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

Tracting Like a Madman

Here are the latest two letters from Elder Latimer!  He sounds great!  Pics to come soon.

May 20, 2013

Hi All!

I am starting to feel better -- still a stuffy nose and things but what can you do?  I’m excited for those shirts to get here! I have really only been wearing the one because the other shirts just make me angry.  They are huge and always are coming untucked.   I’m sure you can imagine how that one shirt looks wearing it so often in very humid 80 degree weather. At night I will wash it in the shower and hang it by our suction fan to dry at night.  I'll be sure to ship the other shirts home when they get here.

It sounds like Jace is doing well!  I think it’s hilarious the things he can come up with. I feel accomplished and afraid he will be able to insult me even more when I get back. That’s good the [lacrosse] net is getting some use in! I’m excited to see Jonathan play when I get back! I’m sure he is going to be a lot better than I’ll ever be!

Dad, speaking of you and work -- would you be able to possibly ship me some fish oil pills? I would buy some but they are pretty pricey, and I think you told me once you can get them for free?

We have started teaching 2 more people. One guys name is D___ [name withheld]. He lives in a trailer full of flies, and you can see the insulation in the roof.  He is in his 40s and has no teeth from chewing tobacco.  He is not the brightest crayon in the box. We spent an hour trying to explain to him that the Book of Mormon is not the bible. After the lesson he asked again, "So why isn’t Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in here?" He will be interesting to teach for sure. The other guy we are teaching told us we have to come on Monday nights when his wife isn’t home, because he is afraid she will throw the Book of Mormon in the fire. So he hides it in his work truck!

Another guy we got to fast and pray about the Book of Mormon came up with an excuse I have never heard before. We came back to check up on him and see what he found out. He brought out the Book of Mormon and turned to Moroni 9:7, and he read it to us.  He told us he read Amoron, as "A Moron" and that was his answer – so we got dropped by him.

I have a question for you guys. We have noticed the Free Masons have a huge influence here, and have learned that if there is an eagle above an opening on the house it means they are masons.  Most houses here have it, along with a ton of "Masonic cemetaries," and masonic lodges in every little town. We would look it up, but we can’t and wonder if you know anything about them? We do know Joseph Smith was a Mason.  I think the highest you can be, but we are not for sure.

Zone Conference went well. We focused on only the Book of Mormon and its importance, and we did not get more miles [for our car], so we are going to have to do a lot of walking.  At least I’ll stay in shape. Elder Brandt and I have now decided if you need to lose weight, you serve in Pennsboro, We call it the Pennsboro diet -- where you get fed once a week and have $150 for food for the month. So you have to buy a lot of cheap healthy food to get by. There is no way you can gain weight here! We were talking with someone yesterday who lives on government welfare and in a falling apart trailer.  We told him we have $150 a month for food. Even he said, "Wow, that’s terrible! How do you manage that?"  But at least I have some of the protein powder left.  It’s a great meal replacement!  I am almost out of it. Do you think you can send me some more of it? Maybe strawberry flavor if it’s possible? Thanks!

Lately, we have had Pres. Pitt and his wife call us a couple times to just continue encouraging us because they know how hard it is here. This area has been shut down multiple times because of the lack of people to teach. Pres. Pitt really just told us, "Work hard, the Lord knows your desires and won’t withhold blessings because you don’t have big numbers." So that helped us realize that it’s not that we are bad missionaries, it’s just the area is pretty hard to teach in. There are no service opportunities here.  We have been looking forever! And the only way we can find is to tract [knock on doors]. We have knocked on 90% of the doors here in Harrisville and only have 2 people here we are teaching. We did just set one on date yesterday for the first Saturday in July! So that is good!

Anyway, I’m doing well and having a good time.  I’m staying in good shape since all I eat is eggs, ground beef, chicken breasts, broccoli, and protein shakes!

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

P.S.  I thought I would share with you my new favorite talk ever, Its by Elder Holland in 2009 Conference, called "Safety for the Soul"  http://bcove.me/wy27ezhf

May 28, 2013

Hi All! 

