I know that God loves all of his children. It doesn't matter if we have weaknesses or doubts; it doesn't matter if we believe him him or not, God loves us and wants the best for all of us, his children.

May 28, 2018

  

 Wow it was a pretty long week! It's been good being back in Olbia! It's pretty funny, every once and a while we'll be on the street and run into someone I talked to a year ago! Some of them I don't remember haha. This week was full of long days of talking just to anyone possible. Its interesting because in some city's there are just so many people and you don't know who to talk to, here is a little different, there seem to be such a small amount of people out that when you see one it's like "wow finally someone to talk to!" But then you get to more populated areas and there are more people.  

  The first couple of days this week were rough no one even wanted to listen to us, we  worked hard and decided to fast for the city. We offered very sincere prayer. Then got back to work. Constantly praying to be able to find someone. We were able to talk to a lot of people who were willing to listen and that was amazing. We've been seeing mini miracles of being lead to the people that will listen.

  It was Sunday night and we had about 30 mins left from the night and were pretty far from home and the bus didn't come for about 10 min. That would get us home about on time. We had been having great conversations, people have been listening but no one was willing to know more. We were sitting there thinking about about the week and weren't satisfied. The thought just came that we could just book it home on feet(maybe like a 40 min walk) talk to everyone on the way and hopefully find someone interested. So we did! It was pretty good we talked to a good amount of people and we almost weren't going to talk to this little family that was sitting on their porch but we did last second and they want us to come back tonight to share our beliefs. It was a pretty awesome miracle! Olbia is great and there are always miracles to be found in everyday.

  My testimony has grown in lots of different ways this week. I know that God loves all of his children. It doesn't matter if we have weaknesses or doubts; it doesn't matter if we believe him him or not, God loves us and wants the best for all of us, his children. He wants us to return to live with him and has prepared a plan for us to do so. This plan is full of happiness and lasting joy.  Christ is the at the center of that plan, he is our savior and he lives!  I know that with all of my heart. 

Vi voglio bene!

Love Anziano Ruiz 

Pittulongu Province of Olbia-Tempio, Italy

Golfo Aranci OT, Italy

Being able to hear the words of the Lord through his ordained servants is such an amazing blessing that we have in our days.

May 21, 2018

  Well this week was pretty crazy and it flew! First off the unexpected happened, I got transferred! I really thought that I was going to finish my mission in Cagliari but it turns out that they need me back in Olbia. I am so excited to be back; it's just crazy!  I'm also with Anziano Lamoureux who was in my district in Napoli. We are really excited for a good transfer together!

  So when I got the news about transfers it was pretty crazy I didn't know what to think, I'm pretty sad to leave Cagliari and that I only got to serve with Anziano Christensen for one transfer. He is awesome! And is a legend at the piano! My last couple of days in Cagliari were pretty good, I said good by to our ward mission leader and to some of the sweet people we found who are now investigating the church! Transfer day there was pretty crazy, since we are on an island everyone is flying out an in, we have to make the same trip back and forth to go to the air port like 6 times haha it was crazy! I just took a train up to Olbia.

  Retiring to Olbia was so weird,  I just have so many mission memories here. I always said that Olbia will be probably my most talked about city after my mission and now I'm here again and so happy! Anziano Lamoureux and I had an awesome weekly planning last Friday and we are ready to give Olbia everything we have. Our last couple of days here have been crazy with just talking to everyone we see. It's going to be a great transfer.

  It was super good to see the members here in Olbia again, they heard I was coming so they had me give a talk in church. It was pretty cool. I felt like I was giving a homecoming talk almost so that was pretty interesting haha. They are happy that I'm back. And so am I!

This week I've been listening to a lot of General Conference talks and it seems like every one is just so perfect. I am so grateful to live in a time where there are apostles and prophets on the earth. Being able to hear the words of the Lord through his ordained servants is such an amazing blessing that we have in our days. I know that God loves us and that he really does call prophets and apostles in our days. I love a quote by Elder Neil L. Andersen "A prophet does not stand between you and the Savior. Rather, he stands beside you and points the way to the Savior. A prophet’s greatest responsibility and most precious gift to us is his sure witness, his certain knowledge, that Jesus is the Christ."

Vi voglio bene!

Love Anziano Ruiz

All of you mothers are so special and play such an important part of God's plan for us!

May 17, 2018

  First off happy late mothers day to my beautiful mom! All of the Italians say you're so young and beautiful!  Also happy mothers day to all of the wonderful moms out there!

