August/September Letters: New Area and 1 year anniversary (only 1 year to go)!

August 6, 2017

Hey All:

Thanks for the congrats! It's weird to see how far I've made it so far. Some weeks it feels like time in the mission crawls by, others go by like a wink. At the time it doesn't seem like I've been out all that long! Sister G, is great! She got confirmed last Sunday, which was absolutely fantastic! She seems more than willing to follow through till the end!

It's good to hear that things are good at home! It seems like the temperature there isn't too radically different from the weather here, excluding humidity that is! That's crazy to hear that forest fires are starting though. That's no good, hopefully things shape up! Well between violent autists and Black Hawk helicopter fly by's it sounds like it's been a pretty eventful week back home! I'm glad to hear that you and Moms talks went well!  Be sure to send them to me if you get the chance!

As for cool stories, well, baptist preachers and crazy white people excluded, I don't have too many. We went to go visit one of our investigators (the one with the puppies) and her drunk husband invited us in so he could practice his English. So we went in to talk, and we learned some pretty interesting things. First of all we learned that the smell of cigarettes mixed with hard liquor is less than appealing, We also learned how poorly drunk people from foreign countries speak English. Well turns out he used to be pretty high up in the Thai Government system. But as soon as he hit 60, he decided to retire, and exchange his badges belt and buckles for booze and cigs. It was actually kind of depressing to see. He showed us a book about him and some of the things that he had done in the past, and he seemed like a pretty cool guy, now he's, well, him. It's sad to see what some people will through away for momentary satisfaction, but it's all good because I'm like 70% I'm not going to be an alcoholic! 

Well onto a less depressing note, it's crazy that Josh is 26 already! I'll be sure to shoot him an email!

As for a package, I don't have too much that I'd want. If you could ge one could you order a MoYu AoLong brand rubix cube? aside from that, I don't want to sound greedy, but money would be great! There's just so much that you could get here with money that you couldn't get in the states. That being said. let me know if there is anything you want in Thailand! They have some pretty cool Thai Style shirts and jackets (I was considering buying jackets for Jake and Josh because they look pretty dope) some cool elephant statues, and lots of other jazz like that. If there is any thing that seems appealing at the moment, just shoot me an email!

Love,

Elder Latimer

P.S. Oh yeah and that dog that my Comp and I saved ended up getting hit by a car 3 days later! RIP Erin

August 13, 2017

Hey All! 

It's very strange having hit my year mark, I don't feel like I've been out on at all! I'm excited to see where the year takes me, and those my companion and I teach!

Thailand here is pretty pretty. The nature here is beautiful, and there are always cool places to go explore. Today, I'm emailing late because we just got back from a mini sightseeing trip. We went to see the sunrise on top of the mountains (I forgot the name of the one that we went too, but it is the 3rd highest one in Thailand, don't worry we're going to the first highest for Zone conference) which was great. I didn't send videos of that because go pro can't capture good footage of things that are either too dark or to bright. You can kind of tell from the lack of quality of the videos that I took in the morning. I sent those already, so you'll probably see them when you wake back up. My comps name is Elder Hanks, he's from Utah and he's about 185 cm. Aside from that, I got nothing. He's pretty dope and we've been working hard the last couple of weeks. 

I think that transfers are in the first week of September, soo around then I'll find out whether or not I'll be staying here or leaving to some new adventure! 

I'm glad to hear that things are still going well back at home I can't wait to see how things have changed!

Unfortunately I don't think we'll see the solar eclipse today, mainly because it's super cloudy here, which is a trade off I quite enjoy. It's still nice and warm, but not hot and humid!. 

I still email Tyler every week, but it's nothing too long. Just exchange a few short messages. I don't get his weekly emails though, so if you want to send me those I'd much appreciate it.

I hope your religious freedom symposium is going well! Let me know some of the details! Well, at least the ones that I'd understand!

As for things that I want, well

Love you and wish you well

- Elder Latimer

August 20, 2017

Hey Dad! 

