4 earthquakes.. it was sketchy, kinda cool but scary.

October 31, 2016   

  This week was pretty crazy haha. First off there were 4 earthquakes.. it was sketchy, kinda cool but scary. So the first two Anziano Anderson and I were at a meal appointment with our awesome member friend Jomar and we were on the 4th floor, then everything started shaking and the lights started flickering it was definitely an experience haha. Then this Sunday there was a even bigger one so church was only an hour long.
  Also this week me and my companion moved apartments so we live a lot closer to the church and everywhere else we go so that is nice. But we live on the 4th floor now so the earthquakes have felt a lot bigger haha. The Anziani that we used to live with said that there is a Crack in their walk now! So good thing we're out of there ha.
  So we have investigators in central Rome now near Piazza del Popolo.
This week we went to talk to Simona and taught her a lession on the steps of a Catholic church at Piazza del Popolo which I thought was kinda funny but it went good and we are going to be meeting with her every week now. She is continuing to read the Book of Mormon so that is good!
  Our other friends name is Cristian. We talked to him about prayer and he really liked it! He wants to meet with us more so we will be meeting weekly! He is so awesome and really likes us so we are really excited to help him grow faith in Christ!
  Also this week we met an old investigator that the sisters taught a long time ago named James he was super nice and open about the gosple he said we can meet this week so we are excited to see him again!
  Not a lot of time today but this week has been good, scripture study has been good, I know this church is true and can't wait for the next two years here! Thank you everybody for all the prayers love and support! Have a great week!

Anziano Ruiz

San Carlo al Corso

Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (usually known simply as San Carlo al Corso) is a basilica church in Rome, Italy, facing onto the central part of the Via del Corso. The apse of the church faces across the street, the Mausoleum of Augustus on Via di Ripetta.

This church is dedicated to Saint Ambrose and Saint Charles Borromeo, both natives of Milan. It is one of at least three churches in Rome dedicated to Borromeo, others including San Carlo ai Catinari and San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.

What we had for breakfast, we eat healthy!

Improvising- carving peppers for Halloween.

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Anziano Roman Ruiz

Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia

The Holy Ghost is a wonderful gift from God that all can obtain.

October 24, 2016 

  This week has been super fast and full of amazing miracles! I don't even know where to start. So Jorge has a really busy work schedule lately and we weren't able to have dinner with him at the Stephensons, but we were able to meet with him and teach him the restoration this week and it went really good!! We are really excited to see where the lord takes him.
  Earlier this week we had a mission conference -that I will talk about later- that the whole mission came up for. There were about 200 missionaries here in Rome. So we were doing finding all over Rome and in central which we usually don't do, and that night me and Anziano Anderson were on a split and he stopped by an old contact that we had in a suit store near Piazza di Popolo. I'll give a little background. My first week here (over 2 months ago) me and Anziano Anderson stopped by a suit store and ended up talking to the worker there and she was interested in what we were doing here so we started talking about missionary work, which lead to talking about the restoration. She said we could come back so we did and dropped off a Book of Mormon. After that we a stopped by a few more times and she wasn't there so we had lost contact. Fast forward to this week. Anziano Anderson saw her at the store and it turns out that she has been reading the Book of Mormon and is interested! That was so good to hear and such a miracle! It just really goes to show that the spirit is the worker, we may have lost contact but because we brought the spirit with us so strongly the first time we met she was impressed to read the book of Mormon. We are planning on meeting with her this week and are excited!
  Today we were able to get Alessandro to church! It was really good to see him. I found him with the AP's the first day I was here. We've been trying to get a hold of him for some long and meet with him. And last night he answered his phone! Seeing him in church was a awesome miracle!
  Last Thursday we had our mission wide mission conference. Missionaries came from all over the Italy Rome mission; Napoli, Bari, Taranto, Sicilia, Sardegna, Malta and more!  We had the amazing opportunity to hear from President Russell M. Nelson, the president of the quorum of the 12 apostles. He was awesome to hear. Pres. Nelson is 92 and still super sharp and on top of things. He gave a great talk with out any notes all he had were scriptures.  One pretty funny thing he said went something like "I hope you're all taking notes because if not it just like taking a hot shower, it feels good while you're in it but when you get out the sensation goes away" haha this is very true and is something we should apply to all church meetings! Anyway the conference was really good, I got to sit right front and center, so I was directly in front of Pres. Nelson, so that was cool. It was good to see a ton of new friends and guys from the MTC. This mission has a lot of cool cats.
  Well this week was awesome and full of amazing miracles. I'd like to bear my testimony on the spirit, and the amazing power that is has. Joseph Smith said, “Salvation cannot come without revelation”. Personal revelation is received only through the Holy Ghost. We need to strive to have and to be worthy of the Holy Ghost every minute of the day. The Holy Ghost is a wonderful gift from God that all can obtain.  It will help us through difficult times and even when we feel that we don't need the help. I know this to be true and I say it in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.
Thank you for all your prayers, love and support. Have a great week!

