Elder Ruby's letter from last week:
On Tuesday we met with Mark. Mark is a really interesting kid. He just graduated from high school. He's gone to church before in Paso Robles with his member friend, Richard, who brought him to church two Sunday's ago. Mark lives in Los Osos (close by) and Richard drove 35 minutes to the lesson from Paso! Mark is 6'5" (I know because Elder Willis asked him), blonde, very professional looking, wears rad socks, plays tennis, loves math and is super smart. Mark had already read the Book of Mormon (it took him 6 weeks) and he wanted to take the discussions! He was there to learn. We started with teaching about the Restoration. We went into depth. We drew diagrams on the chalkboard at the church, we asked him a lot of questions, we testified often and we really hit the apostasy hard. Mark was just a sponge. He would soak up what we said, and then answer our questions better than we could! We asked him if he would be baptized if he found the Book of Mormon to be true. He said yes! Boy, I felt so good during and after the lesson! I couldn't stop smiling (hard to believe, I know). I was so grateful that God gave us the words to say in that lesson. Thoughts just flowed, and my memory was good.
Wednesday, we had an exchange. I, again, went into a Spanish Elder's area, so I got to learn some more Spanish. Here is goes: Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es verdadero. Este conocimiento me ayuda a vivir feliz. Yo se que Jesu Christo es el Salvador y el redemtor. Este creencia me ayuda a tener esperanza.
I am so blessed to be a missionary now, here in California. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth and to the people. Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Book of Mormon is evidence that God loves us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and God knows and speaks to all people. I know we came to earth to become like our Heavenly Father. We do this by making choices.
When people ask me how I am doing, tell them I am loving the experience, the weather and the people, but what I love most of all is watching how seeking and learning truth and then acting on it changes hearts and minds for the better (and ultimately perfection) including, and especially, my own.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
No Post This Week:(
I'm sorry. I won't be posting a letter from Elder Ruby this week:( He did send us one and he is doing really good. I have spent the last few days getting ready for Girls Camp and didn't have time to retype his letter. I apologize. Please don't give up on me! I will be at camp Wednesday through Saturday. I will be sure to get a post done for next week. Summer has been super busy. I'm sure you all know what that is like. Keep him in your prayers. He really appreciates them and notices a difference. Thank you for your support and love. Look for a letter and an Elder Ruby "selfie" next week. Adri
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
New Investigators!
We went on exchanges with Elder Pace and Elder Peterson this Saturday and it was awesome. We gave out 7 copies of the Book of Mormon and we found 3 super prepared people! During planning the night before, we were looking through our potential investigator sheets. We saw a name that I didn't recognize and a street I have never heard of before, so we decided to put him (Scott) in our plans. Like usual, our day didn't go as planned. The afternoon was a bunch of doors that didn't open to us. We got to a point where we took a step back and thought about where to go next. We chose to go by Scott's because we hadn't gone by when we had planned to earlier. We took the long way to get there. We were using E. Willis' GPS (really handy), but I felt like turning the wheel a different direction. Eventually we arrived, and as we pulled up, I recognized the place. Elder Willis and I had been there before and the whole house had been empty. I wondered why we hadn't updated our records.
However, we looked twice and saw a couple of girls moving into the house. We offered to help and then helped anyway. When we finished, they started asking questions. Their names are Caroline, Katie, and Lindsay. They were super interested. We taught about the Book of Mormon. Luckily, we had three copies handy and we gave them all their own copy. We shared Helaman 5:12. As I helped Caroline turn to it, Katie opened right up to the page! Then we had them read Moroni 10:3-5. We asked them about how they thought/felt about it. We mentioned "real intent" and they said that just the other day they had been talking about that! They said that if they found the book to be true, they would do what it said. I read to them Mosiah 18:8-11, and spoke to them about baptism. Caroline had just gotten baptized last week into the Catholic church. She said that she didn't want to be confirmed but she had to to be baptized. Obviously, she has been searching for God in her life. They all want to learn more. Caroline and Lindsay live at another place. We got their contact info and we should have already met with them again by the time that you read this!