This week was pretty great! We had switch offs with the ZL's for two of the days, and found a ton of promising investigators! There is a very good chance that someone will be moving but even if for some strange reason we both stay, our p-day will be change to Wednesday. Actually for the next two weeks our P-day will be change to Wednesday because next week we will have a zone p-day before zone conference, and the week after that, we will have transfers, so naturally our pday will be moved Wednesday,  

I'm excited to hear that football is starting up again! Every time that I pass by a Thai newspaper, I always look at the sports section, and for the past couple of weeks it has been basketball, so I'm glad that I'll be able to follow up on something new!

I'm glad to hear that mom's schedule has started to open up, it sounds like she has been especially busy as of late, and I'm glad to hear that your Sunday school class went well! I love reading class manuals on the phone, especially for the old testament Isaiah chapters which at times can be a little cryptic!

I heard about Tayler's baby, tell them I said congrats! And the solar eclipse sounds awesome! Wish I could be there to see it, but it's all good!

The law and religion symposium sounds fantastic, keep updating me on it's progress! 

sincerely

- Elder Latimer

August 29, 2017

Hey! It's great to hear that you are taking some time off at the lake! It'll be weird (and great) to see how much you and mom have changed things back home!

We have not had zone conference yet, but we will be having it tomorrow. As for today, we are having a zone P-day! We were going to Doi Tanon (The highest point in Thailand)  but it got canceled to inclement weathered, so we are going to some other mountain instead. Aside from that, we'll probably be going Ice skating and I'll probably end up spending too much money on cutting ties (we just found a lady who cuts them here). Investigators are fine as of the moment. We have one Sister Ploy who is awesome. She's from the mountains and was Christian when we found her but loves to hear the gospel. This last Sunday, she came to church with her two month old baby, and all the female members fellowshipped her like crazy. The only problem with her at the moment, is her Husband. Who works all day every day, and spends his hours off in a drunken stupor. She's asked him to stop, as have we, but he doesn't seem too inclined to accept. So we're working on that. But drunken husbands aside, everything is going great and hopefully soon, she be able to get baptized!

I heard about Texas. the whole situation sounds horrible, but hopefully everything turns out alright. 

Aside from that, I don't have too much else to talk about. I sent you and mom some videos from a couple of weeks ago, and some from not too long ago. One of them from a wedding at our church, another from FHE at a members house, and some from a switch off with the ZL's over here in Chiang Mai. 

I've been with my comp for two transfers so one of us will get transferred. My comps the DL, so he'll either go ZL or he'll stay here as a DL. We'll find out next Wednesday!

Well I suppose that this is all for the moment!

Wish you the best

- Elder Latimer

เอ็ลเดอร์ ลาทีเมอร์

September 5, 2017

Hey All!

Life’s alright. I'm a little bummed, since I'm getting jettisoned out if Chiang Mia, which was a dope area. I'm going to Galisin, which is also supposed to be pretty dope, so I'm sure I'll be able to get over it in due time! I'm going down tonight, so I'll go ahead and check the office for any mail from you.

It was so great to see Andie and her husband this week! It was a ton of fun, but I felt a little bad since we over spent on food (I thought they said you guys were paying, turns out her parents were, oops.) but it was delicious. It was also nice to have some good conversation and catch up on pop culture and news. They seem like great people, and am glad they took the time to meet us, it was definitely a highlight for the transfer.

It's good to hear that the weather has cleared up, last I heard, it was just forest fires, and flooding! Actually, I just read your next paragraph. Turns out all of that is still going on.  But, it's fantastic to hear that Jake and others are doing well, and that Jonathan and Jace are moving up in the school system!

Our investigators are good. We have a few that are progressing, but I'll have to keep tabs on them since I'm leaving. We still have Ploy, and two students we met at a University, Sister Tee, and Fye. They are both super interested in Christianity and have been asking great questions, so hopefully they will progress!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but my go shoots videos clearer than it does pictures. So I have a ton of short videos of landscape. I might invest in another camera, just to get some sweet photos, so I'm going to go ahead and take it easy on the spending!

I'm excited to hear about the Symposium and can't wait to see how it turns out!

As always, wish You and Mom the best!

Sincerely

- Elder Latimer

September 10, 2017

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the birthday wishes. It's great to finally be 21, but everyone here starts drinking at 14, so I don't feel like too much has opened for me in terms of legality. But, it is great to be a little bit older! I got one of your packages, the one with the rubix cube and the selfie stick. Both are dope! We have a little kid who is ridiculously skilled at the cube, I'll send a video of that. 

