June 23, 2014
Hi Everyone!
Well this week was Savannah’s
baptism! It went well. It was just hectic on Sunday when we did it. Some of the
members got all up in arms about something. I think someone brought their kid
who was sick to church. I don’t know. Then some of the other kids around 10-12
or so got in a fight outside. There is one kid who comes every couple weeks because
the dad has partial custody, and the mom is insane, so of course this kid has
some serious issues with swearing and hitting etc.... So other than that it
went well. I was the one to baptize her so it was good. All went well.
Other than that this week
has been terrible. We had 2 appointments work out and they were both member
meal appointments. We were teaching over 15 times a week or so and this week we
only had one and it was a quick 15 minute one. Everyone we had scheduled with
cancelled, and then ignored us and blew is off when we stopped by. No clue why,
but we will keep working through it, I guess. We did a TON of tracting last
week because that’s all we had to do. No one else could or would meet. It
sucked. But hopefully this week will be better. We have a meeting to meet with
the new mission president on the 11th.
We did meet with Jacob again.
He is nuts. I took some notes this time. Sometimes he just gets on a tangent. Well
he always does, and he just goes! Today in priesthood he talked about how he
was in a mental hospital and they are a demonic cult and I can’t remember what
else, but it was bad. He went for 15 minutes until we had to just say no more!
But we met with him earlier this week, and he told us some of these things. (The
notes are vague and leave out a lot of detail because I couldn’t write all if
it or fast enough!)
1. He fought in gorrilla
warfare in America’s own back yard
2. The Government puts
babies in jars
3. Native American medicine
is the most holy and sacred medicine.
(Keep in mind he thinks he
is Native American...and a Nephite. That’s what he uses to justify smoking
tobacco because its part of the Native American religion...)
4.He was a Systems operator
for the military and knows everyone’s information
5. He helps the CTU the
"*something* Terrorist Unit"
6.Star people on space
ships brought us the technology we have now
7. He tried to explain
quantum theory
8. The Lamanites came from
Atlantis, which is also called Turtle island
9. Atlantis is star based
and the government uses worm holes to travel to and from
10. Enoch's job was to
watch for ancient astronauts
11. We were created in a
lab by the star people to mine gold
12. He worked for Reagan
and help put together the "start wars program" and invented ISO's
which are satellites with lasers to shoot down space ships to protect earth.
13. God made the star
people, who then made us
14 He has seen the original,
Priest-edition of the Torah in Jerusalem
15. He was on a White House
mission in Bellingham, WA and met this girl who was an original descendant from
the Canaanites, and she had the original Pentatuch, and it was to advanced for
us, and we weren’t ready for it so he had to take it back to the house of
Israel...
16. He was injected with
rocket fuel, and now has genetic alteration.
17. Omni is an electrical
current and a spiritual state of being... not a prophet..
And there was much more
that I didn’t get a chance to write... he is insane. Sadly, it was the
highlight of our week.
And I have the doc
appointment about my stomach tomorrow. I’ll be sure to let you all know. I
checked at the eye place today and with the insurance. They said it should cost
$75 for the exam and contacts total. It wasn’t an exact price but around there.
Next P-day I will be going in to get that done so if you all could put some
money on my card for that so I can see again!
I will be buying my other
pair or slacks today because last week I ripped another pair. I’m still used to
jeans and not slacks!
And thanks for the answer
about Revelations, that makes sense.
We are trying to plan an
activity with an investigator and some members to go fishing this month, and a
member’s pond. So I hope that works out it will be a much needed break!
Love you all!
Elder Latimer
LOVE YOU!
June 30, 2014
Dear Everyone:
So this week was pretty boring.
At church last week that whole blow up was about a member who had brought her
kid to church who had "Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease" which is
apparently really contagious. Unfortunately, Elder Morgan caught it, and we
were told by the mission nurse to not leave the apartment for the week. So
needless to say there was a lot of studying, napping, and working out. There
isn’t much to do as a missionary when you’re stuck inside all week!
Although I did start a new
project. I have begun correcting the bible. It’s fun to do because we always
are talking about how the Protestants don’t understand anything because all
they have is the bible and the bible isn’t always clear (because it’s been
translated so many times and has lost some precious truths!) So I started in
Genesis and begun marking every alternate translation in green, (Heb, I.E,
"Or", or an explanation of a verse.) and then all the JST's in
yellow. Needless to say I have a blister on my right hand and I am 1,000 pages
into the Old Testament with everything marked so far, in the footnotes and in
the verses! It’s fun to look through it like that. After I finish both the Old
and New Testaments, I plan on reading through using all the alternate
translations and see if that helps give me a better understanding of things.