Sorry, I got to the email so late, the library was closed yesterday!

I did get my shirts protein and sweat shirts! OH MY GOSH, THANK YOU! I definitely did not expect all of that. It was amazing to see! I think Elder Brandt was just as excited to see it! The shirts do fit.  They fit just how I wanted them to -- not big but not too small. It seems they are tailor made almost. They are definitely an interesting look with no shirt pocket and a flap that covers the buttons, it looks like a white t-shirt with a collar. I love it though!

We have a Mother of a less active set on date for July 6^th. It may be hard to get her ready. She is very stubborn, and loves her coffee and cigarettes. She probably drinks at least 10 cups of coffee a day. But we will work with her. We have also set another woman on date -- a single mom with 3 kids. She is set for June 6th. We meant to also set her for July but on accident said June. So we will need to change that date for her. With her she seems very sincere and, again, like everyone else in this mission, she has a smoking problem, but we can work through that.

That’s a funny story about nana! I could see it all in my head! I think nana and Joe are pretty similar sometimes! I didn’t hear about the I-5 bridge collapse! That’s crazy -- even more crazy no one died. I’m sure for those people that will be a crazy story to tell people! At least it wasn’t the one going into Seattle from our house. That would cause a pretty huge problem!

And I can e-mail Jake. I have been on and off here. Has he put his papers in yet? He is coming out at a great time... with all the sister missionaries! And I’m excited for Jace [to get baptized]. I’m sure he is just as excited.  Who is baptizing him again?

This area just keeps getting harder and harder, but I guess we just have to deal with it. It doesn’t help that we have no miles! The rest of this week we will be tracting Harrisville. We plan on knocking on every door in the whole town. We have already knocked probably 70% of the doors, so that will be something cool to accomplish. Knock on every door in the town, and something fun to tell my next companion and Pres. Pitt!

Oh and we had a pretty promising investigator, and we were coming back to teach him again, and brought out Branch President. Anyway, we were having a great lesson with him (Kyle) and then his wife came out (who is a part of "First Assembly of God"), and we brought up the Book of Mormon, and she said "I can’t hold my tongue any longer. The Book of Mormon is not scripture. It says in the Bible you can’t add to it." Before we could politely explain to her why it is not a part of the Bible and a separate book of inspired scripture, our Branch President got in an argument with her, which in turn sparked her and they pretty much had a yelling match. We tried to stop the 2, but they were both upset. Eventually it died down and Kyle says to us, "See, I told you it was a good idea to hide my Book of Mormon from her" (And by the way Kyle is an amazing guy who is open and loves to learn. He had hid it in his work truck so that his wife wouldn’t throw it away.) Anyway, after he said that, she looks at him with a look I would hate to get from any woman and says in a low scary voice, "You... Have... That… Book?" To which he didn’t respond and made an excuse for her to go inside too cool down. So now we feel really bad that because we might not be able to come back, and that Kyle is probably sleeping in the shed outside. Anyway, we are going to try and call and apologize  in the near future when she cools down a bit. And we think when she went inside she called her preacher so it should be interesting to bash... again with a crazy preacher. (And this is one of the branches off the Pentecostal church, who "Speak in tongues, and roll around on the ground. A.K.A “Holy Rollers”). 

And you didn’t break any rules sending the package! That will keep me alive for sure! And the sweatshirt has helped quite a bit.  It’s crazy but the last 2 nights got below 30! Sadly the rest of the week is supposed to me mid to high 80's and pretty humid, and we have to walk everywhere! It will be just like sitting in sauna, except in a white shirt a tie and slacks!

Thanks for that info on the masons. I was just curious because they seem to run our whole area. There is a lodge in every town and a masonic graveyard in every town as well.

I wouldn’t mind if you guys would remind people to write me.