I do miss Chiang Mai, and all of the sweet P-day activities that it had, but in the not too distant future, my district is going to go to an elephant village to for a P-day, and as for this one, we're going to go ride a water buffalo. So it doesn't seem like things are too lacking. Right now, I believe that I am in the Roi Ed zone, and so far, it seems pretty sick.

Galasin is definitely different from Bangkok or Chiang Mai. There is not a lot of contacting that you could do here, just because no one is ever outside. So I have a feeling that we are going to be working with members and LA's a lot, which is fine because the members here are pretty chill. My new comp is Elder Fukino, from Hawaii. He's a way cool guy, about two transfers from kicking the bucket and he's just a tad bit trunky, so I hope that it doesn't impede the work here too much, but we'll see.

It's scary to hear all of the stuff that is going down in the states right now! Hopefully things start to clear up haha. And it stinks that Tyler had to get emergency transferred to another mission for the time being, but, hopefully things go all right. Luckily we don't get too many of those in Thailand, we just get a ton of rainy days!

For my birthday, I didn't do anything too special. Me and my comp mostly got things set up for church, waited for a couple of appointments that fell through, and then retired to bed. It was a pretty uneventful, but low stress day, so it was pretty alright. I'm just hoping that the work here picks up soon. I hate not doing anything, 

That's all I have for now! Let me know if there is anything you want from Thailand! 

All the best

- Elder Latimer

September 17, 2017

Hey Everyone! 

So my area is mostly a small rural city. In size it's decent but there aren't a ton of people. It used to be a four elder house, but they took out the other set of Elders just because the work here is slow. The work at times is boring just because there isn't a ton to do. Finding investigators is priority so we spend a ton of time inviting, but even that isn't super effective just because there is no one walking around in the city itself, so we have to bike out to the boonies, and even then, those we might are old and stubbornly Buddhist (which is typical for most old people in Thailand). They're way nice and great to talk to, but as far as religion goes they are shut off. We spend a lot of time on Sundays talking with members (the members here are way dope) waiting for appointments and trying to get referrals. So that is basically the work here in Galasin. 

I've got some more videos to send of last pday, I'll have less after this p-day since we're just having a day where we chill in Galasin. 

It's good to hear everything going on at home! I wish you the best on your law seminars! Life at home sounds great, it'll be weird coming back, but I know everthing will great when I finally get home! Tell everyone I said hi!

Talk to you again next week

CORDIALLY 

- Elder Latimer

เอ้ลเดอร์ ลาทีเมอร์

PS: Just to answer any questions, you are supposed to burn a shirt at your year mark, I put off doing it because I have only nice shirts, but they had a raggity one just lying around the house in Galasin so I decided to torch it for comp study!

June/July Letters - New Area; A Baptism; And Getting Hit by a Car!

June 13, 2017

Dear Begetter,

This we really has flown by! And I'm getting transferred! I'm going to the north, and I told mom about it in my last email, so I let her give you the details! Anyway, it's crazy that everyone is coming from and going off to their missions! It is especially great to hear that Tyler is going on his for the right reasons, and even better that Ryan and Hannah were willing to come and listen to his farewell talk! I felt like that is something that can do them both good!

It's so great that Aunt Teri was able to get married! I'm super happy for her and for Chris! Tell them I want to visit them when I get back!

So I was serving in Samutprakan (booty of Bangkok) but I just got last minute transferred to Chiang Rye (up in the north) because an Elder up there broke his wrist and can no longer ride his bike! So I'm going up to replace him! He might be up there to go vacation, because it is full of a ton of pretty hikes!

I'll figure out how to give you permission to view my photos, google drive is weird sometimes!

Freak I'm running low on time, but it was great writing you. What questions I blanked on in this email, I sent to Mom, Sorry I didn't write you more, I still have to pack like crazy!

I'll write you Monday!

Respectfully yours,

Elder Latimer

June 18, 2017

Dad! It's Fathers day!

