First Baptism; Thanksgiving and Christmas in Kumpawapi

November 13, 2016

Hey Everyone,

Great to hear from you again! Thank you for taking the time to write me! I have heard the election results (Some Thai guy told me right as soon as my companion and I stepped outside). It's always fun to see the crazy stuff that goes on after elections! Would you mind sending me some of the Headlines from the Country and World news, just so that I could get an Idea of whats happening in the outside world?

That's sad to hear about the Huskies loss, but it's good to hear that they are having a good season this year!

Teaching is slow here, We mostly go LA finding, but since the records we have are about 10 years old, the people we are trying to find have either moved or want nothing to do with the church. A lot of the lessons we have are with members or recent converts so as of now I don't have to much to worry about in terms of investigators. It's kind of sad though, because I guess the missionaries before us didn't talk to the members too much. This Sunday, one of the members talked about how our visit with her was the first time the missionaries had sat down and talked with her for 3 years! So I think we are going to focus a little more on member relations even if it slows down finding investigators.

That's awesome that Jake and Tyler are going to be rooming together again. It was a blast during Spring Semester, so I'm sure it'll be just as fun this semester! I heard about the progress on the floors, good luck with that!

I hope Thanksgiving goes well over there! They don't celebrate it over here, but I think I heard something about one of the Elderly missionary couples preparing a thanksgiving dinner at there house for the missionaries, so hopefully that pulls through!

Not much has happened this week, but today is the thai equivelent of valentines day and apparently it's a pretty big deal of here, so I'll let you and Mom know how that goes!

It was great to hearing from you,

Wish you the best

- Elder Latimer

November 20, 2016

Hey All!

Haha! Yeah they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but we do have an elderly couple who is throwing a thanksgiving feast in Udon, so my comp and I might head down there on Thursday and see how it goes!

Things are going slow but good in Kumpawapi. The boy we are teaching got baptized this Sunday, and I have pictures but they recently just got recovered on my comp's camera and need to be renamed and reformated (some how they got deleted). It's still a bit complicated to speak. I can do fine with gospel talk, and with certain other things, but for the most part I can get by. Yesterday our branch president had me and my comp give a talk literally at a last minute's request, so mine was a bit awkward, but I got by. 

I can't wait till Thanksgiving back at home! The food here is good, but its not nearly as good as American food!

That's great to hear Jace and Jonathan are moving up in scouts! Being an eagle is a great thing to put on your resume! And hopefully things clear up with the floorboards! I never was a fan of refurbishing and renovating!

The election sounds nuts! I wish I was there to see all the news on protests! I can never understand how people think that a couple thousand people protesting will reverse the vote of over a hundred million! Still though, it'll be interesting to see how things turn out!

I heard that Jake and Tyler would be going to BYU-I together in the winter, and I wish I could be there too because last semester was super fun! Best of luck with your Missionary work and thank you so much for the Headlines! Things sound really interesting!

Sorry if this email seems a little rushed, the computer I was on before crashed, and if that happens before you log off it's uncertain how much time you'll have on the next computer! Also be sure to let me know what fabric you want to use for a scripture case (I sent the pictures of the two I have to Mom) along with what type of scripture you have, and I'll be sure to try and get it put together!

All the best and wish you a happy Thanksgiving!

- Elder Latimer

November 27, 2016

Hey All!

Things are going great here! They don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here but they do sell a lot of Thanksgiving stuff in areas with a lot of white people. We were able to have dinner with the older Elders and it was awesome! I hadn't had Americanized food (aside from Mcdonalds) in a long time! It was cool to finally have a baptism but, the one I baptized didn't show up to church on Sunday so he still has to be ordained and given the Holy Ghost (his family has been harvesting rice for a while) but where hoping he'll be there next Sunday!

I'm glad that the Huskies are doing well and that we still have a tone of awesome movies coming out, I can't wait to check those out when I get back!

Skiing sounds fun! I'd love to go sometime when I get back. And as for pictures so far I just save all the interesting ones on my google drive, but I was also considering getting a hard-drive to store them on as well (that's what a lot of the missionaries here do). So I'll see about that!

