Gabby has a baptismal date for Dec. 21. Pray for Gabby!

So this week was fun! On Tuesday everyone is the zone had lunch at the stake presidents house, he talked to us after lunch about missionary work and how we can be more effective in our work. Later than night we went to visit Ruby and Bato , we talked to her daughter and her mom about the church and everything. Ruby's granddaughter Jessica said she has been reading the Book of Mormon and has been praying and she said she knows its true because whenever she reads it has a warm feeling in her heart! I asked Her mom is she would be against Jessica going to church with Bato her grandpa and she said no.So I believe jessica is coming to church on sunday. On Wednesday we went to the temple, the Denver temple is cool!! Following the temple we went to visit sister Maximoff and talked to her about missionary work and eternal marriage. she made us some sandwiches and packed us a lunch, she said she wants to to have energy for the day.  All our other appointments fell threw. We decided to go find someone one that is a less active member in our ward but couldn't find his apartment number so we knocked on a couple doors to ask if people knew him. We found two new investigators that night and had a return appointment for thursday for a girl named Gabby. On thursday  we had district meeting then we helped the coolest family in our ward move !! its a bummer but life goes on. Later that night we met with Gabby( the girl we met wednesday night.) we talked to her about her church background stuff and talked about lesson 1 "The Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ " and she had some questions but understood all of it. We asked her is she will get baptized and she said yes!! She is on date for Dec. 21. She said she wants to change her life and to have her son grow up around good people and a good church. Following  our visit with Gabby, we went to go see Isaiah and Amanda. We talked to Isaiah about  the Law of Chastity  and the word of Wisdom. Amanda wasn't there, we told Isaiah that talking about The Law of chastity was an awkward topic but it has to be talked about haha. On Friday we had a Training meeting in Aurora in the morning, we  had weekly planning, dinner, then at & we met with Ruby and Bato again. we talked to him about how things are going and if he needs help with anything .Saturday  We went to Old Town Arvada and talked to people about the Book of Mormon and passed them out. We passed out a total of 56 Book of mormons and 17  videos about the Restoration. We finished that had lunch, then went to ARC triftstore and did some service. Later that night we had Stake Conference, the topics of the talks were Missionary work. After the session some of the other missionaries and I went to Chick-fil-a for some shakes.Sunday we had Stake Conference  then we hung out at the stake center with a couple of missionaries and had lunch and messed around. After dinner we went to see a referral that we got from salt lake and she wants to meet with us and hear more about what we believe.We finished out night at Isaiah and Amanda's house. we talked about study the scriptures and pray often. thats all for this week our total lessons this week is 17 and 3 people on date to be baptized.

Love Elder Ruiz

Amanda & Isaiah have baptismal dates!

So this week was pretty good. On Wednesday we had Zone Conference and we sat in the stake center for about 9 hours.... ( i spaced out about every 3 hours or so.) Following the zone conference we stopped by the Hanks and talked to them for a little bit before going to our dinner appointment. Our dinner appointment was with a family in another ward but 2 investigators were their and they live in our ward (linsey and jesse.) Linsey has been reading conference talks and watching conference talks and stuff all before meeting with us and loves our religion, Jesse isnt focussing on religion right now because he is trying to find a job to support his family and stuff. We taught them lesson 1 and they loved it and they came to church yesterday and stayed all 3 hours, we are meeting with them again later this week.Thursday we went to and Taught Ruby and Bato, we talked about lesson 3 and I asked ruby to be baptized by the end of the year. She is having difficulty getting sundays off of work and she said if they dont give her sundays off soon she is going to look for a new job! Friday we went to see Andy cory and Renea Cubic, We met with Andy and she was still a little shaken up after her car accident. We talked to her about coming back to church and reading the scriptures more and she said she will try and ask for some sundays off. Renea Cubic is the wife of jon Cubic (a less active member.) Renea is confused about if there is a god because she has been going through chemo therapy for over a year and she says its hard to process things and that she has shut off happiness from her life because after getting cancer and going through chemo she said she doesnt know what happiness is. we have been talking to her and explaining things like you would to a child, she said thats the only way she can understand things. Jon is has been helping us out alot with the lessons because he wants to come back to church and feel the spirit again  but,  he is taking baby steps which is good. Saturday we talked to Ruby and Bato again and Bato said that he is going to be a church every week for now on and we asked him if he wanted to pass the sacrament, so on sunday  Bato and I passed the sacrament. Sundaynight we went to Isaiah and Amanda's house and we talked to them for about 2 hours and talked about lesson 3 and the spirit was so strong and my companion Elder Hauck looked over at me and then looked back at them....He asked them if they would be baptized and prepare for baptism on Dec.24th, He said that the date just popped inot his head. Amanda said yes and started to cry, Isaiah said yes as well but whats to know more and find out in his heart if this is the right church for him. I shared with him my conversion story and after I was done I could tell that he made up his mind. This weeks numbers are 18 lessons taught, 2 people on date to be baptized, and 113 people talked to. thats all for this week.