Thank you for your great example! I can't wait to thank you in person in about a year! Oh and by the way, I made a typo. I'm going to Chiang Mai (not Chiang Rye). But, I'm still in the North, so I'll still be able to send some pretty dope photos! The people up here are nice, well the Thai people (the white people are either really nice or, you know, not really that nice) nice! They are more than willing to just talk with us on the streets! This will be a great transfer for missionary work. I can already tell!

I will in fact be on my old bike! The breaks don't work, the seat falls off and the wheels are bare, but it still gets me where I need to go! As for my comp, I wish that I could say we were equal in proficency, but in reality, he's way skilled and I'm just hoping that some of that will rub off on me haha. 

I hope that your Father’s day was great! Too bad I can't skype you on that day too! But at least I can email you the night of! I'm excited to hear that Josh and Lettie’s wedding is coming up on the rise! Be sure to send me some pictures after the ceremony is all set and done! Oh and tell Jake not to get married ‘till I come back, so I don't have to miss out on any of these other opportunities! 

I think that I already told mom, that A new micro Sd card would be nice. I was planning on getting an inexpensive go pro so that I could take some high quality photos to send home in the upcoming couple of weeks!

Aside from that I don't have much to share! My comp and I are white washing in, so a lot of our progress so far has been meeting with members and getting lost along the way, but hopefully in a week or two, I'll have everything under raps!

June 25, 2017

Hey Dad! I saw the pictures! It looks awesome! I'm glad they're both happy!

It sounds like it was an awesome ceremony! Tell them I wish them the best, and tell Lettie that I give my condolences for the loss of her pig, and it's so cool that you guys made a dance floor for the occasion. Send me some more pictures! From what I've seen the entire set up looks beautiful. I can't wait to see wait to see where Josh and Lettie are when I get back! They sound really good for each other!

I may have met Brother Murray but at the moment I'm not too sure who he is! I'll keep an eye out, but since Elder Hanks is the DL we are usually scrambling around after church to meet up with people!

Anyway, Chaing Mai is different from most area's because of, well, WHITE PEOPLE! Most of them are pretty okay, because they are just vacationing up here, but there are plenty of rotten ones as well! I've already had an opportunity to talk (it was more like getting yelled at) with Baptist preachers. So I'm going to have a lot of fun with that (YAY BIBLE BASHING)! Other than that, since the ward I am in consists of a decent amount to white people who don't speak Thai, my comp and I have to translate (Elder Hanks has humbly taken most of that burden) but there are times where I have to translate too, and those are always interesting experiences. There are times when I am trying to speak the English translation, that I end up missing something crucial, to which, I just make up something that fits the context. So basically, I'm just preparing a bunch of impromptu talks! I'll find some fun things to do to make it less awkward in the future.

Anyway, I still don't have too many pics (we haven't gone to any cool p-days yet) but I have a few I'm going to send over. And I'm getting a Go-Pro today! It's not one of the higher quality ones it's, I think, a specter 5, but from what I've heard, it still takes great videos! I'm going to make a small catalog of videos that I can use to make a compilation video of my mission! An Elder who finished his mission already made one, and it looks awesome!

I'll send those over in a little bit!

Best of luck on the ride home!

- Elder Latimer!

July 2, 2017

Hey Dad!

Thanks for the early 4th greetings! The lake sounds as good as ever! It seems like it'll be exciting to have Josh and Lettie back up again after their honeymoon! I hope they had a lot of fun, Mexico sounds like a great place, and from what I can see, Josh and Lettie seem really good together!

Chiang Mai is pretty dope! I almost got to see Brother Everton while I was up here. He was up at the church while I was on switch offs in the ZL's house right next to the church, but he left before I finished eating, so I didn't get to see him. It's all good though because Chiang Mai is still pretty cool. We are still working on finding some solid candidates for baptism, but it's a little hard at the moment, since we whitewashed in, but we'll figure it out! We have like one or two people who are potentially there, one of them is sister Nam, who has learned with the sisters before she was given off to us. She seems way solid, we just have to teach her all the lessons and then have her baptized and confirmed! She's way cool though! The only problem is that the member we have pick her up from church has flaked out a couple of times and given us some lame excuses (somehow the fact that it was raining made it super inconvenient for her to pick our investigator up, even though they live super close to each other, and she drives a car with a roof). We'll figure something out though!