The language is still coming along. I can understand pretty well when people are talking, but as soon as it's directed at me, I lose all comprehension, so I'll be working at that and as for interesting stories, this Sunday, the grandmother of one of my MTC teachers came to church as an investigator, so my comp and I are going to try to teach her, which should be cool! And in scripture study, I'm mostly just reading through Jesus the Christ, and memorizing a verse a day from the bible (I'm trying to memorize Hebrews 11)

Glad to hear that things are going good with the family and I'll definitely write Jake back (I didn't remember getting an email from him). Also I'm planning on making scripture cases for you and mom, As well as some ties, so be sure to let me know what kind of scriptures you have as well as what fabric you want to use (I sent pics to mom with the fabric and if you'd like a different one be sure to let me know and I'll pick a few more up). It may be a while before you get them though, because I'm going to try and get ties made for all the brothers as well and I'll have to ship them by boat! But hopefully I can get them made soon!

All the best, Love you

Elder, Latimer

MORE FROM LETTER TO MOM:

Hey Mom!

Mark is 11, and luckily for us we were able to go to Udon for Thanksgiving which was super awesome (and delicious). I don't have any pictures but my district president/mission first counselor, has some on his Facebook so we're working on getting those sent to my comp and I. Thanks giving sounds super awesome (except for organic turkey everyone knows that GMO's are where it is at)! And I'm glad to hear that Josh and Lettie are happy together. I heard that there were also a lot of other good movies that came out, so I can't wait to watch those!

White elephant sounds super fun! If we did it over here by one of the boarder markets (by laos) we could find a ton of awesome and crazy stuff for under $20 (rolexs, and fake handbags etc.)

My branch is pretty small and has about 21 people that come on average, and we teach a lot. Last week my comp and I had to give sacrament talks, teach sunday school and preisthood and then do seminary and tithing, so the church right now is fairly reliant on the missionaries, but hopefully with more people coming in it will be less so! As for stories, I met an investigator at church this week who is one of my MTC teachers grandma's so that'd be cool to teach her, and today I'm going to be ice skating in one of the big malls in udon, So I'll follow up on that either later today, or next week!

Miss you too and all the best!

Elder Latimer

December 4, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Thanksgiving was great! Ours was held by the elder missionaries who were serving a mission here a few months ago (Their mission officially ended then due to health reasons but they returned unofficially to help for what would have been the remainder of the mission) and they are super cool! My companion got the pictures from the Udon district president so I be sure to send those over!

Zone conference was great also! In the morning before things officicially got started, we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and it was super good! Then we did some activities and white elephant followed by some Christmas songs and spiritual thoughts. It wasn't to much like a typical zone conference, but was I think the Mission president and his wife's way of wishing the missionaries Merry Christmas! So it was super cool!

Our new convert officially got confirmed yesterday which is awesome! We are working on re-activating a member who owns a restaurant. She is super awesome and has started coming to church semi-frequently, So we'll see how that goes! And we haven't official started teaching the older lady yet, but we have the chance to visit her this week, so we'll try to get our foot in the door then!

My comp and I did Giaw Khao (harvest rice) for a while 2 or 3 P-days ago, and this P-day we are getting some ties made. I'm going to send you some pictures of the ties I have so far next week, just to see what type you and the brothers would want me to send back for Christmas! I'm also going to try to get a suit made before then too but we'll see if that gets done in time

White elephant sounds awesome!

I hope you have a great time in the Big City and tell me how "School of Rock" is! 

Have a great week!

-Elder Latimer

[MORE FROM LETTER TO MOM]:

Hey Mom,

Zone conference was a ton of Fun, and sorry for opening everything, I was really impatient, and was also worried that I had food or chocholate in there that would melt! Christmas day should't be too drone. I have a suit getting made and some ties that will be ready then, So I'll have some christmas stuff to worry about!

White elephant sounds awesome! We had one here and I assumed it was a joke gift giving activity like ours, but people actually gave pretty cool gifts, which makes me feel really bad, because I just bout 3 10 Bat sandwhiches and rapped them. One of the senior missionaries opened mine and started at me with the biggest look of contempt for a solid 5 minutes. so there was that!

Glad to here that Jake and Josh made it back to college saftely, and that Jace is doing better!

As for two stories, at the mission conference, I met a missionary who has spent $3000 american dollars on ties and dropped off and extra $1000 of fabrics off at a tie place. He has so many ties that he has just 2 suitcases devouted to ties. He sold some at the mission conference for super cheap, so I bought 5 for about $10 which is a sweet deal since I did'nt have to pay for fabric! And also at the Zone conference, we got permission to view "It's a Wonderful Life" and now it's probably one of my favorite holiday movies!

