Sunday, April 30, 2017

Songkran (Water) Festival and Missionary Work in Thailand!

Here are the last couple of month’s of Elder Latimer’s letters from Thailand, but first, here is an inspiring story he wrote to us recently. There truly are miracles in this work!

It was the day before Songkran (sorry for the Romanized) and Elder Manwaring, and I were just about to start studies, when we both had the prompting that we should call investigators. So, we started calling all those who had agreed to meet with us a second time. For the next five minutes, phone call after phone call, we faced, the same discouraging "no answer" screen, which illustrated to us that either our investigators were at sleep, at work, or not interested in talking at the moment. We were discouraged at the moment, but motivated to endure until the task was completed. The last investigator that we called, Brother กมน, was an Investigator who we had met in the past, and we were considering dropping in the not to distant future, seeing as he skipped appointments frequently, and never seemed to pick up. We almost didn't call him, but, we decided that we had gone to far to not give it a chance. So we called him, and miraculously he not only picked up, but wanted to meet with us. 

He informed us that he wanted to meet with us at The Mall Bangkapi, and so we delightedly went on our way out to meet him. Halfway into our venture towards the mall
กมน called us to tell us that he wanted to meet at Tesco Lotus instead (an area about 5 more minutes away). This was a bit of a strange request, because 1. the only time that he ever would call back would be to cancel an appointment, and 2. because I have never in all my days in Bangkapi, taught at Tesco Lotus. Well we met him there, taught him, and the lesson went great. He wants to meet with us again, and has agreed to pray for repentance. 

Now, I know that this seems like a huge build up for such a mundane ending, but, bear with me, there is much more to this story. 

So after the lesson ended, being at Tesco, Elder Manwaring and I decided to buy water guns for our upcoming P-day. So we spent three minutes buying water guns, and quickly headed back to our residence, to continue studies. Well, as our studies ended and as our lunch time began, Elder Manwaring and I decided test out our new, guns, and to our surprise, they were both defective. So irritated (and a little bit hungry) Elder Manwaring and I went back to Tesco to get our money refunded. All went well and we got our money back, but on our way out from the store, a women tapped me on the back. She began speaking in the best Thai that she could (she did not appear to be fluent) and asked us if we were missionaries from the church. We informed her that indeed, we were the missionaries. She was greatly enthralled, and overjoyed, but that was soon over set by feeling of helplessness as she explained that she was a native to Cambodia, and could not communicate with us effectively without someone to translate for her and us. We then informed her that we had a member at the church, Sister
แนน who spoke both Thai and Cambodian fluently. We then exchanged numbers and we promised that we would have sister แนน call her to set up a meeting with us. 

We called Sister
แนน and she graciously gave up some of her free time during songkran, to not only talk with the Cambodian lady who we had met, but to also bring her (and her husband) to the church so that we could meet them. We met them at about 4:00pm, where we had a lovely discussion about the Gospel. But the thing that struck me most was there story on how they met us. They told us, that they had been baptized in Cambodia, and had recently moved to Thailand. Having recently arrived, and little capability in the Thai language, her and her Husband could not locate an LDS church. The day before they met us, they prayed and fasted, that they would meet the missionaries at Tesco lotus. 

Needless to say, I was shocked. Not just because I had been part of a miracle, but because God had given elder Manwaring and I the great privilege of answering the prayer of these two faithful converts. The two are doing well now. We had the opportunity to meet at their humble abode yesterday, and they are both full of faith and willing to come to church next week. 

The thing that continues to shock me, is just how amazing the Lord works in our lives. There are a lot of things that could have happened that could have prevented us from meeting that couple. We could have decided that we didn't need to call our investigators at the moment, and put it aside for a later time. Brother
กมน could have decided not to pick up, he also could of decided to meet with us at the mall (as was the normal) We could have decided to use some time on P-day aside from our lunch time to return our guns to Tesco. Sister แนน could have decided that she was too busy to help us out today and stayed out and played Songkran. But the matter of fact is, all of this did happen, in just the right way that we were able to bless the lives of that Cambodian couple, and to have our eyes open to the beautiful plan that the Lord has made for each of us. 

February 26, 2017

Hey All,

The work is still hard, and at times, it feels like a grind, but all in all, it's still going great. Zone conferences are going on this week, but our area is still the last to have one, so you will see our zone conference around March 18th!

