Due to the editors’ busy schedule, we neglected to post last
week’s letter. That results in a bonus
to you, dear readers, of two letters from Elder Latimer this week!
________________________
Note: Josh had asked
us to send some dumbbells for him to exercise with and we wondered if we
should, which is why he responded the way he did at the beginning of this
letter – eds.
February 25, 2013
Hi [All]!
About the weights, Pres. Pitt encourages us to have a set in
the apartment, and my bags roll so I can do it [move them around the
mission]. That way they won’t take up too much room, and I can squat enough to
lift that bags into the car easy anyways.
The good news is that I visited a doctor in the ward about my [possible]
hernia. He checked and says I probably don’t have one, but to keep in touch
with him about if the pain keeps up. He
says I am good to lift things, but to stop if I feel any pain.
Last week we helped 2 people move and helped haul a tree
that was cut up with a chain saw over to a member’s house then split them so
that’s good that I am getting a work out those ways too! Oh, before I forget, there is a non-member family
that feeds us all the time. There was some painting she wanted me to ask you
guys to look for. Please keep an eye out
for a painting made with crushed buttons. She has to remind me what it is of but I can
tell you that later, because her grandma painted/made it and it was taken by
one of their preachers and they haven’t seen it since. [Note sure why Josh
thought we would see the painting in Seattle, but we’ll do our best! – eds.]
I’m jealous that Jonathan is starting to play
lacrosse at a young age. I wish I would
have! My friend sent me a letter from Boise
telling me about a special on TV about our [Boise State] lacrosse team. I don’t
remember specifics, but it was a boy with a bucket list, and his dad was dying
from some kind of cancer. I think and could barely walk. The one thing he wanted to do was play college
lacrosse for his dad, so he came and practiced with the team!
Anyway, that’s cool Jake is getting his papers in! That
would be cool to learn a language, I just know I never could, and wouldn’t ever
have the urge to do it. I think he will go somewhere in Asia.
Tell Bishop Eden, I'll try to slow down on baptisms, but i
can’t promise anything! [Our home ward Bishop jokingly said that he was
frustrated that Josh has will have two baptisms and our ward hasn’t had any in
a little while. We relayed that fun
message to Josh. – eds.]
Today we are going to Hunnington, West Virginia to play
basketball with the Zone leaders and some other missionaries. It’s one of the
only full-sized courts in the mission. I’m excited to play a full court game
that’s actually competitive!
I’m not sure if I told you about Bill recently he is making
some progress. He has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot finally, and he
tells us he "Loves It!" He is
confused on why people bash on the Mormons. He said, “you guys believe
everything Christians do.” It
also blew his mind when we told him we used the King James version of the Bible
too. So hopefully we can help him stop smoking next, and his family seemed
interested too!
It kills me coming here right after I bought my rifle because
there are deer everywhere! There is a group of 4 of them that just walk our
around our apartment. It’s fun talking to people about guns because they go
into rants about how Obama is terrible and is the “anti-Christ” and how the South
will rebel again. Anyways they go crazy about it, and it’s always fun to
listen.
My Canadian companion is a great guy, but all he does is
talk about how Canada is better than the U.S. I’m not the type of person who
will call people out and argue, so I just keep to myself the best I can. But
the other day he brought up with an investigator his favorite thing to brag about
– universal health care – and it made me so happy that that investigator
completely went off on him, and blew holes in all his arguments. My favorite
was when he said, "How is your health care system so great when you have
lines for surgeries and MRI's, Transplants etc... out the door and
have so many people die because of it!" You should have seen the look on
his face. Then he likes to talk about how Canada has a higher than the United States,
and how Canada's economy and political system is so much better than
the United States. Then the investigator told him, "Where would Canada be
if the United States didn’t have their backs? What would happen if the U.S said,
“hey, we don’t care anymore, whoever wants Canada go for it, we aren’t stopping
you." I enjoyed that point. AnywaysI have started to dislike Canada more
and more as this goes on. Anyway, I enjoy having him put in his place.... Don’t
get me wrong I love the guy! Just not Canada....
Love you guys,
Elder Latimer
March 4, 2013
Dear [All]:
That’s cool Jake’s [mission] papers are in! I wonder where
he will go? Wouldn't it be crazy if he
came here, and we served together? That
would be a cool story! And that’s good that
Jonathan is enjoying lacrosse. I sure
know I miss it! I have a good idea of what I can send to Jonathan [for his
birthday]! They have a sweet flea market
here with some [deleted to preserve the surprise – eds.]. So I
might buy one and ship it. It may be a
little bit late though because it’s only open on Thursday-Sunday. When is Joe's birthday again? I know he would
love a [deleted]. They are pretty cheap
which is nice. It might cost more to
ship than to buy it! I did get myself a pretty cool switchblade the other day
though. You never know what might happen
with theses crazy Hillbillies!