I don't have much to write about this week, but next week for p-day, we are going to try to ride a water buffalo, and this pday we're going to a border market up by Laos, and those always have some cool stuff! I'll look for something for the brother for christmas! And the package may get home a bit late just because I'm wating to send everything I got for the family at one time to save money (shipping is a bit expensive even to send it home on a boat!)

Also I think I may try to transfer to SUU. I was talking to a missionary who's already passed his MCATs and he said the SUU has one of the best programs! So could you look into that for me. And also I was wondering if you could send me some scholar ship essay promts, and I can try to submit a rough draft through email next pday!

Hope you have a great week! 

All the best! 

- Elder Latimer

December 11, 2016

Hey All!

I heard about your and Mom's adventure in New York! It sounds awesome! Hope you had fun!

So I will be calling after Christmas in Thailand, but it will still probably be Christmas there (just later at night for you guys) We haven't heard too much about it yet but I'll be sure to tell you when I find out more about!

I heard that Josh and Lettie were getting more serious! wish them the best for me! and I hope football stays exciting! from what it looks like, the Seahawks are doing really well this year!

Best of luck with your religious freedom symposium! Give em heaven!

Sorry I haven't had much time to write! I'm at a new internet cafe, and I only have an hour! So if I want to attach pictures I need to move fast (the internet here is slow). I think you and mom should be able to view most of my pictures on my google drive, but if you can't let me know!

All the best!

- Elder Latimer

Kumpawapi State of Mind; Zone Conference

At Zone Conference

With Sister Smith and Elder Bastian (from Washington!)

On the Road

Udorn Zone

October 24, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Everything is going well so far. There is a lot of work for my companion and me at church, but everything is going by smooth enough!

Kumpawapi is probably the smallest area in our mission, but it's tons of fun, and most likely a lot different then what I will experience if I move out to Bangkok later on!

The King of Thailand did die which is sad. Apparently he did a lot of good stuff. Most of the people in the country wore black the day after and a lot of them still do. His funeral ceremony has been going on for the last week or so, and it's always playing on the T.V. when it's on, which means that you can hear monks chanting all the time. It's a cool thing to see though.

I don't think they celebrate Halloween here, but in the stores they have plenty of candy laying out, and it's always way expensive, so it's obvious it's meant for the rich white people here. Hopefully Jonathan has fun with his friends and Jace stays safe trick or treating!

That's funny to hear about the Elders (missionaries who visited looking for Joe). Sounds like a typical church problem. We have had experience with un-updated church documents here when finding less-actives and it's always not fun!

I heard about Mom's Car, it sounds pretty awesome! And hopefully the Huskies keep it up!

Tell Ryan and Brenna that I said congratulations (on being pregnant), and I hope everything goes well for you this week!

Sincerely 

Elder Latimer

October 31, 2016

Hey All:

Don't worry you didn't miss me! I came back a little early from Udon, and got on email again to print off some of the recipes that Mom gave me.

We are creating a new stake in West Bangkok by the end of the year which is awesome (we only need one more stake to build a temple in Thailand)! The temple probably won't be complete for about 5 years though, which is sad.

I heard about Halloween. It's sad that all the brothers are probably going to be done with Halloween in a few years. Hopefully you can guilt trip Jace and Jonathan into carving pumpkins for at least one more year. It's Halloween here, but because of the Kings death, we can't have any major parties from either a month or a year!

Mom told me about the ward party, it sounded super fun!

That's awesome that you are doing service in your free time! I wish you the best of luck with that!

Thanksgiving sounds amazing, but unfortunately people here don't celebrate it, so my companion and I will probably spend a couple hundred baht on some American food in town and pig out!

Things are going good, and my language skills are coming along slowly but surely! My day usually consists of less active finding for about 8 hours, followed by appointments with members every now and then. It's exhausting but it’s nice to not have appointments every other hour.

My companion is cool, and he speaks Thai for the both of us at the moment, but I'm sure that will change in the next couple of weeks when I become somewhat competent!

I recently bought a พิน (Piin) which is basically the Thai equivalent of the Guitar, I haven't learned how to play it yet, but I'm printing out some chords later today. I'll be sure to send you some pictures next P-Day!

That's about all for now!

Wish you the best and have a good week!

Sincerely

Elder Latimer

November 7, 2016

Hey Everyone! 

Things have been going pretty good as of now. Unfortunately we didn't get to much done, because my Companion had to renew his visa (meaning we had to take a bus to Bangkok), and then we had mission and Zone conferences, so I don't have a lot of pictures this week! Zone conference was fun though, and it was fun to be able to spend the day in a big city for the 8 hours we were down there!