Our investigators are still doing good. We moved two of them back earlier (one to this week and the other still to be determined, since he couldn't meet to be interviewed and also because of something we found out about him, but they are still both planning on being baptized. We have another who is currently working on building his faith, but he still has a desire to be baptized, So that’s great!

I'm excited to hear about your talk in the future! It sounds exciting! It's not often that you have the opportunity to teach the basic gospel to people! Be sure to tell me what it's about once you are able to decide!

That kind of blows that your ski trip got cut short, but at least you got to spend some time together with Josh and Jake! I hope that you guys all had fun, even though weather conditions up there where kind of deplorable.

Mom did tell me about the fiasco that happened up at the lake. Between Disassembling the swim dock, and realizing that beavers have chewed up thousands of dollars’ worth of trees, it sounds like a pretty exhausting day (both physically and mentally). 

Unfortunately, nothing too interesting has been happening here this last week, which is why I don't have many pictures to send home, but I have a few others that I might send from my P-day at the crocodile farm. However it is very exciting to hear that Josh and Lettie are planning on getting married! Sadly I won't be there to see it, but nonetheless, I am still glad it's happening! 

It was great to hear from you! Hope life keeps going well!

With great adulation,

Elder Latimer


March 5, 2017

Hey All!

The baptism went well. Our investigator Brother Eggs (The one that was a little bit... different) was extremely excited. When they asked him to stand in sacrament meeting, he stood up, held his fist to the sky, and let out a hearty WOO! It was great, all the other missionaries and I were dying! I had my companion give the baptism, but that was only because I left my pair of baptismal pants in Kumpawapi, and my last companion hasn't been able to stop by the mission office any time soon (It's over 8 hours away by bus). Aside from that however, all of my investigators are doing about the same. But we'll see if something changes in the upcoming week. 

I have started uploading all of my pictures onto my drive, but I have recently bought a 1TB hard drive that I've been using to store and organize all my pictures. I'll be working more today on organizing my one drive, just so that it's easier to navigate, because right now, it's a mess!

I'm a bit jealous to hear that Washington had a ton of snow this year! In the past it's always been just small amounts, but never enough to do anything in. Hopefully, Jonathan and Jace have had a few snow days to help them get a break from school. 

I'm jealous to hear that Jace got to go to the Quad concert! Those were always my favorite! (off topic, but who is Lynnwood’s new choir teacher, I heard the last one got sacked for PDA) Tell him to keep it up with the trumpet, I hope that I'll be able to hear him play when I get back!

I'm hope that I'll be able to watch the f2f during my mission! I caught a glimpse of last year’s f2f while I was going through all the files on the clerk computer at Kumpawapi, and it seemed awesome! Did Jonathan actually go to Palmyra, or did he just watch the live stream?

My companionship is going alright. My comp had some issues, but I had a sit down with him, and things seem alright for now, either way I think I'll just bide my time till transfers...

It's always exciting to hear about Josh and Lettie! Be sure to keep me updated on the details!

It's sad the Lynnwood Girls team lost, but hey, at least they made it to state! And as for your talk, I wish you the best on it, and let me know how it goes!

With great Ardor

- Elder Latimer 


March 12, 2017

Hey Dad, what's good? Iz ya boi.

Don't worry about writing late. We have a fairly high end internet cafe right next to our apartments, and we are usually on for about 3 hours at a time, so you and Mom should never have to worry about writing late.  

I believe that transfers are on the 23rd of this month. I believe that a majority of my district is moving out this transfer, (my comp included since he's been here for four transfers already) since the other two elders in my district have been here for a total of 3 transfers. So while it'll be sad to see some of them go, it'll be interesting to see who will take their place.

It's crazy to think that I've been out for over a fourth of my mission so far. Right now I feel like I do have the basics, there's still moments every now and then when I don't know how to say something, or where I can't understand what someone had just said to me, but aside from that, I feel like the language is coming along fine. Hopefully however, I don't have to worry about being senior companion next transfer, but if I do, it'll be quite an… experience. It wouldn't be too uncommon for me to train a missionary next transfer. The group ahead of me in the MTC had about 5 or 6 missionaries who trained on their 3rd transfer, so it's safe to say that I still might be called to train. 

I'll be sure to update you on our teaching pool in the future, but at the moment, things are still a bit boring right now. I do have a great story for this week, and I'll be sure to send it in a separate email to you and Mom. I have some entertaining videos as well, which I'll try to send if I can find a card reader on anyone in the internet cafe here!

