Monday, December 7, 2015

Week 9: I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Happy Holidays! It doesn't really feel like Christmas is upon us because there is no snow out here haha. 

Transfers were last week, so I got a new companion: Elder Jessee from Riverton Utah. He's been out for about 15 months, so I guess you could say he's a seasoned veteran haha. 

This week I was blessed to see several small miracles and tender mercies that occurred to us this week. We were able to talk more people -while tracting/street contacting- than we usually do. One reason is because Elder Jessee is really assertive when it comes to missionary work, so he's been pushing us as a companionship to work hard to find people. With the new Christmas video that the Church has put out, we've been able to share a short message about the Savior with many people.On Thursday we were able to go on team-ups with Bishop Smith and teach the children of a part-member family. And it was a miracle that for the most part, the kids paid attention and participated. And even their father, who doesn't have much of an interest in in the Church, sat stuck around for the whole lesson; what a miracle! We also invited them to come to the ward Christmas party Saturday night, as well as church on Sunday. They came to the Christmas party, and everyone was glad to see that they showed up. They said they had a wonderful time. 

On Saturday we were able to teach an investigator named Ronnie about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I could definitely feel the Holy Ghost helping me to know what to say; it was an amazing feeling. He truly does speak to those that humble themselves before God, and listen for that still small voice. Later that day we talked to a less-active named Clay Lotz, who's one of the nicest and most genuine people I have ever met. He's a wood craftsman that works from home, so he lives from paycheck to paycheck each month. We talked for about an hour while he was having a yard sale of some of the things that he's built, because he needed the money to pay his bills. It was such a humbling experience to be with him, he just has such a positive spirit. We invited him to the ward Christmas party as well, and also to church. He said he would try to come, depending if he decided to carry on his yard sale into the evening. He didn't come to the party, but he did come to sacrament meeting all dressed up in his suit, and it just made my day to see him come! 

Our ward will be going through a Church process called "bar-belling", where two ward combine their 2nd and 3rd hour meetings, but have separate sacrament meetings. So to see a lot more Mormons in the church building than usual reminded me of going to church back home, where the wards are way bigger haha!

Other than that, things have been pretty chill. Sorry I didn't take a lot of pictures this week; we've been busy haha! I love you all! Make good choices and all that good stuff. 
The smallest acts of kindness can rock a person's world; you never know. 

Adios!


-Elder Ruiz
Elder Jessee and I checking our emails this afternoon at the Chino Hills Library!

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