Love,

Elder Latimer

New Area; Summer Approaches; and a "Creeper"

Three posts this week (last three weeks of letters).  Josh just was transferred to a new area.  His new mailing address is: 665 Cooper St., Harrisville, WV 26362

Please write to him.  You can mail letters to the address above or communicate via e-mail at joshua.latimer@myldsmail.net

April 22, 2013

Hi All:

Well, I found out I am getting transferred.  I am going to be serving in Pennsboro, West Virginia. I was told I will be in a very small branch, and the area just opened up. I will be going to church in an old liquor store!  So that will be interesting. I was told by the zone leaders that the missionary I am serving with (Elder B.) loves to play basketball, so we will hopefully actually get to play on P-days!

And now I’m crazy sunburnt! The last 2 days we did service at a nursery for an investigator and her daughter. We have worked two, 10-hour days outside moving flowers! It’s crazy my allergies didn’t kill me. Although I do think there is something in our apartment that I am allergic to because my allergies are worse in there than working at a nursery. Good thing I’m leaving!

Other than that I have been doing well and investigators are still the same as before.  It’s hard to help everyone progress when you are working 2 areas, but today will consist of going to play ball in Huntington with 11 other missionaries and then visiting a few people before I leave.

And yes, mom did tell me about Zyrtec and I have been using it and it helps some. 

I finally got a little taste of what’s to come this summer. It was in the 90's for a day or 2 last week, and I’m not sure what the humidity was but it seemed like a lot!   From what people told me it’s nothing compared to what’s coming. I mean I literally walked outside and started sweating!  It was just terrible being outside. We would come back to our tile floor apartment, blast the A/C and lay on the floor. So summer will definitely be interesting!

I just realized football season will kill me this year. I was watching the TV in a burger place and found out they are predicting the Seahawks to win the Superbowl against the 49ers, and the games they play against each other will be nationally televised. I’ll have to have a lot of self control come football season, Oh well.

But now it’s time for us to leave to go to Huntington

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

April 29, 2013

Hi [All]:

I love my new area so far!  Pennsboro is seriously in the sticks. We are the only area in the mission to have AT&T because no other phones get service here. Most places we don’t have service at all! Most of the little towns here have either a small amount of people or literally none at all! There are a few ghost towns. My favorite is Cairo, and the drive there and really anywhere else around here is absolutely beautiful! I know you would love it here! I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it before! I don’t think I have seen a 2 lane road since I’ve been here!

It’s super green just like back home... but with rolling hills and trees with leaves that are different shades of green everywhere!  So it looks awesome, and most the roads are almost like going through a green tunnel! I’ll make sure to take a video of our next drive there, and send it so y'all can see it! I do have a few pictures here but not too many – most are from back in Kentucky. I will send my picture card, but I need the other one back first. I think you still have it? 

My new companion has only been the area for one transfer [about 6 weeks], it just opened! It’s a tiny place and the liquor store we go to church in is probably the size of our play room at home, maybe a little bigger. We only have about 10 people in the branch, so there is a lot of pressure on us to get less actives to church and bring others to it, especially because it is on the verge of being dissolved to another ward.

There was a lady we met while helping people do genealogy, and she was moving into a house so we offered to help her get it ready. To get there we drove up a dirt road for 3 miles through hollers and beside cliffs, and came to find out she has 61 acres there and a fishing pond! I have a picture from her porch on my card! 

The only problem with P-day is we don’t have a basketball, so good thing we are out in the sticks so there are plenty of places to hike!

And Mom, Happy birthday!  I do have a gift for you, i just need to get it from a guy here in Pennsboro who owns this cool shop.  I’ll have it by this week and send it!..

I’m happy about the seahawks [and the draft] but at the same time it will be hard.  I’m excited to see how they do, and that’s great about Desmond! Too bad we need to find someone else to replace him, it seems like he has been on the team for way longer than he has.

I have to go.  I’ll e-mail you guys next week!

