January 25, 2015...."I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people"

Fam bam what is good it's ya boy Elder Armijo here in Kissimmee where miracles are happening daily. Haha I hope you have all had a good week and a good Sabbath. This week was super "cold" here haha for once. And we were on bikes. It rained on us while we were biking and it was like 45 degrees too so it was kinda sucky but we stuck it out. I was pretty grumpy not gonna lie. Biking in church clothes whilst wet and sweaty cuz humidity is not the biz. But it was worth it because we were able to see "D" and "M" and their mom and brother and sister. "D" is getting baptized this Saturday!! We are pumped. And "M" is getting baptized the weekend after. We had interviews with President Berry and they were sweet! He challenged Elder Hansen and me to help "B" the mom of "D" and "M" feel the spirit at their baptisms and help her realize the importance of uniting the whole family. So we are working hard on that the whole family came to church this Sunday which was a first. Also, we got to watch a worldwide broadcast for missionaries all over the world it was cool. We also met with "E" who will be baptized on the 6th and he has been receiving answers to his prayers left and right it's been so awesome to see him grow and how much more happy he is. We have the car this week and we also have about 60 names that the ward gave us to go see ( less-actives, recent move-ins, randoms ). So we will be super busy this week with seeing people haha which is good.  (Names abbreviated for privacy)

Time is flying by super fast. And also some bad news.....we will no longer have transfer meetings. I guess the church missionary department is doing away with them everywhere and we as a mission don't understand why honestly. They help so much and are so organized and spiritual for us and the members that bring us. It's really disappointing and they haven't even told us how transfers are going to work now and transfers are 2 weeks away. Elder Hansen and I have been trying to understand why they would stop transfer meetings and we can't think of any reason why haha so I hope they tell us more on why this was decided. Kinda stinks. I'm loving my mission and the people I have met. Can't believe I only have 10 months left it sucks haha I'm trying to make the best of the time I have left. It's going by too fast, love you all. Have a sick week and remember why we are here Alma 18:34 ( fav scrip ) "Ammon said unto him:  I am a man; and man, in the beginning, was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people,that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true;"

Elder Armijo

Pics of the kids and Elder Hansen and ME!

January 11th and January 18th........"Let me tell you a secret, about a Father's love".

January 11th

Let's start off with a song quote from a song by my uncle Todds favorite country singer, George Straight. 

" let me tell you a secret about a fathers love.

a secret that my daddy said was just between us.

 he said daddies don't just love their children every now and then.

it's a love without end, Amen." 

 Now before someone goes and accuses me of listening to George straight on my mission I assure you I did not. ( even though we should be allowed to I mean, come on ) but This song played over and over again in my head this week as I have felt the love that my father in heaven has for me and for all of his children. And that love is always there. I've realized that as humans we tend to distance ourselves from that love whether it's intentional or not. But my favorite thing is that the love is always there, God never ceases to love us, we just walk away from it. We turn our heart and mind to the world for happiness and turn away from God. It has to be so upsetting and frustrating to God when all he does is want to bless us and want to help us and love us but yet we still turn away and choose the wrong instead of the right. I think this because that's how it feels when people we teach won't keep the commitments we give to them. But I feel like that doesn't come close to what God feels like when we do something dumb. Idk just my thoughts this week. I love that the love he offers is a love without end. 

So, this week was pretty cool. It was our first week on bikes and man that first day I thought my legs were gonna fall off. Hashtag full car the last 3 months. Haha, but we had a good week for being on bikes. We can only get to half of our area the other half is like a 30-mile bike ride to where anyone lives haha so on bike weeks we stay in Kissimmee and car weeks we go out to Celebration, FL which is the far end of the area. But this week "D" came to church and he brought all of his siblings as well so there were 4 kids at church which was sweet. "D" is 11 and he is getting baptized on the 30th of January. It's weird cuz his mom isn't really interested in fact she wants to start her own church, but she wants us to teach and baptize all of her kids....so idk maybe she'll come around after they are all baptized haha and she also wants her kids baptized one by one not all at once. So were working with that. Then we've been meeting with "E" who is also getting baptized in February and he's super solid!! He is in a care facility right now recovering from his knee surgery but he lets us come and see him 3 times a week and he loves the Doctrine. He keeps all of his commitments that we leave with him so it's awesome!! This area is sweet! I'm glad to be serving here oh and also this part week a new stake was formed in our mission which means a new zone was formed as well. It's south east of us and we took part of the Fort Lauderdale mission and made it our mission hahaha we also gained 8 of their missionaries who are now permanently in our mission. So now we have 8 zones in our mission! The zone is called the Vero beach zone or stake I guess just another beach added to the mission hahaha. But anyways love you all hope you had a good week!! And special shout out to my dad this past week happy birthday pops!! I hope you get my letter!! 

