Edit Single.php to use as Latest Posts Page?

Hi there,

I’m trying to make a “Latest Posts” Blog Page. Just a list of my latest posts, like you’d see when you set:
Reading > Static > Front > Blog

I applied these codex changes:
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Pages#Page_Templates
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Creating_a_Static_Front_Page

The problem?

In the instructions above it says: “Set the “Home” template to the default template or any custom template.”

But, my theme’s “default template” looks nothing like a Latest Posts page – a list of posts. Instead, my “default template” looks like this:
http://demo.mythemeshop.com/repose/
*Note: When I create a new Page, my only options are: Default, Contact, and Page without Slider.

So, since default template isn’t working for me when I create a Page for “Latest Posts,” I need to use another template, right? Can I use single.php? A page like this?
http://demo.mythemeshop.com/repose/2013/07/21/morbi-in-dui-quis-est-pulvinar-ullamcorper/

If so, I don’t have the slightest idea how to take single.php and modify it, so I can use it as a template for a new Latest Posts Page.

Is that the workaround to get a Blog page? Am I on the wrong track here?

Thanks