With this week preceding Christmas we can all gift Jesus Christ a better understanding of his life.

December 18, 2017 

  This week absolutely flew!! We put on zone conference this week in Taranto and that was really good! It's always good to see other missionaries and catch up. We drove up there on Tuesday for interviews with President Pickerd. Those went good. 

  Wednesday we actually had the conference and it was really good. We talked about inviting people to act is one of the most important things we can do. Jesus Christ always invited as he taught. After zone conference we had a long drive home and stopped by some members on the way.  The Taranto Anziani were with us, we did an exchange with them. It was super cool to be comps with Anziano Melling for a day and see how much we've both grown. It was pretty crazy to think that about a year and a half ago we just entered the MTC not speaking a lick of Italian and now here we are and we can say what every we want. We actually had an awesome spiritual thought after English course, we showed a Christmas video and bore testimony on him. The spirit was so strong, we talked about what everyone was feeling and how that this is the way that God manifests truths to us; through the spirit we can know the truth of all things.

  This week we went to stop by a member who was in the hospital sick and we actually ended up giving out a Book of Mormon there which was sweet, she asked us to give a blessing and that was really a cool experience, I really felt lead by the spirit.  While we were visiting we showed the same Christmas video and it was awesome again. The spirit was so strong and as I stood there thinking about Jesus Christ and all that he was and did I was over whelmed with the spirit. Since I've been on the Mission my understanding on the Savior and his Atonement has grown so much but not even that is a start to understanding all of what he did for us. Though I don't have a full understanding of just how grand the Lord Jesus Christ i,s the holy ghost was there to let me know that what he did happened, and is true. And because it's real, Jesus Christ lives and we can all live with our heavenly father again and we can all have joy in every moment of our lives.

  The video we watched is called "He Is The Gift" it is so good, I invite you all to watch it. With this week preceding Christmas we can all gift Jesus Christ a better understanding of his life. I know he lives and that he is our savior.

Vi vogliamo bene! Buon'natale!!

Love Anziano Ruiz 

Here is where you can watch the video! https://www.mormon.org/video/he-is-the-gift

He Is The Gift

Anziano Melling (MTC companion) and I 

Zone conference

We did the nativity as a zone

This is part of Taranto. The view from the apartment, 

they live in the 17th floor.

Here is little part of Cosenza

This is a view from a members house

Cità vecchio! Just the old part of Cosenza! 

It's pretty sweet in this area.

This is our district.

Missionary work is the most important thing we can do because it allows God to touch the hearts of All of his children.

December 11, 2017 

   This week was interesting but good! It was interesting because we never really have a regular schedule as ZL's.  As a mission we made some awesome goals to help people, as many people as we can, to come unto Christ and grow their faith in him. So Anziano Belucci and I decided to do  mini trainings on the goals with the Districts, that way they are more involved. It turned out super good! Everyone in the Zone is pumped and ready to work hard! 

  Tuesday we had our DDM in Catenzaro then the next day we went to Taranto and had a DDM there, it was like a 2.5 hour drive so I've actually spent a lot of time in a car this week which feels super weird.

  This week has been full of finding! We have been talking to so many people and showing the new Christmas video. So that has been pretty fun. We have had a lot of awesome conversations.

  The members here in Cosenza are awesome! We got invited over for pronzo randomly a couple of times this week it was sweet! I'm really excited for Christmas here! We only had to make food for ourself one time this week. We taught this guy named Francesco this week and that was pretty sweet. He invited us to play tennis  and wants to start playing tennis with us on Mondays now.  He is a really cool guy and is interested to learn more about the Gospel.

