I invite all to read the Book of Mormon and continue to build your testimonies.

June 24, 2017

  So much happened this week! It flew. So about a week ago we received an online referral, Roberto. After getting in contact and setting an appointment we went out to bring him a Book of Mormon. Roberto lives up in the highest northern part of our area. So we had a long bus ride up there but were able to do study on the bus so it was worth it. We ended up meeting with him and leaving a Book of Mormon! That was really coo,l we are going to meet this week again. Since we were in that area we decided to go over to the Maddalena -which is an island off of Sardegna- to visit some less actives, while we were there we decided to do a language study in a park because it was pranzo hour. We walked into a park and there was this guy that I thought we should talk to so we did and it was awesome. His name is Toni (like Tony). We started talking to about the restoration and he was really interested. He started talking about how all the churchs claim to have the truth but none of them have proof. He seemed pretty disappointed in that and kept saying only God knows the truth. When I had the chance I started testifying of the truths that we have in the restored gospel. Then I told him we have proof, and as I was doing this I pulled out the Book of Mormon, the proof of the restoration, and Toni started crying; the spirit was so strong we were all feeling it and all teared up. He asked if we had another copy that we could give him and we said "no, this one is all yours!" He was so grateful and couldn't stop thanking us. That was probably the most powerful experience I've had with the Book of Mormon in my mission. I can't wait to meet with Toni this week!

  After that we had an awesome zone conference that got us pumped for the work. It was really good to talk with the rest of the zone, there are so many cool missionaries in this mission. Also we did some finding in Cagliari and that was fun. It's a cool city.

  The other night we talked to this family that was hanging out on the porch and it was coo,l they liked us, it turned out that they actually knew the missionaries from a while ago so we started talking about the gospel a little but it didn't go anywhere. Then yesterday we had just gotten off at the bus stop to go home and there was 5 min till it was time to be inside and I was feeling that we needed to stay out and pass by that family so we did and they were out on the porch again and it was their little girls birthday! So we sang her happy birthday in English and they loved it and invited us up in for a drink so now we are great friends and we are going to stop by more often to talk about the gospel and hopefully start teaching them! Never take a spiritual prompting for granted!

  Yesterday after a big pranzo with the members, Anziano Parker and I were doing 12 week and we did a roll play with one of our members Mario Papi, of introducing the Book of Mormon. It was super cool, after the roleplay we talked about his conversion story and the Book of Mormon again. The Book of Mormon plays such a key role in conversion and strengthening a testimony. When we gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon it's like a never ending domino effect of knowledge truth light blessings and everything else! When we know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God we know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that the original church of Jesus Christ has been restored along with the priesthood, we know that God is our heavenly father and that he does love us! We know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that once again we can receive his power through baptism!  I invite all to read the Book of Mormon and continue to build your testimonies. I know that the Book is true and it will bless your life. I know it because I have seen it in others and in myself; and I have felt it in my heart from the Spirit of God that it is from him. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

  I love the mission and the opportunity to bear my testimony with those around me! I hope you all have a great week

Vi voglio bene!

-Anziano Ruiz 

These next 3 are all in Cagliari

Olbia sunset

There are so many great experiences to experience being a missionary.

June 19, 2017

  Happy father's day to my dad who is the all-time master ninja! And has really taught me so much in this life.

Also happy father's day to all the other great dads out there and father figures. 

Ciao tutti!

   I'm staying here in Olbia with Anziano Parker for another transfer and I'm excited to do some more good work!

 This week being transfers was a pretty crazy one. Anziano Cutler from Sassari was leaving. I'm gonna miss that guy but we'll have fun in college together! The new companion wasn't coming until the next day so we ended up being in Sassari for a couple of days this week but it went great.  While we were there we got talking to some kids who claimed to be atheist. We started talking about faith and ended up teaching the end of the restoration and they were really intent and interested. It was cool to be able to help someone rethink the existence of a God. It just feels so great to be able to bare a testimony to someone listening sincerely and even better when they accept your testimony and you know it helped them. I love that best of being a missionary.  

  Yesterday after church  some members invited us to lunch and as we were getting ready to go they told us to hurry and go put normal clothes on for the lunch. I didn't really know how to respond but they were so insistent and I wasn't really feeling anything telling me no. So we went and changed into normal clothes real quick and brought a bag with missionary clothes then got in the car and we were off to lunch. The member lives on a beach so it's about a 35 min drive to her house. She said she invited some people, but that we were not to bring up the gospel unless they asked us. So we get to the house set up the table and then her friend came and brought his girlfriend and little girl! So that was cool, of course we get talking and they ask about us and we tell them we're Americans here serving a mission to help people come to Christ. They were excited to meet us! People always love talking to Americans here, it's really cool, they love hearing about the different culture. Since we were in normal cloths they connected with us and we could bring up the gospel without coming on too strong. After lunch they started asking more about out church and we ended up teaching them the restoration! At the end I told them that God provided a way to know if this message is true. And Fabrizio, the guy( his last name is Ferrari which is sweet) said "How can we know if it's true!?" So we taught him about the Book of Mormon. As he was leaving he asked for a Book of Mormon. So that was a really awesome experience. 

  I guess I learned that God works in mysterious ways! I never thought that on my mission I would go to a beach house on a Sunday, wearing normal clothes, and teach a family the restoration but I did and it was awesome! There are so many great experiences to experience being a missionary. Going about it being able to bare testimony that God is our loving heavenly father, and all the other amazing truths we receive from the restored gospel is just a cherry on top! I love my mission and the Italians! 

Have a great week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Ruiz

A typical Italian breakfast of orzo and pastries.

A little but of the Sardegna country

The beginning of the sunset when we got home Sunday

View from the members beach house where 

we had lunch and gave a lesson.

The number stands for how many transfers we have been out. A transfer is 6 weeks.

Sardegna Zone Conference

From these weaknesses I've seen more growth than ever in my mission.

June 12, 2017 

  Wow this week had been fast and the transfer even faster! I can't believe another transfer is already over! It has definitely been a good transfer. I think that training has helped me find so many weaknesses; but from these weaknesses I've seen more growth than ever in my mission. And it has just been awesome! 

  I really don't have time to email but this week has been awesome! Just the other night we saw some kids sitting down in a park all from ages 16-19 they had some penny boards in front of them (Anziano Parker and I were both Into that when we were at home) so we asked if we could give them a try and we did and then they were blown away! We then told them an Italian joke/play on words. They really liked us! We were just talking and it lead to the restoration and they were all super into it and the spirit was really strong! It was awesome and they loved us and were asking a lot of questions about the church and they loved the church! It was really cool and we'll be talking to them in the future for sure!

  Sorry I don't have time, there was a lot of awesome miracles and experiences this week I love missionary work more than ever! 

I love you all and hope you all have a good week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Roman Ruiz