Monday, November 7, 2016

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!