  Wow its been a fast week and a fast transfer! It's a lot different here because we live with two other missionaries so time seems to fly even more! This week we did a scambio with the Anziani from Sassari which was good! Anziano Oswald and I did some good work together. We wanted to stop by some investigators who work at this place in Centro, they weren't there but we started talking to Massimo, a guy who was on shift. He was kinda complaining about different churches and wasn't really interested in what we had to say.  We explained about how things have been changed since after the death of Christ and that's why there was a need for a restoration. He was super interested and wanted us to meet with his family! We we are excited. 

  The other cool thing was that Massimo told us when  Franco and Simone (the two guys we originally were looking for) were working, so we stopped by them the next day. This time I was with Anziano Christensen, we stopped by and there already were a couple of people there just kinda hanging out. Once we got there and they saw that we were missionaries it almost turned in to a big argument of believers vs non believers. We were calm and shared our beliefs and in the end Franco was bearing testimony about how there was a need for a restoration to some random guy and it was pretty sweet! 

  I really like a quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley "I remind mothers everywhere of the sanctity of your calling. No other can adequately take your place. No responsibility is greater, no obligation more binding than that you rear in love and peace and integrity those whom you have brought into the world." I love my mom so much and I'm so proud of my sister Italia who is now a mom! As President Hinckley said no one can adequately take your place! I can't imagine my life with out my mom, being away and on my mission has given me an opportunity to take a peek of all she has done for me. All of you mothers are so special and play such an important part of God's plan for us!

Vi voglio bene!

Love Anziano Ruiz 

A picture with some flowers for my mom for mother's day!

 Here is good ol' Anziano Christensen and me.

Here is a sweet looking door from house to house.

This is our church. It's the first time

 I've had an actual building! 

Some more of my area!

As we grow our faith we become more and are able to do more though Christ.

May 7, 2018

  This week was really short! It's kinda crazy too because this transfer is also coming to an end here soon. This week was good I feel like we really connected with the City and the people in it. We had some great opportunities to teach the restoration in the street and we are hoping to be able to see some people again.

  So here in Cagliari there are quite a lot refugee members from Africa so that is pretty cool. Sunday after church we did a really big pranzo with the ward and it was like a get to know you. So after we ate there were some members that told their story of how that got here in Italy from Africa and it really made you realize how blessed you are. These members are so humble and have an amazing positive and great full attitude. They are such amazing examples in everything. Another cool thing on Sunday was that a woman who has been meeting with the sister missionaries for a long time was in church and told the sisters that she had a vision that I was baptizing her, pretty sweet!

  I was reading in 3 Nephi chapter 26 this week and I really liked a verse that said "11 Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people." There may questions that we have now, and will have. Jesus Christ knows that and he has the answers. We go though this life facing lots of trials of our faith. It's all part of a plan. When we over come a trial by enduring faith our faith grows. In Moroni 7 Christ said "33. ...If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." As we grow our faith we become more and are able to do more though Christ. We have trials in this life to become perfect even as he is perfect. I know that he lives, and is there to love us, help us!

Vi vogliamo bene!

Love Anziano Ruiz 

April 30, 2018 

 This week was pretty good, felt super long because P day was postponed. 

  So there is this place called Piazza Giovanni in Cagliari and we always seem to talk to big groups of ragazzi (teenagers) there, it's funny. Tuesday night we were walking in the park and this group of ragazzi walked passed us and were yelling Mormoni, probably to mock us. We stopped them and started talking to them and they were super excited that we were American and they really liked my sports pictures. They weren't really interested in the Gospel but they now really like the Mormons so that is awesome! We met them the next day and beat them pretty good in foosball haha it was funny we are getting pretty good. The next day same place basically the same thing happened after we saw some kids skating and I asked if I could give it a try, they were pretty surprised that a church boy could skate haha.

  I did a scambio with Anziano Bacon this week and that was sweet he is a new missionary and is really bravo! He was number 12 in the nation for mountain biking I'm not sure what category but that's sweet. We stopped by a bike shop to see a guy he had met on the street, sadly he wasn't there but we did get to share out message with someone else and that was awesome.

  Saturday we did some some service again and that was super awesome. That night we did some finding so we went to centro and walked up to this view over the city that was super pretty, we were  talking to a big group of people in their mid 20's and ended up teaching them the restoration as we watched the sun set in to the sea. It was pretty sweet, these guys should be coming to our English course and were super interested in the restoration so that was sweet!

  God has blessed all of us with strengths; I like 1 Timothy 4:14-15. "14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee...15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." There is a quote by Thomas S. Monson that says "the greatest force In the world today is the power of God as it works through man." A great way that God works through us is by giving us strength and blessing other people through them. As it says in 1st Timothy we should not neglect these gifts, we should use our strengths and what makes us unique in this world to serve others. The first GREAT commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbors. When we serve others we fulfill both of these commandments because "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."(Mosiah 2:17). I know that God lives and that because of him we can bless those around us.

Vi vogliamo bene!

Love Anziano Ruiz