Pictures from Christmas Conference 12/18/2012

 Posing

 Christmas Conference Dinner

 My Favorite Place

 Played "Capture the Flag" in shorts.  Bad Idea

 Posing again

Driving the Sister Missionaries home........6 hr round trip.  That's what we do!

December 3rd, 2012

Hey there Mum and Dad!

Wow this week there isn't to much to talk about only that we didn't have too much success but I'm not the type to get discouraged.  Ive been on my mission 20 months and I've never got down when things don't  happen it pushes me to work harder and rely on the Lord more.  So that's the game plan for this week and we know the Lord will provide and he already has today! This morning we were street contacting and we were specifically looking for a young lady in about her 20's wearing a hat... that's the description a ward member gave us of our next baptism... talk about crazy revelation.. so we were out searching for this young lady and we didn't find her.... today anyways... but we did find a young lad called Daniel and he's homeless and he's a Christian. We started talking to him and he's so sweet! We gave him a book of Mormon and we're meeting with him next Monday so miracles do happen!

Other than that its been a long week... I had the chance to go interview a few candidates for baptism this week in Salisbury.   The two Elders there have two baptisms this weekend and I'm the guy that interviewed them both.   They were solid as can be! So that was a great experience nice to chat to people who have completely changed their lives to join the church!

But yeah things are good we got to be uplifted by Elder Patrick Kearon this past week. It really gave me a boost! I enjoyed it and what a powerful man and quite funny as well! The week has been good! were praying for miracles and we know that the Lord will provide those for us as we are true and faithful!  I love my Mission!!!! I love you all!! Thanks for everything!
Elder Armijo

November 26, 2012

Hey there!!
Well this week has been so sweet!

Dave one of our investigators was baptized on Saturday by my companion Elder Ormsby. It was a great service and there was a great turnout from the ward and then Sunday I was able to give Dave the gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament and it was amazing. Dave is so solid and he has had to make tons of changes in his life in order to live the gospel fully but his heart has changed and that's why it was possible for him to do so! So he is doing great! One of our other investigators called June she unfortunately dropped us this week. We had an amazing family home evening with her at a members home and she felt the spirit ( not the first time shes felt it) then she called us the next day asking if we could call her Sunday morning and wake her up for church! so we were pretty happy about that then the next day she called us and said she was meeting with her minister from her church and that she wouldn't be able to come to church so we were bummed out. She was so solid and she definitely felt the spirit but she decided to stick with her church and so were going to be writing her a letter this week and helping her realize that she has received an answer to which way the Lord wants her to go! so that was rubbish but everything else this week went ok.  We had the opportunity to go help an elderly, less active lady whose house had flooded. We were there scooping out tons of water from her house and I was able to put on some "wellies"  but Elder Ormsby was wearing his running shoes and he got absolutely soaked haha but it was a great chance to serve someone else! I LOVE helping people it just brings this amazing satisfaction to my heart!

Lately I have been reading this book entitled ''Christ in the Americas'' it's all the archaeology and stuff of the ancient Americas and it basically proves the Book of Mormon to be true and it's so amazing to read.  Not because I need to know the Book of Mormon is true but just out of interest! I love this gospel!  I love missionary work!  I love being out here serving the Lord!  I love my Savior Jesus Christ!  He is the only begotten of the father and he is our Redeemer. I love the Book of Mormon and the all the scriptures because they bring light to my day every morning I get to study them. This is Christ's restored church the only true church and I know he restored it through the prophet Joseph Smith! This work is true! I love my mission!
Elder Armijo

November 15,2012

Hey there MUM!  It's good to hear from you!

This week was good. I'm glad you enjoyed stake conference. that's good , they are really trying to push young men to stay worthy to go on missions, I think it is awesome!

My new area is sweet and beautiful. We were in the zone leaders area this past weekend and its the nicest beach in the UK I took some sweet photos. I love this area!  I'm sure we're going to get a car. President called us this morning and talked to us about it lol. I love my new companion Elder Ormsby.  He's from Austrailia and played Tennis at BYU.  He is flippin sweet and we get along great! 