-Anziano Ruiz

More missionaries to play soccer with during zone conference last week.

 Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano in the background.

   

This is the oldest bridge in Rome. It was built in 62 B.C. Ponte Fabricio.

This is the first Christian Church. Rome Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere.

This it at Temple of Apollo Sosiano 

Bocca della Verità. you can read about on Wikipedia it's pretty cool. We put a book of Mormon in the mouth of truth. Pretty funny ha.

La Bocca della Verità (English: the Mouth of Truth) is an image, carved from Pavonazzo marble, of a man-like face, located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, Italy. The sculpture is thought to be part of a first-century ancient Roman fountain, or perhaps a manhole cover, portraying one of several possible pagan gods,^[1] probably Oceanus. Most Romans believe that the 'Bocca' represents the ancient god of the river Tiber.

The most famous characteristic of the Mouth, however, is its role as a lie detector. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. There was also a medieval legend, wrongly believed to originate with the Roman poet Virgil, of an adulterous empress who managed to deceive her husband in a trial using the Mouth. This is an infrequent subject in medieval and Renaissance art, forming part of the Power of Women literary topos.^[2] The piece was placed in the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the 17th century. This church is also home to the relics of Saint Valentine.

This is a street right next to our church. Everything is really green now and the leaves are starting to fall so I'm happy!

Sites in Rome

 Rome at night

Piazza di Popolo From Passeggitat del Pincio

 

Altare della Patria 

 Colosseo

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Anziano Roman Ruiz

Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia

An awesome miracle!

October 18,2016

  This week went sweet! We had an awesome miracle with Jorge! So the first time we taught  him we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really good, when we talked about baptism he had a huge smile on his face He really liked it when we said that you can be born again, after that Jorge was pumped  so I gave him the baptismal invite and he said no because he doesn't want to commit to a church he wants to commit to Jesus. Which is perfect because that's what we want too! Baptism in not about joining a church. It's about being set on the path to eternal life and happiness and centering your life in Christ. So we were happy about that. Then later that week we were able to get a hold of him because he now has an Italian phone number. We tried calling and he didn't answer 3 times but then sent us a text asking who it was, I told him it was Anziano Ruiz and he was super excited to hear from us! He said that he had been thinking of us lately and wants to get baptized! So that was an awesome miracle! Whenever we mention baptism in a lesson he gets super pumped haha its so cool! We are planing on having dinner with him on Thursday with the Stephenson family. Brother Stephenson knows Spanish from his mission so he can talk with Jorge in Spanish, and we are planning on watching the restoration in Spanish after dinner. I'm super pumped! Jorge is from Peru so shout out to Elder Garin Whitby, he's gonna love the people there!
  Yesterday I had my first zone conference so that means birth testimonies. All the new missionaries in our zone had to bear out testimonies in Italian. It was, interesting.. haha I definitely need to work on my Italian. It's coming though so that's good. Anyway zone conference was good it was good to see some other missionaries.
  Today for Pday was super sweet! We played zone Calcio (football = soccer) again with a lot bigger teams it was super fun! I'm 195 right now so it was interesting running around with an extra 20 pounds haha all muscle tho! I promise.
  Well we have a mission wide conference in a couple of days so I've been taking care of missionaries that are here from Malta and Italy. We are all really excited to hear from Russell M. Nelson!
Thank you all so much for your prayers I feel them and see the miracles from them everyday!

Anziano Ruiz

Zone conference 

 Roman got to see some familiar faces from Home! The Wilsons were in Rome!

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Anziano Roman Ruiz

Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia

I'm always amazed to see the miracles that come!

October 10, 2016 

  This week was a little long because of transfers but it was a good one! So I am staying in Rome for another 6 weeks and I'm super excited! Me and my  companion pretty much have the hang of everything here and know how to get everywhere and anywhere we want.

