The Work Continues . . . Staying In Pennsboro (for now) - August Update

August 5, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Thank you! I have gotten one package which I’m assuming is some kind of shoe, because it’s in that Zappos box like my boots were. I haven’t gotten the others yet. They will probably be here today then! I’m excited! Believe it or not I haven’t opened them yet! [Josh’s birthday was August 6^th, so he is referring to his birthday packages – eds.]

My interview with President Pitt didn’t happen. During our district meeting he was making calls to Salt Lake somewhere in the building when all of a sudden Sister Pitt leans over, passes out and hits her head really hard on the floor.  Her eyes were wide open, but she was not moving and was unresponsive for 5 min or so. It was really scary. We had no idea what to do. She didn’t respond to anything as we tried to talk to her and the Zone Leader's ran to get President Pitt. He is a bigger man, and I’ve never seen him move as fast and as smoothly as he did. But he got on his hands and knees over her and right as he put his hand on her head she came back to herself and was able to start talking again. I don’t know if it was a coincidence of if President Pitt had some kind of blessing going through his head, but it was a cool but really scary experience. She ended up going to the hospital and ended up being ok. They didn’t let her sleep because they thought she would have a concussion from hitting the ground. But after all of that he postponed interviews until this week, so I will meet with him on Friday.

I am still with Elder Price. Apparently Argentina visas take a long time.  There are a few in our district waiting, and they have been out 3-4 transfers. Dakota, Ryan, Kelly and Jordan came back to church Sunday and loved it. What’s cool is Kelly’s mom is kind of not sure about having her daughter go to an LDS church, but Kelly still really wants to go and that’s good. We had a lesson with Ryan that night about the plan of salvation and things, and we have set him on date for August 27^th.  We talked with him about a lot and he really opens up, telling us about how he and his girlfriend (Kelly) have dated for 3 years and are planning on getting married, but they aren’t sure when.  But he also brought up they are waiting until marriage too so the law of chastity won’t be too much of a problem. He says he loves being with us and Kelly does too.  They just feel peace I guess, and that’s something they have been looking for. So hopefully Kelly will follow Ryan. He also told us about the day we found him he was praying for someone to help him relax and things.  It was a longer story that I can’t remember to well, but it was really cool. We hope to talk to his mother soon as well, and hopefully their family will join along with friends after seeing there example. Pretty cool experiences

Jay still hasn’t been to church.  I don’t think he quite understands the importance of it, but we will continue to work with him.

That’s exciting about the LDS Encampment! I bet you [Dad] are finally glad for it to be over! That would be something really cool to see. It’s good that Jace has enjoyed football.  I dont think anyone really enjoys the running though, except for maybe Jonathan

I still don’t have an e-mail from Jake. I don’t know what’s wrong with this e-mail. Oh well, Ill keep trying, but that’s exciting he is working on his mission papers!

I remember you telling me about when you guy watched Monday Night Football when I was born. I wish I knew who was playing! I guess it can always be looked up! I enjoy telling that to people. Ifeel pretty proud about it!

And that’s great about Aunt Teri! Tell her I love her! How are all the cousins doing? I wish I had a temple in my mission. The closest one is either Columbus, Ohio or Louisville, Kentucky, or DC depending on what area we are in, so we have them everywhere around us but none in the mission.

And $168 Million [referring to the cost of the new University of Oregon football facility]!?! Are you kidding! I hate Oregon so much, but at the time it still gives me butterflies imagining what it would be like to play for a program like that. I mean those guys are 19-24 or so and they are like Gods and have the nicest equipment in the nation. I really hope they still go downhill though. I bet Phil [Knight] did it just because Chip Kelley left and knew they would need all the recruits they can get and this will definitely help them. They are starting to run their program almost like the MLB. The team with the most money is the better team because they can buy players. Oregon “buys" players not by paying them (even though they probably do), but they buy the best of everything so players want to play there for the gear. It makes me kinda mad, mostly because I hate Oregon.  I wouldn’t be complaining if UW did it but that’s because I’m biased. Oh well, this will be a hard fall for sure being my first full season away since like forever. Oh well, it will be that much better when I get back!

Anyways, iI love you guys! Thank you for everything!

Elder Latimer

August 12, 2013

Hi Everyone!

I’ll be sure to check at the post office [regarding his missing birthday package – eds.] after I’m done with e-mails! Thank you.  I’m sure it’ll be there.

I wish I could be at the lake this week! I did take for granted the opportunity I had to swim and do those kind of things, especially with how hot it is here.  When I see a pool or a river or something of that nature all I want to do is go jump in and hang out for a bit. Oh well, I guess it will be just that much better when I get back!  That doesn’t surprise me about Jace [going paddle boarding on the lake]. He doesn’t seem scared of anything really, and that’s cool he made a friend up there, especially one who is a lot older!