I'll check out that talk by Holland! I'm sure it's gonna be great, he's one of my favorite speakers!

Well, I'm all out of things to write about at the moment! I'll try and send some pictures of my recent excursion to the mountains! But until next week wish you the best!

Warm regards

- Elder Latimer

July 9, 2017

Hey Dad, Happy Birthday!

Your 50! Congrats on the milestone what's it like being so close to จบiชีวิต (dying) or just จบชีวิต (death) if you want to look it up on google translate! I'm sorry I wasn't there to see it, but I'm sure it was a lot of fun! And your new guitar sounds sweet! I can't wait to see how well you play it when I get back!

Mom told me all about the reception, and it sounds wonderful! I can't wait to see the pictures! Is Jake coming home for the summer, or is he staying up in Idaho?

I'm glad that You and Mom found a way to implement me into Josh and Lettie’s home life!

The lake sounds as fantastic as ever, and I'm glad that family was able to have a fun time up at the lake! I didn't really have a change to celebrate an American Fourth of July, but I did go out and eat Mexican food with my comp to celebrate the occasion, we also had all of our students participate in an American culture night during English class. I'll send you some videos!

Thank you for sending me the link to that talk! Be sure to send me a copy of yours too! I can't wait to see it!

Things are alright in Chiang Mai at the moment. My comp's the DL, so we always have plenty to keep us busy, but if work becomes too much of a grind, I just play a game called "Maybe they're just friends". The way to play is simple, find a really old white guy, with a really young Thai Girl, and say to yourself, "Maybe they're just friends". There is no shortage of "friends" in Chiang Mai, so I always have plenty to keep my morale up.

Well I wish you and Mom the best!

Happy birthday again, have fun being old!

Warm Regards

- Elder Latimer

July 18, 2017

Hey Dad,

Things in Thailand are great as always, yesterday we taught some monks, a guy who fights roosters, and our recent convert’s baptism. Sorry I don't usually write home about investigators. For my last area and this one we don't really have too many serious investigators. It's not that we don't have people who meet with us and set up a return appointment. The problem is that no one actually meets us on those set days. In Thailand, they have a pretty common thing here which is known as the feeling of "Grayn Jai". It's a bit hard to translate into English but I believe that it could be widdled down to a feeling of guilt or shame.

In Thailand, this feeling is felt mostly when being asked to do something, such as accepting to discuss religion with the missionaries. In the moment, they don't necessarily want to decline, because it will make them feel bad, which leads them to learn with us which is great, and in the moment, it will also lead them the set up a return appointment, which is also great. Unfortunately, the amount of times we have an investigator who actually does show up to a return appointment is pretty small. There are few other major stumbling blocks in Thailand, but I don't want this letter to be too negative, so I'll end this paragraph on a positive note.  We have one Investigator, Sister G, Who seems pretty solid at the moment. She is the wife of one of our RC's Brother Cheen, and she is very willing to learn. For the most part, she is open to learn about all religions and so we just have to help her see why ours is special. It helps to that her husband is already a member. He's been pretty funny about the whole scenario too, and he told us "If she doesn't get baptized, I'll just marry someone else". I couldn't tell if he was joking our not, but still, classic Brother Cheen. 

A day alone at the house sounds pretty swell, I hope it was peaceful and all is well!

Your talk sounds awesome, be sure to send it over if you get the chance. Also you have the original transcript for the BoM? Is there anyway of sending a digital version to me? Don't feel too bad if the youth didn't seem to pay attention, if I have learned anything from serving in Thailand or from being a youth myself, it is that we (or they) hardly listen. 

Glad to hear all is well on the home front, let's hope it stays that way!

Well, to counteract the negativity in the first part of my letter, I feel like I should at least leave off on something positive. The members here in Thailand are awesome.  We have some youth here, who are very willing to help us teach, or help us with other things whether it be finding our way around the area, or even helping us with language. We also have some members who are very helpful when it comes to helping the missionaries with the work. We have one or two in our branch right now who have helped us set up service projects, driven our investigators to church, and have helped us teach. It just shows what a blessing people are who have decided to continue serving the Lord after Baptism.

