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

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

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!

Arrival in Thailand and First Area!

1st Companion (Elder Smith)

October 8, 2016

Here is the letter from the Mission President announcing Elder Latimer’s arrival!

8 October 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Latimer,

We are pleased tell you that your wonderful son, Elder Latimer has been welcomed by the Thailand Bangkok Mission and has been assigned to serve in the Udorn Thani, Udorn Zone of the Thailand Bangkok Mission.

The missionaries arrived happy, healthy and well prepared from their MTC experience.  Sister Johnson and I hosted the group in our home and we were able to share experiences and a fine meal together while feeling the strength and conviction of their testimony. They are very valiant and carry with them a strong spirit and desire to serve our Heavenly Father.

I have sought the direction of the Lord and have chosen one of our finest missionaries, Elder Nathan Stephen Smith to be Elder Latimer's  training companion.  I believe this companion will help your son to get a great start as a missionary and to experience the joy and vision of missionary service.

Sister Johnson and I thank you for your support and ask that you continue to write weekly letters or emails of encouragement.  We promise to love and care for your son like one of our own, and to do everything we can to help him succeed and prosper as a missionary in Thailand.  We know that Elder Latimer and your family will be richly blessed by his service here.  Please pray for all of the missionaries and for the wonderful people of Thailand.


Sincerely,

President Kelly R. Johnson
Thailand Bangkok Mission

October 9, 2016

Hey All!

Everything is going great as of right now! My mission president is a super cool guy, and is super invested in the missionaries he directs. Our first full day there, he showed us around the city and set reservations for a fancy Thai restaurant. The food there was delicious.

Traveling to Thailand was fairly relaxing. It was long, but I was able to sleep a lot on the flight, which is nice! The care package helped a lot. Thanks for that! The fruit here is very delicious. I'd never become a vegetarian, but if I had to, I would move to Thailand, because that is where all the good fruit is!

My area (Kumpawapi) is about as rural as it gets in the mission, which super exciting. It's a fairly small area comparatively. There are probably more monkeys here than people! You'll see them here and there, but there this one park in Kumpawapi where they are everywhere! It's crazy! I think right now, me and my companion are alone in the area. Everyone else is in a larger city called Udon, and that is usually where a lot of the missionary work takes place. I don't have too many pictures of my area yet, but today, I'm going to a Wat (A buddhist temple) which supposedly looks way cool, plus there are a lot of super cool hikes to go on, so I might do that as well!

The food here is great, and I'd love to find out how to make it sometime!

Hopefully everything is going great with Josh, Jake, Jonathan and Jace. Sorry I'm not writing more, but right now I'm in an internet cafe and I only have a set amount of time left (LDS mail was out for an hour before I could get on.)

I hope everything goes well for you and the family

Sincerely

Elder Latimer

P.S. My bag with my scripture, journals, etc. was lost in a taxi, on my ride to the bus station. The missionaries who were helping us in our luggage forgot to pick it up when they collected the rest of our stuff. So I was wondering if for Christmas, you'd be able to send me another pair of good missionary scriptures! Sorry!

October 10, 2016

This is a message from Sister Grange, the mission secretary, reporting on Elder Latimer’s lost bag. I’m including it because it is a great little miracle!

Brother Latimer,

Good News!  The bag was left in a cab and the driver was kind enough to bring the bag back to the office where he had picked up Elder Latimer.  He will be able to pick up his bag on Friday when he comes down to pick up his work permit.  I have to tell you that this is a bit of a miracle, things left in cabs are never returned!  Had the bag not come in yesterday I would have told you to send out the replacement items because there is no way we will ever see it again.  I love that Tender Mercies are alive and well in the Thailand Bangkok Mission!

Kind Regards,

Sister Grange

Thailand Bangkok Mission Secretary

October 16, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Thailand is great so far. The area I am in right now is very small and rural (about as rural as it can get it the Thailand mission). The church that I go to here, is very small, and could probably fit into our chaple, but the people here are very kind and loving. Since the church is so small and there aren't very many members with the priesthood, I've been asked to serve as the ward clerk, so I'll have to tell you how that goes. 

The language is going pretty well so far. I can speak it okay, but I can't understand much of what anyone is saying right now, so I'm going to try and work on my comprehension.

There is not much to do in terms of activities in Kumpawapi aside from a few hikes, so me and my companion will probably end up taking the bus to Udorn, whenever we get the chance! Today we are going to a Wat (a Buddhist temple) so I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures of that!

I'll be sure to send more pictures, but until I move to a bigger city (like Bangkok or Udorn) I don't think I could send any videos! (It took me about 20-30 minutes to send the pictures I attatched to Mom!) Right now the members are pretty reliant on us for callings and other things (seminary, cleaning the church, teaching sunday school etc.) right now my companion is the 1st Counselor and I am both the Clerk and Pianist, so we'll see how that works out! Working in a rural area is great, even though there isn't too much to do here! I haven't eaten anything too strange yet, and so far the food here is pretty good! I think I still like American food better, but we'll see if that changes over time.

I haven't really taught any new investigators yet. For the most part, my companion and I have been trying to reactivate the less active members in our branch to get some more people to show up at church! I heard about the refrigerator, that kind of sucks, but hopefully insurance pays for everything! I also hope that everything is going great with Josh and Lettie, and Moms new car sounds awesome!

I wish I had more to talk about, but right now things are a bit slow in Kumpawapi.

All the best

- Elder Latimer