Love,

Elder Latimer

P.S.  My new mailing address is: 665 Cooper St., Harrisville, WV 26362

May 6, 2013

Hi [All]:

We are doing a lot of teaching in the branch and are responsible for getting people there. We found out that the local high school has open gyms every day, so we can pay $8 a month to play there from 5:30 a.m.- 7:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. on P-days, which is convenient.  I just wish we had a basketball now. They don’t provide them there, and there aren’t any sports stores to buy a basketball in our whole area.  We have to drive an hour or so to the closest one!

I think your street view was right [we looked up his new address on google – eds.], we have a small house and a big backyard to ourselves with a fire pit, which we had a fire in the other night. It’s nice being in a house where you don’t have to worry about waking up neighbors in the morning and carpet is especially nice!

Speaking of neighbors, we have this girl who I’m assuming is around our age who lives next door.  As of late she has been trying to follow us, and when we are in the back yard she sits there and watches us. The other night when we had a fire going, she was in her kitchen window singing to us for an hour or so, and before that she stood by the fence line just staring at us.  One time she was on her phone as she walked by us when we were on our porch and she said very loudly and obviously, "We have 2 new really cute neighbors!" Elder B. and I looked at each other and walked inside. It didn’t help that after that she said, "Yeah, that would be a good idea. I think that would be good to do," or something along those lines.  Last night we found out she knows which room we sleep in.  We were going to bed and Elder Brandt goes to open the window, and she is in her kitchen window staring in our room.  Elder B. told me that he made eye contact, and it was pretty weird. So that is definitely going to be an interesting situation. I guess i should mention that I don’t think she is quite all there so that makes it even more awkward!

There are surprisingly few people who are rude to us.  Everyone here is very polite. Even when they don’t want to have anything to do with you, they just politely tell you they aren’t interested, but thanks for stopping by.  Actually, right now we are teaching a Baptist preacher whose name is Dan. He seems like a great guy who is truly interested. The hardest part for him is if he comes to know it’s true, he would have to find a new job.

It’s starting to get hot and humid here, and it’s not even summer yet!  Lately on P-days we have been going on hikes at North Bend Park, which is pretty close to us. Really the only thing to do unless we can find a basketball. But I enjoy it. It’s good cardio and it’s pretty cool to see the country from there.

I know I can’t Skype, but I will probably call in the evening sometime when we find some time, so maybe around 6 Pacific time, or a little earlier. When I find out for sure I’ll be sure and try to let y'all know. [Josh gets to call home two times a year, on Christmas and Mother’s Day, which is why we are arranging the schedule via this e-mail]

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

Working in a Tri-Companionship and General Conference

Two weeks of letters again.  I really have to get more timely on my postings -- eds.

Remember, you can now e-mail Josh directly at joshua.latimer@myldsmail.net.  He would love to hear from you!

April 1, 2013

Hi Mom and Dad!

Well this week has been interesting for sure! Elder Bolan, who is the next area over, was training a visa-waiter for Peru. They got a call Wednesday that he was leaving the next day.... So now we have him [Elder Bolan] sleeping on our floor and the 3 of us have to cover 2 areas with 2 cars, 2 phones, and 2 apartments. So this will definitely be interesting.

Other than that it’s the same old, same old. Nothing too exciting happened this week.  We were really just planning and trying to find out how we will work 2 areas with only 1 set of us. So we have twice as much to do in half the time.

Mexico sounds fun. I’d like to be there too, but oh well.  It has slowly started to warm up. Apparently, this time last year it was in the 80's, so its struggling to get there. I’m hoping it will stay in the 60's or so until I get my short-sleeve shirts.

With my weights and protein I’m starting to get bigger. I have an hour to work out in the morning, and then I work out again a little at night before bed. So that’s something to keep my mind busy.

Anyway, I’m still having a great time and learning a lot! I will have to listen to that talk that you guys sent me [this was a great talk on the Atonement by Elder Holland - www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/none-were-with-him?lang=eng]. Oh, and I thought of something I would like to get in my package but it’s too late now.... I wanted a cammo tie/sweats. "Mossy oak" would be preferred :)

Other than that not a lot has happened, just the same old, same old. Hopefully, I will have some cool stories for you guys next week!