That's crazy to hear that Jonathan's already 15! Has he grown yet, or is he still the same height? I remember that I started actually growing in my sophomore year. It sounds like he had an awesome birthday, and from what I've heard from all the people here, the Nintendo Switch is pretty awesome! Wish him luck for me in drivers ed!

I wish I was there (and in a way, glad that I am not) to see all of the new about Trump’s presidency! Now and then I see headlines in the Thai papers, and it's kind of fun just to get those little snippets of reality every once in a while. 

It's awesome that Josh is finally going to get married! I wish I could be there, but nonetheless, wish them the best for me, and let me know if there is anything they want from Thailand while I'm here!

I hope Jake and Tyler are still doing well in Idaho (I know that sometimes it can be a drag) and can't wait to see where Tyler is going. I told him to start learning a little bit of Thai, because if you put that you either speak a little Thai or Mandarin it boosts the chance that you'll get called here. Almost everyone that I've met serving here, either has some tie to Thailand, or "speaks" Mandarin. So if all goes well, he'll come here to party with me!

Well that's about all for this week. Mazatlan sounds fun! Keep me informed on how it went and send pictures!

Love

- Ya boi


STORY: So last night, after a long day of work. Everyone in the district had decided that it was about time to head home, eat, study and sleep. I ended up switching companions for the night with the DL because we wanted to go get suits cut, and everyone else wanted to go look for cameras at a second hand shop. Since my house all the way down in Rakhamheng (about a half an hour drive from the church) is closer to the suit place then the other Elders, we decided to leave a little early to travel to our condominium to leave us some time for personal study. To ensure that we got home early enough, we decided to call a taxi, instead of waiting for the bus. This was our first mistake. 
A taxi came, I told him my address, and we got in. Everything seemed fine for the first 20 minutes, until, several seconds later, he begins to apologize. Me thinking that he was mournful because of the few turn offs that he missed, began to tell him that it was alright. What I missed before that however was that he said something along the lines of "My stomach hurts, I've got to go pee". sconds later the sound of liquid filling a water bottle enters our ears, as the cabby has successfully abated the pain in his stomach. Several minutes after the fact, it became clear that this man had no idea where he was going. It also became surprisingly apparent, how many strip clubs and brothels that I live by. As soon as we got far enough away from the Sodom and Gomorrah that is the street about a mile away from our house, we requested to get dropped off as soon as possible, wherever else.

Soon after that, we decided to hail another taxi, to get us the rest of the way home. This is where it gets fun. Now keep in mind it was already past 9:30 and I was tired, bored and incredibly done at the moment. Anyway continuing on. Trying to break the ice we made small talk to the driver, which lead to him asking us where we were from.  To which I quickly responded, "South Africa". confused, but nonetheless accepting of it continued talking to us. Over the next 10 minutes I managed to convince him that I: 1. had an African girlfriend who was a little over 100 Kilos, 2. That I was a fluent speaker in the South African language, which I attempted to prove by, making a series of clicking and groans and 3. that I was actually an actor on a popular TV show "Som Tam, Hamburger" (A show about a Thai man and a White man living together). We managed to convince the driver of all of this and it turned out to be a pretty great ride back. 

I can't really explain the story to well through writing, but it was a pretty great experience.

That's about all in terms of story for this week.


March 19, 2017

Hi all!

That’s great to hear that Josh finally proposed! I saw the pics that you sent me and it looks really exciting! I hope that you'll be able to pair her up in our skype call this Mother's Day (I'm pretty sure there is a way to set up dual skype calls). 

Let them know that I wish them the best! Their wedding sounds amazing! Let me know if you want me to get Josh a Tux cut, There is a guy here who works for some high class suit company, but he'll do freelance if you know where he lives. I'm sure that I could get Josh a pretty great one for only around $70 bucks (fabric and all) just send me his dimensions and I can get it done in the upcoming P-days!

That's great to hear that Jake and Tyler are having fun in BYU I but Jake said that he's a little bit sad because Tyler’s about to go on his mission, which means that he's going to be left all alone in BYU, which kind of sucks for him, but on the bright side, there's a chance that Tyler could come to Thailand and party here with me. I've been teaching him a few words in Thai, and if he puts that he knows "a little Thai" on his papers, it's almost guaranteed he'll come here!