Not to mention Isaiah . . . I had to
mark about the whole footnote section! So much to try and understand. The New
Testament won’t be as bad because its only like 400 pages or so! It’ll be fun
to see when it’s done!
Other than that we are just
hoping the Lord has been preparing people this week we have been inside. Elder
Morgan can’t go out until Wednesday, so I have some more time to finish!
Although I probably won’t finish until I’m about to come home. Since I’ll only
have a 30 minutes a day or so after he is done being sick!
I’m always bummed on the
4th out here because it doesn’t get dark till 9:30, and we can blow things up
anyway! It takes all the fun out of it. I’m just bitter on the 4th!
I will schedule an
appointment for my eyes this Tuesday or Wednesday when Elder Morgan not stuck inside.
It’ll be great to see again!
The new Mission President
is here, and we will meet him on the 11th. I’m pretty excited to see
if there will be changes made and who he is! It’ll be interesting to get a feel
for him. I hope he will be exciting, I think he was an accountant before so who
knows!
Anyway, I’m doing well and
haven’t caught hand, foot and mouth yet! I’m guessing it’s from when I had that
terrible cold that my immune system is built up so I won’t get it. I hope I won’t
because that’s another week inside! It’s nice to rest for a day, but after that
it gets so boring since we can’t do anything fun! But I think I’m in the clear!
Love you all!
Elder Latimer
July 7, 2014
Hi Everyone!
All is well. We actually
got to work this week. It was a nice change of pace! Although not much is
happening still. We were either dropped by our investigators, or we dropped
them. We have been visiting active members and setting up a family mission plan
with them and seeking referrals, and a TON of tracting, we probably spend
around 5-6 hours a day of it. It’s rough, but it’s not too bad because you meet
some characters!
I don’t know if I told you
but we had a truck for the first transfer and a half I was with Elder Morgan. Anyway
so after a while Elder Morgan decides we don’t need a truck and wants one of
the new little toyota corollas, so of course they gave us one, and it sucks! I
hate it. It can’t go anywhere or do anything, It’s not that it’s not a truck. I
didn’t mind the Chevy Cruises and the Subarus we have in the mission, but this
car is on another level. It has zero acceleration because it’s one of those
like half hybrid cars and just looks super feminine anyway. So I just let Elder
Morgan drive. It’s like one of those cars you see old people driving.
Anyway to get to the point,
we had a Zone meeting in Charleston this week, and we put in the GPS that we
wanted to take the fastest way there... and apparently the fastest way is down
an old dirt road out in the boonies of course. So we took it thinking we could
make it. But it kept getting worse and worse. Every time we hit a bump or hear
a rock get shot up from a tire, Elder Morgan would say, "Oh, I think we
scratched it!", "Careful, careful" and more. Anyway in this
"road" that is skinnier than 1 lane we met up with a giant flat-bed
dodge with a trailer on it... so he pulls into the ditch to get by cause he can
and rolls his window down to talk to us. He says laughing at these 4 guys in
suits in a little corolla, "Y'all know where you’re goin?" to which I
responded, "Yeah, Charleston. You think we can make it through here with
our little Toyota?" To which he responds laughing again "No, not a
chance. This is an old 4X4 trail." He was really friendly about it. I’m
sure he thought it was funny to see 4 guys in suits in a little Toyota on a 4X4
trail. I don’t blame him! So we turned around and went the long way. Needless
to say we were 30 min late. We would have been fine if we had a truck!!
 |
| Road to Charleston? |
Other than that not much
has happened here, just a lot of tracting. On the 4th we went to 2 member’s
homes. One we ate some burnt hot dogs and hockey puck burgers and played with
their grand kids who are 9 years old for 3 hours. Then we went to another
member’s house, who are a bunch of rednecks and it was a blast! They had grills,
games and then had a finally of over 60 mortars going off at the same time! It
was awesome! So we had a good time, Well, I did. Elder Morgan was ready to go
once he found out we were not gonna be inside.
Anyway that’s about it!
Chris and I e-mailed every now and then but not too much. He did e-mail me when
he got home - just a sentence telling me he was home.
They said they can’t find
anything wrong with my stomach, but to come in as soon as I get the pains again
for an ultrasound. I will get my eyes checked today if they can fit me in or
next Monday, probably!