   I don't remember if I mentioned our Friend Mauro last week, but me and Anziano Anderson went to go see him again. He is a lawyer but on Fridays he works at a Vegan Gelato shop that he and his friends all run for fun. They make Gelato with olive oil instead of milk and it's actually super good! Every time we go he gives us free Gelato so that's sweet too haha, so we have free Gelato Fridays. Mauro is really interested in what we have to say which is cool because maybe that interest will turn into a desire one day,  but for now when ever me and Anziano Anderson invite him to church he tells us that yoga and meditation is his religion and that is where he finds his peace so that's interesting and cool haha maybe we'll do some yoga with him one day!
  So a couple of weeks a go I think I told you about Jorge who is from Peru. We randomly ran into him with a member in the metro station and invited him to English course but he told us he'd rather have us teach him about Jesus. Which was a huge miracle. But me and my companion haven't been able to get a hold of him because he uses whatsapp and missionaries can't use that. So that has been a bummer, but last Tuesday we ran into him again right after district meeting and it was so good to see him! He said he remembered me because of my last name. Anyway it turned out he lives right by the church! So we were able to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ later that day and he really liked it! So me and Anz Anderson are rally excited for Jorge but we have no way to contact him so it's difficult to make appointments.
  Yesterday we had a dinner appointment with the Stephenson family and McGreth couple, some American people in our ward, and we had tacos.. it was sooooo good! Haha I miss American food so much! They are all super cool and are into long boarding and snowboarding so we have a lot in common haha.
  So it has been a really good week and I'm always amazed to see the miracles that come. I know that it is because of all your prayers, thank you so much I can really feel them. I hope everyone has a good week!

-Anziano Ruiz

P.S. Something cool, me and Anziano Anderson watched a video during companion study one day this week called From Gang Member to "Good Man"- His Grace that was really good and the guy in the video looked really familiar, it's turns out I taught him in the MTC!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-02-004-from-gang-member-to-good-man?lang=eng

A track!

Sunrise

Saint Peter's Basilica

Pday at the church

Anziano Anderson, Pday on the bus.

Sushi in Rome

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Anziano Roman Ruiz

Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia

Conference was completely amazing!

October 3, 20165 

  Wow another great week! First off conference, I remember Conference week when my brother Jaden was on his mission and we were reading his weekly email as a family.  My dad pointed it that Jaden said he enjoyed every second of General Conference. I remember thinking "how is that even possible?? It's so long!". Now being set apart as a full time missionary to serve the Lord for 2 years in Italy, I see that it is very possible. Conference was completely amazing, and I truly did enjoy every second of it. The week of General conference is like the week of the super bowl for missionaries haha. Saturday night we were able to watch the Saturday morning session live and it was the fastest 2 hours of my life! Every talk was go good yet so simple. Pray, rely on God, and spread the Gospel. Sunday was devoted to general conference we were at the church about  all day with some service in between sessions. Interesting story, me and my companion were actually late to the first Sunday session (which was priesthood session for understanding in Italy) because a homeless man pooped on our bus.. after our second session on Sunday. I went on a scambio (exchange) with Anziano Cannon to help an old lady -who I didn't know- go grocery shopping which was really good. She was a character! Haha we met her at her apartment and she came out with one arm in a cast and the other holding a crutch and don't forget her cigarette! She was about 4'11 haha. But we went to the store with her to help her get groceries and ended up being late to conference again because we picked out the wrong brand of wine. Italians are interesting but I love them so much! 

  So Sunday we watched 6 hours of General Conference every speaker was great I learned so much. 
This week we got great news that President Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, of the Presidency of the Seventy, Bishop Gerald Causse, Presiding Bishop, and Elder Patrick Kearon, Europe Area President are coming to our mission for a missionary conference on October 20th. We are all very excited and blessed!
  So today I finished my first transfer in the mission and it went by so fast! I'm pretty sure I will be staying in Rome but I won't know for sure till later today. Its crazy I've already been on my mission for 3 months. I love it and can't wait for the rest of my time here! 
Have a great week and thanks for all the prayers!

Anziano Ruiz

Click here for General Conference  https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SU_2-10-2016_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng

 Anziano Anderson and Ruiz

Anziano Anderson and a beautiful flower

 

 Where all the studying happens   

somebody has gained some weight!

roman.ruiz@myldsmail.net

Anziano Roman Ruiz

Missione Italiana di Roma Piazza Monte Gemma, 9 00141 Roma Italia