The glasses that I wear now aren't currently prescription, I thought they just looked good with the suit, but I'm currently looking for a place where you can get prescription lenses fitted for about $30, which is probably what I'll do in the not so distant future (It would really help in reading Thai on street signs) Also could you and Mom, send me the pictures from zone conference? me and everyone else in the district want to see them, but none of us can use Facebook!

That's awesome that you got asked to talk on the atonement! It's such a large and important topic, but it's by far one of the most important things that everyone should know about! Tell me how it goes and send me a copy of your talk once it's done!

In Thailand, we have to wait a week after general conference is finished to receive the Thai translated conference session. The missionaries here download both Thai and English sessions and will either watch the Thai session (if they are a Thailand native) or the English session (if they are a foreigner) it's actually super cool, but a lot of the translations are done by return missionaries. My teacher in the MTC was a translator for a couple of talks in the last conference, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to do the same after I'm finished with my mission!

I already sent Mom a list of things that I need for the moment, so that should be covered. And as for the water festival, I am getting pretty pumped! The missionaries have 4 days to participate in it (because it's almost impossible to do work for the first half of the week) so that'll be a ton of fun! I'm going to invest in a knock off go-pro, which is just a little worse off in quality of video, but is water proof, which would be very much needed if I wanted to get footage of the festival for you guys!

Sorry that you have to deal with the current president, and I wish you and Mom the best! And I promise that I'm not skipping you when I send emails, Mom's just appear at the top of my feed for whatever reason!

Best of luck

- Elder Latimer


March 26, 2017

Hey All!

I do have a new companion, and so far, everything is awesome! His name is Elder Manwaring, and was actually in the group ahead of me in the MTC. I've had a chance to serve around him before in the Udon District when I was in Kumpawapi, and he's a way cool dude. So far, I have not had a Thai companion, but, I've had the opportunity to serve around a few Thai missionaries and they're all way cool people. Our district leader right now, Elder Joyem, actually used to be AP and is native to Thailand, so he's helping me out a lot with inviting/language. 

Church today (technically yesterday for me) sounds awesome! I wish I had a chance to go. I love the topic of the Atonement, it's always so great to talk about!

Mazatlan sounds awesome and I am a little jealous, because while Thailand is beautiful, right now it is just hot, which is no fun when you can't swim to cool off! Sorry, but due to transfers this week we've spent a lot of time sorting things out, so I don't really have any good stories to tell this week. Next week though!

I can't wait for General Conference, it is always the most peaceful time in missionary work, because you just sit in an AC'd room and listen to the Prophets and Apostles speak! I got to watch last sessions twice (once in the MTC and once in country) and I still have fond memories of it!

I'm still excited to hear that Josh and Lettie are getting married! Be sure to send me pics when they do! And as for Jake, tell him to wait till I get back haha! Just kidding. But it's cool to hear that your friend went to Thailand! It's an awesome place to serve!

It was great to talk with you, and I think I get to skype you and Mom, in a month or so (right?) so I can't wait till then!

Best of Luck

- Elder Latimer

- P.S. are the Bastians and Smiths people you know from our ward or people you got to know over email? Because we have missionaries by the name of Bastian and Smith here too!


April 2, 2017

Hey, it's great to hear from you!

Mazatlan sounds awesome, but the layovers and early mornings sound like a drag! I'm super jealous that you guys get to hang out on the beach! All of the areas over here that have beaches are off limits, because the south is mostly Islam and there has been some stuff going on there recently.  But, anyway, Mazatlan will be a ton of fun! Send me pictures!

I do have to wait a week until conference shows up for us, but I can't wait, this week’s session sounds really good!

My new companion is really dope, and I can see a lot getting done this transfer in terms of missionary work! I can't wait to see where things will be 6 months from now. In terms of investigators, we are having a bit of trouble finding people who are actually willing to meet with us, so we spend a lot of time contacting, which is effective, but it's ridiculously hot outside and it feels like a huge grind. But I will just power through it!

I'd love to learn more about your religious freedom symposium, it sounds really interesting!

Ryan and Brenna had a baby? That's cool I guess. Just kidding that's awesome! I hope they're doing well! And it's awesome to see that Jess and Teri are probably about to get married!

Have fun on your vacation! Sorry I didn't write you more this week, but for P-day we're going to an amusement park, so we only have a limited time on the computer! I'll write more next week, I promise (which reminds me, because of the giant water festival next week, P-day for me will be on the 14th not the 10th) 

Love you

- Ya boi

P.S Thank you for the package that you and Mom sent and I am working on uploading all of my pictures, BUT, the internet here is moving slow!


