Anziano Ruiz in the Italy Rome Mission: Consecrate your days unto the Lord by starting it with a sincere prayer unto the Him.

February 20, 2017

Well this week was awesome! I apologize in advance for a possibly short letter. We had an awesome Pday so that means I don't have a lot of time left to email! It was definitely worth it!

So for Pday we planned on going to brother Fleming’s house and exploring around with him! He is Scottish and has lived all over the world. He just has a ton of awesome stories and every time we would pick up something from his house and ask him "what's the story?" He would start out "when I was in Saudi Arabia... when I was in Napoli... when I was in Africa..." he's lived in a lot of places and just has so many cool stories. So he lives in na awesome little villa about 35 kilometers outside of Ascoli. It's in the middle of the beautiful Italian country right outside Comunanza next to some sweet cliffs. We went to his house and had an awesome lasagna for pronzo then he took us out for some sightseeing. We went to Monti Falconi in Appennino and words can't explain the view! Then we went to Smerillo and it was just so the same. They are both little cities on mountain/cliff tops it's so awesome! Probably the coolest day of my life haha.

My birthday was this week and it was interesting haha I kinda forgot it was my birthday. We had zone conference and they sang to the missionaries who have birthdays this month so that was fun then we had a huge bacon burger and it felt like I was in America for a bit. Anyway the conference was really good; we pretty much did a recap of last conference and looked at the results. It was cool to see what happens when you trust the chosen servants of the lord!

This week Anziano Parkinson and I had a lot of contacts to contact and some good lessons. It’s amazing to see the work here growing. The lord is really blessing Ascoli and we are ready to help build his kingdom here. For one lesson this week Andraya took us to a friend and we started sharing our message centered on Jesus Christ. Anz. Parkinson and I haven't taught to much together so the lesson wasn't really going as well as it usually does. We were also teaching in the lady's shop so there were quite a few of distractions from people coming in. During the visit I started praying that people would stop coming in and that we could teach more finely in tune with the spirit. After time the lesson seemed to take a turn. People stopped coming in the shop and we felt influenced to read a passage of the Book of Mormon. After we read, the spirit was so strong in the shop, and we were able to bear sincere testimony on what we read and the message. The lesson went really well. This was just another testimony builder on prayer for me. That when we pray with a sincere heart, the lord will answer. I love the verse in 2 Nephi 32 where it says after you pray "unto the Father in the name of Christ... he will consecrate your performance unto thee". In the mission I have been trying to consecrate my work unto the lord. And I've seen that by starting with a prayer I can see this blessing manifest. I know that this does not only apply to missionary work but that it can apply to everyday things in all of our lives. I invite all to consecrate your days unto the Lord by starting it with a sincere prayer unto the Him. I know and bear testimony that we can see the blessings in our life as we pray specifically and act. I really so love this gospel and love the opportunity I have to be a missionary. I find so much joy from setting apart my day for the Lord and I know you can too.

Thank you all as always for the love support and prayers! I hope you all have a great week!!

Vi voglio bene

-Anziano Ruiz

The view while traveling to Rome for zone conference