I wish I could have gone with Jonathan [to Wyoming to play with a friend – eds.]! They have all those things out here... but as you know we aren’t allowed to do any of those things. Although we get invited to all the time. It kills! That’s cool about Encampment! I bet it’s nice to have it over finally though. I have heard Chad Lewis is a great speaker and the liaison for the NFL to China. My companion said he had him speak to them in the MTC and when he was asked to translate a game for the Chinese, he accepted but forgot he only knew mission Chinese -- not football Chinese. So he testified that Tom Brady was throwing true passes!

That’s too bad about the Edens! I guess I’ll just have to tell the mission office to give me a layover in Colorado on my way home and then he can stop by the airport while I’m there!

I did get an e-mail from Jake today so that’s good. i just have to write a whole new e-mail so he can receive it.

It’s going good here! On Friday we spent the whole day helping out at a wedding, and I’ll be the first to tell you I’m never going to one of those again. It was so boring! I think you might be happy with this. When I get married it will be as simple as can be. I think you guys already know I don’t care for any of that extra stuff. There was an exciting part... kind of, I guess. When they got married they poured this colored sand into a glass thing. I have no idea what for but they did right before they were married by the preacher... but after the bride’s sister was carrying it in and right in front of everyone in the middle of the room, she dropped it.  It shattered and sand was everywhere! So that was a nice change of pace. That whole cutting cake together and helping each other take a drink and stuff – not happening – that was the corniest thing I’ve ever seen! Anyway other than that it’s been pretty good here

Dakota is still on date for the 17th but we may have to move it back because of his tea drinking, but we will see. We set Ryan and his brother, Jordan, on date for the 24th! So that’s pretty exciting. They can help push each other to get there. We hope to get their mom involved as well. Last night we taught Jordan the Plan of Salvation. He told us he was so happy just hearing it and seeing it (we drew it out for him), and he feels like he understands it perfectly like he has learned it before. When we told him that he did, in the pre-existence, he just lit up! And it brought him to tears (a 16 year old boy keep in mind)! It was a really cool experience. He said he is hanging it up on his wall! 

The night before he and Ryan got in a big fight, which involved punches being thrown and Ryan got kicked out, which is crazy because he is the nicest guy in the world, and always tells us how bad he feels whenever he has a bad thought. After things cooled down we talked with him and Jordan separately. Ryan told us how he feels sick to his stomach just thinking about what he did, and how he has never done that before. Jordan was just crushed because he doesn’t have a father in his life, and Ryan is his role model and the person he looks up to the most. After our lesson with Jordan we had him pray. He prayed that Ryan and him would work things out and for him to know he forgives him, and talked a lot about how much he loves him and things. Later that night we got a text from Ryan telling us how he sent a huge apology text to Jordan and everything is all right now. We hope that brings them even closer together than they already are.

Other than that not much else is going on, just working with those 3 mainly and playing basketball, continuing to find people to teach.

I had my interview with Pres Pitt. It went really well. He was just so excited to talk about the work happening in Pennsboro and wondering how we are doing it. He was just so excited to talk about it and told me how in his time being mission president, Pennsboro has never gotten anyone to church, and we have been getting 4 consistently now! It sounds as if I may stay another transfer here and before I would not want to, but now I do want to stay because the work is progressing, and I have made some really good friends here in Ryan and Jordan. 

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

August 19, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Dakota’s baptism date was moved back to the same time as Jordan’s. Ryan left to go to school in Parkersburg and said he wasn’t ready and was not sure if he could keep those covenants he would have to make.  We like to hear that because he takes it seriously. But Jordan and Dakota both should make their date for the 24th! It just depends on getting their parents to sign consent and to make sure they are both off of work so they can be there. Jordan and Dakota are both really excited!  The mom isn’t taking the lessons yet but we have talked to her a little bit, and she is really nice and likes us to come over. We think that after Jordan gets baptized that it may spark her into investigating. So that will be good!

The ring [Josh’s lacrosse state championship ring] fits on my index finger, but not my ring finger. I think that will be fine cause it still works, and I don’t know when I will have time to stop by a jeweler.

That’s cool about Jordan [Murray], I think from what my companion says Brazil visas come a little faster than others. [Jordan was called to serve a mission in Brazil] My companion says his usually takes around 3-4 transfers in the field to get it. So I bet Jordan will get his pretty soon. William [Lange] sent me an e-mail today, so that was cool seeing how he is doing.

That’s good Jace is enjoying football! We just went to Jordan’s high school scrimmage Saturday to watch him play with Ryan and Kelly. It was really hard watching high school football again because all I wanted to do was play! Especially with them being a 2A school, and when I played we were a 4A, I think. So the competition they were up against seemed like middle school kids. I would have loves to play against them! Oh well, maybe I can play again if I can find enough weights to put on another 25 pounds out here and take a 2 or 3 tenths of a second off my 40 time. I don’t think that will happen out here, not enough time/resources.  Oh, and I’m out of protein again . . . could you send me some more please :) If you could some pre- workout formulations? That’s one of the few ways I can get up to work out in the AM. Well at least work out hard so I don’t have to do it at night! I’m still at about 150-153 now.  It changes depending on how much water I drink because of the creatine, but I’m at least maintaining!