April 13, 2017

Hey Mom/Dad,

Today's email will be a little short this week, because today is Songkran (the giant water festival) and things are pretty crazy. There is literally water being sprayed everywhere. Right now I've taken refuge in an internet cafe, but, I'm only going to be able to write a little at this week, since we are all trying to pack as much party as we possibly can in one P-Day. But don't worry, I'll be emailing you again on Monday. The next couple of days are actually going to be pretty laid back. Today is P-Day, tomorrow is zone conference, Sunday is church, and then Monday is P-Day again! Next email I'll have a lot more to write you about, including a few stories that I wanted to write in this email, but couldn't because of the short amount of time that I am left with today. 

Mexico sounds like a lot of fun! Be sure to send me some pictures! I've seen some photos of Mazatland before and it looks absolutely beautiful!

It's great to hear that Jake did well for college. It sucks that he had the winter semester though, because there's almost nothing to do there (Towards the end of my august semester, everything was icy and depressing). I hope that he is willing to study abroad, it sounds like a ton of fun!

It's great to hear that Josh and Lettie are still doing well, and is awesome to know that Aunt Teri is engaged! Tell her I'm excited for her!

I'm not sure if I told you already, but, last week for P-day I went to an amusement park and it was a blast. I am no longer afraid of roller coasters, but, they're still not my favorite thing in the world.

Well that's all that I'm going to write for this week. Sorry it's so short, but I promise I'll make up for it in Mondays letter. 

All the best,

- Elder Latimer


April 16, 2017

Hey Dad, iz ya boi,

Easter was pretty relaxed but we did have the chance to meet with a cool Cambodian couple, I'll send you and Mom the story about how I met them (it was awesome!). 

Our zone conference was on Saturday, and it was great. It was focused on sharing the gospel simply as well has helping out less active members. I loved it and learned a lot about it.

I sent a list of things I did at the water festival to Mom and I'll go ahead and copy and paste it here.

·  I crowd surfed over a group of people at one of the party areas
·  Started a mosh pit
·  I climbed on the shoulders of another Elder and sprayed people down with water guns (everyone got way pumped about it and cleared a way for us to walk as we got sprayed from all sides. You can hear cheers from the crowed as we get closer, I'll send the video when it is ready).
·  I pretended to be retarded for 40 minutes during the walk to the bus that would take us home, because it was the only way that no one would spray me.
·  Started a rally at a Foam party that they had near a large mall.

Songkran was a blast! Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pics of my own (my camera wasn't waterproof and would have been destroyed) but I have a ton of awesome videos that my comp is going to send over to me, so I'll attach those once they get uploaded

The work is going pretty good. We have a decent pool of investigators at the moment, but we are not to sure which are going to progress towards baptism. A lot of the people here seem to have the philosophy that you have mentioned before. They all have the view that "every religion teaches people to be good" which is something that the king said which every has seemed to attach themselves too. So we spend a lot of time in our teaching, trying to explain the importance of baptism. 

That's crazy that everyone is getting married! I think Kaitlyn is engaged to a guy named Guido (or something like that, I only met him once) but that's great to hear!

And general conference was great this year! I'm going to go through and download some of the talks and print some out to read later!

That's about all that I have for this week, but I'm going to upload a story and some videos in the not to distant future!

Wish you the best

Sincerely 

- Elder Latimer


April 23, 2017

Hey Dad,

The Songkran festival was awesome, but suprisingly, it was a lot less of a party in Bangkok. Mostly because in Bangkok you have a whole bunch of rules and regulations that they don't have in the north or in the more rural areas. The area that we went to party in, was pretty much the go to place for Bangkok, but in the north or in the more rural part in the country that kind of stuff is just happening in the street! As for the meaning behind the Festival itself,

The Songkran Festival is also known as the traditional Thai new year. The Songkran Festival is a time when family and friends gather to pay gratitude to Elders and to visit temples for prayer and offering. Songkran literally means to pass or to move on. The Songkran Festival is also a time when Thai people cleanse and pour water mixed with Thai fragrance on Buddha images. The festival also showcases a bathing ritual where the people pour water on the senior Buddhist monks. The process is believed to bring good luck to them. The young people pay gratitude and also show a sign of respect to elders in a sacred ritual, which involves pouring down scented water on their hands and also giving them new clothes. The Songkran Festival is a time when the Thai people splash water on themselves, which they believe will cause plenty of rainfall in the coming year. Water is also used to cleanse themselves from bad things.