  This week I was asked to give a talk in church on missionary work and it went pretty well. The topic was "Missionary Work, the Greatest and Most Important Duty is to preach the Gospel". My testimony grew as I prepared for this talk. In everything we do and teach as missionaries the first point is always, God is our loving Heavenly Father. In the guide to the scriptures it says-
"The greatest example of God’s love for His children is found in the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ." The whole point of missionary work is to invite people to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ; In doing so they partake of the power of Jesus Christ though his atonement. They partake of the greatest gift of love that God as ever given us! Missionary work is the most important thing we can do because it allows God to touch the hearts of All of his children. I know that God is real, that he loves us and that Jesus Christ is our savior. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen. I hope you all have a great week!!

Vi voglio un mondo bene!!
^^^ that won't translate correctly in Google translate btw

Love Anziano Ruiz  

Anziano Cooney has a friend serving in my home ward.

This is our district.

Some snow in the mountains!

 

A castle on the way to Taranto.

We helped this member put up her Christmas tree!

This is Cità Vecchio. The old Part of Cosenza,

 it's Really cool. Just Classic Italy.

Buone Feste!! Happy Holidays!

This is Centro of Cosenza.

I know that God listens to out prayers and that he is always there.

December 4, 2017  

  Every week keeps getting faster I'm not sure how it's possible! Anyway the first couple of days were pretty sad; I found out that I am leaving Napoli so they were filled of goodbyes and packing and eating my last pizzas haha.     There are these guys that has their car shop under where we live, we pass them everyday and always stop to talk a bit. We have grown close, when I told them I was leaving they were super sad and gave me a huge hug haha. There is a grandpa his son and grandson and they call Anziano Wagstaff and I as if we are part of the family! 

  We stopped by Marco and his family for a little lesson and to say bye, that went really good. It had been awesome getting close to them and watching them grow! The hand of the lord has definitely been visible in that family. It has been super awesome serving with Anziano Wagstaff we can't wait to see each other in college for sports! He is an awesome missionary and we have a lot of awesome memories from Napoli!

  So you're probably wondering, I'm now in Cosenza with Anziano Bellucci! Anzaino Bellucci was my Zone Leader while I was in Napoli so now it's cool to be working with him as a Zone Leader over the Taranto/Calabria zone. He also went to Utah State for a year so that's sweet! Friday morning we had a Mission leadership council, that was really cool, we talked about making goals and Stepping up as leaders. It was really cool to see the trust that President Pickerd has for us. He loves us so much.

  Cosenza is an awesome area to serve in! It's in the foot part of Italy and there are lots of pretty valleys and mountains. We have a car and most of the members live out of town so we find ourselves driving up curvy Italian mountain roads. It sweet and reminds me a lot of Ascoli Piceno where I was last Christmas. The members here are awesome, we've already been fed twice! I'm super excited for this transfer and Christmas here.

  My first Sunday here after church we went and visited this huge family who is going through a hard time being able to stay in their apartment. The mom and dad are doing their best and things aren't looking really good for them. While we were their visiting I felt prompted for all of us to say a kneeling prayer together. The mom pulled out a blanket and put in on the floor for all of us to kneel on and we all went in a circle and offered our prayer to God. And wow, the spirit was so strong, we all felt the presence of God in that room. The power of prayer is so real. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, ... behold, there will I be in the midst of them—even so am I in the midst of you." D&C 6:32. I have gained a stonger witness that this scripture is true this week. I know that God listens to out prayers and that he is always there.

Vi voglio bene!!

Love Anziano Ruiz  

These are the guys that work under our apartment. The girl just jumped in the picture randomly haha #WelcomeToNapoli

Saying goodbyes, Mario is in the middle, 

he is the one that would feed us all the time!

Last nutella pizza

This was right after we got transfer calls.

Here is Marco and the fam.

Our last pizza together, sad night.

Getting our scriptures rebound was our comp item.

Marking off the last day together. 

I'm looking pretty scrubby haha

 This is the Napoli church.

People that have served in NAPOLI sign this!

Saying goodbye to Napoli and Anziano Wagstaff.

 New companion Anziano Bellucci!

Zone leaders in Cosenza.

A picture from a part of our area.

 

It's literally rained everyday since I've been here Haha!