Yes, we have still have the baptism on the 9th, and it seems like he [Jake] is really excited! We had to really teach simple because he didn’t even know what the Atonement was, but so far he believes everything and is taking it well and keeping commitments. With Bill and his family the biggest thing we will have to work with him on is quitting smoking and coming to church. Other than that we are still visiting with the McClanahan family, who are non-members, but love to feed is and have us over. They aren’t really progressing, but we enjoy visiting with them, and they love when we come visit them --so it’s still beneficial.
Last night we went to a member’s house to watch 17 miracles and the CES Devotional. Both were awesome! I kind of thought Elder Bednar’s talk was kind of a slam on the Pope. I thought that was pretty funny.
And I’ll be sure to send those shirts back as soon as I can [some shirts we sent that were too big – eds.], and can’t wait for my weights! We hardly have enough time to work out as it is, and push-ups and sit-ups won’t do, especially since we have a car. We sit for an hour, walk to the car, drive to another appointment, walk inside, and sit for another hour. So we get no exercise. I hope my next area is a bike area.
Transfers are on the 14th, and it’s a toss-up on whether I will stay in Ashland or leave. I hope I stay because I’m just getting to know the people, and it’s nice having another set of missionaries in the same ward that we can hang out with every once in a while.
After transfers on the 16th, we have a meeting where they are getting the whole mission together, which never happens. We are having a conference with Elder Oaks, Elder Holstrom from the Seventy and a member of the presiding bishopric. We are pretty sure they are going to be splitting our mission because it’s so big, and then re-open the Cincinnati mission. The new Cincinnati mission will cover where I am at now, but that change won’t happen until July. I hope I don’t get moved into the Cincinnati mission because they will almost be like being back home – up north in a big city. It would be nice to stay in the West Virginia area!
By the way, my stomach isn’t in pain anymore, I don’t know what must have happened but good thing I don’t need to go get surgery!
Sadly, today's P-day is going to suck because my companion really wants to visit an area near us where he served and visit people all day! So instead of playing basketball, I get to dress up in church clothes and sit around all day. I'll be complaining the whole time just so he knows how much of a waste today will be. J
Anyway, love you guys!
Elder Latimer
Yes, we have still have the baptism on the 9th, and it seems like he [Jake] is really excited! We had to really teach simple because he didn’t even know what the Atonement was, but so far he believes everything and is taking it well and keeping commitments. With Bill and his family the biggest thing we will have to work with him on is quitting smoking and coming to church. Other than that we are still visiting with the McClanahan family, who are non-members, but love to feed is and have us over. They aren’t really progressing, but we enjoy visiting with them, and they love when we come visit them --so it’s still beneficial.
Last night we went to a member’s house to watch 17 miracles and the CES Devotional. Both were awesome! I kind of thought Elder Bednar’s talk was kind of a slam on the Pope. I thought that was pretty funny.
And I’ll be sure to send those shirts back as soon as I can [some shirts we sent that were too big – eds.], and can’t wait for my weights! We hardly have enough time to work out as it is, and push-ups and sit-ups won’t do, especially since we have a car. We sit for an hour, walk to the car, drive to another appointment, walk inside, and sit for another hour. So we get no exercise. I hope my next area is a bike area.
Transfers are on the 14th, and it’s a toss-up on whether I will stay in Ashland or leave. I hope I stay because I’m just getting to know the people, and it’s nice having another set of missionaries in the same ward that we can hang out with every once in a while.
After transfers on the 16th, we have a meeting where they are getting the whole mission together, which never happens. We are having a conference with Elder Oaks, Elder Holstrom from the Seventy and a member of the presiding bishopric. We are pretty sure they are going to be splitting our mission because it’s so big, and then re-open the Cincinnati mission. The new Cincinnati mission will cover where I am at now, but that change won’t happen until July. I hope I don’t get moved into the Cincinnati mission because they will almost be like being back home – up north in a big city. It would be nice to stay in the West Virginia area!
By the way, my stomach isn’t in pain anymore, I don’t know what must have happened but good thing I don’t need to go get surgery!
Sadly, today's P-day is going to suck because my companion really wants to visit an area near us where he served and visit people all day! So instead of playing basketball, I get to dress up in church clothes and sit around all day. I'll be complaining the whole time just so he knows how much of a waste today will be. J
Anyway, love you guys!
Elder Latimer
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