Family History in Talavera

February 1, 2016 

Our new branch president is amazing! He has really caught the vision that our ward mission leader has been presenting of family history. On Saturday we had a branch activity where we went and set up a table in the center of town and we helped people to start their genealogy. We had the Family History charts, and a whole bunch of resources from the church that we could use to help people start this important work. We saw an interest that doesn't usually come when we try to share the gospel directly with people. It really was an amazing event with amazing participation from our amazing members.

We had transfers on Saturday but my companion and I are still here in Talavera together for at least another 5 weeks. This week we have been on exchanges all week long, with the Zone Leaders up in Madrid on Tuesday and then Wednesday to Thursday I was over in Toledo with Elder Bataller, a new missionary from Valencia. It was really fun to be with a native speaker again and to learn from him and the way he teaches. I love having the opportunity to go on so many intercambios with great missionaries who teach me so much about how to be a better missionary and see some of the things that they had to go through to get on the mission. I admire those missionaries from Spain who have decided to serve. Here there is a different culture about going on missions. Many young people don't feel the importance of serving a mission and there are many parents members or non-members who don't support their children serving missions. It makes me so grateful for those Elders and Hermanas from Spain who do serve the Lord full time.

Our investigators are doing pretty well. Manuel has been asked to teach the self-sufficiency class during the week and so we are excited that he will become more integrated into the ward. (He is an investigator of about a year and has recently come to the conclusion that he needs to get baptized) He used to be one of Talavera's most important businessmen and so it is a real privilege to have him teaching this class for us. Lucy is out of contact. We don't know where she is or what she's up to, but we hope that she hasn't come across something or somebody that is trying to persuade her away from the gospel. Please pray for her. Jose Luis is doing well also. He is going through a difficult stretch but will get through it. When we were teaching him the other day he said that life is sometimes like a dark tunnel and you just have to keep pressing through and trying to find the light that is at the end of that tunnel. What he doesn't mentally know but feels is that the gospel is his light at the end of his tunnel. We also received two new investigators this week from a young man named Kevin he has two Evangelical friends that he has invited in the past to play sports with us. This last Sunday we met with them for the first time to talk about religion and it was a solid spirit filled lesson. It was really cool they both are excited to start reading the Book of Mormon and investigating the church a little bit more. Other than that this week has been filled with more miracles than I could put in this letter and so I've shared some of the highlights. Know that I am grateful for your prayers and support.

Love,
Elder Gustafson

The District Castilla La Mancha

Cooking homemade baked beans

Writing home with Elder Johnson