The Lord teaches us what we need to know.

All the missionaries at the Madrid Spain MTC with President and Sister Lovell. My companion is to the left of President Lovell.

What a week and what amazing experiences I have been able to have here. My favorite part of the day every day is the hour right after breakfast when I get to have personal study of the scriptures. We heard a recorded devotional from Elder Bednar last week where he challenged us to seek for examples of the Character of Christ in the scriptures. I have enjoyed doing this as I have started reading the New Testament. The reality and truth of Jesus Christ and His gospel has become even more plain to me as I have begun studying even more His life and His Atonement for each of us. I am beginning to love the scriptures in a way that I have never felt before.

This Saturday we got to go to the park again as we do every Saturday but in the center of Madrid there was some protest going on and so they sat us down beforehand and told us the emergency plan if anything went wrong while we were in the park. I was kind of hoping that something would happen but it didn’t, probably for the best. We did hear a lot of sirens and we saw a couple of helicopters but it wasn´t a big deal. We did have a lot more success in the park than I did last week. I made a goal to be bold and not to be afraid of the language that I do not know too well yet. It was really cool we met a couple of ladies who stopped us and asked us what we were doing there in Madrid, after seeing our name tags. We told them that we were missionaries and had a gift for them. We gave them a copy of the Libro de Mormón and their eyes lit up when we told them that it was another testament of Jesus Christ and that like the Bible it contains the word of God. They told us how excited they were to go home and read it. It is amazing that we can overcome the language barrier the help and aid of the Spirit.

We got to go to the center of Madrid for Pday last week which was really cool. We got to go to all the shops and cafés in the area. It was a real treat to be able to take a break from the classroom that we sit in all day and go see that we are actually in Spain. This afternoon we are headed to the Stadium where Real Madrid plays futbol. Speaking of futbol we go play everyday and one day there was a Spanish kid, probably 6 years old and his dad practicing so we invited them to play with us and I got schooled repeatedly by this little kid. It was really fun though.

Our classroom with Elder Armstrong

The language is difficult but at the same time it is amazing how much the Lord is able to teach us if we humble ourselves and submit ourselves to His will. Life here is amazing! My companion Elder Armstrong is amazing! He is great at helping me and the whole district focus on what we need to be working on. I love the gospel, I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I love the opportunity that I have to be a missionary.

Love,
Elder Gustafson

The small little shop where we do our shopping for little stuff. Its
like a dollar store but with more stuff in a smaller space and very
little organization.

Plaza in the Center of Madrid

Elder Armstrong and other missionaries at the Plaza

Madrid Spain Temple with the MTC on the left.