The work is pretty slow in Kumpawapi, because there aren't too many people here, but we have a boy who used to live Bangkok but is now in Kumpawapi for schooling. His mom is a member and as of right now he is a non-member. His baptismal date is scheduled for the 20th so we'll see how that goes! Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the crocodile farm last Monday, because it was closed (there was a holiday the weekend before so I'm pretty sure that everyone was just hungover), but from what I've heard, the one in Nong Khai isn't that great, so I'll just go to the one in Bangkok. If I'm lucky I might get a picture with a Croc! There aren't too many things that affect the missionaries activities concerning the King’s death, aside from wearing conservative colored clothes, and not proselyting in crowded areas, and from what I've heard, there is a chance that the prince won't even become King, because there is some Buddhist prophecy that says that there will only be 9 kings in Thailand.

It's awesome to hear that you’re working with UW law on religious freedom! I think legal stuff like that is super cool, and if was wasn't so caught up in wanting to be a doctor, I think a lawyer would be a good second choice!

Hope you have fun at Tori’s. Tell me how the green beans and garlic potatoes are!

Sorry I don't have a lot to write about this week, but as I said before, not much has happened recently!

All the best

Elder Latimer

P.S. I sent Mom a picture of two checks front and back, do you think that you could cash those digitally? There is a guy in Udon who makes high quality suits for about $50 a piece and I'd like to try and get some made and sent home as soon as possible!

Arrival in Thailand and First Area!

1st Companion (Elder Smith)

October 8, 2016

Here is the letter from the Mission President announcing Elder Latimer’s arrival!

8 October 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Latimer,

We are pleased tell you that your wonderful son, Elder Latimer has been welcomed by the Thailand Bangkok Mission and has been assigned to serve in the Udorn Thani, Udorn Zone of the Thailand Bangkok Mission.

The missionaries arrived happy, healthy and well prepared from their MTC experience.  Sister Johnson and I hosted the group in our home and we were able to share experiences and a fine meal together while feeling the strength and conviction of their testimony. They are very valiant and carry with them a strong spirit and desire to serve our Heavenly Father.

I have sought the direction of the Lord and have chosen one of our finest missionaries, Elder Nathan Stephen Smith to be Elder Latimer's  training companion.  I believe this companion will help your son to get a great start as a missionary and to experience the joy and vision of missionary service.

Sister Johnson and I thank you for your support and ask that you continue to write weekly letters or emails of encouragement.  We promise to love and care for your son like one of our own, and to do everything we can to help him succeed and prosper as a missionary in Thailand.  We know that Elder Latimer and your family will be richly blessed by his service here.  Please pray for all of the missionaries and for the wonderful people of Thailand.


Sincerely,

President Kelly R. Johnson
Thailand Bangkok Mission

October 9, 2016

Hey All!

Everything is going great as of right now! My mission president is a super cool guy, and is super invested in the missionaries he directs. Our first full day there, he showed us around the city and set reservations for a fancy Thai restaurant. The food there was delicious.

Traveling to Thailand was fairly relaxing. It was long, but I was able to sleep a lot on the flight, which is nice! The care package helped a lot. Thanks for that! The fruit here is very delicious. I'd never become a vegetarian, but if I had to, I would move to Thailand, because that is where all the good fruit is!

My area (Kumpawapi) is about as rural as it gets in the mission, which super exciting. It's a fairly small area comparatively. There are probably more monkeys here than people! You'll see them here and there, but there this one park in Kumpawapi where they are everywhere! It's crazy! I think right now, me and my companion are alone in the area. Everyone else is in a larger city called Udon, and that is usually where a lot of the missionary work takes place. I don't have too many pictures of my area yet, but today, I'm going to a Wat (A buddhist temple) which supposedly looks way cool, plus there are a lot of super cool hikes to go on, so I might do that as well!

The food here is great, and I'd love to find out how to make it sometime!

Hopefully everything is going great with Josh, Jake, Jonathan and Jace. Sorry I'm not writing more, but right now I'm in an internet cafe and I only have a set amount of time left (LDS mail was out for an hour before I could get on.)

I hope everything goes well for you and the family

Sincerely

Elder Latimer

P.S. My bag with my scripture, journals, etc. was lost in a taxi, on my ride to the bus station. The missionaries who were helping us in our luggage forgot to pick it up when they collected the rest of our stuff. So I was wondering if for Christmas, you'd be able to send me another pair of good missionary scriptures! Sorry!