It will be bitter sweet this season with the Hawks – being so good and supposed to win the superbowl this year and I’ll miss it! Oh well, I guess it’s a blessing in disguise. I’m going to have to have you buy me a newspaper too if they win! Can you get your Seahawks CFO friend to get me some signatures please!? :)

And that’s funny about the wedding. I’m not surprised at all though! I would debate going just for the interesting experience! I’ve talked with some companions out here when we see people do things that are so weird! We always want to know peoples thought processes to see how they got to the decision that what they did/said was ok. I think that would be pretty funny to see that!

Oh and I was wondering if you could possibly make some copies of Elder Holland talks on some DVD's so that I can use them to show investigators. Sometimes those talks can do a lot more than we can. Just whenever you can find time. I don’t need them anytime soon. The ones I would want are 

"Safety for the soul"

"My words... Never Cease"

"The only true God and Jesus Christ Whom he hath sent"

"Lord I Believe"

Anyway, other than that I’m doing good, and it’s a toss-up whether Elder Price or I leave. I’m not sure what I want to happen, but either way I’ll be happy with. President Pitt made it kind of sound like I would stay another, but he never is for sure until the day before transfers. So we will see I will know if I leave in about a week or if I stay, so I’ll let you know!

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

August 28, 2013

Hi All!

Well I found out last night that I am staying here in Pennsboro another transfer, which I’m not too sad about. I’ve come to love it here. Especially the people and great friends I have made! Even better news is I am going to be serving with Elder Shaffer, who was my companion in the MTC.  We got along really well.  We are extremely similar, and he loves basketball, which may be one reason President Pitt decided to have him come here. Also I heard that he has gotten big into lifting since he has been out here and has over 100 pounds in weights and a couple bars and a pushup assist that adds 180 pounds to your push up! Not to mention he will have plenty of protien and pre-workout as well! I plan on being close to 160 after this transfer if my body lets me get there naturally! It will be an awesome transfer! And I get to continue working with those we have that are so close to baptism! I think we could have 4 or 5 this transfer is the Lord wills it!

Sadly the baptisms did not go through. It was interesting how it happened though. We had both of them interviewed and they both passed and were extremely excited last Wednesday. Dakota and Jordan both need parental permission because they are under 18. (16 and 17) and with Dakota we could just never get in contact with his mom who is always so busy with work. She is the one who is an inactive member, but all for him being baptized. His step dad is a Baptist so obviously against it. Although since she is his biological mother we only need her signature, but we were not able to meet with her in time. So we hope to visit with her this week or next to get the baptism ready. 

Jordan was the weird one, I guess. We had his interview last Wednesday and our District Leader said he was more than excited during the interview and he had been studying all day for it. He passed, and we got his mother (who is a single mother) to sign the baptismal record. She had known all along that he was taking lessons and planning on being baptized. After we made sure to answer any questions she had (which she had none) we went back to the apartment. About 5 min later we got a text from Jordan telling us his mom doesn’t want him to be baptized anymore because she doesn’t think he is ready. I think Jordan was more frustrated that we were. He is still a little bitter about it.  He was so excited! So we hope to talk with his mother some time and to help her understand this is a good thing and he is ready.

Other than that things are still going good. Jay (the African man) we are teaching came to church with his son, Marlon, on Sunday, and he loved it! He told us that his fiancé had a lot of worries about the church, and said he is going to bring her and she will have all her problems resolved just by coming! Also, since he and his fiancé are obviously not married and live in the same house, he can’t be baptized until they get married or move out. So after Sunday school we talked to him about marriage and how it is important and its something he needs to do before he can get baptized. We knew he was short on money and told him that our branch president can do the wedding for free. And they he can begin to tell his family their wedding will be in one year when they get sealed in the temple. We showed him some pictures of the DC temple and told him how he can be married for time and all eternity there... and for free!! He seemed pretty excited about that and began to ask us questions on what all he has to do to get married! Of course, I had no clue so he went and sat down with President Schweinbraten, and they talked about it. I think they may make that commitment, talk about acting on your faith!

One of my favorite families here has been the Colkets. They are a great family who have a huge property on the top of a hill to themselves! Steve Colket, who is the father, is so COOL! He is an 8th degree black belt in just about everything I swear. He has a dojo in Harrisville where he teaches 5 or more kinds of different martial arts, and he is an avid hunter. And by avid I mean he has a whole cabin built full of stuffed animals from turkeys - deer- bear- buffalo.  He has just about every kind of animal you can hunt there. It’s like the ultimate man cave complete with a fridge, microwave, A/C unit 70" plasma that always has the hunting channel playing, and over 15 rifles and pistols! Diana, his wife, is an amazing person and very strong in the gospel and a hard worker. It’s always amazing how she can stay so active and have a testimony like she does. But anyway, they are an awesome family and Steve has told me when I’m off my mission I have to call him to have him take me on a hunting trip as well as to get my concealed weapons permit!

And that’s cool its Bishop McArthur now! I can totally see him being the bishop. I’m surprised it took this long! 