Does Jonathan know how to use the knife I sent him? It’s spring-assisted so it you flick down the piece sticking out of the back it flies open like a switch blade. It’s pretty cool. Anyway let me know when I should expect my shirts. It’s warming up fast.

Love you guys!

April 8, 2013

Dear [All]:

I think my 2 favorite talks [from General Conference] were Elder Holland’s and President Monson’s in priesthood session, I think it was.  Anyway, he told a story about when he was a kid and wanted to make a bonfire. It was really funny, but turned out the whole talk was on obedience. We watched every session, so the last 2 days we didn’t do anything really besides eat and wait at the church for conference

Lately, my companions are complaining because we are helping people move about twice a week, although I love it because it gets me out of these clothes and into normal ones, and then I get to do some physical activity!  This place is a dying town. All the young people are moving away because there are no jobs besides fast food. There are tons of old people who all used to work at the steel mill here that was a huge employer back in the day.

It sounds like I will be getting transferred. We had interviews with President Pitt, and he talked with me and hinted at me being transferred.  Well, he pretty much told me I am, but not 100% sure. He changes his mind on the last day all the time. Also he was hinting that I would be training...so we will see what happens. If you guys plan to send anything, it would be a good idea to send it to the mission office address just in case I get transferred before it gets here.

I did get my Easter package, Thank you! It was great seeing it didn't have much candy. I have almost eaten it all now!

The investigators are pretty much the same. Mark and his daughter are both on still date for May, and then Leah is progressing. She has wanted to come to church and raise her kids around a church and get out of the situation she is in. But other than that, it’s kinda slow.  Mainly because we have 3 of us trying to cover 2 areas, but that’s ok.

On Wednesday I had an American flag pin I was going to put on my backpack, but I had to superglue it first. To make a long story short, I super glued it onto my hand and had to go to our ward mission leader’s doctor’s office so he could get it off for me. It was on there for a good 3 hours, because we were trying to get it off without help.

I am rooting for Louisville [in the NCAA Tournament], because those kind of comeback stories are pretty sweet, and also because everyone in this area is a rediculously huge UK fan, and it gets annoying that they think their team is the best team in the country even though they didn’t make the tourney.

Love you!

Elder Latimer

Elder Oak's Visit; Blessings Come

Editor’s Note:  I got a little lazy and didn’t post last week’s letter. So you get a bonus, dear reader, of two letters from Elder Latimer this week!

Also, Josh can now receive and respond to e-mail correspondence from friends.  If you want to write him, please e-mail him at joshua.latimer@myldsmail.net  He would love to hear from you!

March 18, 2013

Hi [All]!

I will send my other [photo] card home soon and make sure to package it well! That’s crazy about nana, I’ll make sure to pray for her [Josh’s grandma had some health issues that are getting better]. What is their address so I can send a letter?

I wish I could come to Mexico, but I guess I have better things to do...

I am writing Chris [Taulbee – who is also on a mission].  I get an e-mail about every other week or so. Seems like he is having an awesome time! I can’t wait for it to be nice and sunny here, but I’m also dreading it because I guess it’s usually in the 90's with 100% or more humidity. So that sounds miserable but we will see! 

I haven’t sent my shirts back. I need to do that before it gets hot. Today they say there is probably a good chance or tornadoes in our area, so hopefully if we get them they will be close, but not too close!  It’s weird here because Saturday was 70 degrees or so, and Sunday it snowed the whole day!  Now today we have lighting storms and possible tornadoes. It just can’t decide. When it rains here, it is a lot of rain. One thing I have noticed is places like this don’t have a very good drainage system compared to back home!  There are mini lakes over roads everywhere!

