IT IS AUGUST & THEY HAVE HAD SOME RAIN

From Email:

"How are you doing? Sounds like Grandma is doing well and she is healthy that is great to hear! I wish I could have gone out to see her before I left but that's OK I will have to go see her when I get home! How's the ward doing? My bike is dark blue it is a Haro bike. Can you pick up a bag of fruit Frooties also the watermelon kind. The mission is great, tons of fun, love what I'm doing and love this gospel. I love to help people change and be able to watch them change is so great! Thanks for all you do and have done for me.  Love you all and miss you also, love Elder Armatage"

From Letters:

"We are only over one ward now and it is only like 2 miles long and .7 wide. Sorry it's taken me so long to write back, but it has been super nuts around here. I do like my new Mission President. He is great! TeeJay is home? That is nuts - tell him to write me! (hear that TeeJay?)  Dad could not live down here, have to be able to sweat or you cannot cool down."
"I am good, life is good. This last few weeks have been hard. I have been really home-sick, but today and Sunday have been really good. I felt fine again. They say at about 6 months you feel very homesick and then it just goes away. The Lord will bless me with strength. It has been raining, that is great."
"Sharing the gospel is a great gift to give people, it is such a blessing. You know you see the gospel in your life and what a great blessing it is, why not share it? We are teaching a lot now and they are all progressing, it is really neat to see the changes in people's lives. I wish we could do more service here."

Great baptism, she has no family support but feels the spirit strong.

 Elder Armatage said "Dewey is the man" He waited a year to be baptized! 

Elder Armatage is in the new Arizona Scottsdale Mission. President and Sister Sweeney are the new Mission President. This is the Mericopa Zone

 Here are some parts of different emails and letters:
"We made pancakes for the ward on the 4th. It was pretty fun! That's a really neat talk, what is it called? It's fun to be a missionary but o man is it hard!!! But I love it! We are still working with our investigators but they're not really progressing...so that's a struggle but it is what it is...love you so much. Let me know what is going on at home and stuff with the family. Miss you all and stuff. Love you all." July 7th, 2013
"It is true it is a good thing we have trials, if not life would be too easy. And it makes us rejoice when we et over those trials. It's a great feeling! The other night it was 100 degrees at 9 pm, it doesn't cool down ever!! I've come to love cold showers. Yeah, members feed us all the time. Our new Mission President is really neat! He is a great guy! Smart, really smart!" July 8, 2013
 "Would love some rain right now, it is only like 110 today so it's not too bad. ha ha Yeah I'm on bike still, I'm still in Mesa. I'm having fun tho. I love church, it's fun. We go to all the classes we would like to! It's fun being a missionary but stressful. love you grandma" July 15, 2013 to his Grandma

We are so proud of our son! And love him so much!

It is HOT!

HOT, HOT HOT...is what we hear from Elder Armatage!

"Ha ha 101! That's nothing, it was 118 on the 29th!  It was so hot that while I was griping my handle bars my finger nails burned like the feeling of the camp fire on you legs when you are too close.That's what it felt like on my fingernails! We are out and about on bike every day. That's good to hear about Logan (he stayed in nursery and didn't cry!)  I miss those little farts. Well life is good and sweaty ha ha love and miss you!"

"The work is still going we are teaching but nothing is really coming from it but we are trying as best as we can. It's hard to see people reject this truth and not want to change but its their choice. A mission is a ton harder than I thought ha ha but I wouldn't change anything about it."

"We were out riding around and  stopped to talk to some ladies that were sitting on their porch and their friend showed up who is a dog trainer and this is what we did- "

-

 

We got to learn a "little" bit about where Elder Armatage is now -

"I'm in West Mesa super ghetto like on the west side of the train trax in down town. ha ha But it's OK I am missionary so the Lord will protect me. We live with a member and they are so nice! I'm on bike in a 105/110!! It's soooo hot! But I'm loving it. We are teaching a ton of people and it will be cool to see how the gospel will change peoples lives, so I am super stoked about that! We got a ton of bread and we give it out to those in need."

                                           That is a lot of bread!

Transfers took Elder Armatage back to Mesa, but we have not heard where or anything yet. Hopefully this week.........

" I'm getting transferred to Mesa and  I'm on bike just in time for the summer! ha ha I got up on Sunday and bore my testimony in Desert Hills Ward which is the ward I've been in the longest - for 4.5 months. It was sad, I cried.  There were 13 people that got up and spoke and 5 or 6 of them talked about me, so I guess I know what the members thought of me and now I'm leaving to Mesa. And it is one of the hardest things I've had to do. I wanted to go to father and sons but I couldn't make it. Tell Dad sorry for me."
His letter said it was 107 that day - it is HOT!
Hopefully we will get more details on Monday.....

Sorry so slow to update the blog..........

It has been a little while to update Elder Armatage's profile. But not because he has not been busy. Besides finding snakes and wanting to see a Gila monster, he has a new companion from Kansas, Elder Hawes. They are working very hard together. We had a great talk with him on Skype on Mother's Day. He talked about the people he has met in the 2 Wards they are working with and what he does each day. He is excited to be there and serving the Lord. Here is his email this week:

"We had a great week! We are killing this area and we are finding soooo much work out here! I love it! I'm having soooo much fun. We have two more baptisms coming up and we are stoked for both in June. We played ball on p day for like 2.5 hours. It was fun and I'm sore today. ha ha Yeah we had our baptism on Saturday. I talked on baptism and confirmed her on Sunday. It was a pretty cool thing. I'm addicted. ha ha I want to baptize everyone I meet! How was Idaho? How was the zoo? I miss those little kids! ha ha Thanks for sending me D&C. I love reading it,  sec 110 I read every time I go to the temple. I love that section.  That baptism was great. The girls is 9, her mother has a super rich boyfriend and he's not a member(yet) but he took us all to lunch after. 8 of us to the cheese cake factory!!! It was really good. Then we had a lesson with the boyfriend and he would be a great member someday but i don't know if its today. ha ha But we will keep trying."

It is so fun to see how much he is growing and enjoying his mission (except for the heat - that is the first thing he said to us on Skype!)

He mentioned again how much he loves getting letters..........

                                                      At a Zone Conference

One of the snakes

This weeks email:
"Thanks for the quote. Conference was great I loved it. I loved Elder Nelson talk on Sunday morning it was great. As for that guy we got a hold of him! And taught him and he still wants to get baptised! So we are working with him and we got a referral about a lady that has read the Book of Mormon, Jesus is the Christ and watched all of conference and went to the Easter pageant so we need to get over there and teach her quick! I'm supper stoked about it. The little girl's baptism is set for the 27th of this month."

And then on Sunday night, the most exciting thing ever:
A Sister Peterson stopped at our door. She lives in Elder Armatage's mission area and has fed him a few times, in fact he was there on Easter! She and her family were driving up to Utah to pick up a daughter and when Kyle heard about it, he asked if she would drop by a belated gift for his Mom. It is so sweet of him to think of that and so wonderful of Sister Peterson to take the time to come by and see us! It made my day!! Below is a picture of the gift - it is a case that they have made for a paperback Book of Mormon to hand out to people. Sister Peterson said the missionaries carry them around. And she said that Elder Armatage is so awesome and is working so hard. It was amazing to hear about our son from someone who has been with him. Tears........happy ones! : )

                                                    View from the top

                                                     View from the bottom 

                                                    View from the opposite side of where
                                                    you slide the Book of Mormon in