The dancing by the way, is just a joke between the Elders here. There was an Elder in my district in the MTC named Elder Brinkerhoff, and that is how he looked when he played basketball, so we just kind of went along with it and made a dance.

That's sad to hear that people at the house are getting sick! I hope that everyone is healing up all right. Be sure to get well! And that's great that Mom is able to help plan Josh and Letties wedding! Josh sent me on the task to find him a fake Rolex, So I'm going to look for one in the next couple of P-days (hopefully I don't get transferred out of Bangkok otherwise I might have to ask someone else to do it for me! I'll have to wait for MSF to get in first so that I can get it!

Anyway, for reference as to the videos/pictures I am about to send, last P-day happened about 3 days after the water festival P-day, so we were all down to pretty much chill, so we decided to just screw around at the mall, where we found motorized stuffed animal scooters, which we rode as a district. So that might have been something weird that we did.

It was great to hear from you

Wish you the best

- Ya boi



Tuesday, February 21, 2017

New Year, New Area, New Pics

Sorry it has taken so long to update the last several letters from Elder Latimer. Here they are along with new pictures!


















January 1, 2017

Hey [Everyone],
I did get transferred (sadly, Kumpawapi was awesome) I don't know too much about the area yet, but the church is a lot bigger. (For reference, you could fit 5 Kumpawapi churches in it)! I do have a lot of cool stuff to do in Bangkok though, but I'll wait to send those back as pictures in a couple of weeks once I get them done (I can't go right now because my comp lost his work visa) 

It's a lot better in Bangkok (from a language standpoint) in that people here speak a lot clearer, and it's easier to talk with the members (since there are a lot more of them). I was in a rut before because I could only understand a few people from Kumpawapi, but now I understand most everyone in Bangkok which is awesome!

It's sad to hear that the Huskies lost, but hey, there's always next year!

I hope Josh and Lettie are doing great, and tell me how the music tour (in Nashville) goes!

In Thailand, they celebrate the Christian and Buddhist New Year, and they usually have huge parties going on late at night so the missionaries had to be in residence at 8:00 pm.

It's awesome that Nana has turned 80! She is now 4x older than me! I'll be sure to write her! Sorry if I didn't right much in this email, but the one that I sent mom addresses most of the subjects you wrote me, so hopefully that helps! 

Happy New Years!

- Elder Latimer

January 8, 2016

Hey All,

Everything is going well in my new area! The pace has gone up a little bit, mainly because there is more to do here. But we still don't really have investigators. We have some new recent converts though, which is nice.

My companion is Elder Whitaker. I think he's been out for about 6 transfers.

The wedding reception sounds like a lot of fun, it's crazy to hear how many people getting married right now.

(NCAA) Football [Hall of Fame] sounds like a lot of fun, but I'd be interested to visit the MLK museum at some point. I heard about Collin Decker’s area when I was in the main offices in Asoke. I think he's in Surine, which has a ton of elephants everywhere. It sounds like an awesome area to serve in!

I hope everything goes well with Josh and Lettie!

Tell Jace to get better, and I hope you continue to stay healthy!

Best of luck

- Elder Latimer

January 15, 2017

Hey [Everyone],

Don't worry about writing a little later, Usually I'm not on till 9, but today My district is leaving to go visit an ancient city, which is a long whiles away so I had to get up a little earlier than usual. 

Glad to hear that things are getting back to normal at home, but it is sad that all the fun has come to an end, and I'm glad to hear that Jace is doing better. 

Glad to hear that you are putting in work to get healthier! And I'm especially glad to hear that you've already seen some results! I hope it keeps up.

I've seen some of the crazy things happening in America from reading the Thai Newspapers at our local food vendor places. One thing I hate about American news is that everyone gets upset over everything, and usually that will make the new headlines, even though it's not exactly relevant news. 
Hope I'll have some interesting stories to tell you and mom next week.

I want to send pics, but I don't have an SD card yet. I wrote mom to have her send me one.
Wish you the best,

- Elder Latimer

January 22, 2017

Hey [All]!

Things are going pretty well this week. Right now I don't have everything planned for P-day, which kind of sucks, but I'm hoping to travel down to the bigger city in Asoke to buy some more suit/tie fabrics and get a few suits cut so that I could pick them up next transfer. Our zone is actually the last one to get visited, so you may have to wait until the first of February to see pics, but the good news is we have Zone Conferences every transfer now, so you'll get new ones every month!