Thank you for getting the Elder Holland talks ready. That will be awesome! I can actually put music on from the library. The computers have itunes on them and other missionaries always have CD's, so I put their music on my iPod as i go. But thanks though!

I’m way to excited about the football season. Too bad I’ll miss it! Its bittersweet the seahawks are doing so well! I want them to win the superbowl but not while I’m out here! Oh well, it’s better than them going winless I guess! Will you save the Huskies ticket for that first game in the new stadium? I would love to keep that! The only problem with a UW vs. BSU game is I don”t know who I want to win! It’s a lose-lose situation, or a win-win I guess. Oh well, I’m sure it will be a fun game!

Anyways things out here are going good! Could you possibly send me the other half of the ties I got before my mission? 

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

New Pics!

Here are some new pictures from Josh

The District

NOT the Branch Building

The Branch Chapel

The Branch Chapel (a.k.a. former liquor store)

Almost Heaven!

Demolition Man

A favorite family!

A favorite family!

Future wheels?

Mess with the bull . . .

Picking up the workout tires

Go Dawgs!

Good to know . . .

July Letters - 4 Investigators at Church!

Here are Elder Latimer's July letters.  Things have been a little crazy so we haven't posted them until now.  He  is seeing much success! -- Eds.

July 1, 2013

Hi Everyone:

It’s going good here. Its been thunderstorms this last week, and they are supposed to continue! So it’s getting a lot more humid with all the rain, but at the same time cooling down, which is nice! I have asked for a less-active list from our branch so we can follow up on them. The problem is, with our limited miles, and the fact that most of the less-actives live out in the boonies, its hard for us to find the time and miles to see most of them. But we are getting a few who are close to coming back to church.

We didn’t ultimately go to the Baptist church as we ended up having church on Sunday. If you didn’t count the 2 visitors from Virginia who showed up, a high council member, and us, there were 3 members of the branch there. But it was still good. We taught a sunday school lesson on the word of wisdom, but some got stuck on the idea of eating in moderation and wondered if we should give temple recommends to fat people because they aren’t obeying the word of wisdom if they indulge themselves that much! Anyway, it was another ridiculous lesson at church with a ton of speculation and false doctrine, but we managed to straighten most of it out the best we could.

It’s supposed to rain here for the 4th with thunder storms – so there will be a lot of noise here. We may either go to a member’s or stay on the porch and watch just because if they aren’t a member, they are most likely going to be tanked hillbillies playing with explosives, and I think they would think 2 kids in white shirts would be a fun target! We do have a ton of fireworks in the house that our landlord must have left. We can carry them for protection!

Training [the new missionary] is good.  I think everywhere now is training for 2 transfers. They instituted the 12 week program where the trainer has to train for 12 weeks and prepare that missionary to be ready to train the 3rd transfer if need be because of all the new missionaries. We were told that we are getting in the high 20's of new missionaries coming and mid 30's the transfer after – the majority being sisters!

Thanks for getting the pictures ready! I have been working out for the half hour in the morning and then when we get back at night, we have an hour or so after planning of free time that I use to lift.  Also we went and got 3 huge semi-truck tires.  I’m not sure how we managed to fit them all in our little suburu, but we did, so we get to flip tires as well, which is a pretty good work out.  It helps we have a huge back yard! With all the protein I’ve been eating (mostly chicken breast and broccoli), I’m hoping to get to 180 at one point.  It probably won’t happen on my mission just because I don’t have enough weight to get there. Maybe when I get home and can start at the gym again.

I am getting a few letters and more is always better.  Please post on facebook the address to the mission home and tell everyone to write me. The mission home just because I have a feeling that because the branch is struggling and shrinking that when Elder Price gets his visa and leaves they will shut the area down for a while.  I’m pretty sure Pres Pitt doesn’t want to have someone serve in this area for too long. At least I hope I don’t have to serve like 4 transfers here, but we will see.

The mission home address is 888 Oakwood Rd. Suite 310 Charleston, WV.  I don’t remember the area code, but I’m sure you could Google it to find it!

Jay didn’t make it to church the other week so we have to reset his date, although the good news is his fiancé is starting to sit in on lessons and was excited to come to church this week.  Unfortunately, she was called into work at the nursing home. The cool thing about that is there is a lady there we take the sacrament too, and Tabatha (Jay's fiancé) told Nelly (the Member) that she was going to come to church with us but had to work, which is cool because if she told us I would have felt it was an excuse but because she willingly told a member she was wanting to come it makes us think she is genuinely interested, and if both of them are they will help to push each other!

We are also close to setting another man and his wife on date soon.  He is the one who is a free mason, and she is the one who had her mother condemned to hell by a Jehovah witness elder at her funeral. So she is really enjoying hearing about the plan of salvation!

Like I said earlier I’m sure people here celebrate the 4th here just like everyone else, except they probably go a little more overboard, a lot of alcohol and recklessly using explosives for terrible ideas (ha ha).  It should be a fun time!

