April 25, 2016.....Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness"

Hey friends and fam another week down here in Kissimmee. It was a
pretty good week. We didn't get to see "B" all week until Sunday
because she had to do community service everyday which stunk but oh well.
We focused a lot on finding and man did it stink haha. Either no one
was home or the ones that were home didn't speak any English. And I
only know so much Spanish haha.  Anyway, yeah so everyday
we went around trying to find people we went through our former
investigators and potential investigators and less active and part
member families but no luck. We did teach a guy named Jackie who is
super in love with the Bible and wouldn't even let us talk hahaha kept
preaching to us and trying to bash. At one point he told us to read
the Bible and to put the Book of Mormon down and Elder Hawkins says
with a firm voice. " NO, you do not tell us to put down the Book of
Mormon " then we continued on about the Bible and things like that.
We're going back this week to read the Bible with him because honestly I'm
not as rehearsed in it as I should be and neither is Elder Hawkins.
But we bore our testimonies firmly. And also we got to see Ernie for
the first time since his baptism fell through in February. He had just
gotten out of the hospital after his surgery. He's in pretty bad shape
but still moving and he actually answered and let us come in and we
talked to him for a few and shared Ether 12:27. I swear that scripture
applies to everything anyone is going through. He said we could start
coming back once a week and seeing how he is and stuff so we will take
it slow with him. But other than that it was a pretty normal week, we
saw our usual less active and recent converts. The ward is really
starting to get a hang of missionary work and there are a lot of tools
being implemented to help the work progress. It's just getting it
going that is the hard part, kinda like waking up at 6:30 and working
out. Waking up sucks, but once you get up and are exercising ( we play
ball ) afterwards you aren't tired and you feel like you can just stay
awake an eternity then you come home at the end of the day and boom
crashed at your desk chair because you're so spent. But that's just me idk
about anyone else. I'm not a perfect missionary lol. Anyways shout out
to my cousin Gunnar who got home this last week. Really weird seeing
the video of him coming home I got trunky not gonna lie 7 months lol. I
remember going to his last minute farewell seems like it was only 2
years ago hahaha, I love you all hope everything is going good . I
also heard that Prince died? Shout out to him for When Doves Cry that's
a good jam so is Purple Rain. Also I had a dream last night where
elder Hawkins and I were biking and there was a guy in front of us and
he had a gun in his pants and he stopped turned around and pointed it
right at me and pulled the trigger but it jammed so he cleared that
round and then pointed at Elder Hawkins and it jammed again then I hit
him with my bike lock and we took off. Hopefully that doesn't  happen to us
but would make for a good story. Love ya have a good week.

Elder Armijo

April 18, 2016....Sometimes things don't always work out but there's always a lesson in everything we do"

Hello friends and fam its ya boy Elder armijo coming to you live from

Kissimmee FL the great city where all things good happen. 

This week went by fast. The weeks are going by fast now it's scaring me that in two

weeks I hit 17 months but who the heck is counting right? Lol. This
week was pretty good. We did a lot of biking of course. Just so you
all know when I came to this area I weighed 220-224 depending on the
time of day. Now I weigh 210 flat. Not sure if I've lost the remaining
of all my muscles or if I'm actually losing weight but it feels good.
And also you will all be super surprised to hear that I have been
eating salads like crazy. And I make them myself and they are so good.
Shout out to Paradise and Panera I now know why I made salads for 2
years while working there. But anyways we had interviews with
president Berry this past week. Those are always interesting but this
one was actually good. I feel like we had a good conversation and were
able to understand each other. He complimented me on my attitude
change over the last few months and then we talked about the area for
the rest of the time. That was probably my last interview with good ol
P Bear. He leaves in June and we get a new mission president,
president Clark. And I've heard from my connects in the underground
that he's a ginger . But it's all good. We were able to see quite a
few people. Still trying to find new people though. That's the struggle
here. We have soooooo many less actives and recent converts so our
LARC lessons are off the chain. But when it comes to investigators
lessons we average about 7 member presents a week which is in no way
bad but they are with the same people. We want to find more people and
we have been trying so hard I just don't know why we can't. Like on
Sunday we had a media referral tell us earlier in the week to come by
and drop off the bible on Sunday at 1. So after church we get home eat
lunch change and we give him a call and twice he doesn't answer so I'm
like okay elder Hawkins what ya think should bike all the way over
there or nah and he was like its up to you man and in my head I was
like well if it was up to me we would take a nap so I'll leave it up
to God so I closed my eyes said a simple prayer and asked god if we
should go over there even though we hadn't got in contact with him. As
soon as I opened my eyes I had my answer and it was of course yes, so
we go and bike there and I bet your all thinking it was some huge
miracle well it wasn't haha he wasn't home and there wasn't even
anyone on the way that we could have talked to nor was there anyone
outside by his house. So disappointed and sore we bike back and on the
way back the wind was blowing super hard and I was getting super
frustrated. Satan was legit trynna scrap with me that day then I
realized that the negative thoughts and feelings I was having weren't
from God but from Satan. So I popped my bike in high gear and put a
smile on and in my head I was like yo Satan hop off okay I'm trynna
preach the gospel and I can't do that if your dragging me down. And
the rest of the day I was in a good mood and we got to see some less
actives that we hadn't seen in a while. So moral of the story is
sometimes things don't always work out but there's always a lesson in
everything we do and how we react to things that don't go our way
shape who we are as individuals. I needed to stop having a bad
attitude about everything that went wrong and just accept it and be
happy and that's what I was taught. Pretty lame to you probably but
pretty significant to me.

