WEEK #92 - Roller Coastin

A packed week. And no, I did not go on a roller coaster as my weekly title indicates... ;)

Monday: April 19th

It was freezing cold today. But a good day nonetheless. I love my family!

Tuesday: April 20th

Happy happy 20th day! ALways great to have a 20th day :) Guess what happened in Denver today on April 20th??? It SNOWed... oh my goodness Denver weather make up your mind. Haha, it was a good day we had Zone Conference and focused on discipleship. I also got to teach two great guys about the Book of Mormon! I know it, and the Bible, to be the word of God. One of my favorite verses highlighting this is:

Psalms 119:105 - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

God's word truly is a light to guide us in our life, so follow the light! 

Selfie. 

Wednesday: April 21st

Got to meet a couple people over Facebook and teach more about the importance of the Book of Mormon! If you've already read it, read it again. It's that simple. The Book of Mormon and Bible together testify of Jesus Christ, so as we seek out truth we will be guided by God as to what is right. They together sweeten the Joy found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Also, today me and Elder Barnes got our first dose of the Moderna vaccine! It is so breathtaking to see how quickly the technology was developed to help with the COVID-19 vaccines, I know the hand of God is in the very details. 

First dose done!

Thursday: April 22nd

Woke up at 2:15am to take some Elders to the airport... nice! Seeing them leave just made me feel such a great appreciation for the work of the Lord. I love being a missionary, and serving with so many other valiant Elders and Sisters! This work is true, I know that this is God's work and that there are so many who desperately need to find peace in Christ. I will never fall away from such correct principles, how could I? I know my Savior Jesus Christ lives, and completely understands everything we go through. He's been in our shoes. He's made our shoes. Trust me, He understands <3

Denver Airport 2 a.m.!!

Friday: April 23rd

Had a good run in the morning, then focused today alot on work work work! Just work. Now, don't make yourself go crazy, but problem solve, take initiative, and work! The Lord will bless you. 

A beautiful sunrise as we drove towards Avon, Colorado! 

Saturday: April 24th

Today was my 21 month mark. Wow. It's not real at all! We drove to the mission office to meet in person with President Rees and Sister Rees for transfers. We worked on them for 5 hours! Dang Gina. Dang Gina indeed. 

One of the greatest things we can say to God! 

Sunday: April 25th

Hard working day today! Elizabeth called us during church so we stepped out and walked her through some concerns she had with the Book of Mormon. When we came back it was great talking to all the members because I knew all of their names, after 7 months here and another 1.5 months to go till my last area I better know them haha! 

Love you all. I love this work so much!

Love,

Elder LaRose 

WEEK #91 - Western Wilderness

A PACKed week of exchanges out in the wild wild West!

Colorado Denver SOUTH Mission!

Monday: April 12th

Great day, had to pack for exchanges all out west, got one email out haha, but we were able to drive to Rifle tonight. They put bumps in the road going from Frisco to Gypsum and I totally nailed all three bumps and got "Aggressive Driving" violations from our car monitor.... uh oh :0 Haha, it was a beautiful drive at least going through Glenwood. 

Loveland Pass again :)

Tuesday: April 13th

Woke up and drove up to the Meeker Cafe for breakfast again! I did this last month on my birthday, and I really enjoyed it. I'm definitely taking my family there! We had District Council in Meeker and drove up to Craig. Of course there was deer carcasses scattered along the roads.... classic Craig! I went with Elder Tanner and we worked hard on Facebook. We taught a couple lessons, roasted a couple people who were not being very nice, and called it a day! Funny story, one of the Elders MADE SURE to buy salt for their apartment before I came on exchanges so they could make sure that Elder LaRose had his salt... haha, hey! I love my salt :)

Meeker Cafe

Elder Tanner in Craig

Wednesday: April 14th

Woke up today and there was snow on the ground – in April!! Nice one Colorado... we drove from Craig to Grand Junction (I LOVE Grand Junction!) and we drove the long way through Rangely and Douglass pass. It was so cool seeing signs for the Blue Mountains! That is literally my home mountain in Monticello <3 It was so fun passing by a sign that had GJ on the left and Utah on the right. We got to GJ and went on exchanges with the Land's End Elders which was great! Always good to be back in GJ. 

Flower pictures in GJ!

Thursday: April 15th

Instead of going to Montrose we had to do a virtual exchange with the Black Canyon Elders, but it was still good being in GJ. It was pouring rain today which is pretty unusual with Colorado, and Grand Junction. We taught someone today about the Plan of Salvation, and I love that as we focus on learning more about the Plan God has for each of us, we find more peace come into our life. Feel free to message me if you want to discover ways to find true peace from Christ in your life 

Flower pictures in GJ!

Friday: April 16th

GJWest today, and that was fun with Elder Gividen. We taught lessons to others about the Restoration of the Gospel, and the importance of daily scripture study! I cannot emphasize it enough, we have to be in the scriptures every day! I find a lot of personal peace as I truly take time to dive into the scriptures and apply their meaning into my own life. 

Going for a run!

Saturday: April 17th

Headed out to Rifle today! I'm always sad to leave Grand Junction... we had a pretty AWEsome day today with Elder Hicks and Elder Elmore. We got some Thai food, and worked hard on messaging a lot of people on Facebook! Our goal is to help bring others closer to Christ, and you find you'll have some interesting conversations online, but good ones too! 

Rifle Thai lunchtime 

Sunday: April 18th

Drove home over the Loveland Pass before Eisenhower tunnel. The view was gorgeous!! I ended up missing the exit so we took Loveland Pass the back way, and made the trip on I-70 twice. It was really good! We ended up having to stop teaching a few people and it was sad to see them go. There are so many people we can help, just not many truly listen, so we pray that the Lord will soften their hearts!