Dave is doing good we taught him the "Law of Tithing"  this past week after church and it went really well he accepted to live it all! President Millar will be doing his baptismal interview this coming week.
 June is golden as can be. We taught her the "Restoration" this past week and she is good to be baptised on the 1st of December. She smokes but is willing to stop for sure. She already told us she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, so she is solid for sure.
I did get your parcel by the way thank you for it:) and the sweets as well! I read most of the book already its really easy to understand! i like it.
We also this weekend were able to attend a play called " Redemption"  It was to remember the fallen soldiers and stuff I enjoyed it!
but yeah that was my week i loved it!
tell me whats new! i love you tons!!
Elder Armijo

here are a few photos. of the beach !

Hey there MUM!

Things here are going good the move went really well!
I was at the temple all day yesterday waiting for my ride that would take me to my new area.
It was a long wait but it was OK.  I was ablet to hang out with Elder Jones all day so that was cool. My new companion is really sweet he is called Elder Ormsby.  He's from Australia and he played tennis at BYU so he's really chill,  has a sweet accent and were getting along great. As for the area I'm not to sure how it is, its definitely different from Reading though its kinda in the country lol but  that's okay I'm looking forward to it.  The  missionary work here is going really slow... but that will change! I'm happy to be here.  I hope to hear from you soon:) I love you tons!

Elder Armijo

14 year old young man who walked into church wanting to be taught!

Elder Holmes and I

Don't they know not to give a missionary FREE McDonalds?

Buying our Halloween Pumpkins and trying on masks! haha

Spiderman it is!

Elder Snow and I

 

October 15,2012 The Church is TRUE!

50 years ago my father Elder Michael E. Brown baptized Chris Freeman who was 14 at the time and his family in London, England.  Fast forward 50 years and as a High Councilman he meets my son Elder Queston Armijo after speaking in the Reading Ward sacrament meeting where my son is serving.  Brother Freeman asked Elder Armijo where he was from and he answered "Arizona".   Chris then told him that the man who baptized him 50 years ago was from AZ and his name was Mike Brown. Queston said "That's my GRANDPA"!!. Chris had been searching for my Father and now he had found him. Chris held a celebration on October 13, 2012 in honor of his 50 year conversion and his 40 year wedding anniversary in which he invited Elder Armijo and his companion Elder Holmes to be a part of.  Below is Elder Armijo's email telling of the party and also an email from Chris to me......Elder Armijo's MUM.  The pictures are of Elder Armijo with the Freeman family and a picture of my Father in 1962.  Chris has reunited with my Father through email.  What a blessing for all!

Hey there Mom, Dad and Grandpa and Grandma!! 

This week was sweet!! As you all probably know I was invited to go to Chris Freeman's 40th anniversary/50 years since he was baptized party. It was soooo sweet to see all these people that are now in the church thanks to you Grandpa Brown! I was looking around and I was like dang, that's what being a  missionary is all about!  I felt my purpose defined while I was there. Chris Freeman had a big whiteboard filled with pictures of his life and at the top was a picture of you Grandpa Brown( looking fresh, wearing a skinny tie!!) it was soo sweet! Here's a picture attached to the email. It was legit. he has a wonderful family! They made me stand up and get a round of applause.....I was thinking what is this for I didn't do anything but I took the round of applause for you Gramps because you deserve it! We ate lots of food and some delicious puddings that England is so famous for it was a great night. here is a few pictures. Some of them are blurry but I'm sure Chris will send the better ones!  love you all!!
Elder Armijo 

 Chris Freeman and family

Elder Michael E. Brown (Gramps)

EMAIL FROM CHRIS FREEMAN TO ELDER ARMIJO'S MUM!

