Note: We missed posting last week, so this week's installment features two letters from Elder Latimer. Enjoy! - eds.
February 6, 2013 Letter
Hi All!
I will be with my
companion for at least 2 transfers because of training. If you are ever not sure whether I’m still in
the same place, you can always send letters and mail to the mission home, and
they forward all the mail/packages to where we are. The address for the mission home is 888
Oakwood Road, Charleston, WV. I’m sure you can find it online too just in case
I’m wrong.
And I did get the shirts.
[short-sleeve white shirts we sent to him – eds.] They are a little big. The
sleeves go past my elbow. I'm not sure
how to exchange them, but if you e-mail me with the process, I can check my
e-mail just to see what you said.
We will be getting
around 18 new missionaries tomorrow and then we are supposed to get another 30
or so next transfer, so the mission has opened up a lot of new areas. Most
wards will have 2 sets of missionaries. The one I am in now has me and my companion
and then a trio-companionship also -- so 5 Elders in 1 ward!
One idea for the chili
cook-off [Mom is planning this activity for our home ward – eds.] is something here
that they always do. Just make peanut
butter sandwiches, just white bread and peanut butter and dip those in the
chili. Oddly enough, its really good.
And yes, I do know about
the Superbowl. Thank goodness! I’m happy Ray Lewis got his ring to end his 17
year career. From what I hear and speeches he has given he seems like a pretty
humble guy who plays the game for the game and not the money like most. You should look up some of his speeches. He
goes around and does a lot of motivational speeches, and they are really good. I’m going to miss watching him play. He is probably the best linebacker to play
the game right next to Dick Butkus who played for Chicago.
Nothing too exciting is
happening besides Bill and his family who are coming to church this weekend.
One cool story from the Elders in the area next to us (who share the ward) is
they met a lady who referred herself to the missionaries on accident, and
they started to teach her. At the time there were only two Elders in the companionship.
She told them how when she was little she talked to these 3 lights and called
them her elders, and now she only sees one light. When the 3rd elder came to their
companionship she told him she had seen him before. Then when they told her about Lehi's dream
[from the Book of Mormon], she said it was weird because she would take in kids
and teach them about this dream she had that was identical to Lehi's, including
a rope in a mist of darkness you need to hold onto so you don’t get lost. One day they were going to teach her about the
plan of salvation, and before they even said anything about what they were
going to teach, she interrupted them and said, I had a dream last night about
the afterlife. She said she saw a diagram and explained it to them. It was
the exact same thing as the plan of salvation.
She went in depth too and it was all the same. It blew their minds. They
said for every lesson they go to teach she had been prepared the night before....
crazy, but really cool. So now her and her daughter are set to be baptized
later this month.
And with the tax returns
when will i get the money? so i know when i can buy some weights of my own to
use.
Oh that reminds me, we
aren’t allowed to use a normal gym, but I have been told President Pitt loves
college athletes who gave up playing for 2 years for a mission, and
is likely to give me special permission to use a gym in the mornings and
p-days. It makes sense to me now one
reason he likes me so much. When I told
him I played lacrosse at Boise State, he seemed to light up and always talks to
me about it. My companion told me back in the day he [President Pitt] played
college football so he knows the sacrifice and is willing to make a few
exceptions to help out. For example, I
don’t know how it works to get permission to send an elder home a couple months
early (honorably) but he was able to get it approved so that one Elder here can
go home a few months early so that he can make spring camp/practice for the
Ute's football team to retain his scholarship.
Thanks, Love you guys
Elder Latimer
February 11, 2013 Letter
Hi All!
Bill is doing well. He
is really open to everything and when we teach him it all
makes sense to him. He is also very excited about attending church
and deciding whether he should bring his family, so that should be good! They just opened up a new area, so we had to
spend the day helping the new missionaries move in, so after 6 hours of
shopping and setting up we finally got home and could rest. But we
were blessed for it. A couple days later they called us with
a referral of someone who attended their branch with his aunt and
uncle but he lives in Ashland is excited to hear more! In 3 weeks Bill is going
on the road with a buddy who is a trucker for a month to get a chance to
travel. But that will be good for him, he is so busy that he doesn’t have time
to sit down and read the Book of Mormon, but being in a truck for a month will
give him plenty of quiet time to read.
And Alexis [a former
investigator that was baptized about 6 weeks ago – eds.] is doing better, I
think, We finally were able to get help from members and now she is in St. George,
UT staying with a family and going to school there. So I think she is doing a
lot better!
Our weather has been
pretty good. On and off last couple of weeks we got like 2-3 inches of snow,
but it would melt in a day or two. Then we would get some more. But it has generally
been in the 50's, which is normal and nice, especially in the humidity. One day
in January it got to 78 degrees! I have a picture on my camera so you guys can
see it. And would you guys be able to post all my mission photo's to my
facebook too?
And one thing, I need is
some money on my home card. My bag broke and so I bought a new backpack and am
running low. I use all my support card
money on groceries at the beginning of the month so I don’t have to
waste time on p-day shopping. I can’t think of any more
cool miracles or anything. But I did finally get my letters
from Rhiannon, so that’s nice. I was able to actually write someone a letter.
One family we love is
less active but they are way awesome! It’s the “L”s [keeping last name
confidential for public posting – eds]. The dad served in the Marines and his wife in
the Navy, so they are always poking fun at each other. They have a 2 year old daughter, Genesis, and
a 14 year old boy, Hunter, who is kind of a quiet. more awkward kid. They always say Genesis is the
Anti-Christ. They think it’s because they never get to give her a baby
blessing. (The reason they are less active is because they got offended because
the old bishop wouldn’t allow him to do the blessing, and he wouldn’t allow
the sacrament to be passed in the foyer, and with Genesis they would
need to be in the foyer the whole time.) Anyway it’s funny too because when we
ask for a high five she freaks out, and when we ask to pray before we leave she
screams, "No, no, no, no!!" covers her ears and runs away. Then she
uses Hunter as her play toy. The parents make sure he does what she wants so
she doesn’t go crazy. Sometimes she will run out of a room crying and Bro. L
says, "Hunter, why is she crying!?" and Hunter says, "I wouldn’t
let her fart on me!" Then Sister L. tells Hunter to let her. Bro. L. asks, “What if she poops?”, and Sister
L. goes, "Most the time she does, she just pushes
till something comes out."
Once we asked Bro. L.
how much respect the Marines have for the SEAL's, because they both always poke
fun at other branches of the military. He says "Yeah, we have a lot of
respect for them. It’s the closest you can get to becoming a
Marine."
Love you!
Elder Latimer