October 10, 2016

This is a message from Sister Grange, the mission secretary, reporting on Elder Latimer’s lost bag. I’m including it because it is a great little miracle!

Brother Latimer,

Good News!  The bag was left in a cab and the driver was kind enough to bring the bag back to the office where he had picked up Elder Latimer.  He will be able to pick up his bag on Friday when he comes down to pick up his work permit.  I have to tell you that this is a bit of a miracle, things left in cabs are never returned!  Had the bag not come in yesterday I would have told you to send out the replacement items because there is no way we will ever see it again.  I love that Tender Mercies are alive and well in the Thailand Bangkok Mission!

Kind Regards,

Sister Grange

Thailand Bangkok Mission Secretary

October 16, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Thailand is great so far. The area I am in right now is very small and rural (about as rural as it can get it the Thailand mission). The church that I go to here, is very small, and could probably fit into our chaple, but the people here are very kind and loving. Since the church is so small and there aren't very many members with the priesthood, I've been asked to serve as the ward clerk, so I'll have to tell you how that goes. 

The language is going pretty well so far. I can speak it okay, but I can't understand much of what anyone is saying right now, so I'm going to try and work on my comprehension.

There is not much to do in terms of activities in Kumpawapi aside from a few hikes, so me and my companion will probably end up taking the bus to Udorn, whenever we get the chance! Today we are going to a Wat (a Buddhist temple) so I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures of that!

I'll be sure to send more pictures, but until I move to a bigger city (like Bangkok or Udorn) I don't think I could send any videos! (It took me about 20-30 minutes to send the pictures I attatched to Mom!) Right now the members are pretty reliant on us for callings and other things (seminary, cleaning the church, teaching sunday school etc.) right now my companion is the 1st Counselor and I am both the Clerk and Pianist, so we'll see how that works out! Working in a rural area is great, even though there isn't too much to do here! I haven't eaten anything too strange yet, and so far the food here is pretty good! I think I still like American food better, but we'll see if that changes over time.

I haven't really taught any new investigators yet. For the most part, my companion and I have been trying to reactivate the less active members in our branch to get some more people to show up at church! I heard about the refrigerator, that kind of sucks, but hopefully insurance pays for everything! I also hope that everything is going great with Josh and Lettie, and Moms new car sounds awesome!

I wish I had more to talk about, but right now things are a bit slow in Kumpawapi.

All the best

- Elder Latimer

Last weeks of the MTC and off to Thailand!

September 6, 2016

Hey All:

Great to hear from you!

It was kind of mucky hear too. It's been getting a lot colder in the mornings, which I hate, but the afternoons are still somewhat warm which is great. That's great to hear about Jake, he told me he had wanted to do that in his last email!

I heard about the game between BYU and Arizona, not only from my teachers, but also from the stadium while we were outside in the MTC! (it was really loud) we had a devotional speaker he used to play for BYU and the Eagles (Chad Lewis) tell us about it also!

I will try and send you and mom pictures once I get out of the laundry room, since these ones don't have usb ports or SD ports.

Language study is going great, I can now teach my "investigators" with nothing more than a note card, with a few vocab words and a rough overview of what we are going to say on it. My tones aren't even close to being good yet, and I still have a lot of vocab that I need to memorize, but it's still nice to be able to talk in somewhat coherent sentences in Thai!

All the best, 

- Elder Latimer

September 13, 2016

Hey All, 

I think I am scheduled to leave the MTC sometime around October 5th or 3rd, so I think I have just a little over 3 weeks left! I feel like I've been here for a long time, it's hard to look back, since most of the days kind of blend together here. I never realized how important new experiences were to making memories till I entered the MTC.

The language is going pretty well here, and I feel like I am learning a lot. I'm still working with re-learning all of the words I've learned with tones, as well as some of the new ones. I've also started to be able to learn the written language, which is cool, but since there are no spaces in the written language, it's hard to see where one word ends and another begins, which is also problematic because I don't know a lot of the words that are written! But if I've noticed anything from my teachers, I should be able to read and write in Thai script fluently by the time my mission is over which is cool!

That's exciting to hear that everyone is heading back to school, wish them luck from me!

The lily pad sounds awesome, hopefully it will still be there when we get back

I did get my packages, and thanks! I love the new ties that I got, and I've been meaning to get a water bottle for some time, but put it off because the ones over here are way expensive! Thanks also for the packages of food, It's really great to have something to eat once I get back from class.