Sherri,Thank you so much for your email. We were just delighted to have Elder Armijo and his companion there, and I’m glad they enjoyed themselves. An evening which was a  little out of the ordinary for a missionary. However there were two non-members there and they both commented very favourably on the evening and especially the people, so in some ways there was some missionary work done.  The attached photo shows our immediate family and I thought you might like to know who is who.On the left is our daughter Emily, who made the cake (see below), holding her daughter Millie. Behind her is her husband Sean. They live in Aberdeen in the far north of Scotland. You know the next guy. Then comes our son James who lives at home.In front of him are three grandsons. The tallest is Joseph, son of Katie and Derek, the next tallest is Finlay, and the one at the front is Archie, they are sons of Emily and Sean. Sue and I are in the middle with the two girls, Emily and Faith who is kneeling. The girls are daughters of Katie and Derek, who are next in line. They live just north of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Finally we have our daughter Caroline, and her husband Mike holding their son William. They live in Leeds in Yorkshire in the north of England.  Caroline writes a blog and this week wrote about the party and included a lot of photos, including Emily’s cake. If you want to read it go to http://thrussells.us/40th-celebration/ I also attach the photos of your father, what he wrote on the back of the photo, and his missionary Articles of Faith card. I assume he was intending originally to send the photo to his folks, but somehow we ended up with it. Emily and her husband Sean have spent a few days with us this week before they drive back to Aberdeen and today we went to the London Temple. It reminded me that without your dad and his companions we might never have been sealed as a family.We owe him a great deal.I assume you will pass on the photos etc to him. All our love and best wishes

. Chris and Sue. 

FROM CHRIS FREEMAN'S DAUGHTERS BLOG

"One thing that made it extra special was that it was the 50th anniversary of my Dad being baptised. By a strange “coincidence” it so happened that the grandson of the Elder that baptised him happened to be here on a mission himself and was able to be with us at the party. Being together in the gospel has brought us great joy and this was the first opportunity we’ve had to say thank you to the person who made it come about. If it weren’t for him Mum & Dad wouldn’t have met, so we owe him a lot and it was lovely to be able to thank him through his grandson."

Adam's Baptism 9/29/2012

Hello Mum and Dad!
Adams baptism was so cool!  So many people came!  As soon as he stepped into the water he knew he was doing the right thing.  After his baptism his wife Ina gave a really powerful testimony.  It as so sweet!  Here are some pictures!

Hello Mum and Dad!.
Things this week have been legit. It's been a good week we have taught so many people and we had a baptism!! We have a few more people that should be pretty close to baptism. we had 6 people show up to sacrament as well which is unheard of .  That's the one thing that we have been focusing on as well and the Lord finally blessed us! so things are going really well for us, we also this week met wit the Jehovah's witnesses they are meeting with a less active member of our who has learning difficulties and they are teaching him a bunch of anti stuff. so we called them and decided to have a chat. It was sweet we're going to meet with them this week as well They are so apostate and  it was good to have a chat. It  just made us sad that they would try and manipulate a guy like him. Ohhhhh!  and guess what. Chris freeman called me the other day and he's having a huge family reunion and he invited me to come he called president Millar and asked him if that was okay he said yeah . Pres Millar also wants to do an article about it and put it in the mission history. so that's going to happen on the 13th I'm pretty excited as well that should be really awesome. That's basically how our week went. It was good!!. I love you and I'll talk to you soon.
elder armijo

September pics! 7 more months to go!!!

"SMILE BOARDING'

WE SET UP THE WHITE BOARD OUTSIDE THE CHURCH BUILING AND ASKED PEOPLE PASSING BY TO WRITE WHAT MAKES THEM HAPPY THEN WE HAND THEM A BOOK OF MORMON.

September 3, 2012.....7.5 months to go!