Last P-Day we actually went to the ancient city of Ayuhtaya (check for spelling, I don't know how to spell it in romanized...) and it was super cool. I actually was able to borrow a card reader today, so I'll have tons of pictures to send! The area was super cool, and definitely a place I would want to take the family if we ever came back here to vacation. They had tons of cool ruins, and even a place to ride an elephant/get pictures with a tiger (unfortunately I didn't do either, it's a bit of a touristy place so it was super expensive). But there were tons of amazing things to see.

It's great to see that Noelle is still a lasting thing! I was afraid it was only going to be going on for a few months! It seems like a lot of fun!

Escape rooms are a ton of fun! I have never been in one, but I've heard of them from a few people and it sounds like a blast! And I do believe that I know Warren Fitch from the play. Tell him I said Hi!

That's great to hear that Jace will most likely be getting better soon, wish him luck from me!

Be sure to tell me how your visit with Lettie goes! I'm glad to hear that her and Josh are still going strong! Be sure to tell me when they get engaged, I already promised Josh that I would buy him a suit if he got married while I was away!

I heard about Trump, I'm kind of sad that I'm going to be away to miss all the headlines over the next 2 years, but ah well. It'll be fun to see how this plays out!

Thanks for all the extra money, and thanks a ton for the package that your sending over!

As for stories, I've found out how to tie a monk robe, so I have pictures of that being sent over. I have also started a fun game in which, I see how long my Comp can keep up a conversation with himself without me talking. so there's that

I'll try to think of some other stories as I email but until then,

See you later

- Elder Latimer

January 30, 2017

Hey Everyone:

I read mom's email and it looked like your week in Boise was a lot of fun! I'm glad to hear that Lettie and Josh are getting along really well. Mom sent me the picture of you with the cow (I couldn't view the video though for whatever reason). It looked like a ton of fun, and a bit of a hassle! I saw the pictures from the snow festival as well, and it looks like a great event to go to.

The work is still going slow despite being in Bangkok, mostly because my comp and I are about an hour away from the church and the other missionaries. So everyone we talk to either ends up learning from them, or going over to learn at the other church in Minburi, so we still do a ton of inviting. 

Conversationally, I'm doing great at the language, I pretty much have tones down, but I still have to work on my pronunciation to make my speech clearer. In lessons however, I still have a bit of trouble. I haven't had too much opportunity to teach lessons yet since we had no investigators in Kumpawapi, and here in Bankabi as well. But recently I had the opportunity to go on a switch of with the District Leader here, and he gave me the chance to touch on each point in our lessons that day, so I got to get a feel for what I needed to improve on!

Zone conference just passed by (which why I'm emailing on a Tuesday). It was great and I learned a lot! I wrote mom about some of the stuff that happened this week! It was great to write to you. Hope you and Mom had a safe flight back home, and talk to you next week!

Sincerely

- Elder Latimer 

February 5, 2017

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I don't have much to respond, but I sent an email to Mom that goes over a bit! 
It's crazy to think that the super bowl is going down right now on a Monday morning here in Thailand.

I hope Physical Therapy goes well for you! I had some neck problems at the beginning of my mission and it was the worst! So hopefully you don't have to go through that much longer!

We still don't have many investigators, but that is mainly because we are located in a bit of a weird area. We're about an hour away from the other Elders and Sisters in Bangkapi, so most of the people we contact end up learning with them, or they'll end up learning in a different area. We've already given away 4 investigators who have gotten baptized! It's great that they got baptized, but a bummer because we still have to contact a ton to pick up new investigators! My areas pretty cool in that we are close to a lot of the big attractions in Bangkok (by close I mean we'd be able to go there for a p-day), which means we could do some pretty cool stuff. I'm still trying to get the elders here to go with me to the Crocodile farm, to get some cool pictures shot. 

Sorry that's about all I can write at the moment, but I wish you the best!