Have fun in Whistler it sounds like a blast (aside from the work related stuff) and talk to you again in a week!

Regards

- Elder Latimer

September 20, 2016

Hey Dad: 

Great to hear from you! Mom sent me the photos of the Family in their pirate outfits, it sounds very fun!

Whistler sounds great! I'm glad that there was a lot up there for you to do!

I can't wait for conference week just because it'll be nice to take a break from class, plus I get to watch conference twice (once in America and another time translated in Thailand) so that will be great! Hopefully the lake does stay warm for a little while longer, it has been a great summer for it!

That's exciting to hear about Josh and Lettie, and Jordan and Jessica (I think that's her name) hopefully everything goes great for both of them.

That's sad to hear about Tyler, but hopefully once he goes back to school he'll be able to hang out with a lot more people!

The day of service sounds great and fun, and I'll be sure to call you once I get some time to on layovers! Unfortunately I don't have any cool experiences to share yet, since the MTC is kind of boring, but once I get to Thailand, I'll be sure to have a lot!

Great talking to you, I'll be sure to keep sending letters!

All the best

- Elder Latimer

September 27, 2016

Hey Dad,

Every thing is going well in the MTC right now! It'll be nice to have a break from Friday and Saturday classes, but I'll probably studying a little during it, just to help prepare me for Thailand!

It's good to hear that you're able to have fun during family night, and it's even better to hear that you're still having nice weather. The skies are still blue in Utah now, but it's getting a lot colder!

I do have my travel plans, but not on me right now, I'll be sure to take a picture and send them to you once I'm in the nice computer lab (I'm doing laundry right now) I might just get a prepaid phone so that I don't have to deal with payphones

I wish that I could be there to see the debates, they sound really fun to listen to! and I can't wait until I get back to see what you and Mom do with the lake house!

I did get you're your email from the blog post! I'm super excited to go. My teacher showed us some pictures that he took with various exotic animals so I'm super excited for that on P-Day, and plus we get to ride elephants, so I'm stoked!

I'm excited for my travel package, I hope it helps as well. I have a total of 16 hours of flight, so I'm sure I'll get bored pretty quick! Which reminds me, could you add like 100-200 dollars onto my debit card so that I could my 2 other bags that I need to check. I saw on my travel plans that it's about $75-$100 per extra bag and I have three!

It's great to hear about Jake and Josh, I hope they're still doing great by the time I get back!

Hope everything is going great at home, and I'll be sure to send some great photo's as soon as I land in Thailand!

Sincerely 

- Elder Latimer

Hey Mom,

Every thing is going great! I just got the Thai Bible, and it is super cool! It will be so useful especially in the field! I have had so many scriptures I've wanted to share with my investigators here, but couldn't because I didn't have a bible in Thai! So thanks to you and Dad for that! Those pillows sound great, and I am sure that I will use them a ton on the flights there! I can't wait till conference as well! I love learning Thai, but it will be nice to have a 2 day break before I depart where I can just collect my thoughts and listen to conference!

I have just a few requests before I head out. One is for a prepaid phone, so that I won't have to worry about using the payphones on the airport before I leave, the second, is to just have you and dad put some money on my card so I can pay the fee for extra baggage for my flights and the last is just a racquetball. I know it sounds silly, but It helps me think to just toss something around. Other than that, every thing should be pretty good! I'm excited for Thailand, one of my teachers showed us some cool stuff that he got to do, (pictures with elephants, tigers, etc.) so I'm stoked to send home some of those!

That's cool to hear about the primary program, It's sad that it's the last of ours, but it had to end sometime right?

That's great to hear about Josh and Lettie! I hope everything goes well for the both of them! If Josh wants a really nice suit, just send me his measurements, apparently in Thailand, you can get a professionally tailored suit (one that would cost $1000-$2000 in the U.S) made custom for about $200 american dollars! I know that I'm going to do that for p-day before I leave Thailand! 

Tell Tyler that I'm going to try and meet him at BYU Provo as soon as I get back! I'm not too big a fan of Idaho, and from what I've heard, Provo is a lot better!

I can't wait till Thailand as well! From what I've heard the people are amazing, and the church is super ecstatic about new missionaries (it's Thailands 50th anniversary of missionary work). Apparently after church, they have cook outs in the parking lot, where everyone gets to know each other, and they do that every Sunday, so that sounds awesome! I can't wait till I have some cool stories for you!

Hope all is going well and I wish you and the family the best

Sincerely

- Elder Latimer