The thunderstorms here are nothing like back home. It continues strikes and rolling thunder for hours. Because of all the lighting, the whole sky looks like a strobe light. It’s really cool. Sadly, we haven’t had any super close yet! I love storms, one day our basement flooded because of all the rain. That’s another thing the rain here isn’t constant like back home but every week or 2 it pours! Like if you stand outside for 5 seconds you can’t be any more wet than you are. We enjoy going for runs in it, a good change of pace!

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

July 8, 2013

Hi Everyone!

We have reset Jay's baptism, and he has got 3 of his kids back for the summer -- 2 of which are over 8 and he is interested in having them baptized as well. His fiancé works at the nursing home where a less active woman we visit stays, and she has been working and talking with her. They are planning on coming to church Sunday! Also we went to visit the Baptist pastor and went into his church where he was doing a practice wedding ceremony. The people there saw he is talking to the Mormons, and I think he got some flack. Oh well maybe they will be curious too! We hope we didn’t offend him!

We have been playing basketball and it’s been really productive.  We are teaching 3 new people who are really good kids and getting a less active member back to church that way, as well as another kid who is the cousin of 2 of the kids we play b-ball with.  His mom is less active, and they want to come to church as well. A lot of missionaries would shake their head at us when we told them about the basketball thing, so it’s nice to see results come from it!

On the 3rd we went with the less active we play basketball with to watch him light fireworks and that was cool because we had thunder and fireworks at the same time. Although it’s a lot more relaxed around here in the 4th cause there are no places to buy fireworks except for the grocery store, and people here are really poor anyways, and it’s illegal to have anything that shoots up in the sky, like the mortars we always have. So just a lot of fountain fireworks.

Today we are going fishing and playing basketball then going out to eat with the kids we play basketball with -- about 8 of them. So it will be a fun day. It’s nice to be able to have them around because they have become actual friends as opposed to people we teach and talk to some times. They are always inviting us out to do things with them. It helps me feel like a real person sometimes! The other day they took us noodling! Sadly I forgot my camera! I got a 40 lb. catfish! It wasn’t an extreme sport and we weren’t swimming! So we were good to go! It was an interesting experience knowing a huge fish in is this hole, but you can’t see it and you have to stick your hand in its mouth keeping your thumb on the outside so you can grab it once it bites. It was a lot of fun. I’ll have to take you all one time when we take a mission tour! They sometimes invite us to cookouts they have and other things, which leads to questions and things so it’s all worth it! It also helps us relieve some stress and enjoy our days some more!

Training is good.  My companion is a little messy. He leaves dirty bowls on the tables, couch, floor and when he eats food is everywhere, and he doesnt even pick it up. Oh well, I guess I know how mom feels now... SORRY MOM!

I think Oliver [our family dog] likes to play a little rough after what we all put him through. I remember when i would play with him he would run at me, and I would grab him around the head and flip him over. He loved it! So I’m sure Ryan’s dog wasn’t ready for that! Does he still howl if you howl at him?

I really am enjoying my mission! It is a lot better than I thought it would be! I sent my camera card back it should be there today or tomorrow!

Do we have any pictures from my surgery? I think I may have left them at the docs office before. If not dont worry about.  Elder Price was just curious to see them, because he wants to be a doc later in life.

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

July 17, 2013

Hi Everyone!

I don’t know how Joe didn’t enjoy EFY.  Even when I wasn’t excited doing anything church-like I was always excited to go to EFY!

Well at least Jonathan will have a cool battle scar! He needs to make up a cool story for it now: like he got in a fight with a guy who had a knife and got stabbed, but still whooped up on the other guy! That’s crazy how good of a runner he is! Are you going to put him in like classes or something to help them train him? The earlier the better! 

It’s really hot and humid here – in the mid 90's with at least 60-70% humidity. I was talking to Ryan, one of the guys we play ball with, and he said August gets even worse – like a lot worse. Up to 90%-100% humidity all the time if not above. So I’m not too excited for that. If I wasn’t a missionary, I would be all for it, having great time for swimming and white water rafting! Then the river would feel amazing and lakes would be a pool!

You need to tell Jake to check his e-mail or his spam folder. I sent him an e-mail a while ago and I still don’t have a response.  When is he turning in his papers? After fall semester? I’m not surprised that he makes those video's! Did he ever make a "Harlem Shake" Video?

That’s crazy how big the ward is. It has 10x more primary children than our branch has people.  For that matter, about 100 more than our whole branch roster has! It seems now like they may shut down this branch pretty soon. We have had a member from the stake presidency here 3 straight weeks, and they have been talking about it for a while. The other week we had 8 people there – the missionaries, 2 visitors, and President Hunter who is in the stake presidency – so 3 actual branch members!

Other than that the work is going well, we met a kid named Dakota while playing basketball, and he is a really nice kid who wants to do the right thing. He had been adopted twice and all over in detention centers in his life. They had found his birth mom, and he is living back with here now and has done a complete 180. His mom always tells us how much of a blessing it is to have him back, and that these kind of situations never happen. What’s cool is that he has been here only a month now and his mother is a less-active woman who is not on the roster because she moved here and never had her records transferred. Now that her son is taking the lessons, and has been set on date for the 3 of August, she is beginning to want to come back to church. When we ask when we come back she makes sure it’s a time when she is off work and at home. So maybe the Lord put Dakota back in her hands so that we could find him and help him come to the church as well as bring his mother back! Pretty cool experience!