We meet the new president
this week so I’ll tell you about him! Im excited to see what he is like!
Love you all!
Elder Latimer
July 14, 2014
Hi Everyone!
So I forgot to bring my
camera cord today, or I would send you those videos I took of that guy playing
his harmonica! I will next week though!
I keep forgetting to call
the eye doctor. I’ll call today and see if they can fit me in. Otherwise, I’ll
wait another week. That’s so cool the Nashes live next to President Pitt! I do
know Elder Hewlitt! He is the AP now and I served around him earlier in the mission.
He is a funny guy!
We met President Salisbury
on Friday. He seems like a great guy -- different from President Pitt of
course. He is very much a business man. He had his own accounting business or
something like that, and so he is a lot more like a get it done kinda guy, as
opposed to President Pitt who just went with the flow. President Pitt was also
much more emotional. But they were great. They told us about their family. They
are from Sandy, Utah. President Salisbury’s wife is very quiet. She is shy and
has not served a mission before like Sister Pitt had so she is still getting
used to it. She said she doesn’t like bugs and the outdoors too much, so she
came to the perfect mission!
The other day I was on
exchanges in Charleston, and we were talking with this black guy who is in his
30's or 40's. He was drunk, so he just kinda nodded and agreed with us. Then
this little black girl who is like 4 years old comes out with a big purse over
her shoulder and her mom’s shoes on or something. She put her hand on her hip
and the other in the air and walks to whom I’m assuming was her dad and says
with the perfect sassy black girl voice, "Now you put dat cup down! What I
tell you ‘bout talkin wit them!" After we just kinda smiled and waited to
see what he would say, she looks at us, hand still on her hip and waves her
finger at us and says, "Get on wit chore bad self!" It was hilarious!
Speaking of that reminded
me . . . we hear gun shots most every night. We live in East Beckley (although
our house before was right in the center but now it’s on the edge),
and the members tell us not
to go there or walk there cause it’s a dangerous place. At least for us it’s
not. Everyone is black and I think that’s why they think it’s dangerous. I
guess there are a ton of drugs there, but anyway, we were unloading a car the
other night at our house, and we heard like 6 or 7 gun shots. Come to find out
that was a murder about a mile from our house. The other elders talked with
someone who said, “my best friend got murdered last night at like 9:30.” So
that is crazy to know. We just thought it was some red neck having a good time,
but turns out they aren’t red necks!
On the bright side, while I
was in Charleston, Elder Livingston, the Zone Leader, came to Beckley, and they
found this lady named Katy. She has had a hard life with drugs and a lot of
other things but she has been clean for 5 years now and has a 12 year old son.
They taught her the 1st lesson and she asked to come to church and I guess was
super excited! They met her Saturday and she came to church on Sunday! All the
members were great with her and the bishop’s wife gave her a ride home because
she rode with another member there. When we saw her later that day she told us she
had read 3 Nephi 11 multiple times and said, "I dont think my preacher had
the authority to baptize me. I need to be baptized into your church." She
also told us, "All I want to do is be obedient!" When she talked
about the show “the living dead” we told her we can’t watch it. So she says
"Ok, I’ll stop watching it then." We had to clarify with her that
just as missionaries we can’t watch it. She can watch it all she wants! So she
is willing to give up anything. It’ss pretty great. We think she could be baptized
late this month or in August, unless we find something else out and she needs
an elevated interview. But we will see!
The set of Elders a couple
miles from us just moved into our basement, because their neighbor is a pot
head and now their apartment reeks of weed! So we have them all moved in now
and it’s fun to live with another set. Although I imagine they will move out
again when they find a new place next transfer. But they have been talking
about shutting that area down anyway because there is nothing there. So they
could split the Beckley area! We will see!
With the world cup, once
the US was out I lost interest. People still root for other countries but I don’t
see the point of rooting for someone else unless it’s my country! oh
well.
That’s nuts it’s so warm! It’s
been up in the 80's and 90's here. And nice and humid! You walk outside and
just feel super sticky!
For my birthday I would
love to just wait and have gifts just be concealed permit classes and a 9mm :)
That would be so great! Or just have some go toward a truck, because I dont really
need anything out here. I have most of what I need. It’s just little stuff that
happens day to day.
I’m glad I have served. I’ve
learned more out here than I had in 21 years at home! And also how to talk to random people. I still
remember when I would make Joe ask for a straw for me at McDonalds!
Anyway that’s about all
that’s been going on!
Love you all!
Elder Latimer
