Another Pday in Rome!

August 29, 2016 
  Gosh, another Pday (preparation day) in Rome! This week went by so fast it's crazy! There was a lot of good this week and a little bad.. Italy had a pretty bad earthquake in a town, luckily the missionaries there were safe but there were a lot of people found dead. Almost 250. It's really sad too see and there are a lot of prayers going that way.  It happened far enough from Rome and in the middle of the night so I didn't feel a thing and slept thought the night just fine. But some of the other Anziani (Elders) in my apartment said that they felt it that night. Anyway we went on with our week and it was good!
   We did a lot of park finding that went pretty good! We were able to teach a couple of lessons and one was in English so that was super nice! Haha. We had a couple of dinner appointments this week that were Great! The family's here love to see pictures of you so I just pullout my tablet show them all my pictures and they say stuff to me then I don't understand so I just smile back and say si haha. Most of the people we talk to just want to talk because we're American and they want to know what we're doing here haha so we just bare testimony and know that we leave them with a spiritual up lift.
   Me and my companion found a basketball court with people playing so we went over to play with them, it was fun. Before we started I was just playing around getting lucky draining some 3's and dunking, they were pretty intimidated hahaha we are going to go again to play and teach a lesson when we are done. Hopefully it will turn out good! 
  We had a dinner appointment with the Michelini's. They are a senior couple here in Rome, a giant wasp got in the house it was scary but I ended up killing it but got stung on my thumb it hurt so bad! Anyway, we had hamburgers with them and had a great spiritual thought.
   Another day this week we traveled pretty far to visit a less active member and they weren't home so that was pretty upsetting but it worked out perfectly because we found someone to teach in that area! This is just a testimony to me that God has a plan for everything. One park that we were finding in we ran into a couple that spoke English and just started talking to them about what we're are doing here. They weren't interested but It was nice to talk and bare testimony with them. It really got me thinking about how great the mission is. We get two years of our life where all we have to worry about is smiling and bringing the light and love of Christ into people's life. The church is so true the book or Mormon is so great, everyday I read it and am filled with the spirit. I love this Gospel and serving the people here in Italy. Thank you everybody for the prayers I can really feel them. I miss you all, have a great week! 
   Love 
   - Anziano Ruiz

San Giovanni the old Vatican

 This is some really good pasta that me and Anziano Anderson made this week

 (pasta thre colori)

 Some sweet graffiti and the kid we taught after we tried to contact a less active.

There's some pretty cool graffiti here, the heart is at a metro station.

 The huge wasp!

 roman.ruiz@myldsmail.com

Anziano Roman Ruiz
Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia

Roaming in Rome

August 22, 2016
                                                               Roaming in Rome!

  I'm in Italy and it's so pretty!! So the first day we went and saw so much of Rome it's so great there is so much history and I love it! For dinner we had pizza and Gelato it's sooo good! The food here is just way better, even the little things but I think that might just be true because I've been in the MTC and I'm a missionary so you learn to appreciate everything a little more..haha

 The first night we had some super good pizza then Gelato it was great!   After that we got our golden envelops that told us where our first area will be, it was pretty cool like like opening another call. Anyway I'm staying in ROME!!! So I'm in the Rome 2 district so it's great I'll be living in Rome for 3-5 months! My companion is Anziano Anderson he's super cool! He's been out for about 20 months and was just in Malta for the past 6 months. So we got blown in here that just means we're both new. 

  So the first week was pretty slow but it was good, we found a couple of investigators and have people to teach still. Sunday was super good I love how you can be anywhere in the world and the church is the same, all the same doctrine and principal,s it's just another testimony to me that this is the true church! Anyway we got four meal appointments this week so I'm super pumped! Me and Anziano Anderson will be eating good!

  Rome is awesome for Pday, today we just went and walked around central Rome and met up with some other Anziani (Elders) they knew Rome super well so we went to a crazy good Gelato place. My tongue was in heaven!     Something cool this week was when our district got together and did a Mostra (which just translates to show) at Piazza del Popolo we put a towel on the floor and started drawing random gospel topic pictures and just talked to people about i,t it was really cool. Before that me and Anziano Anderson were throwing a football around in Villa Borghese and kids would want us to pass it to them so then we would talk to them. So that's a pretty sweet finding tool!

