Training a New Missionary!

Two letters from Elder Latimer this post . . . lots is happening.  Pics coming soon! -- eds.

June 5, 2013

Hi All:

I would definitely call those shirts a miracle! I dont know how many time i could sweat in one shirt and have it still be white! [eds.: we had a hard time finding short-sleeve white shirts that fit Josh, so he wore only one shirt for a while!]

I wish I could be there for Jace's baptism!  That’s funny how he is trying to stay perfect. I can remember I was the same way, although it lasted probably 10 minutes.

I sure hope Pres. Pitt will allow [Grandma and Grandpa to visit on their way through West Virginia]. Although I’m not sure he will, but who knows? He is a pretty understanding man!

That sounds totally like Jake! [eds. Jake got Steve Pool, the local weatherman to tweet a message to him]. It just makes me laugh how people will treat him like a celebrity! I didn’t even know they had Steve Pool shirts! Hopefully Jake has things to do as a ward missionary. I remember I got called as one and went out like twice to a man that was never home..

With Kyle [our investigator], the man whose wife probably makes him sleep in his truck, we still haven’t had contact with him, and it doesn’t help we already don’t have enough miles, and he lives way far away, but we'll keep trying. Also we are still teaching the Baptist preacher, and he is an incredibly nice and sincere man. We had a lesson with him a few days ago and got a few tears outta him! I’m sure with how sincere he is that he will receive an answer to his prayers although the hard part would be him finding a new job.

We also had just tracted into a lady who when she opened the door, she said, "Are you Mormons?" and we said yes, thinking "oh great we are gonna get told off" and she says, “I investigated your church in New York in the 80's, and I was watching the Jodi Arias trial, and it sparked my interest again.”  She quickly clarified, that it was not what happened in the case that sparked her interest, just the fact she heard about Mormons again. She said she has been wanting to learn more and come to church! So we are going to meet with her again soon!

Also we got an early call for transfers from President Pitt, which doesn’t usually happen, and he had told Elder Brandt that he is training [in a different area]. and me... well he said I am going to be an AP.  I was stunned!  Well not really, but I am training this upcoming transfer in Pennsboro, so that will be interesting! (I wish I could see your face when you read about me being an AP). [eds.: to clarify, Josh wasn’t called to be an assistant to the president – it was a little confusing to us at first!]

One more story that is interesting is we met a woman that is the epitome of West Virginia.  She lives in a trailer, smokes like a freight train, is overweight, wears minimal clothing, has a pet skunk (ho is not de-scented) and a pet mocking bird that says "Poo Poo.” The weirder part is she is a "Jewish Messianic Christian" Never heard of them before, but we have pretty similar doctrine.

We have an investigator who is a free mason and told us a little about it without us asking, which I thought was interesting. He told us how you can only be a mason if you are Christian, and they start off with prayers every meeting. And that they have passwords they use for I’m not sure what, but he gave us a hint, I guess. He said one of them is a distant grandson of Adam.  I don’t know who, but I want  to research, but don’t know if I’ll find free time for it.

Mom, a woman Julee Satre said she friended you on Facebook. She is the mother of a family we visit a lot and asked why you hadn’t accepted her request yet!  So you should! They are a family kind of like ours, Elder Brandt and I love going there because it’s just like being at home. They aren’t all trying to be polite and proper when they are around us like everyone else tries to be. They are themselves, and they are hilarious, especially their 18 year old daughter Ally who has downs syndrome. She is hillarious!

I’ll have to send you some recipe's we got from a vegan 7th day Adventist. He will feed us every once and a while, and his food is amazing and crazy healthy. Some of those things are tofu eggs, oat waffles, baked oats like oatmeal, and some other things. I was kinda hesitant at first to try, but it was actually really good!

Anyway I have to go. I’ll let you know how training is going next week!

Love you guys

Elder Latimer

June 10, 2013

Dear All:

My new companion is Elder Price. He is from Southern California. It’s so nice having a companion that is not from Utah. I've learned that I cannot stand them! Every one of them I’ve met out here has been extremely judgmental and has the kind of attitude that they are better than everyone else. But he is really relaxed and willing to work so that’s nice.

Dont worry I’m not an AP [assistant to the president]. I thought I made it clear but apparently not. I’m just training thank goodness.

The preacher we are teaching wouldn’t have a big problem finding a new job. He is an older guy too - to the point where if he wanted to, I’m sure he could even just retire. But if not, he seems like he can find a job just about anywhere. He is very curious and loves to learn. So hopefully he is willing to act!

We are also teaching a man whose name is Jay. He is a black man from Liberia, Africa and is extremely humble. He had survived the civil war there and came to America. He said he promised God that if he could escape the situation he was in that he would "save souls for Jesus," and is so willing to learn and try things out. He is on date [for baptism] for the first Saturday in July. He was really wanting to be baptized in a river as well, which I think would be really cool. He says he wants to be able to be surrounded by nature and be able to look into the heavens. We are really excited for him.

Other than that everything is going well. Our land lord had come over to switch out refrigerators and went under the house to unhook a water hose connected to the fridge. and broke the valve. So now we haven’t had water for a day, and are replacing the part today. He seems to like to break valves because before that, when he came to grab his washer and dryer, he broke something on the faucet the hose hooked up to and flooded one of the rooms. So things stay interesting!

Our stalker neighbor isn’t getting any better. When Elder Brandt and I were leaving to go to transfers, she told Elder Brandt she will hunt him down and pull him by the ear back here.  Then she stood behind our car and said, “I’m not moving!” I then turned the car on, and she asked if I’m going to run her over. I told Elder Brandt, “What does she think this is a dump truck?   Sorry that wasn’t nice but really funny at the time.

She also asked us the other day how old we were because her friend said she should take us on a date.... along with her bringing over magazines to us every day from her church as an excuse to knock on our door. She also will throw things in our yard and blame it on her little sisters so she can come talk to us. I may have told you that one time our gates were closed to our back yard and she came over and said her dog got into our yard, and we needed to get him for her. This sucks because this is a really nice house, one of the nicer in the mission, and I don’t want to have to move because of her!

I did get the package, thank you! That helps so much especially with the food situation. I think I’ll be pretty comfortable this transfer!  Sister Satre is awesome.  She is a lot of fun and so is her family. Sadly they are moving to Charleston this week.

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer