"Something powerful happens when a child of God seeks to know more about Him and His Beloved Son"

January 29, 2018 

  This week has felt so long! Haha in the beginning we had zone conference in Taranto and that went pretty well! We talked about faith and how that brings miracles. It's always good to see President Pickerd and Sorrella Pickerd for interviews. They are the best. After zone conference we took the Taranto Anziani to Cosenza with us for a scambio and that was good. I was with Anziano Sacco, he was actually trained by Anziano Daniele my companion so that's neat. We had good time and were able to teach the restoration to lady who said she has been falling away from Christianity, she loved the message. We also got to meet up with this guy who knew the missionaries from a long time ago. It was coo,l we met them at a bar. Here in Italy bars are a lot different than America, they are more like a gas station store, kinda hard to explain. Anyway we met him there and he brought a couple of friends and they were all like in their 70's and not very interested in the Gospel. I told them that we were actually American spies searching for information. That got their attention haha. We told them we were joking then bore testimony of Jesus Christ and left after talking for a bit. They really liked us haha maybe they'll come to church one day.

  After zone conference and the scambio, Anzaino Daniels and I had a lot of appointments fall through which was too bad. But we did a lot of super good finding and taught the restoration  to many times to count on the street. It was really good. They are all very spiritual experiences, it's so cool to feel the spirit as we teach God's message.       We teach pretty powerfully together. We have a lot of cool people to meet up with here soon. On Sunday we had a pronzo with the  member that we made homemade gnocchi with and that was super good, her name is Sorella Mineri. She'll have to move like a dresser in her house and call us over for help and make us food haha she's pretty awesome.

  As a mission we have been invited to read the book or Mormon more. I love what President Russel M. Nelson says about it. "Something powerful happens when a child of God seeks to know more about Him and His Beloved Son. Nowhere are those truths taught more clearly and powerfully than in the Book of Mormon" in Preach My Gospel chapter 5 it talked all about the Book of Mormon, one thing it says "The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion." When I read the Book of Mormon I'm enlightened  . I know that because of the Book of Mormon my testimony of Jesus Christ is stronger than it would have ever been without it.

Vi vogliamo bene!
Have a great week.

Love Anziano Ruiz 

I know that miracles are real and the way that we see them is through our faith in Jesus Christ.

January 22, 2018

This week was long! But a really good one. Tuesday was cool, we had DDM in Crotone so we had a pretty long drive and I'm driving now so that was weird. We drove right through the mountains and there was a huge snow storm, so that was fun. Anziano Daniels and I have been doing an awesome work together and we are super excited for the rest of this transfer. We have been meeting so many new people and it's really fun. We've met like 4 people who lived in the US so that was also neat.
This week we started calling a bunch of contacts we had in our phone. And they are all super excited to hear from us. We set up this appointment with Valero and that was sweet. He met with the missionaries about 3 years ago. We taught him the restoration and it was super powerful from the beginning. He really wants to receive a testimony for him self and be baptized. We are really excited to see what the Lord has in store for him. This week we have been studying a lot on faith and it has been awesome. I love the verse Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." Vi vogliamo bene! Buona settimanna! Love Anziano Ruiz

I know that God is so perfect that he can answer prayers through his imperfect children. We can all be answers to the prayers of those around us.

January 15, 2018

  Wow this week has been pretty dang crazy. So I'm staying here and I'm super excited about that! But sadly Anziano Bellucci got transferred which was a big surprise. We both thought that we were staying here. But I got my call and Anziano Daniels will be my new companion! I was in his district when he was born like a year ago. I actually did a scambio with him, you can probably go back and find it if you wanted to. It was really good so I was really happy to hear that he will be my new companion! 

 So the first few days of this week we had actually planned to go to Napoli because Anziano Bellucci had a promesso appointment but that fell through so he had time to pack and say bye to members and investigators. So that was good.

  Thursday I drove over to Paola which is a coastal city to drop off Anz. Bellucci then pick up Anz. Daniels. We then had like 3 hours to wait for another missionary so I just threw a towel down on the beach and chilled there for that time. We decided to also be productive so we did language studies and made some phone calls. It was actually cool because we set up an appointment for this week with this woman that said she was in need of spiritual help. God blesses us and helps us bless others as we are always involved in a good cause D&C 58:27. 

  Anyway after all that we went home then taught English course and the next morning we went back to Paola and hopped on a train to Rome for a MLC (mission leadership council) it was really cool! We had 8 people from my MTC group there who were all zone leaders! So it was good to get to see everyone! It was definitely a powerful meeting, I learned a lot of leadership skills that I will use through out my life.

  While We were in Rome for MLC we had the chance to watch the funeral of President Monson. It was really touching, he lived such a great life and gave over half a century of service as a member of the 12 Apostles then as the Prophet. He was well known for being on the Lords errand, listening to spiritual prompting and being led to help other people and his service was an answer of their prayers. He says "I know of no experience more sweet or feeling more precious than to head a prompting only to discover that the Lord has answered another person's prayer through you." I know that God is so perfect that he can answer prayers through his imperfect children. We can all be answers to the prayers of those around us.

Vi vogliamo bene! Buona settimanna!

Love Anziano Ruiz

I purposely took a video to capture what happens

 when I take selfies. Haha they are crazy!

 

Last district lunch before transfers

 goodbyes with English course

More goodbyes

Common Cosenza views

I have more videos of what I made with this. 

Maybe I'll share them.. maybe not.

Saying goodbye to Anziano Bellucci

The back end of our beach view

The front end

Missionary work at it's finest!

 On the way back from the MLC we stopped it Napoli for 15 minutes. I took this opportunity to call up the missionaries and have them deliver me some of the best cheese in the world and classic Napoli bread. It was Bomb!

Some random dude I met at Trevy Fountain. 

JK he's my new comps. He's sick, I love him.

I know that these things are true and that we can endure all things thanks to the love that Jesus Christ has for us.

January 8, 2017

  

  I still don't understand how the transfers just keep getting faster! We get calls tonight I'm pretty sure Anziano Bellucci and I are going to be staying another one together her in Cosenza. But you never know! The members love us both so much it's pretty awesome! 

  We met with Francesco a couple of times this week I also invited us over for pranzo.  He is super cool but is mostly just interested in being friends. He is planning on being in America September of this year and we wants to meet Anziano Bellucci and me in to Utah. Hopefully things work out! He is a awesome guy!! 

This week we got to get in contact with some relatives of a member here, they invited us over for Pranzo too but we were already going to Francesco's. We were still able to visit them help them with some English home work and teach the restoration. It was pretty cool!

  We also got to stop by this guy named Luigi at his shop and teach him the restoration. He wasn't all about it but he really loves how important the family is to us and out church. I always like starting and leaving on common believes.  It just makes for such a great experience. 

  We did a scambio this week with some Anziani from Taranto. That was good, I got to work with Anziano Strong and it was good we pretty much just did some good finding and taught English course then had some super good panzerotti!! After English course we had a really cool spiritual thought. We were talking about the weather for English course so we shared a scripture from the Holy Bible then from the book of Mormon. It's awesome to see how well the Book of Mormon and the Bible support each other. Matthew 7: "24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." Then Helaman 5:12 says "12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

  I know that these things are true and that we can endure all things thanks to the love that Jesus Christ has for us. I know that he lives and that he truly is our savior!

Vi vogliamo bene!

Love Anziano Ruiz

Making Gnocche, An authentic Italian meal.

There is always some one than can help and guide us, no matter how lost we might be. That is our Lord Jesus Christ.

January 1, 2018

Last week, sorry I didn't get it off in time.