Well that's about all for this week.

Wish you well

- Elder Latimer

P.S Please let me know if there is a way to send over a digital copy of the BOM! it sounds really interesting!

PSS: Oh yeah and I got hit by a car. Basically I was biking past the exiting turn out of a mall, and a lady pulled out without looking. After being hit, she rolled down her window to see what was up. I told her I was alright and that everything was okay, which she took to mean that she was free of all legal responsibility, so she drove off. Since then, my bike has been totaled, the chain and gears are wrecked, the rim is bent beyond repair but still works. I have some great videos which should illustrate how I have been getting around recently. I may need to get some money for a new bike though. haha. I'm all good though, I wasn't hit super hard, I just suffered a few bruises. I guess there's a reason why stereotypes exist.

July 26, 2017

Hey Dad, what's up!?!

Things haven't changed too much in Chaing Mai, we had one person leave to go AP, but aside from that, everything is the same. We have one investigator is probably going to be baptized this week, Sister G, and she is pretty dope. She is the wife of Brother Cheen, an RC of ours. She hasn't had her interview yet, but I see no major snags that would keep her from getting baptized. 

We have another investigator who is pretty solid except for the fact that she hasn't really had a discussion with the missionaries yet. She has, however, gone to church, our English class, and sports night. We are still going to try and meet with her, so we'll see where that goes!

Sorry for the short letter, but I'm in a rush because my time is about to run out!

Wish you the best

- Elder Latimer

July 30, 2017

Sup Dad! It's all good! We had emailed later than usual because we went to go site see a mountain. We did a lot of cool stuff up there but by the time we came down, p-day was almost over, and I didn't have a lot of emails. Don't worry, I'll send you and mom some videos to make up for it. The reason I haven't been sending a lot, is because the computer cafe here is pretty slow so it's hard to send videos and stuff like that, but as for google drive, I think if you want any of the stuff up there, you might want to download it and store it on the mac, because I'm going to have to delete it soon! My google account is running out of space!

My Investigator Sister G got baptized yesterday, which is awesome! She seems pretty excited and is wayyy solid.  Her husband talked a little bit in our Sunday school class and he said that he had been saving up money for six years so that him and his wife could go to the Hong Kong temple and be sealed after she was baptized. I thought that was super cool.

Glad to hear that everything is going well in the home front. I hope that all goes well at your various camp activities!

I haven't heard much from Jake about Hailey, but I'm glad that they are still going strong. Tell him if he gets married before I come home, I'll kill him. Also from what I've heard, Lettie and Josh are doing fantastic. Lettie actually wrote me today, and told me about a cool spiritual experience that she had last week. It seems that everything is going well for them both.

I'm super excited to approach my year mark. I still don't feel super experienced, but my comp has told me some stuff that I can do better on, so I'm going to try and work more on that this transfer to continue improving!

I'll be sure to remember to write Josh on his birthday, and let me know if there is anything you want from Thailand! A member going to America is bringing some Ties back for You, Josh, Jake, and Tyler, as well as a skirt for mom, those should get to you in a couple weeks! I have more too send, but I didn't want my stuff to take up too much space in his luggage!

As always,

Wish you the best

- Elder Latimer

PS: Here are some pictures from an activity that we had at our investigator Sister Rita's house. We just came to say hi and bounce, but then we met that LA RM so we stayed for a while. It was actually way dope because the white other white guy and him served the same mission together, so they really hit if off! not to mention him and his wife are also really good friends with our investigator. To be honest, I'm not sure how interested she is in religion, I think she comes to church and activities because she's been fellowshiped so hard. Also there was beer there, but it's all good because no one had any. 

Move to Samuprakan and Visit from Elder Quinton L. Cook (also three baptisms!)

May 7, 2017

Hey All!

It's great to hear that the weather is improving back at home! As for here, It's still pretty hot, but I think we are about to move into the rainy season, which will be an….interesting change. A summer back home sounds awesome, I'd love to be able to swim, but for the moment I think I'll have to just bide my time. 