Loveland Pass, so awesome!  

Great week, lots of driving, and sleeping on air mattresses, but it was great serving the Lord

Love,

Elder LaRose 

WEEK #90 - Metroside Memories

 This was certainly a crazy week, especially Wednesday!! So... go check it out :)

Monday: April 5th

Today was interviews with President Rees which was awesome. I got my haircut today and am so thankful that I didn't have the mullet like I used to before quarantine. Hey! Don't roast me haha, back when quarantine first started it was illegal for us to get haircuts and I literally grew a mullet on my mission in Grand Junction!! Haha, that was so flippin crazy. I literally had curls and wings that were 2-3 inches long.... that was when I was back with Elder Samojla, good times!

Tuesday: April 6th

Today was exchanges in Littleton with Elder Puzey and he is hilarious. He said, in reference to the lettuce and tomato, to quote, "WHAT? Who put a salad on my hamburger!" Haha, it was a hard working day! 

Elder Sanchez and smoothies!

Wednesday: April 7th

CRAZY DAY!

Okay, so I was here in Orchard on exchanges with Elder Sanchez from Highlands Ranch. And now don't roast me for my lack of food skills but today I made my VERY FIRST smoothie! Hey, I know it's bad haha, but the smoothie was really good! So, I'm very proud of making my first smoothie ever. We then taught a whole lesson completely in Spanish!! :0 I literally had NO CLUE what was being said no matter how hard I concentrated... I don't think it works like that though haha, so I just sat there and smiled holding up a picture of Jesus :) THEN, we went outside to drive our Tacoma truck somewhere only to find a screw had been shoved in the side of our tire completely deflating it!!! So here we were with this FLAT TIRE and no clue what the heck happened. So what did I do??? I crawled underneath the truck and just did stuff haha. I have never changed a flat tire before in my life so I decided to just figure it out. Me and Elder Sanchez couldn't get the spare out from under the truck but we jacked the truck up, loosened the bolts, and took the flat off! DANG GINA. Haha, I've learned a lot of new things today... we eventually got the spare fitted in and everything was great. Nothing better than having dirty white shirts, oily hands, and having no clue what to do :) 

Flat tire!

Elder LaRose under a truck

Elder LaRose also under the truck :)

Thursday: April 8th

We had virtual exchanges with Front Range today, and started teaching someone named Elizabeth. We taught her about the Plan of Happiness which is the plan that God has for each of us in our life! God loves you and knows you individually, so He created a plan for your life in order for you to obtain and CHOOSE happiness! Seeing the light that comes into people's life when they realize this Plan for them is priceless. I love being a missionary! 

Friday: April 9th

We had virtual exchanges with Front Range today, worked alot on Facebook, and then headed out to Columbine for exchanges!

Saturday: April 10th

I stayed with Elder Hollingsworth and we had a great time! We had a couple lessons and one in particular was really peaceful. We helped someone named Jamira identify that she had received answers to her many prayers and she started crying. Oh the joy in helping others draw closer to God!

Sunday: April 11th

Today was fast Sunday, meaning that once a month we fast from food and water in order to help others and ourselves receive specific desired blessings in their life :) I encourage you to try it if you never have, or haven't done it in a while! A physcial sacrifice for spiritual rewards. 

Elder LaRose using the best pillow ever

Enjoy the week, I love you all!

Love,

Elder LaRose 

WEEK #89 - General Conference Easter Excitement!

 Busy week :)

Monday: March 29th

Went to Target, and had a relaxing day! I love my family so much, and am always grateful for their support. 

 Haircuts!

Tuesday: March 30th

We were supposed to have MLC in Avon but the mountains got hit with a last minute snow storm – CLASSic ColoRADo happenings... :) So we had a virtual meeting for almost 6 hours. Nice! Me and Elder Barnes got Subway and I started up a conversation with this guy named Alfredo about provolone cheese. Then, I got his number and we setup a time to discuss a message about finding stability through Christ! Dang Gina!! Haha, that was so awesome to have that happen, I know the Lord prepares specific people to encounter us on the path of life! 

Out and about

Wednesday: March 31st

Lot of hard work today on Facebook and teaching a couple members. 

Thursday: April 1st

April fools! Did you know that today marks the first time I ever found out what the heck conditioner was for? April fools. I've always known that... of course... always... haha! ;) Today was great, we had combined District council which was really empowering as we talked about a lot of principles behind missionary work. 

Friday: April 2nd

Long day of training meetings but it was really empowering! Me and Elder Barnes are quite the team.

Easter Dinner!

Saturday: April 3rd

General Conference was amazing! If you haven't had a chance to watch any sessions, or have no clue what I'm talking about, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org and you'll be able to find so much joy in listening to the messages that were spoken today! 

Big screen...

Sunday: April 4th

Happy Easter! Today we got announcement of a temple in Grand Junction, Colorado!!! Oh my goodness I was SO EXCITED! I was jumping up and down and I was so shocked. This means that the people in that city are truly being prepared by the Lord to follow their Savior Jesus Christ. I know that this Gospel is true, meaning, that the principles we teach are correct in governing ourselves down the path of righteousness led in front by our Savior. It is only through experience that one must begin the process of conversion. 

Small screen...

I know that my Savior lives. He has Risen and will come again. He will come to wipe away all tears, and to heal all wounds. I know this is true. I know that my Redeemer lives! Feel free to email me to talk about the impact that coming closer to Christ can make in bettering not only the temporal aspects, but eternal aspects of your life. 

Love, 

Elder LaRose