Hello Mum and Dad!  This week has been good,  like I said we've been working our tails off!  Right now we have four baptism dates! We have found some sweet people and the Lord is definitely blessing us. We have taught so many people!  This week we taught this man called Dom. He's from Kenya and we taught him the restoration only using the bible to prove and back everything up and then at the end bringing in the Book of Mormon! My knowledge of the Book of Mormon and the Bible and how they compliment each other has grown so much! They are both the word of God and I love both of them so much!!. We have also met some cray people this week like this guy on the bus who  was staring at Elder Holmes and I the whole ride.  Finally Elder Holmes said "hows it going?"  The man replied..." leave me alone don't talk to me."  I  started laughing cause it was hilarious and then the man said "whats funny am i funny to you"?  He was so creepy that Elder Holmes and I felt the spirit tell us to get off the bus so we did ........creepy ! We had a zone training with president and and it was legit, I love president Millar.  He is so cool. There's this little place that we go and get food called MOONS its kinda dodgy but the food is good and president went with our whole zone after to eat there haha it was so cool.  well i love you mum and Dad so much!! thanks for everything you do , I love my mission so much!!!!!! its the best.

-Elder Armijo-

August 27, 2012

  Hey mum this week has been a good one!

We have done a lot of teaching which is so awesome it’s been the first time on my mission that I’ve got to go appointment to appointment and we have found some sweet people this week and we're working so hard I'm exhausted everyday that I come home. We taught this elderly woman called Moraine this week she is a seeker and she is looking for truth we also taught this man called Dom and his cousin called Yvette. They are so sweet and they both have families and they wanted to learn more so we have been teaching them the lessons using only the bible right now. They are really golden and are at that point where they will do anything we ask of them as far as studying and praying….. it’s amazing. So we are working hard. I'm happy!! And my testimony has been strengthened so much this week.    I love my mission and all the sweet people that I get to meet and help its amazing. Elder Holmes is good! I’m good! Things are awesome!I love you mum tell me what’s new

Elder Armijo

 

August 26, 2012

Hey Mum so good to hear from you:) This week I have worked harder than I have my whole mission and I have seen the success and the blessings of the Lord for our diligence.  I have seen miracles this week. We have found people who have been prepared by the Lord. I also have been immersing myself in the Book of Mormon to strengthen my testimony and I love that book so much! I'm in Mosiah right now and this morning I just read about Abinadi and Alma and I just feel like when I read the book of Mormon, I'm a part of it. It's true. I know this is the true church and that Jesus Christ lives, our Heavenly Father answers prayers and he knows what we need in our lives. I have definitely seen his hand in my work this week. I love you mum and I know I was supposed to meet Chris that day as soon as I started talking to him I just felt something and I wasn't sure what it was but I knew we had some kind of connection. I love you mum be safe!
-Elder Armijo-

August 20, 2012

Hey there mum. well this week Elder Holmes and I decided to make all of our prayers more specific and to pray specifically for miracles to happen and that's what the Lord gave us. We found so many prepared people this week. Take this elderly lady called Moraine for instance, she's almost eighty years old. I stopped her and talked to her about the Plan of Salvation and she then began to tell us how she had lost her husband and a son as well. We were talking to her and she told us that meeting us was not a coincidence. We both bore our testimony to her about eternal families and she felt the spirit. We set up a time to come back and talk to her more this week. We also went and taught this family they are from Cameroon. We showed up and they were waiting for us. We thought they would have forgotten but they hadn't. We were able to get a feel for them and what the believe and they have a five year old son and a two month old baby. They are honest seekers of truth. We also met this guy called Dwayne. He's a really young guy and he was riding by on his bike and I waved at him to stop so he did and we got talking to him and he is a seeker for truth and was very anxious to meet with us. We're teaching him tonight. We found 18 potential investigators this past week, and were expecting to find more this coming week. Miracles are happening and the Lord is blessing us for working hard being diligent and being obedient. I love Elder Holmes He is a goofball like myself so were having tons of fun! I love my mission ! We're happy and working hard:) I love you mum! 

August 14, 2012 PDAY Trip to Harry Potter film site

hey mum here's a few pictures! it would be sweet if you could put these on FB and on the blog:):) I love you!  You might recognize some of these places in the movies. the dining room where they all eat and stuff ill send more of other stuff .this college was also where they shot Alice in Wonderlantd.  If you look at the pics on the stain glass windows you can see that they are characters from Alice in wonderland that big tree is the one in Alice in wonderland and harry potter. I believe its called the weeping willow?