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

"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

Not every moment of a missionaries week is filled with great experiences.

February 27, 2017

  This week was great and whoa it went by super-fast! We had some great experiences! We started out with district meeting Tuesday morning and it was really good. It was our first district meeting this transfer because we had zone meeting last week. So our district is almost half new which is sweet! We have some new very strong missionaries and we are all ready to help each other out in the work and build Zion! 

  So there are these two women that we see in the street every so often and they always say they're going to come to English course but they never do. But lately they have been telling us about this program that they work for at the Red Cross where they go and do activities and lessons with elderly men and women aged 60 and up just so they can have something to do after they retire. So they have been asking us if we can go over there and do some English translation services, maybe even do a mini English course. They have been waiting on word from their boss, but when we saw them on the street again they told us just to come. So later that day we went and just walked in on the middle of some presentation thing that the boss was doing and she looked at us then said "what the heck is this? who are you??" Then she had us walk up in front of all the people and introduce our selves to everyone and they were very excited to see two "tall and  beautiful"  Americans! Haha they were all making comments and it was awesome so see how much they liked us. So after that we had a little meeting with the boss and she told us that she wants us to come over again and teach an hour lesson about our church so we gladly accepted! It's gonna be awesome.  We’re going to teach a group of like 30-40 people at once and we are really excited to see what work comes out of it! So that was an awesome blessing this week. 

  We had some service this week with our friend Carolina, she's been meeting with us for about two weeks now. We went to her house and helped her move from floor 2 to floor 1. It was good. After the service we had a lesson on the plan of Salvation and it ended up going pretty long because she had so many questions and confusion. But after we would do an explanation on her questions she would have a huge smile on her face because she under stood! That is a great feeling. And the end of the lesson she said the prayer. She said that as she was reading the Bible the night before and she came across the verse; that says to drink from the cup that is good or something along those lines. She said that she knew it was from God and that she knew that He sent us, the missionaries, here to provide that cup and that she accepts. It was really cool to see someone that is being prepared from the lord. I can't wait to see what He has in store. 

  These were some great experiences of this week and there are a lot more, as there is every week. But not every moment of a missionaries week is filled with great experiences, I just usually like to be positive! So what helps me do that is first and foremost my testimony that God has a plan for everything in our life. Anything that happens whether it be good or bad is supposed to happen and is according to the plan that God has for you. With this knowledge I look at every situation that I'm in and ask myself "what can I learn from this situation?" in place of "why does this have to happen to me?". From having this mind set I am growing and I become grateful for the difficulty’s that God places in my life because I know they are given to me to grow, strengthen me and prepare me for what the future holds. I'm so happy to be out here growing every day I absolutely love this service! Thank you all for the prayers and love!! Have a great week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Ruiz 

Carnevale

 also known as carnival or mardi gras, is celebrated in Italy and many places around the world 40 days before Easter, a final party before Ash Wednesday and the restrictions of Lent.

 Carnevale in Italy is a huge winter festival celebrated with parades, masquerade balls, entertainment, music, and parties. Children throw confetti at each other.

Mischief and pranks are also common during Carnevale, hence the saying A Carnevale Ogni Scherzo Vale, anything goes at carnival.

We had Fufu with Silvano! It's an African dish! Super good. He's awesome!

On top of Carolina's roof

  

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

The Rome East zone together in Rome for zone conference on my birthday February 17, 2017 

Saw Jomar while in Rome

Silvano wishing me a Happy Birthday!

Bridge over the Waterfall 

Anziano Parkinson, Brother Fleming, Anziano Ruiz

  

Montefalcone Appennino FM, Italy

Brother Fleming's house

The point where we were at