My new companion is Elder Parker.  He is from Layton, Utah and really tall. He has been out about 20 months so he is about done. It’s always fun giving him a hard time about going home soon.  I try to get him as home sick as possible. (I guess missionaries call it "Trunky" but I hate that word so I don’t use it) He is cool, I guess, but he is really quiet, and we don’t really have anything in common, but we are both pretty relaxed guys so it will work out I’m sure. It just won’t be as exciting as when Elder Hudson and I served together. It helped that one of the Russell missionaries was way cool too, but they both left.

That reminds me, a lot of missionaries here say doing certain things are "Apostate." That’s my least favorite thing they say. I don’t think they know what it means. One missionary told me he was “apostate” because he visited espn.com. And another told me that going to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings was "Apostate" because the music and T.V's. in the restaurant. I call them out every time because I believe being apostate is "forsaking your religion, or God" or along those lines. I don’t think going out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings is forsaking our religion and everything we believe.... Anyway, missionaries use a lot of stupid sayings that just make me mad. One of which is if a missionary is training, he calls his trainee is his "son" and their previous companion is "mom" and there are uncles, grandpas etc... which is just stupid, I think.  Also,if a missionary is going home he is dying or if he went home, he died. I think that’s stupid too. Anyway that’s my rant.

We are still teaching the same people and trying to get them to stop smoking/chewing and those things. Nothing too exciting to report about that.

But we did see Elders Oaks, Holstrom, Lancing, and Bishop Cossay? (Not sure how to spell it. He is french so it probably has a lot of unnecessary letters in it.)  It was awesome.  We got to shake all of their hands. I honestly can’t remember everything they talked about, but I did take notes.  I do remember that was the fastest 3 hours ever. Anyway, it was a cool experience.

I am also really enjoying the weights i have been using them every morning and night. It’s just something to kind of help keep my mind off things for a little bit so I can relax, but after 2 weeks I can tell I’m still slowly getting bigger, which is fun to see.

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

March 25, 2013

Elder Parker is a cool guy.  He is a little more reserved than I would like but that’s ok, I can deal with it. We do have 2 new investigators. We finally met with Mark and his daughter, and they are both on date to be baptized in May! Hopefully he will decide to move it up so I will be here for sure. I may stay another transfer, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I left. I would like to stay, but we will see.

Our investigator, Leah, is making progress on her own. We were over talking to her, and she expressed her desires to start going to church and surrounding herself with good people. This is mainly because she has had a tough life.  She is 27 and has 4 kids.  One sister just got out of jail and she and her three kids are now living with her and the sister has started using dope again. Her other sister is in jail for another 8 years and their boyfriends and stuff are always around. She has just about quit smoking and wants us to teach her more about prophets and apostles. So she is moving a long quickly.

And did Jake like Mein Kampf? I've always wanted to read it. Too bad I can’t on my mission. Oh well.

Everyone here is talking about March madness! I can’t believe the teams that are in the sweet 16! I would love to watch them play. One of my favorite things is watching guys on teams like that who do well and who put their life on hold almost to play ball and then have it pay off. They look like they are 8 again. It’s pretty cool seeing how happy they get for winning a game!

I did get the picture of the quilt. I’ll probably do that [with my ties]!  For my package there isn’t anything that I really need -- just food and things like that.

Pres. Pitt told us we can now e-mail friends back home! So if you could post my e-mail on my twitter and facebook accounts that would be awesome!  It makees everything a lot faster and cheaper!

One cool thing I learned, but I guess I already knew, was that we were having a terrible week the last week or two. I thought to myself, “the Lord will give us trials, and if we keep our faith and continue to work hard good things will come.” So I saw we were having a bad 2 weeks and kept thinking, “if we just continue to work and do all that we can do we will be blessed for our efforts.” Just this past weekend, we were able to meet with Mark and set him and his daughter on [a baptismal] date.  We also found out a new family in the ward has a daughter who has not been baptized yet (she is 17), and Leah is working forward fast!  Also we gave a former investigator a call and his mom was on her death bed but after she passes he wants us to come a teach him. He sounded really sincere. Also, Mark has a friend with a less active family we have been working with since I got here, and who have not been coming to church. But mark invited them to church with him this week! So we should have at least 3 investigators at church along with 2 less active families who are coming! Since we worked as hard as we could those 2 weeks we have received a ton of blessings! 