   I love it here and the people are great! My P day is over so I have to stop emailing gotta go! Thank you everybody for the prayers!! Ciao!

Anziano Ruiz 

Capitoline Hill

The Collosseum

 The Trevi Fountain

Fontana di Trevi

Piazza del Popolo

Anziano Ruiz's trainer Anziano Anderson! He says he is awesome and he loves him!

 roman.ruiz@myldsmail.com

Anziano Roman Ruiz
Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia

http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/mission_selection

He has arrived!

August 16, 2016

Dear Parents,

We wanted to let you know that your missionary arrived safely at the mission home today. We love them already and have been praying for them before they came.

We are including a photo and a short message from them. You may also find some pictures of your missionary on our blog: pickerdsitalyromemission.blogspot.com
We look forward to serving with your missionary!

President and Sister Pickerd
The Italy Rome Mission

Its me! I Made it here safe! And in so in love already!! It is seriously so so pretty here! We toured Rome for a couple of hours today and it was amazing, I have a ton of pictures I'll send some on Monday! Ill figure out Where I go tomorrow morning. I'm about to have some pizza for dinner. So far we're in great hands here! I love the mission president and APs. Love you tons!!

-Anziano Ruiz

The new Missionaries with The Mission president and his wife in Rome, Italy

making lunch at the villa

Sister Pickerd, Anziano Ruiz, President Pickerd

 In front of the Rome, Italy Temple which is under construction

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.com

Last week in the MTC!

August 11, 2016

Buongiorno too all!
  It really is a good morning! We got up at 5:30 to do laundry again.. haha So today is my last Pday in the US and that's pretty exciting! We got our flight plans in the mail last Friday, we leave eeearly Monday morning. I am seriously so excited I can't even believe that I'm going to be in Italy it still doesn't feel real! 
  The MTC has been flooding with missionaries recently last week. On the third we had about 900 missionaries come in! That was the biggest group the have ever had coming in in one day. So right now there's a little over 3000 missionaries here which is crazy because that is about how much missionaries there were when we had the age change, where missionaries can now go out at the age of 18 for young men and 19 for young women. Yesterday there was about 500 missionaries that came in and I got to host and that was a real good deal. Its crazy to see how the Lord is hastening the work. I know that there is no where else that God would rather have me be than serving his children right now. 
  I have to say I'm gonna miss the MTC. It has been another really good week here full with spiritual experiences!  We had so many this week I wish I could remember them all. I'll start with choir, so I was actually sick this week which wasn't that fun and I couldn't even talk but I still went to choir because it's always a good spiritual time. And we get a good seat for the devotionals so it's a win win haha anyway this week we sang "More Holiness Give Me" and it was so so good! Music does a great job of bringing the spirit into a meeting. The Devotional was really good too. We had Elder Neil L. Anderson  (another one if the Lord's Twelve Apostles!) come to our Tuesday devotional.  I got really lucky that I had the chance to listen to two Apostles while I've been there, usually people don't even get one. 
  So what I remember most about this week was our district TRC. This is where we get to teach an actual member of the church and not just one of out teachers. Our first couple of weeks doing it we just taught local people who spoke Italian and it was cool. But these last two weeks have been lessons over Skype and this week was amazing! We taught a super sweet lady from Italy her name was Silvna. Our lesson went so good. We were talking to her about how through the  Atonement, Gods Grace and love we can get through all trials. Her husband isn't a member and that is kind of hard for her. I started to bear my testimony to her and I was just filled with the spirit. I hardly know Silnva and I wasn't even talking to her in person but the love I felt for her was amazing.  It's crazy how much love you can feel for people you don't even know. That is one thing I love so much about being a missionary. We are set apart as servant's of Jesus Christ and one way that he shows his love for people is through us. It is the best feeling in the world to share the love of Christ to others. I got to feel just a pinch of Christ's love for Silvna and I can't imagine how much love he has for each and everyone of us. It strengthens my testimony so much to be able to be a missionary and I love it! The thing I am most excited for in Italy is to go and just love everyone I see and teach will all my heart. Also pizza everyday will be a pretty good bonus ;)
Thank you to everyone for the prayers support and love!
Have an amazing week. I know I will :)
Love Anziano Ruiz