We have been playing basketball with the youth here.  They are all are 18-19 years old. They are all very nice and respectful. We met them all playing basketball, and they have really started to like us. Since there is almost nothing to do here we will go and fellowship with them, most every day, whether its basketball, fishing, frog giggin, or noodling. It helps us to get to know them better and especially when you fish, there is plenty of time to sit and talk about the gospel. They always tell us, “I never thought I would be this close with a Mormon before.”  They keep telling us we need to come back after the mission so we can do some more things together. So whether they come to the gospel now or later, I think its productive. Since it’s their first encounter with Mormons, and we have become some of their closest friends here. I think that later when they are married and have families and slow down with all the things they do at this age and missionaries knock on their door, I’m sure they will be really receptive and want to listen and learn more. 

My ankle is doing better. Both my ankles give me trouble. I usually roll both of them on a daily basis. I just think they are so messed up that it has to get rolled pretty bad to hurt. But now it’s doing better it was just sore for a few days. 

And for my birthday I’m not too sure what I want, there aren’t too many things i can use out here. Although I would still like a pair of cowboy boots for p-day at least :) My nike free runners are trashed. I have used them for everything that has to be done in rain/mud/mowing grass etc... so I don’t really have another pair. But  that’s all i can really think of.

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

July 22, 2013

Hi Everyone!

We are really excited for Dakota and his mom as well to start to come back to church! Jay is not on date anymore because he didn’t make it to church this week, so we will go back and try and set another date for him. He is really eager and wanting to do the right thing.  I think he is just having a hard time grasping how serious and life changing this really will be and that it’s not just another baptism.

But he did have a crazy experience a few days ago, and so did we. There was a pretty bad thunderstorm just like there has been for the last 3 weeks!  Jay was at the library, and we were walking there to go on LDS.org, and we were about maybe 100 yards from the library, maybe closer (I don’t remember too well) and lighting struck the side of the library. All I remember was a flash and then my ears were ringing because the thunder was so loud! It was crazy.  So we went in to the library to see what happened and check on people. Jay was there with his kids and was so happy to see us because apparently the strike just missed him.  He was pretty startled and hard of hearing at the same time.  He told us the side of his head was still really hot from it. People who were on the computers got shocked because they were holding the mouse.  Not too bad but it was not pleasant, I’m sure. We later learned that the lightning struck one of the electric lines that go to the library right above it, and now over the door to the office there is a huge mark from it.  It’s crazy.  Now the computers don’t work right and the automatic doors just randomly open. It was pretty crazy! I’ve never been that close to a strike before! 

We have taught the guys we play basketball with 1 formal lesson – to Ryan and his brother Jordan – and the others will ask questions occasionally, so we are still just introducing them to the gospel. We actually had a cook out with Ryan and his girlfriend, and asked them if they would like to come to church, both said they wouldn’t mind and should be coming this week! Playing basketball and things with them has really made it bearable here.  My first transfer I thought was going to shoot myself! Now I really enjoy it here. What’s nice also is all those guys we fellowship with see us as really good friends of theirs and aren’t intimidated like most people are around us, which is great because they are very open and not afraid to say what’s on their mind, which allows us to be able to help them some more!

I know they have been thinking about closing the branch for a while. The closest building is about 40 miles away from us. So if anything they would have to shut this area down or give us a lot more miles, and it would be pretty tough to get people to drive 80 mile round trips every week for church, especially investigators, considering the majority are on welfare and either don’t have a car or money for gas for those kind of trips, but we will see.

That’s good Joe is starting to get a little more crazy one the tubes! I’m sure he enjoyed that a lot more than just a slow straight ride! That’s awesome about Jonathan! I don’t think I ever ran the mile that fast until like high school or something! 

I still don’t know who to root for [in college football] now! I feel kind of bad but I still lean toward UW. I’ve been a fan too long to just go with a school I go to, although if Boise State were in the top 10 again I would have to go for them, just because they need to play for a national title and beat someone like Bama or LSU to prove themselves, even though they already have by beating Oregon twice, Georgia in the Georgia dome, Oregon State when they were top 15, as well as Arkansas, Virginia Tech when they were good, and others! And of course the 2007 Fiesta bowl Vs. Oklahoma! 

One thing I haven’t gotten yet on my mission is a companion who likes football.  Well, as much as I do, I guess. They have all been the kind who will watch it sometimes but they don’t really care to much for it. But Ryan who we play basketball with loves football, so when we are with him we will always talk about it, which is nice.

I am excited for my present! [Josh’s birthday is on August 6^th]. You got me too excited now! Thank you for ordering my work boots! I feel bad always asking for things, but I’m out of protein powder and out of support card money. Elder Price and I share one because he is going to Argentina so he doesn’t have a card for here so they put both out money on my card, and he is quite the spender....