So as for transfers, I have been moved from Bangkapi to Samuprakan, which is essentially the "armpit of Bangkok" It doesn't have to much going for it except for the Crocodile farm that they have here, so I'll probably have tons of pictures from that! I was sad to go because I had a couple of investigators who were progressing really well, and I got pretty close with them, but I guess I'll have to get acquainted with a new area. My companion is Elder Duke, a very quiet, but hard working missionary. We are in a two elder house, so I think it is going to be a pretty silent transfer. 

I heard that Tyler was going to serve in Florida! I'm sad that he's not coming to serve out here, but hey, at least he gets to see all of the crazy people there. I'll have to send him some Thailand Ties, so that he could show up to the MTC in style!

That's awesome to hear that Jace is about to get the priesthood! Tell me how his first time passing the sacrament goes!

It was great emailing you! I'll try to attach the few videos and pictures that I have of this week, but the internet connection here is soooo slooowwww. But I'll do my best!

Talk to you next week (literally)

Sincerely

Elder Latimer

More: So this transfer I moved, which is sad because 1. I loved Bangkapi, 2. The Members (both missionaries and church goers) were awesome and 3. because I had 3 or so investigators who were progressing, so it's sad that I won't be able to see how they progress. I am now serving in Samuprakan which is essentially the "Detroit of Thailand" (I told Dad it was the "armpit of Bangkok" but I'm trying to go for diversity in my emails). It only has about 20 members who go to church weekly, and I haven't really had a chance to talk with them yet, so I'll have to learn what I can about them throughout the week. My companion is Elder Duke, who is a fairly quiet man, but he is willing to work hard, so it'll be an interesting transfer.

Okay, so for two stories

While I was packing, I accidentally let a bird in and we quickly became best friends, so that sidetracked me for a good while, and I have a couple of videos.

and also, when we were having P-Day on monday (no one told us it had been changed to wednesday) We managed to run in to the Asoke Elders, and AP's while we were in our street clothes about to go Ice Skating! It was a bit awkward, but, our DL just stepped down from AP so the other AP's were pretty chill about it.

Also the Apartment was dirty because I had to pack up all my stuff, and now I do have a sheet, so no worries.

Even More: All right to answer the questions in order, The people in Thailand are generally pretty cool, but it depends on the area you're in. Right now I'm not too sure how the people are in Samutprakan are, mainly because there aren't a ton to talk to. That is pretty much raw sewage and you'll see it everywhere here in Samutprakan, because it is pretty much a ghetto like area (with a crocodile farm though). As for the foot of water, it rained for a little bit, and since Thailand is terrible at adapting to weather, the roads flood frequently, which is both kind of disgusting and inconvenient since I'll have to walk through it during the rainy season. My comp is Elder Duke from Arizona, and he's been out for a year and six months. He's a bit quiet though, so I am starting to speak a lot more which should help me improve my language out in country!

I think I'm going to be calling you sometime at 9 or 10 in the morning here, which will be like 8 or 9 PM in washington, I thnik...

So I'll look forward to that! I need to find a computer Cafe with good cameras though so that I can skype! 

May 24, 2017

Hey, so today's P-day was changed to Thursday because we have Elder Cook coming to visit us. So I'll have to tell you about that in my next email. Well, not too much interesting has happened this week, we did a lot of LA finding and did not have too much success. So as of the moment, I do not have any exciting finding stories. haha Sorry!

But good news is, the ties that I got cut, (the ones that I've been waiting on since Christmas) have finally arrived, and they look sweet! So I'll be giving one to Josh, Jake, Dad, Bishop, and Tyler (Tell Jonathan and Jace that I'm sorry, but the lady didn't cut two small ones like I requested, I'll get them some before I leave though). I'll be sending my "Christmas Package" back as soon as I get Josh's watch!

Sorry that I got to emailing a little late it rained a little bit (please note that I am not using sarcasm) and all of the streets flooded so there was tons of traffic. Road work was never one of Thailand's strongest features. 

Well as for stories, I jumped off of a moving bus, because the driving refused to stop, and I would have left my companion behind, and I tried talking to some Thai Lady who at the time I thought was talking to me from inside of the house, but it turns out I was actually talking to her pet bird. So that was also a bit of an experience. I'll try to send some pictures from this week, but as of right now, I have to de-virus all of my stuff (hard drive, S.D Card) I'll write a second Email though!

