car in Mountain Village I got a call from President Rees! He told me I was getting TRANSFERRED. :0 Oh my gosh, my time has come to an end in Rita! He told me that I was getting transferred to the Land's End Ward in Grand Junction and that I was being called to serve as a Zone Leader there. I will be serving with Elder Kofford who will train me to be a Zone Leader in the Grand Junction Zone! Wow, I did not expect this, but this new transfer is going to be very exciting!

Wednesday: January 29th

Today was mainly driving around and saying goodbye to everyone, to the area, and to the trailerhome. Saying goodbye to the trailerhome was the hardest... haha! ;) 

Goodbye Trailerhome!

We had a last dinner with our newest member Roberta and her daughter. They were sad to see me leave, but it was a great last time with them. I love Roberta, she's such a stud member of the Gospel!

Goodbye Roberta! :(

 We then had another dinner with Pam and I said goodbye to her too. So many good people I'm  leaving behind, but I hope I'll be able to help to people of Land's End just as much! 

Thursday: January 30th

Drove up to GJ and left saying goodbye to Rita!  I got to transfers and found out that the car me and Elder Kofford drive... is a MINI VAN! I'm a flippin missionary mom now, haha!! Oh my gosh, a flippin VAN, that's soo hilarious. 

Missionary MOM MINIVAN!

Elder Kofford and I organized the transfer bus, then I said goodbye to Elder Garstin and Elder Hibbits. We drove to our new apartment but I shouldn't use the word apartment... we got to the HOUSE. Literally my new apartment is a house! We have 3 bathrooms, 2 showers, a kitchen with island counters, personal walk in closets, and a second level floor for our bedrooms!! I got sent from a flippin TRAILERHOME to a literal MANSION. Holy cow. Haha, the rest of day we talked with a bunch of people and got to see more of the Land's End area. 

Our freakin house, no more trailerhome

Friday: January 31st

Today we drove with the GJ YSA zone leaders to MLC. (Mission Leadership Conference) Basically all the zone leaders in the mission get together with the mission president and counsel together how to better the mission/what to train on for zone conferences. Definitely nerve racking being my first one! We had a great discussion, President got pretty heated. It was stressful but I'm excited to carry out these plans we've made into the Zone. 

Elder Kofford and I looking savage

Saturday: February 1st

Went to the ward basketball game in the morning which was fun. I miss my honey. I left it back in Rita, haha! Later on we tracted and talked with a bunch of people. A few of them were very disrespectful, but the beauty of it all is that it is NOT our job to get offended, hurt, or even bothered by what trash people throw at our religion! It just makes me smile knowing the truth I've got, and that at least someone was given the opportunity to accept it or not. :)

Sunday: February 2nd

Today was a great day! Today at church I got to meet the wonderful people of the Land's End Ward! I got up and gave my testimony, telling everyone that I was raised in Monticello. I had SO many old people come up to me afterwards and talk to me about Monticello, haha! ;) I know for a fact that the Lord has placed me here in Colorado for a reason!! I mean, who else is THIS close to their actual home when they are on their mission? The Lord has a purpose for me, He's made that very sure to me in Naturita with Pam and Roberta! And now I get the unique opportunity to discover what my purpose is here in Land's End. There are people here prepared for me, and it's by the grace and love of God that their hearts are softened and accept His Gospel! I'm excited :)

Icicle??? 

Soooo different from Rita, but I LOVE being a missionary. Grand Junction better look out, cause Elder LaRose is coming back!

My NEW ADDRESS is:

2946 D Rd. Apt #D-3

Grand Junction, CO 81504

Mailbox - #15

Love,

Elder LaRose 

keldon.larose@missionary.org