Love Elder Ruiz

Hola de Arvada! I'm still here!

So this week we got 20 lessons, our goal was 40 as a district and me and my companions got 20. we finished with 35 as our total. We went to visit Sister Maximoff (not so much a less active member since we have been seeing her) she is the best!! we talk to her about how she feels and stuff since coming back to church and everything and she said she feels good and feels like she never left church.We stop by the Hanks at least 4 times a week and talk to them and teach them the new member lessons and they are the funniest couple ever. Brother Hanks is funny, he said call me DUH, and i was like whaa?? and he said no DUH. He said those are his initials. haha he is the best!! The only down side to our week was when we went to lordans house her mom got mad because my companions asked lordan about baptism and mom said that they were being too pushy. i didnt talk that lesson at all because I felt that it wasnt my place at all. She said that her daughter is only 9 and she wants her to understand more before she commits to something like this. She started to cry so thats when I butted in and went against my comps a little and told the mom that  we can  come back another time and we wont talk about baptism and stuff and when she feels like her daughter is ready for baptism then we can talk more about it when she is ok with that and stuff. The mom agreed with me and she said thank you and that this wasnt going to be a road block for her daughter is progressing and going to church. Ruby and Bato, so i found out that Bato was a really big star around the world for his singing. apparently is was really big in south america and stuff. We are teaching their daughter and her 2 kids who seem very interested and have alot of questions which is good. I feel that the daughter and her kids could possible be baptized in a couple weeks.I gave Bato one of my lama ties as a gift  and he was so happy he almost cried, but before that he told us that he will be at church every week for now on. Last but not least the Pistora's, they are doing good. We are going to finish the lessons with them then talk to them about being baptized.The wife wants to be baptized but she wants the husband to baptize her, its for a Personal reason and the bishop understands.The husband was very interested but something came up, we think it was something anti but we are going to  finish the lessons and see what happens.I didnt get transferred!! Im being trained by 1 of my companions Elder Hauck, he is way cool. Ill be in Arvada for awhile which is nice. YOU STAY CLASSES CALIFORNIA AND WHERE EVER EVERYONE ELSE IS AT! haha

Trio

These pictures were sent from a member in the Arvada 2nd Ward. She said he looks happy and seems to be enjoying the mission!

(left to right) Elder Rampton, Elder Ruiz and Elder Hauck

Possibly the last week in Arvada 2nd ward!

So this week wasnt that bad which is good. We did a total of 10 1/2 service hours and helped someone move. We got 2 new investigators and met with some people that my companions have already been working with.One of our investigators Lordan who is 9 years old knows alot about the church, her mom said that she knows more about the church that she  ever did and her mom is a less active member of about 3 years. Lordan wants to be baptized by her uncle but she hasnt been able to get ahold of him because he is busy at work but, they are having dinner with his family this week so lets hope things can work out. Ruby and Bato the only Latino's in our area haha, they are super cool. Ruby is trying to get sundays off so she can attend church and be baptized, she really wants to go to church and everything it makes me happy as a person knowing that someone has alot of desire to do something. Bato is trying everything he can to help Ruby with anything which is Key in a realtionship, their goal is to get sealed in the temple!! how sweet is that???   now onto Ryan and Melanie. so Ryan and Melanie are a nice couple maybe in their early 30's, we went over to their house and started with how to begin teaching and stuff and they had alot of questions which is good and we answered almost all of them and tried to answer them as basic as possible so they can understand. After our lesson they asked us if we wanted to come to one of their small bible study groups and explain what we believe in and stuff... I was very iffyy about it because I dont want to walk into a bible bashing and stuff but  they told us that there wont be any of that and my comps think it will be a good idea. Idk when that is going to happen so we will see. And last but not least Isaiah. His mom is a less active member and he is interested in the church and stuff which is good.He is in high school and is involved in sports so me and my comps can all relate to him and stuff. we met with Isaiah, him mom, and his 19 year old sister who is attractive( dont judge me) haha. We talked about the plan of salvation and explained everything and why its important, the spirit was so strong in their house.We invited them to church on Sunday and they said they will come and next next week they are going to watch the restoration video with the missionaries. Next Mondays is transfers and I am getting transferred but I have to go to orientation with the other new missionaries so I wont be able to write so ill write in 2 weeks. love and miss all of you guys.