Talk to you again in like 20 minutes!

- Elder Latimer

Hey Dad!

It's okay. DC sounds amazing! be sure to tell me about in your next email! I don't have too much time at the moment! 

I'm excited to hear Elder Cook today! I'll be sure to take notes and relay them back to you. 

I wish you the best and I promise I will write you more in my next letter, but my time is about to expire!

Talk to you on Wednesday!

May 30, 2017

Hey All!

Elder Cook did come to our mission already (this last Monday) and it was great! He talked about the importance of temples and about teaching short, but spiritually filled lessons. It was great! He talked to the members as well in another conference that I got to go to. In that one, he talked about temples as well and focused on the importance of getting a temple recommend even if you can't go to the temple at this time, which I think really helped the members. 

The lake sounds as good as ever and I'm jealous that you guys go to go up there this week!

It's always interesting hearing about your work! I may not understand it all, but I appreciate all of the work and foresight that goes into it! Please keep me up to date on how things go! I love hearing about this kind of stuff!

That sounds like an awesome subject! I'm going to read the talk after I email you! And Please send my your talk when you are done with it.

It was great hearing from you, I wish you the best

- Elder Latimer

More: The visit with elder Cook was awesome! All the missionaries came down as well, so I got to see my mission Dad Elder Smith, which was awesome! I wish I got to spend more time serving around him, because he is a super awesome guy! I also got to see Collin Decker! He seems to be doing way good! Overall the conference was great! We mostly

talked about the importance of temples in our visit, and a little bit about how sacrifice brings about blessings. We also had a member meeting which I got to go to, and he talked mostly about the same thing. Something that I really liked was that he talked of the importance of having a temple recommend, even if we could not go to the temple at the moment. I really liked it because a lot of Thai people are kind of lazy, so they'll put off doing something if they don't have to do it. So I feel like this will help them know that a Temple recommend is essentially something that helps keep you worthy. The zone conference was also nice! I got to talk with everybody back in Bangkapi and my old companion Elder Man told me that 3 of our investigators got baptized! So I'm excited that I get to call them now!

That's great that you guys where able to have fun at the lake! I can't wait till I'm able to go hang out up there! I miss it a ton, especially now that I can't swim to cool off!

It's crazy that Jonathan is already starting Drivers Ed! I can't wait to see him cruising around by the time that I get back! And it sucks that Jace has gotten sucked in with Microtransactions! The sad thing about those is that they generally target people who aren't patient enough to earn money in the game (usually kids or rich adults). Be sure to keep him away from GTA online!

I'll try and send you a full length picture next week, because right now, I'm in casual clothes! But what color suit should I pose in? Black, Blue, Grey, or light grey? and what Tie should I wear to correspond with their wedding colors?

Let me know and I'll have it to you by next week!

June 6, 2017

Hey All!

Everything is going pretty okay this week. Elder Duke and I got 3 new investigators (which is below the standard of excellence in the mission, but outstanding for samutbrakan) I'm glad that those other investigators I was teaching got baptized, because now I get to call them on P-days!

That's great to hear that you made the paper! Did you have a talk written out? If so, I'd love to read it!

It sounds like a lot of things are happening back at home, Josh is getting married, Jake's dating, Jonathan is driving, and Jace is, well... Jace. Haha Just kidding, Jace is just about to enter into middle school which is exciting! And Tyler is going on his mission as soon as everyone else comes back from theirs! Everything seems to be going great! Well, I have a package that I am going to get sending as soon as I get something for Lettie, and tell Josh that I say sorry, but I couldn't get his Rolex in time to send it with the rest of the package, but I'll be going back down to Bangkok city again soon enough, so I'll stop by the watch guy next time I get a chance! But the Ties I am sending to You, Josh, Jake, Tyler and Bishop (I couldn't send them to Jonathan and Jace because they are much too long) look awesome, I was wearing one last zone conference if you're wondering what it looks like! And I'll be on the look out for an Elder Morgan from Brier! 

It was great hearing from you, I'll be sending you and mom stories soon in a later email!

Until then, talk to you next week!