Also some pics from this weeks hahaha 

1. Me riding my bike lol

2. Me and a duck 

3. Me and a duck 

4. Cool pic 

6. New Year's Eve pics I forgot to send 

January 18th

Happy MLK day that man was inspired.

Well, friends and fam another week has come and gone and it is now week 4 of the transfer which is crazy. Time is flying so fast here. We have so much going on in our area it's just making weeks go by so fast. We barely have enough time to visit all of the people we need to visit haha. We have 4 people on date for baptism which is awesome. We just set a date with "M" who is "D's" sister. "D" is the one getting baptized January 30th and "M's" date is February 6th along with our friend "E"!! They all came to church this Sunday too!! It was a special stake conference where there was a broadcast from salt lake and we got to hear from Elder Rasband send Elder Hales and Elder Clayton and some lady from the relief society presidency lol. So we had "D" and his siblings there including their mom which was super sick cuz that's the first time she has come with them and we had "E" there!! They are all so awesome. "E" is progressing so well and has such a good spirit to him. He's been through a lot of family trials but still pushes on. He said he loved coming to church and it was unlike any other church he had been too people welcomed him and made him feel good and not out of place. We meet with him 3 times a week as well as we meet with "D" and his siblings almost 4 times a week depending on his mom. All in all, it was a solid week. I love doing actual missionary work. Teaching people and reactivating members is the greatest. I have yet to knock doors on my mission and I am so happy I haven't because it is such a waste of time haha. I understand in some missions that's all they do and I don't understand it. Even Elder Perry said times have changed and the way to do missionary work must change as well. Working through less active members is the best use of any missionaries times. We help less-actives regain a testimony and in turn, they have us teach their non-member family and friends. It's how missionary work should be done. Not aimlessly knocking doors where 1 out of 1000000 people are baptized haha. There are better ways to utilize the time we are given as missionaries. Apologies if you do knock doors all day but any good mission president knows it's not the best use of a missionaries time haha. It should be an absolute last resort. Anyways love you all hope you just have a good week!! 

Elder Armijo

January 4, 2016..."New Year, Same Me, Different ways, Better ways"

Ahh what a blessing it is to be able to email today I feel like it's been ages. 

How's everyone doing? Happy new year I hope you guys had a good one I know we did haha. It was sick. So the first week in the new area was very interesting but we saw a lot of people and there are so many we didn't get to see. The amount of work going on in this area is just so sick and I'm so pumped to be here not to mention my companion elder Hansen is super sick!! He's from Utah! He's like 6'2 6'3 and plays soccer lol not basketball. But we get along super well and he reminds me of my trainer and first companion elder pelo so it's like having elder Pelo again. So I'm excited to be here and to be serving with him. When I got here we were pleasant hill north serving in the pleasant hill ward but Sunday they had a reorganization of the stake and ward boundaries and now we are in the Kissimmee ward serving in the Kissimmee west area! Which is pretty much the same as before just a few changes we have a brand new bishop just called for his first time and we will be getting a lot of members from the old Kissimmee ward so it's gonna be a crazy next week or two. We have 3 people on date for baptism and they are all super sick! The only thing depressing about this change is we now are car share with the sisters in our ward so every other week we have the car then we bike the others. Which I guess is a blessing since I want to lose weight but it sucks biking in Florida it's so hot lol. But it's all for a reason. We've been sharing with everyone the New Years Mormon message talking about Lots wife and it's a really good video and we've been talking about not dwelling on the past and I think the investigators and members needed it just as much as I did. I have a tendency to wish things would be like they used too. I like to dwell in the past and it holds me back in many ways. So this week I learned that the past is to be learned from and not lived in. I have to have faith in God that my future will be better than my past. We all must have that faith. I know there's a plan for us all. God knows us and loves us. I've felt it so much on my mission. And I've seen it in so many people's lives that we have helped. When they come to know that they can be forgiven for the wrong they have done the change that occurs in their lives is remarkable. I love you all and I'm grateful for this new year to try and be better than the last. I'll send some pics from New Year's Eve love you!! 

Elder Armijo

Here's some pics from New Years!! We helped a member shoot off his
firework mini gun he invented it was sick!! We didn't shoot the Fire Works, we just carried the invention outside and he
did the rest and we watched lol