MORE HOLINESS GIVE ME

1. 1. More holiness give me,
   More strivings within,
   More patience in suff'ring,
   More sorrow for sin,
   More faith in my Savior,
   More sense of his care,
   More joy in his service,
   More purpose in prayer.
2. 2. More gratitude give me,
   More trust in the Lord,
   More pride in his glory,
   More hope in his word,
   More tears for his sorrows,
   More pain at his grief,
   More meekness in trial,
   More praise for relief.
3. 3. More purity give me,
   More strength to o'ercome,
   More freedom from earth-stains,
   More longing for home.
   More fit for the kingdom,
   More used would I be,
   More blessed and holy--
   More, Savior, like thee.
4. Text and music: Philip Paul Bliss, 1838-1876

A new good friend from the MTC- Varstnic (Elder in Romanian) William Perritt From Australia going to Romania. He is Maori which  is the nationality of the native people of New Zealand.

 Getting a haircut at the MTC. Never had a haircut by anyone else except mom before.

 Laundry

 All the new Missionaries going to Rome on Monday!

 Elder Dalton Stevens from Kennewick!

 Teacher - Sorella (Sister in Italian) Francom

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Elder Roman Javier Ruiz
AUG16 ITA-ROM
2005 N 900 E Unit 69
Provo UT 84602

dearelder.com 

Week 4 for Anziano Ruiz at the MTC

August 4, 2016

Caro tutti,
  This week has gone by super fast! It's crazy to think I've been here for over 4 weeks. I'm going to be in Italy in no time, and I'm sooo excited to go! It has been another good week here at the MTC full with spiritual experiences as always but before I get to that we had another fire drill. It was in our building where we have class, so we just went and studied outside which was actually pretty nice. 
  This last Sunday and Tuesday I got to go on a split with Anziano Garrett so I could go to choir. It was super good. I found elder Salsbury and sat with him which was really cool. We sang "Lead, Kindly Light" there is a really cool back ground story that you should look up when you have the chance! The choir was way powerful and brought the spirit in the room a ton. I also made the the big screen so everyone saw me singing haha. 
  So I've been here at the MTC with some good friends that I competed with in track, they are from Central Valley. Ben Craig who I ran hurdles against is going to to the Novosibirsk Russia mission which is where Cortez is so that's sweet! Then there's Elder Trevor Brown who I pole vaulted against and he's going to Indonesia, he just left today, he's going to an awesome missionary!!
  Yesterday we had our last lesson with our investigator Carlo (who is our teacher Fratello (brother) Sloan.) It was pretty sad because we have felt the spirit with him a ton and really grew to love him. But it was a really good experience being able to teach him for a month. We're still teaching our other teacher Sorella Francom who is playing as Alessia. Our teachers usually play as investigators that they taught in there mission. Anyway Alessia is having a really hard time feeling gods love so as missionaries it's our job to help her feel it. Which is really fun because you learn to love people so much. We've helped her alto and are continuing to help her build her faith and come unto Christ. It feels so good helping people and seeing them come to Christ. Even if it's just our teacher haha. If there is one big thing I learned that hit me this week it was when we watched the Mormon message, it's really good the main point is that you need the weight of a heavy load to provide the traction for you to move forward. 
  Well as always I love all you guys and hope you have another great week! Thank you for all the prayers and love
Love, Anziano Ruiz

 MTC companions Anziano Melling and Anziano Ruiz

 Provo Temple

 Teaching Carlo, our teacher, Fratello Sloan

 Elder Jared Salsbury, friend from home, and Anziano Ruiz at Choir practice

 Studying outside

Stareyshina (Elder in Russian) Ben Craig from Spokane

 Elder Trevor Brown from Spokane

Elder Dalton,  Elder Ruiz, Elder Melling on the Temple grounds

Lead, Kindly Light

"Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path,
Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith,
Home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead,_Kindly_Light

https://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/articles/lead-kindly-light.html

 Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Elder Roman Javier Ruiz
AUG16 ITA-ROM
2005 N 900 E Unit 69
Provo UT 84602

dearelder.com