I will have to send you my notes from Elder Oaks because I honestly don’t remember what he said for sure, unless I read my own notes. So I can make a copy and send it to you.

I wasn’t sure who to send my shirts too, so i sent them back to home along with my picture card and Jonathan’s present. They said it should be there Thursday. So I hope it doesn’t get too warm for the next couple weeks until I get those back the right size. I forgot to check what size I need. I believe 2 sizes smaller, or 1 and a half.

That’s about all i have to tell you now, I guess.

Love you guys!

Staying Ashland with New Companion and a Baptism!

Hello Everyone:

I’m staying in Ashland for at least one more transfer, we will see if I stay for a while. I found out I’m now serving with Elder Parker. All I know about him is that he is tall. Anyway I’m excited to stay here because there are a lot of cool families we visit, and it’s nice to continue to get to know them. Also it’s nice to be in the same ward with other missionaries, so on p-day and throughout the week we can hang out. It’s slowly starting to be spring here. It was 76 degrees just a few days ago! But it actually snowed today. It is supposed to be in the 60's the rest the week, which feels about 70 or so here. I haven't sent those shirts [short-sleeved] back yet as I haven’t had time, but I will in the next few days, along with Jonathan’s [birthday] present.

I got my weights and have been working out like I had been back home -- every day for an hour. I have also been using my protein shake and creatine, so hopefully I start to see results soon! It’s been kind of tough though because that first week is always brutal.  Every set of muscles is sore for the next few days.

I haven’t got the bishops package yet, but I’ll keep waiting on it.

That sucks that nana got shingles, we had a kid on out lacrosse team that had them, and it doesn’t look fun at all! [Note:  Elder Latimer’s grandma had a case of shingles when she was traveling in South America as a water specialist for the Church – eds.]

And it’s cool Ryan [cousin] is going to Loyola [law school]. They have a great D-1 lacrosse team there! They won the national championship in 2010, I believe. You have to tell him to go watch one sometime!

Bill and family are doing well. He is moving slow but still progressing.  It will take a while with him, but he enjoys having us come talk to him. He told us a story about how his old preacher from his previous church visited him and apologized that they hadn’t seen him or checked on him. He told him "well, 2 Mormon boys visit me every week."  The preacher then said, “Well, we will have to see you some more.” Bill also told him about another member of their church that had been struggling for food and the pastor hadn’t done anything about it, and then told him that the same 2 Mormon boys had brought some for him. The pastor then said, "Oh, well I’ll be right on that!" It’s fun to one up guys who get paid to do these things.

The baptism went well. I’ll have to send you pictures because we did the baptism in Olive Hill, KY, which is tiny! Their chapel is like our home ward relief society room, and that’s really it. That branch only has 20 members in it, so it’s good for them to get another, and the Olive Hill missionaries got 2 new investigators out of it!

Also, I've heard North Korea is going crazy again and scrapped their treaty with South Korea and vowed to nuke us? Well that’s exciting. We might have another Hiroshima and Nagasaki on our hands? Even China is fed up with them too? Crazy.

We found out we can’t play basketball up with the ZL's anymore because they had an investigator dunk and shatter the back board. Just like Shaq. The stake presidency is really mad, especially because an apostle is coming this week. [Elder Oaks is visiting the mission on the 16^th – eds.]

President Pitt sent us an e-mail and told us out mission is not being split and no missionaries are leaving, so thats good to know!

A member told me the Seahawks got Percy Harvin from the Vikings? I hope so! They also said they predict the 49ers or the Seahawks to win the Superbowl. So those games this season should be crazy. I’m kind of mad I have to miss them. Oh well!

Love you guys, 

Elder Latimer

Another Baptism Coming Up!

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 14^th, 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 16^th, 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