 Also we had our ward party and it was a
chili cook off and so we turned up super hard core with chili and
salad and water and some get to know you bingo. The best part was
Bonnie and the kids came and Bonnie had made some chili. Bless her
heart. For those who don't know she and her kids come from very humble
circumstances so when she brought chili it just showed me how humble
she was and willing to give. Long story short Bonnie won the dang
chili cook off she got 20 votes for her chili more than anyone. Now I
didn't try it nor did I try any of the chili because I don't like chili
but it was heart warming to see her excitement as if she had never won
anything in her life before. I love this family and she has asked that
in 3 years when she is able to be baptized that I come back and
baptize her. I love my mission and the experiences I've had and the
people I've met. I hope you all have a great week. And mom feed the
missionaries because we don't get fed to well here so maybe some good
karma will come our way lol. And pray for all the people of Ecuador
after that huge earthquake. Shout out to sister Kendra Wise I hope you
and your comp are safe we will be praying for you!

Got some pics! Us and the Spanish elders took a trip to downtown
Kissimmee and went and saw the state monument they have there and the
lighthouse they have on the lake. Closest I've ever been to having a
lighthouse on my mission Lolz.  Also, a pic of my arm (basketball accident)

April 11, 2016...."I finished the Book of Mormon again and it was awesome this time around"

Well friends and family another week down here in Kissimmee has come

and gone. We had the car this week so we were able to teach a lot of

people. It was a good week. We had ZTM which was ok but it

was fun to see other missionaries. The highlight of the week was

"B" had her interview with President Humphries who is in the

mission presidency and it went super well!! He said he and president

berry were meeting this Sunday to talk it over and that most likely

President Berry would be sending a letter to the first presidency

asking for approval for us to baptize her!! We are praying super hard

that they say yes! If not then that's the will of the lord. She has

changed so much I don't see why she wouldn't be able to but we will

see.

 I finished the Book of Mormon this week again and it was awesome

this time around I learned a lot more from the book of Ether than I

had the first 2 times. And so this week I'm starting again but this

time I'm going to read a chapter a day. There are 239 chapters in the

Book of Mormon. On Tuesday April 12 I have 239 days left on my

mission. So I'm gonna read a chapter a day and finish on the day I

return home. I'm not trunky I promise I just thought about this a few

months ago when I counted the chapters in the Book of Mormon . And

of course I'll be reading the scriptures more than that every day but

I will at least read one chap from the BOM everyday. But yeah this

week is bike week so we will be biking a lot and sweating a lot so

hopefully i will lose some weight. But besides that just the same stuff 

going on here just trying to find more people to teach like always. 

I love being a missionary. Even though there are some things 

that are disappointing on this mission, I am grateful to

be serving here. Elder Hawkins is the man and I'm glad to be with him.

I might send pics idk though I got a bad haircut so I'm hesitant to

send pics lol love you all.

Elder Armijo

Pics:

1.  Me and Elder Hawkins

2.  Eleanor from the Olympia ward drove down to take us to breakfast!  She's so awesome!

April 4, 2016....."My life has changed because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ"

Well friends and family another week has come and gone here in
Kissimmee. Week one of the transfer is over. We had a pretty good week
not as good as most but it was still good. We found out Bonnie's
baptism will have to be postponed for now do to some legal issues but
she could still possibly get baptized in the future so please keep her
in your prayers! She has come so far and has completely turned her
life around. It's been an honor work with her and her kids whom I've
come to love so much. My new comp elder Hawkins is such a good guy.
He's from Orem, Utah and I've never met a more pure hearted son of God
in my life goodness he's such a saint. He's super humble and sorta
quiet but when your comps with me quiet is the opposite of how we are
haha. I'm grateful to be serving with him, he has been out for 6
months now and he was born ( his first area ) in Ocoee which was my
first area as well. So he updated me on the ward and area so that was
cool. I loved general conference this past weekend. Man! every time
I listen to the talk literally everyone I can find something that
applies to me as an individual and as a missionary. Conference on the
mission is different than conference at home. Idk why but it just is.
But I will admit this conference I was panicking when my boy elder
Holland didn't speak but no worries I was relieved when he was
announced as the concluding speaker for the last session. And of
course his talk was amazing. I know we aren't supposed to have
favorites but if we did he would be mine. I loved how much temples
were spoken of this conference and the family. It was sad to see the
prophet of God in such a weak physical state but his short messages he
shared were powerful and although brief the spirit testified to me
that he is a true prophet of God. No matter how many rail and slander
him or the church I cannot deny the witness that I have received from
the Holy Ghost and serving my mission. I know God lives, and I know he
loves us. As stated in general conference we are all sons and
daughters of a father in heaven who loves us and helps us and never
leaves us alone. He did send his son Jesus Christ to atone for the
sins and pains of all that ever were and ever will be. And in Jesus
Christ we can find new life. My life has been changed because of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. I love you all so much and I hope you can
as Elder Holland said feel like you do today tomorrow, because God is
always with us. Let us not be distracted by worldly pursuits or
material objects but focused only on our eternal goals. Shout out to
all my good friends who will return home in the coming months. I love
you all and pray for you daily to have success and to finish your
missions strong.

Elder Armijo