Thursday, December 14, 2017

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!

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