Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 5: 13


Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Transferred! New area - Olbia on the Island of Sardegna

March 27, 2017  

  Wow this week has been just crazy! I don't know where to start, so I got transferred to Olbia which is a small city in Sardegna! I'm gonna miss Ascoli a lot, I really loved it there and the members. My new companion is Anziano Rogler from New York! He's awesome we get along really well so that's good, so far I've all of my companions and I have gotten along really well.  Anz Rogler just got done being trained so I'm follow up training him which is sweet, I'm excited to help him out and teach him some of the stuff I know. There is a little branch here in Olbia is about the same size as Ascoli but we have an actual building so that's sweet! It's weird but nice having church in a building, I'm so used to my apartment ha. 

  So after I got my call that I was getting transferred it was just a big rush of packing saying bye to all my friends that I made here but still doing missionary work at the same time! Tuesday we had our last district meeting together and ate some good food. I'm gonna miss my old district they were sweet but so is my new one. Tuesday night we had dinner with the Bosco and Teodosi's. They are the top family that we would go to every Sunday for pronzo so we have awesome relationships with them. It was hard to say goodbye they are just so awesome. The next day was full with goodbyes also. We stopped by Silvano and he is just so strong in the church, he was expressing to me all the joy that it has been bringing  him and was just thanking me so much for helping him find the full truth. There is just so much joy that can be found through missionary work, it's such a blessing to be here doing this.   

  Thursday morning I started my journey to Olbia and it was a journey haha. 6 hour train to Rome I stayed there for the night then that next morning I hopped on a plain to Sardegna by myself and I met my new district. They are all sweet. Anziano Cutler who was my district leader in the MTC is my Distract leader here so that's so cool!! We are a young district, there is just one sister who came in the mission six weeks before me and Anz Cutler. So we have a lot of what they call greeny fire! We're really excited to blow up the work! I finally got into my new area that night. And the next day was pretty packed with getting settled and weekly planning but we did some finding that night and it was super good! I'm so excited to be here! Sunday we had pronzo at president Mazzone house with pretty much all the branch. I guess it's like that every Sunday it's cool the members are all really tight and we're going to have great relationships! 

  Today we're going to Golfo Aranci with the district so that will be really sweet! I'm so happy to be here, I can’t wait to see what the lord has in store for us. I know I'm here for a reason and I'm excited and determined to find that reason through hard work! I'm just so happy to be a missionary and to have this experience. I love the scripture Ether 12: 27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" know that our weaknesses are here to strengthen us; and that with faith and practice when we turn to our Savior Jesus Christ  our weaknesses can become strengths!

I hope you all have a great week! 

Vi voglio bene 


-Anziano Ruiz 
 Last days in Ascoli





The District










Saying goodbye to Friends in Ascoli









Reminders of home while traveling to Rome
Washington, the Evergreen State!

The Rome Temple, under construction.

Taking off to the Island of Sardegna!





New Area - Olbia on the Island of Sardegna
The new District!


  Golfo Aranci beach




Monday, March 20, 2017

The mission is amazing and I love it so much. It is a blessing every day to be out here.

March 20 2017
   So I don't know if I've ever said this before but in Italy there are no bread sticks and no Alfredo. Just some good things to know haha.  My first day in Italy Anziano Anderson asked me what my favorite pasta was and I said Alfredo.
   Anyway, this week went by so fast!! I feel like I was just saying I hope I stay in Ascoli and it's already that time again! But yeah I really love Ascoli and the work is amazing so I hope to stay but as always I want to be where the lord needs me! 

  This week started out with another Scambio in L'Aquila this week. It was great I was with Anziano Whited our district leader. It was good; his family owned a chicken shop back home so we made about 6 pounds of fried chicken for lunch, that was interesting haha, but super good!  Also during the Scambio we went and did some finding at the University and it was really good, we found this guy who was very atheist but really wanting to know if there is a God. So they are now going to help him find God! We just had an awesome conversation with him and were able to bare awesome testimony. It was so cool.

  Also this week we went to this motorbike shop to talk to a couple that we met last week and only the guy was there. So we started having an awesome conversation with him about the organization of the church.  After a while his wife and 18 year old son came walking in and then we were all having an awesome conversation and they asked something like "what is this book?" because we had brought up the book of Mormon. So we told them we can come to their home and explain "the Book" and they were very excited! So we are really excited to share the message of the Restoration with a strong family this next week!

Today for Pday was sweet! We had the Pescara Anziani and Sorelle over for the day and I took them for a tour of Ascoli since I've been here so long! We took a ton of sweet pictures that I won't have till next week so sorry about that! 

  The mission is amazing and I love it so much. It is a blessing every day to be out here. I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!

Vi voglio bene 


Anziano Ruiz 
  











Monday, March 13, 2017

I love being out here learning and doing the Lord's work!

March 13, 2017  
 Caio tutti! We're already on the last week of the transfer! Geez this week was another really fast and good one! Here's some stories

  So we have this awesome contact named Cecilia that works at a little pastry shop. We first ran into her and her dad doing some English course finding, then a couple of weeks later we saw her in her shop so we decided to say ciao. We've been stopping by every once and a while and have built a pretty solid relationship with her and her dad. This week I made some brownies with white chocolate chips and brought we them over to the shop and they loved them haha everyone who was coming in the shop was trying them it was sweet! Anyway we ended up talking to the dad for a while and he seems pretty curious of what we have to offer so I'm pretty excited to meet at their home soon! 

