Eds - We talked to Jake on Mother's day. He was allowed to call home, but given the call volumes at the Missionary Training Center on that day, he only had 30 minutes. He sounded great and is having a great time. He is now serving as a Zone Leader in the MTC (kind of a leader among a group of 30 - 45 missionaries). He leaves on May 26 to Mexico. Pics are coming, he assures us!
May 2, 2014
Dear
All:
That’s
awesome that Jonathan is really competitive, and I’m glad Jace is feeling
better and it sounds like Joe and Tyler have a lot of fun at school from what I’m
told.
That is
really hot [the temperature in Seattle]! I checked the weather in my mission
this week and it’s over 100 degrees all week. I’m not really excited for that,
but I’m excited to get out of Provo. I love the MTC and my district, but it’s
pretty strict here sometimes. I wonder why they'll let me wander around the
most dangerous city in Mexico for 2 years, but won’t let us walk around Provo
on p-days. They must know something I don’t.
Nothing
really new has happened here, just more Spanish. I did go to the Consulate this
week they took my picture and finger prints. Our mission president says they haven’t
had any trouble with visas to Mexico in the past year or so. So that’s good
news for me. I’ll send all the pictures I’ve taken next week. I forgot to bring
my cord to the computer lab. I wish I had more to share!
We did
get a devotional from Dallin H. Oaks, which was awesome. 3 apostles in 2 weeks
isn’t bad at all! The days fly by here, and I’m sure they'll go faster in the
mission field. As long as you stay busy it passes really fast. There are not a
whole lot of missionaries in west campus - probably like 200. But that’s fine
because we all know each other. We started talking in east coast accents or
really heavy New Jersey accents ALL THE TIME. It’s becoming a problem actually.
We say things like "you dooooog" or "hey gerald!" or
"wow man thats 100% Versace." It doesn’t sound funny when I type it
but when we skype or call at some point ill make sure to them for you.
Elder Latimer
Additional e-mail:
Yeah, I did get everything! Thanks so much for
that. It was disappointing mom didn’t sent my UW shorts and my NC shorts, she
says they’re "disgusting." But yeah, we’ve had 3 apostles speak to us
so far President Uctdorf, Dallin H. Oaks, and D. Todd Christofferson. ( I
probably spelled that wrong, but I don’t care). I need to get you and mom on
the same email conversation because I send my 'blog' posts to her. I’m learning
the language pretty well, our teachers vary. There is one who has not said a
single word to us in English, and others will break down every now and then and
speak English to us. My companion and I are teaching 3 investigators right now.
We picked up a new one from our zone leaders and we expected to just teach the
restoration, but she threw us a huge curveball and started asking about prophet’s
salaries and temples and what’s inside and how to go in one. We weren’t really
prepared, but I was surprised how much we could explain to her in Spanish. We
are also teaching a guy who is agnostic which is much more difficult in Spanish
because most of our investigators so far have had catholic backgrounds. The
investigators are just people who work at the MTC. Not all are members though
so that’s kind of interesting.
May 10, 2014
Dear All:
Tell Jace I say “happy
birthday!” and I’ll sent him something cool once I get to Mexico!
And I GET TO CALL HOME
ON MOTHERS DAY! It will be from 1:45 to
2:15 (utah time) so plan accordingly! I told Tyler to have Joe write me but he
hasn’t yet.
This week was pretty
good! We’re getting a lot better at Spanish! My companion and I are teaching 6
lessons a day on average now when it should be more like 3, because we picked
up an extra investigator from the previous Elders in our zone. Then we were
supposed to stop meeting with one named Daniel (because they have schedules to
meet with different missionaries), but he invited us back on his own time for
us to teach him more! Our teacher observed our lesson with him and he said he
felt the spirit really strongly when we taught, which is rare with practice
investigators, apparently most of them are relatively new converts that let us
practice, but some are non-members, but I have no idea which ones. So that was
exciting!
I’m actually getting
pretty good at Spanish. I don’t have to sit and think and translate what I want
to say in my head before, I can kinda just say it without much thought, which
is a cool new level to be at.
I forgot to tell you but
ELDER HOLLAND CAME AND SPOKE! It was awesome. He’s such a stud. He talked about
how much his mission meant to him, and how it influenced every major decision
in his life. He also talked about how the gift of the Holy Ghost is the most
underrated gift in the whole world, because when Christ came and ministered to
the Nephites, the second day they prayed for the Holy Ghost to come. It put it
into perspective that every member of the Church has the blessing to have a
member of the Godhead with them at any given moment as long as their worthy.
But this week has been
great. I realized why missionaries in SLC and Provo get so fat. Last week we
had a guy pay for our burgers, and today a girl that goes to BYU bought us all
sandwiches at great harvest bakery. Then after we were done eating some guy
came over and gave us all gift cards to that bakery, saying he wanted to pay
for our next meal. There is a lot of love for missionaries here. We also got to
go the museum today with all the religious paintings from Karl Bloch, and two
other famous Danish painters Mormons love. It was a really cool experience. I’ll
send pictures of my companions and stuff too!
REMEMBER TO ANSWER ON
MOTHERS DAY! I’ll call your cell phone and the home phone. Actually the computers
here are all locked down so my chord won’t let me send any! Urgh! I have to get
some adapter or something one of the Elders says I can use his next week. But I’ll
send them soon! Or just mail the card.
Love, Elder Latimer
Additional Note:
That’s awesome [told him
about the Seahawks draft]! They picked later rounds before and won the Superbowl,
so I hope the strategy works again. It seems like it’s more up to the coaches of
how well the team does. The Titans are lucky to get Sankey. I’ll remember to
send the letter to both you and mom next week!
It has been a pretty
good week all the details are in the letter to Mom. But I forgot if I told mom
this but I’ll say it again. We were teaching an investigator (they say some
aren’t Mormon) and it was supposed to be our last lesson with him, then we get
a new investigator, but he invited us back to teach him again on his own time, which
was really cool for us! I explained it more to Josh. Ask him to forward you
that email. My Spanish is getting a lot better. I feel comfortable talking with
native speakers now. I can’t understand every specific word but I can get the
main idea of almost everything they’re saying. I understand some topics better
than others, but the real Spanish will come in Mexico!
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