  It's been a good Week! And fast of course! We had a district meeting and Anziano Velardi gave great training! After that we did a scambio which was fun. Back when I was in Olbia I did a scambio with Anziano Velardi and we saw some cool miracles,  so going into this we were both pretty pumped to see some miracless and we did so that was fun! We got out and talked to a lot of people about the light the world which in Italian would be Sii Una Luce which actually translates to be a light. Anyway it was cool we talked to this guy who was selling poinsettias. He was super interested, we talked to him about the restoration. He loves prophets and asked me who my favorite prophet was and I told him I thought that Abinadi was pretty cool, he was pretty confused so we taught him about the book of Mormon and he was pretty into it. So that was really cool. 

  We also met with a girl named Claudia this week with a return missionary from our branch named Lina who served in the Colorado Colorado springs (the same mission as Marcos Tome! She knows him small world) it was a great lesson we all felt the spirit.

  Church was good we had just one hour of sacrament and it was really good. There were a lot of people that had like 5 min talks it was cool. Something that really touched me was. How much people talked about service. I feel like you hear so much that without the events of Easter then we wouldn't celebrate Christmas. But it's not only that it's the whole life of Jesus Christ that makes him special. President Monson once said "He lived not to be served but to serve, not to receive but to give, not to save His life but to sacrifice it for others" this is the testimony of why we have Christmas.

This week

  This week was great! I feel like so much has happened but I can't really remember what it was haha. We started with another DDM by anziano Velardi in Crotone and it was super good as usual. After that we drove up the Calabria coast for a couple of hours to catch out train to Napoli! It was so good to be back there! I had two pizzas and they were bomb! It was super good to see Anziano Wagstaff again! I'll have to go back here the 10th for some more permesso stuff. On the way up and then back down I had some awesome conversations with people on the train. On the way down Anzaino Bellucci and I got to our seats and there were 6 other people sitting with us I was one one side and he was one the other so I started talking to the people by me and there was this older guy named Mario who started asking all these questions of who we are. So I started explaining to him what we do and and that we share messages of Jesus Christ with people. He must have been pretty interested because he got everyone's attention around us and told them all to listen to me because I was going to teach them. Haha it was pretty sweet I ended up teaching them the whole restoration and talked to them about the doctrine of Christ, they were pretty interested. Mario (the original guy i talked to) asked for a Book of Mormon and wanted me so sign it and write my testimony, it was super cool. I know one day I'll be able to see the impact on his life from it.

  Sunday we went on a walk through Centro with our friend Francesco, he's cool and wanted to take us to play some tennis for p-day. There was a huge concert set up for new years and there was like no one out haha. After that we went to visit a member who has been in the hospital for quite a while now.  She's from the north so it was a lot easier to understand her haha. We took them the sacrament and it was really cool. They were so grateful. It was pretty loud all night with fire crackers and what but when new years turned, man it was crazy, it was just non stop. 

  At the start of the new year we all make goals. This next year is going to be  filled with lots of big changes for me. I'll finish my Mission and start college, more than ever I'm going to need the Lord's help and guidance. In all moments of life; adversity, temptation, affliction, joy, sadness, happiness there is always some one than can help and guide us, no matter how lost we might be. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that he lives and is with us. In the introduction to the book of Mormon it says that “...a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”.  My goal this year is to not miss a day of reading the Book of Mormon. I know that it will guide me so much and that it can guide all of us. I hope you all have a great start to your new year!

Vi vogliamo bene! Buon  nuovo anno!

Love Anziano Ruiz

Leaving Cosenza in the morning.

This was our drive along the coast, we got to watch the sun set it was super pretty!

 It was super good to see good friends back from Napoli they went crazy when they saw me haha. And of course it was good to see figlio mio Anzaino Wagstaff!

The guy to my side is the master at cutting the cheese! I'm not sure why I haven't sent a picture like this before! There is cheese this big and bigger all over Italy.

A nice pranzo (lunch) we made the other day.

The Lopez family

 Happy New year!   We got some fresh Nutella filled croissants this morning.