  The same day we had an appointment planed with Alex who is the only member in his home and a convert of two years, he hasn't been coming to church much so we wanted to help him out. So when we called to confirm, his friend Octavian picked up the phone and said that Alex is waiting. We have actually been trying to meet with Octavian the past couple of weeks after we gave him a Book of Mormon; but we haven't had the chance. So we were really excited that Octavian was there! We got there and just had small talk for a while and then we started talking about the gospel and started teaching the restoration so that was great! Then during the lesson Alexi’s mom walked in and started listening too! She had to leave early but we ended the lesson with Octavian and he really liked it. And it was perfect because we wanted to teach Alex about missionary work! So then Sunday Alex brought Octavian to church and he really enjoyed it a lot! I'm so happy everything worked out so smoothly! The lord just has perfect timing! I really hope I can stay here another transfer to see what else the Lord has planned for him. Today we're going to play soccer together with Alex Octavian and some other friends. It will be sweet! 

  So there is a member here, Alessandra, who I've been meeting with ever since I've been here because she used to be less active. Back when I was with Anziano Farinotti we helped her come back to church, which was awesome! Our next goal was to help her stop smoking, the missionaries have been trying to help her stop smoking ever since she picked it back up almost 3 years ago. So when I first got here she was smoking almost 2 packs a day and this week she stopped!! It's been a really long journey but it's been so worth it to see how much more energy and happiness she has now that she is keeping the Lord's commandments. 

  So it was a good week! I really love Ascoli it's so pretty! I love being out here learning and doing the Lord's work! 

Vi voglio bene 


Anziano Ruiz 
In Centro
 
Tennis on Pday

  Brother Fleming, he is awesome!

A big Catholic shop

A church in Ascoli


More fufu with Silvano

Quail eggs

Monday, March 6, 2017

"All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

March 6, 2017  

  Well this week flew! Today is the 8 month mark which is super crazy to think of. I'm already 1/3rd of the way done! Just crazy. 

  This week started with a scambio with Anziano Daniels in L'Aquila which went super well! Anziano Daniels is a greeny so it was pretty cool to be able to help him out and teach him some of the things I've learned since I’ve been out. They have this guy, Andrea, that they have been teaching for quite a long time now and I had a chance to teach him! The missionaries have been trying to help him to read and pray every day, but he's had a very hard time. So that was the goal for our lesson. We were able to apply some of the principles that we learned together during the 12 week missionary training program and have a great lesson. I heard back a couple of days later from Anziano Daniels and he told me that Andrea read and prayed! So that was a sweet blessing we saw from that scambio. We also did some service and worked  this big kitchen with a bunch of Italians making food for the homeless, that was really cool! 

  This week we had the lesson with the group of elderly people and it was sweet! So we went with a couple of members for help because we were expecting to have a hard time filling  a whole hour of time about the gospel. But we should have known better! We had a hard time fitting the lesson in and ended up going like 30 minutes over! Haha, they all had so many questions about such random aspects of religion haha.  But we funneled it all back to the Restoration and ended up teaching a great lesson and bearing testimony. The spirit was so strong it was such a great feeling. After the closing prayer we asked who wants a "Book of Mormon?" And everyone raised their hand! We gave out our whole big box that we brought. It was really cool, there were people that just went back to their seat and started reading. There were also a lot of people that came up to us after and didn't have words to explain what they felt and all they could say is that there was so much light coming from us, it was so cool. It's amazing what work the lord does in helping his servants preach the Restored gospel. I can't wait to see the fruits that will come! 

  Missions are full of cool experience! Last night we went with a member to teach a lesson and he brought us to a Friar/exorcist.. haha it was interesting teaching a lesson in a big catholic church!
   Today for Pday, it was fun, we went and played tennis again and I'm actually getting pretty good so that's sweet! After tennis we played volleyball with the high school students and that was super sweet! They all really like us and keep telling me they want to come to Washington with me when I go home haha I think they still don't understand I'm from Washington State not DC. 

This week I had a neat experience with the Atonement. I want to start out with a quote from Peach My Gospel about the Atonement so we can have a better understanding of what it does as we use it “As we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." (Preach My Gospel p.52) So the Atonement is there not only to cleanse us from our sins but to help us in any way possible. So like I said last week the mission isn't easy. So one point in this week I was frustrated and  just feeling down so I decided to turn to the Lord in Prayer and ask for strength from the Atonement. Shortly after as I lost my self in the work I felt completely fine! I had the desire to work and loved it! Now this is a simple experience but I just wanna share it to show that no matter how small or dumb something might seem we can always rely on the Atonement. I know that Jesus Christ not only is ready but is  waiting to help us in any situation.

  I can't wait for another week and another 16 months our here! I hope you all have a great week!!

Vi voglio bene! 


Anziano Ruiz 
Anziano Parkinson getting a nap in on a Bus ride home
 
The District



Servizio 

Scenes from L'Aquila


A Castle




Teramo 






Ascoli
  
View from our apartment