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!
