California Screen Writers

Elder Ruby is doing really great.  He didn't give us much to write about this week for the blog.  He did not get transferred, so he will be in San Louis Obispo for at least 6 more weeks.  He will continue in SLO as a Zone Leader.  He arrived in SLO when college was just getting out, so he's excited to still be there when the colleges start up again.  For those of you that don't know, SLO is where Cal Poly is located.

Sister Felix wrote on their mission blog about a fireside in a different area of the mission.  From what I can tell, Elder Ruby did not attend this fireside, but it sounds like the speakers were great.  Here is what she wrote:

Just a FYI:
A couple of weeks ago two screen writers for Despicable Me 1 and 2, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who and other movies spoke at a fireside in Simi Valley.  Cinco Paul and Ken Dario are members of the Church.  They related those movies to the Gospel and our own lives.  Horton, from Horton Hears a Who, is Joseph Smith. Someone who knows they have heard (seen) something and is persecuted for it and eventually changes the lives of millions.
In Despicable 1 Gru is a villain and Baxter is a super villain.  They are opposites.  There is opposition in all things.  Gru changed from evil to good due to the influence of the girls.

These men have stayed true to their values in their profession.

Zone Leader Conference (Hyrum is right in the middle)

Setting Goals and Mark's baptism

Life in SLO (San Louis Obispo) is beautiful.  I would like to have a stormy or cold or windy day every once in a while:)

Now that I have been out on the mission for almost a year, my thoughts have turned more toward a reflection.  I am evaluating my progress as a person and as a missionary since last September.  My testimony of my calling grows daily as I realize what little time I have to magnify it.

I have finally discovered/understood the principles of goal setting and planning.  These princples apply to all aspects of life.  We have a desire, we set a goal, we plan specifically how we will achieve that goal, and then we do all we can to follow through and follow-up with those plans.  This week we desired to teach all of our investigators two lessons each this week, we wanted to have daily contact with Mark, who got baptized on August 8, and we wanted to set up/teach at least one lesson to the referrals that the sisters gave us.  This turned out to be 14 lessons.  We wanted a member at every lesson.  That is quite a few lessons for us in one week.  Then we went to our daily plans, set up times and called people.  We were able to fit all 14 lessons in despite being gone one day for Missionary Leadership Council.  I know it sounds a bit nerdy and obvious, but all it takes is some time, a desire, a plan, and staying faithful to the plans.

Mark is the tallest one.

Mark's baptism went well.  His mom came, which was an answer to his prayers and our prayers.  While he was getting dressed, we handed out note cards to everyone for them to write something meaningful to Mark.  Then we collected them and now Mark has them.  The talks were good.   Richard, Mark's friend, compared getting baptized to washing off after playing in the mud before entering your home/Heavenly home.


I wanted to share something I learned in my studies.  I noticed that Alma chapter 7 gives 6 reasons for Christ's Atonement:

1. That the word might be fulfilled
2. That He may loose the bands of death
3. That His bowels may be filled with mercy
4. That He may know how to succor His people
5. That He may take upon Him the sins of His people
6. That He might blot out our transgressions

 I hope you enjoy reading Alma chapter 7!  Transfer calls are this Saturday.  Wow how the weeks fly!

Bad Smell!

I can't believe the fair is already here!  One year ago I was washing and blowing the steers and preparing for that crazy, busy week.  Don't worry, we will all be having crazy, busy weeks.

I have to tell you a story.  So, for the last month or so I have smelled something kind of bad in the kitchen.  But I haven't been able to put my finger, or rather my nose, on it.  We thought it could be the top of the microwave.  Well, the other night the smell was the worst it had ever been.  Oh, it was Sunday because I had my black suit on.  I was in the kitchen smelling around when Elder King suggested that it may be the sack of potatoes on the counter.  I thought this idea was silly because potatoes never smell like that in Wyoming.  I quickly picked up the sack of potatoes and a brown liquid splashed onto my suit jacket, my shoes, and the floor.  Then came the most disgusting smell!  We did some cleaning and put on the fans, opened the windows and held our breath.

Elder Ruby sent us a short letter this week.  He is doing really well and will hopefully have more to share in his next letter.  From this letter, you can see that he is having all kinds of life experiences:)

Ocean View

This week we went on a hike at Montana de Oro.  To my right was the ocean.  The water was blue and the waves were a beautiful, frothy white.  We stood at a cliff that overlooked the Big Blue.  I could sit there for hours just watching the waves, reading a book, and writing my thoughts.  Don't worry, I love our mountains, but there is something of beauty and awe that the ocean holds.

This week has been busy, stressful, exciting, miraculous and relieving.  The most stressful part was transfers.  We got a call from the Assistants to President Felix on Saturday with all the transfer information.  We then called everyone in the Zone with their new assignments.  We had a lot of changes.  We had to combine a ward, close an apartment, move around a companionship, and figure out rides down to transfers for everyone.  Up here in SLO the missionaries drive themselves down to transfer meetings.  So we as Zone Leaders, have to figure out luggage and carpooling.  It's a lot to think about.  We made sticky notes to represent cars and luggage and people.  (He is my son)

The best part was teaching Jose.  We taught him about the Plan of Salvation.  We felt really good about it.  At the end Jose prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true!  He also told us that during the week at work (a fast food place), he pretty much bore his testimony to some of his co-workers that God is real and loves them.  Jose has a baptism date for Aug 2, but that will have to be pushed back because he hasn't been able to attend church yet.

I was so happy to attend the Fresno temple on Tuesday.  We get to go to the temple in the month of our birthday.  Elder King's birthday is in July.  Our Relief Society President and another guy drove us there.  The temple was really small, even smaller than the Billings, MT temple. We were there for a couple hours and felt that sweet peace that can only be found in a the temple of God.

That same day we had interviews with our Mission President, President Felix.  He and Sister Felix are AWESOME! They love the missionaries SO much and they love the Lord even more.  Sister Felix looked through our Area Book and talked with one of us while the other was in an interview with President Felix.  

All week the SLO wards were feeding the Special Olympians from Dubai who will be competing this

week in LA. They were awesome.  If only I knew Arabic.

I am really enjoying my mission.  I like to work hard.  I like responsibility.  I love to serve.  I want to work harder, love more, and fear less.

Elder King and Elder Ruby (Zone Leaders) with Elder Dorius (Elder Ruby's MTC companion) in the background.

New Investigator

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.

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

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.