This week has been another whirlwind, if you haven't noticed. Mark (a non-member) came to church last week with a member friend. They told us last week that Mark wanted to take the missionary discussions. We had lessons with him on Tuesday and Friday. I was the happiest I've been for a while after teaching Mark the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he would be baptized if he found the Book of Mormon to be true! Mark is an incredibly intelligent young man. He can listen and the spit out gospel concepts and principles better than we explained them. We asked why it was important to have a prophet on the earth and what would happen if there was no prophet. He told us that it would be like the game of "Telephone!" He has a lot of friends in the church in Paso 2nd Ward too. He has already read the Book of Mormon. He read our reading assignment, read the additional study suggestions, and brought another friend to the next lesson! He has a soft date for his baptism of July 25th. People who God has prepared are "coming out of the woodwork."
We had the opportunity to give a member a blessing for anxiety and depression. She had been suffering for years and after much prayer and fasting, she felt like she needed to receive a blessing. She asked me to give the blessing. The first words that the Spirit would let me say were "be healed." The blessing following was relatively short and unexciting. Just yesterday, this member followed-up in a text stating the miracle that happened to her. I don't have time for the details, but because of the incredible faith she had, she was healed and no longer suffers from those ills! I felt a witness that the priesthood power we hold is real and God works according to our faith.
Here are some pictures of Elder Ruby's apartment in SLO. Unfortunately, they aren't "selfies", so we don't get to see Him, just his neat and tidy apartment. He seems to be doing so well. He has been out just over 10 mo.
However, we looked twice and saw a couple of girls moving into the house. We offered to help and then helped anyway. When we finished, they started asking questions. Their names are Caroline, Katie, and Lindsay. They were super interested. We taught about the Book of Mormon. Luckily, we had three copies handy and we gave them all their own copy. We shared Helaman 5:12. As I helped Caroline turn to it, Katie opened right up to the page! Then we had them read Moroni 10:3-5. We asked them about how they thought/felt about it. We mentioned "real intent" and they said that just the other day they had been talking about that! They said that if they found the book to be true, they would do what it said. I read to them Mosiah 18:8-11, and spoke to them about baptism. Caroline had just gotten baptized last week into the Catholic church. She said that she didn't want to be confirmed but she had to to be baptized. Obviously, she has been searching for God in her life. They all want to learn more. Caroline and Lindsay live at another place. We got their contact info and we should have already met with them again by the time that you read this!
This week has been another whirlwind, if you haven't noticed. Mark (a non-member) came to church last week with a member friend. They told us last week that Mark wanted to take the missionary discussions. We had lessons with him on Tuesday and Friday. I was the happiest I've been for a while after teaching Mark the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he would be baptized if he found the Book of Mormon to be true! Mark is an incredibly intelligent young man. He can listen and the spit out gospel concepts and principles better than we explained them. We asked why it was important to have a prophet on the earth and what would happen if there was no prophet. He told us that it would be like the game of "Telephone!" He has a lot of friends in the church in Paso 2nd Ward too. He has already read the Book of Mormon. He read our reading assignment, read the additional study suggestions, and brought another friend to the next lesson! He has a soft date for his baptism of July 25th. People who God has prepared are "coming out of the woodwork."
We had the opportunity to give a member a blessing for anxiety and depression. She had been suffering for years and after much prayer and fasting, she felt like she needed to receive a blessing. She asked me to give the blessing. The first words that the Spirit would let me say were "be healed." The blessing following was relatively short and unexciting. Just yesterday, this member followed-up in a text stating the miracle that happened to her. I don't have time for the details, but because of the incredible faith she had, she was healed and no longer suffers from those ills! I felt a witness that the priesthood power we hold is real and God works according to our faith.
Here are some pictures of Elder Ruby's apartment in SLO. Unfortunately, they aren't "selfies", so we don't get to see Him, just his neat and tidy apartment. He seems to be doing so well. He has been out just over 10 mo.
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