Love you!

Elder Latimer

P.S.  I have a question for you, and if you don’t know, I plan to ask Pres. Pitt. I was reading through D&C the other day and came across D&C 84:41 and not sure exactly what it means. Because I thought there was only one thing you could do to not be forgiven, but maybe I just interpreted it wrong. It would be interesting to know and good to know especially for a few people in the branch who have family members who have be excommunicated and have fallen away from the church. 

July 29, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Dakota is doing well he came to church yesterday, and is scheduled for august 17th! He came along with Ryan, Jordan, and Ryan’s girlfriend, Kelly. It was a really cool experience to find out later from some members that as we taught gospel principles to them, they had a meeting about closing down the branch. President Schweinbraten (the branch president) said later he was going to agree to close it until he saw us come in with 4 investigators. He ended up telling us that he was done and us bringing the investigators that week gave him hope, and that we aren’t closing the branch just yet.  It was really cool to see the blessing it was that they all decided to come that Sunday and not one week later.

Not only that, but after we reported out numbers to the District Leader and he to the Zone Leaders, we got a call that night from them telling us how amazed they were with that number. They said they have never seen anything even close to that before. The Assistants also sent us a message earlier in the day pretty much thanking us for working hard in this area. So that was really nice to get that reassurance and to know that this is actually a really hard area, and that others know it, and it’s not just us. 

Tomorrow we have interviews with President Pitt, something that I always look forward to.  We get to talk and hang out with a lot of other missionaries and be able to sit down and talk with President Pitt one-on-one which doesn’t happen too often. Sometimes is blows my mind the things he teaches us, and how knowledgeable he is. I would not be surprised in the least bit if he was called to the Seventy or even the Quorum of the Twelve sometime after he is done being the mission president. He is a great guy.

Thank you for that explanation on D&C 84:41.  That makes sense. I had looked around and found a quote from Marion G Romney.  I would paste it here but Lds.org won’t work now. It said something kind of like what you said. It’s sad to think about, especially for a family in our ward who is very active and their dad, who has been to the temple and everything, has refused to come to church anymore.  He enjoys his beer too much. But our branch president is working with him.

I did get my shoes and boots! Thank you. I got a good chance to break them in today. We went to a member’s house and dug a 3/4 mile long ditch and ran power lines to his home. It was quite wet as well, but the dirt here is really cool –  a lot different from back home. Here it is like clay. You can pick it up and pack it like a snowball almost, and it all sticks together. Now the boots are nice and muddy and look like they should! Thank you guys! I don’t think my free runners would have handled that.

Of course I miss a great summer! Have you guys been up at the lake much? We have been doing a lot of fishing/frog giggin and basketball with the non-member youth here. They said they would like to come back to church as well as try bringing a friend or two! Who says hanging out isn’t productive! It’s definitely a blessing from the Lord though to provide this opportunity to relax and joke around with some good friends and turn it into teaching opportunities and willingness to come to church. So far on my mission I have seen the most success when we don’t push the gospel in their face, but just be friends with people and occasionally bring it up, and leave it if they seem to be getting irritated. In Ashland as well as here.

Jay is doing all right. He is planning to be at church this weekend with him and his kids and hopefully his fiancé too. The only problem with him is they don’t plan on getting married anytime soon. I think it’s because they receive more money for raising the kids and not being married than they would if they get married. They live together which is a problem, but we hope to help him work it out, and act on the faith he has and get married.

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

Heat, Humidity, and Knocking Doors

Two new letters from Elder Latimer.  He is doing great!  Please write him at joshua.latimer@myldsmail.net

June 17, 2013

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! 

I’ll be sure to be sending you something, they have some interesting stuff here!

Yes, they still do call the new missionaries greenies. He [Josh’s new companion] is from Garden Grove, California. Our mission is receiving a ton of new missionaries also - especially sisters. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next year or 2 there are more sisters than Elders!

It is tough being in this area, and knowing I’ll be here another 2 transfers [due to training a new missionary], but I’ll have to make it work. We found a few guys who play basketball regularly so we will play with them to fellowship. It gives us a nice break from tracting even though we have knocked on about every door in our area!! The other day we knocked on a door, and it was a group of people who were having a Bible study.  They excitedly invited us in, and we were ready to bash, but they turned out to be really nice, and it was a good experience. Although they are one of the churches that speaks in "tongues" and all kind of pray at the same time... so when the prayer came around they all started mumbling under their breath different things. It was honestly really creepy... 

The other day we were wanting two big tires for our back yard to use to work out. As we drove by a truck shop they had tires outside so we stopped and asked if we could have them. They were big semi tires, and the guys said we could have them if we could even fit one of them in our Subaru.... we fit 3!!! So now we have a great cross fit kind of work out to do along with the dumb-bells. Then we also will run 3 miles in the morning so we are keeping in shape! 

Our branch is slowly getting smaller and smaller... another family just left to Charleston, so we aren’t sure what to do if the branch ends up closing. I guess we will find out.