Talk to you next week

- Elder Latimer

Last week, my district and I had the pleasure to visit a few museums. They were both super cool. One of them had a lot of treasures from the royal family on display (Golden thrones, boats, jewelry, amazing silk stitched art pieces, etc.) The building in which it was held was beautiful as well. The inside was designed to look like the cathedrals, and basilicas found in Italy. It was amazing to go see, but unfortunately, cameras were no  allowed, so I couldn't take a lot of pictures, but it is a place to definitely go visit if I come back to visit Thailand! It's called Anatasira Palace and art of Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall, so hopefully you can look it up online and find some pictures!
Coincidentally enough, I am getting suits cut today, for P-Day! Which reminds me tell Josh to get himself measured! If he can get those send over to me, I can get him a tuxedo cut here and send it over before the wedding! But that's great to hear that everything is going great with him and Lettie! It's sad that I'm not going to be there to see it, but I'll be there in spirit!

February 12, 2017

Hey [All], 

We did have transfers last week and me and Elder Whitaker are still in Bangkapi. I believe that the zone we are in is the Bangkok East zone. 

Haha. That's funny to hear about the lake platform! Hopefully it wasn't too much of a hassle to deal with! And Mom told me about Best of the NW, it sounded like a ton of fun! It sounded like it had some good talks as well. 

Skiing sounds like a blast! I'd love to go back once I return from my mission. It'd be a nice contrast in terms of weather and recreational activities! Tell Josh and Jake I said hi!

For the first time since I've come to Bangkapi, we finally have regular investigators (Three at the moment). First we have Brother Doi (or Joy, he goes by both), and he has been an investigator for about a 2 months now. He is actually an employee of one of the members in our ward, and while he was a bit reluctant at first, he's finally accepted a baptismal date for the 27th. Our next investigator is Sister Noon, who has been an investigator for about 4 transfers. She's really nice and really loves learning with the missionaries, but the only problem she has right now is that she still lives with her boyfriend. But other than that, she is amazing! Our last investigator is a Cab driver named Gan. We ran across his number randomly while slimming down our phones contacts (we used to have around 500, but now we're down to about 90), and so we called him up, and his was super interested in learning the gospel. We've taught him about three times, and he seems excited each time we meet with him. He's super good and will probably end up getting baptized this transfer!

That's great to hear about Josh! Wish him the best for me!

It was great to email you! Hope you continue to do well!

Cordially 

- Elder Latimer

PS. and as for a missionary story, last night all the new missionaries in our area (We had transfers a few days ago, and three missionaries from other areas came in to Bangkapi) went to go eat dinner with พ่อแม a couple who commonly has the missionaries for dinner. The food they make is amazing, and they're also really good with coming up with ideas for P-day with the missionaries. Today they're taking us to China town in Asoke, which has tons of fabrics from all over the world (I'll probably buy another suits worth) as well as a whole bunch of cool counterfeit stuff which is always fun to pass by. After that, we're going to an older village with some kind of famous puppet show, which is supposed to be really cool, so I'll update you on that!

February 19, 2017

Hey All!

Things are definitely either flying by, or dragging on haha! It is awesome to serve in Thailand though. There's always something to do which is great! And we as of now, we have three people preparing for baptism! All three of them were scheduled for the 26th but only one of them is able to at the time (one failed the interview, and the other one has some mental problems) but the other two are still committed to baptism, so we still have that to look forward too!

That's great to hear about Josh and Lettie! Wish them the best for me! I know I probably won't be able to attend the wedding, but it's great to hear that it's going to happen!

Mom told me about your ski trip last week (I think you did as well) and it sounds like a ton of fun for everyone! I'd love to go sometime when I get back! And Mexico also sounds like a ton of fun (especially since Jake can now speak the language). I'm excited to see how it turns out! Have you and Mom decided whether or not you are coming to Thailand to pick me up, or whether I'd be flying home? It'd be a ton of fun to plan a mini vacation up here, even if it's just for a week. I've been slowly keeping note of all the fun tourist activities that could be done here!

I heard about the new house renovations and it sounds really nice (and expensive)! I have not had the privilege to serve around Collin yet, but I have seen his picture on the wall of missionaries in the mission office. Last I checked (Friday during interviews with President Johnson) he is currently serving in Sagonakhan, which is the place in Thailand where everyone eats dog, cat, bugs etc. So I'm sure he has a ton of awesome experiences ahead of him! And from what I've heard from the group below me, he's super good at speaking Thai, so I can't wait to see where he's at when I finally see him!

Thanks to You and Mom for sending out that care package! I can't wait! 

It was great talking to you! I've sent pictures to Mom already with the pictures I took at the Crocodile far last P-day! 

Miss you lots
Love


- Elder Latimer

Monday, December 19, 2016

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


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!