Humility is the way!

Nephi District with President and Sister Lovell of the Madrid Missionary Training Center

This has been an amazing week here at the CCM. Last Thursday we got to go to the big Archeological Museum here in Madrid. It was really amazing to be able to learn more about the culture of Spain through archeology and history. On Tuesday we got to go to the Prado which was really cool! My only regret was that Uncle Scott wasn´t there to help me understand and to talk with about the art.

Last Saturday in the Park was amazing! But it started on Thursday. I was praying to learn and have greater patience and love for some of the Elders here at the CCM. It has been hard for me to love everyone who have all come from such different backgrounds and have such different views on the world. At the Archeological Museum there was an Elder who kept doing little things that were just bugging me. I was frustrated and when we got back to the CCM the spirit had left because I was so focused on what this Elder was doing. My companion and I talked about it but we both were just frustrated. Later the list of companions for the Park came out and, lo and behold, I was paired with that Elder. That night before bed we sat down to make our goals for  the park. We talked for some time and I was able to tell him about how I had felt in the Museum and that I was working through the process of learning patience with those that are so different than I am. It brought us close so that on Saturday we could have unity in the Park. That Saturday I talked to three times as many people as I had before, handed out more copies of the Book of Mormon and had some of the best experiences I ever had in the Park. I also learned that everyone has their strengths their weaknesses and we need to love them as Christ would especially when they are so different. It was a powerful lesson.

Second story from the Park about having humility… As my companion and I were walking through the park we would walk up and talk to those who were sitting on benches. We came up to a teenage couple asked them how there day was, etc. and then asked them if they had heard of the church. The guy started to smirk and told us that, no he hadn´t. We started to share a little message and then bore our testimonies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and he started to laugh at us. Never has anything hurt so much. I had been rejected before but never laughed at to my face. I share that story not because I want you to feel sorry for me. I share that story because the Lord has a way of humbling us even while we have success and because I want you to know that I have a knowledge of the truthfulness of the message that I have this great opportunity to share. I am grateful that the Lord has a plan for me and that He is in control and that it is only by submitting to His will that we can ever become who he knows that we can become.

I love you all.

Elder Gustafson

With President and Sister Lovell

MTC Missionaries