You don’t know how happy I am to know the [Miami] Heat are down! I hope the Spurs can pull it off. I kind of like the Spurs because they are kinda a bunch of old guys who play fundamental basketball, as opposed to the young high flying Heat super star team.

Yes, we do have A/C in our house now, thank goodness.  It’s been getting hot and having a few storms as well. They have some of the coolest lightning storms here. The other day it rained so hard our house started to flood a bit, and at one point the rain was coming down side ways!  There are a lot of bugs but they don’t bite too bad. They do have a ton of "Lightning bugs." I don’t know if you have ever seen those, but the field in front of our house is full of them. It looks like floating neon green waves... it’s pretty cool! 

Other than that I’m doing well, and having a pretty good time. Just trying to stay busy. My stomach started to hurt again, like it did in Ashland. That sharp pain that felt like I was being stabbed... but it went away by the end of the day like the other one. I’m not sure what it is.

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

P.S 

Can you send me the "Doctrine and Covenants" videos from the church store? They have a lot of great videos for investigators... AND can you send "The Best Two Years" The Zone Leaders told me it is approved to watch in the mission, and I’ve heard it’s 10 times funnier after of while you are on your mission!

June 24, 2013

The [Church] broadcast was great! From what we heard and have been told, nothing is being put in for sure until President Pitt receives clear instructions on how to do and what to do. But from the sounds of it we will be using facebook, twitter etc... We already have texting and things, but that’s it.  The sad thing is no one in our branch watched the broadcast so they have no idea about what was said.  Maybe we can inform them. I enjoyed the story about the small branch in the basement with only 12 members, because we meet in a small liquor store and only had 8 members this week. Next week Church meetings are canceled because we will be the only ones able to go. So we decided we are going to go to a Baptist church where the pastor we teach is giving a sermon. So they should be cool, maybe we can ask to say a few words? Convert the congregation? That would be a cool story! 

Maybe I can coach Jonathan [in lacrosse] when I get back, but hopefully I’ll be back in Boise by then. But I still can beforehand!  I'm glad Jace is playing football! That’s exciting, I'd think with how smart he is he would make a great QB to read the plays and the defenders and play to their weaknesses.  Or if he gets big enough, a MLB to read the offense and play to their weaknesses! Get him on Creatine now! Just kidding, that probably wouldn’t be good! Although its working wonders for me! I’m at about 152 now. The tires help.  I think it’s also a big plus regaining all that muscle I lost in my left leg after my knee injury. It’s still smaller but getting back to where it was before -- slowly but surely. It seems to still not be 100% healed yet, because it still gives me problems every now and then just from walking. I don’t know if it helps but we play basketball with a less active and non-members about 3-4 times a week (including P-day), but it is good exercise and a chance to get a break from the hard work and a lot more productive to get to know and befriend 6 non-member 17-20 year olds who are surprisingly not involved with tobacco or alcohol, especially for their age and where they are growing up! A lot more productive than 2 hours of tracting would be!

We walk literally everywhere even though we have miles to use and a brand new 20130 Subaru. It’s like 90 degrees and 70% humidity or something and we walk like 10 miles a day! No wonder no one will talk to us while tracting.  It’s because our white shirts and slacks are soaked through with sweat and we do not look happy because we are miserably hot and smell terrible.

The other day at church we were in Sunday School where there was plenty of false doctrine is preached. I was going to tell you what was brought up and discussed for a half hour but I don’t even feel comfortable typing it in. But it stays interesting. 

Afunny story about an older gentleman at Church who reminds me of the old guy from Denis the Menace. He has some funny things to say.  We were talking about gathering Israel from the 4 quarters of the earth, and he says. "I dont know how you can get 4 quarters from the earth, I think its to round to do that." Elder Price and I just laughed quietly to ourselves. Another time while at dinner, we got desert, which was like fudge brownies with uncooked cookie dough on top and ice cream. He was asked how he liked it and he said, "It’s comparable to the time I had to drink a half pint of glucose!" Apparently he had to do that to check for diabetes, which sounds like a terrible idea if you ask me.

And tha’ts great you are helping in missionary work I’m sure the Sister's love it! Hopefully they come around to being baptized. I don’t remember the story about the DeGrazia's... maybe you can tell me next week.

  

I did hear about the NBA finals. That’s too bad. I just hope he [LeBron] doesn’t get 6 rings. I think they ruined the NBA.  Well, the NBA already kind of sucked, but now that they decided to make a super team and so did the Lakers and a few other teams will I’m sure. It will be like 4 or 5 good teams and blow out games... it’s too ba. I’ll be sticking with college basketball only - at least until Seattle gets another team. The good news is OKC didn’t win so I’m happy about that.

And THANK YOU for getting me “The Best Two Years” so fast.  We watched it that night, and it was hilarious! I have pictures to send you guys, but I need to get the other card I sent you back first so I can keep taking pictures. Have you put all my mission photos on facebook yet? Maybe could you get them printed out and send them to me so I have them to look at every once and a while? Thanks!

Love you guys!

Elder Latimer

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