I am grateful for...

Preparation day with part of our zone in Madrid at Sol.

November 30, 2015

I am grateful for...

A bag of carrots

This week we met with a member here in Torrejón. He doesn't have a whole lot of money, not even enough to pay the light bill in his piso. We set a meeting with him on Thursday in the afternoon and as he walked into the church he came in swinging a plastic bag full of big carrots. It was very clear that they had been carefully washed and prepared for us with love. He handed us the bag apologizing that he didn't have anything better to give us. We thanked him for his wonderful Thanksgiving gift to us. I know the sacrifice made in order to give us a bag of carrots and they are probably the sweetest carrots I have ever eaten.

The power of a testimony

I am so grateful for Felix and the testimony that he has in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been teaching him about the law of chastity and modesty. As we taught it to him he told us that he had an appointment to go and get a new tattoo that he had already paid 500€ for. As we talked he told us "I know what is the right thing to do. I've gotta go cancel it." I am grateful that he has a solid testimony of what is right. It is one of the coolest things to have an investigator who we can teach and have an incredibly spiritually experience with but who is also one of my best friends.

A mission president's wife

This week we had a training with all the hundred and something missionaries serving in the Madrid area. It was a great training, we talked about the way that commandments are a way of keeping us free. Sometimes we think of commandments as things that keep us chained up, or sometimes we think of commandments as a fence that keeps us inside the boundaries so that we are free within our fence to move, but I believe that the commandments are even more than that. I believe that the commandments keep the evil trapped in and keep us outside and free. Sometimes we can't see more than the fence right in front of us and don't know which side is inside and which is out. After this great conference we had a full on Thanksgiving Dinner complete with Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, etc and even included Pumpkin Pie at the end. I am grateful for this sacrifice of time and resources from Hermana Pack and all those who helped her in this endeavor.

A hard working companion

I am so grateful for my companion. He is a great example to me. I am grateful for the things that he has taught me these past two transfers. This week in particular though I am grateful for his dedication to work hard even when we are out contacting meeting few who wanted to hear the word of God. When I asked him how he was feeling he said terrible. We talked about going and taking a rest for a minute but he said essentially there is work to do let's keep going. I think about Brigham Young and his companion who upon leaving for their missions, and being very sick, stopped the wagon rose and shouted Hoorah for Zion!

My family

I am grateful for my family. I don't give my family the credit that they deserve in my letters home. I am so grateful for every member of my family. I never realized how great I had it until I left and probably won't until I have a family of my own but I know that I owe everything to them. I am so grateful for a Mother who has shown me love in everything that I have done. I am grateful for her example of love she shows me the importance of demonstrating our love to others through our actions more than just through words. I am grateful for a Father who teaches me to work diligently and to spend time working for others,selfless service. I am grateful for Mckenna who teaches me the importance a of being true to yourself and what you value. I am grateful for Eliza who teaches me that love comes from the heart. I am grateful for Andrea who teaches me the importance of being engaged in good causes. I love my family and am grateful for the ordinances that bind us together for eternity.

My Savior

Above all this Thanksgiving I am grateful for a Savior who allows me to change who I am. I am grateful that through Him I can become different than the person that I am right now. I am grateful for the relationship that I have with Him and the opportunity that I have to help others build this relationship with others.

I love you all
Elder Gustafson

PS this week I am ponderizing the scripture Alma 26:22

We are Children of God

November 23, 2015

This week has been a great week. I love you all. This week has been super fun. I got to do an intercambio with Elder Bailey our Zone Leader. (I did between 4 and 5 intercambios with him back in Pontevedra and so it has been great to be back with him.) Life really is good. We had a conference with a General Authority this week which was awesome. He talked about the importance of knowing our identity. He talks of when we know what our identity is we can conquer Satan and we will always have purpose in what we do. I have been studying Moses 1 as a follow up and it has been cool to see how God emphasizes the importance that he is a Son of God. My invitation to you all this week is to reflect on what it really means to be children of God.

Felix came back from his trip this week so we are super excited to have him back with us. We are loving the work here.

I love you all,

Elder Gustafson

Another Week

Elder Gustafson and Elder Hendrix with an Elder just leaving to serve in Argentina.

Another week has gone here in Torrejón. Life here is good! We have had kind of an interesting week. We have had the privilege to do a lot of service for ward members. We got to teach in an Elder's Quorum activity about studying the scriptures which was interesting. We taught about how to really learn from the scriptures and talked about at least 7 points of doctrine that we can pull from the first verse of the Book of Mormon. I love being able to be taught from the scriptures by the Holy Ghost as we read. Really having the Spirit with us as we study is the way that we learn through the studies that we have. We then talked about answering the questions of the soul with scriptures. We posed the question "If God loves his children why do bad things happen to good people?" And then gave them 7 minutes to find a scripture verse or story that answered that question. One of my favorites to answer that question is in Doctrine and Covenants 58:2-4. I challenge each of you in your next study of the scriptures to search for one of the questions of your soul or to take the one presented above and look for answers in the scriptures. As we do that with a spirit of humility and prayer we will find answers.

We have also been helping a lot of the Africans here with talks that they are preparing for sacrament meeting. It is really cool to be able to get to know so many different cultures here in Spain. We have Romanians, Africans of all countries, South Americans, Central Americans, and a couple of Spaniards here and there. It makes the area really interesting. I realized last night that we had not taught a full out lesson in Spanish in a week because most of our investigators are African. I love it though and African food is delicious. On Friday we had intercambios with the Elders in Azuqueca and so we all eat together at about 2 o'clock. Later we went to an African lady's house and ate African fried rice with Turkey which was delicious but she brought out a pot of rice about a foot in diameter and just as high just filled with rice that we were expected to eat. We did the absolute best that we could...it was a fun experience until we walked out and my companion threw up behind a car. The next day he was completely out of commission. Good news though, he is better now.

Other happenings from this week, Leo is not really engaged anymore in learning because he needs a job so bad that he can't focus on other things such as the gospel. He needs our prayers now more than ever. I am grateful for your prayers on his behalf. We also have been continuing in our teaching of Felix which has been absolutely great! He is starting to involve himself more and more in the YSA activities here which is super cool to see that transition starting to happen from the missionaries to the ward members. He is really just the coolest person ever! Keep praying for him and his progress. He came to church for all three hours this week!!!!
Anyways we are doing well here in Torrejón life goes well. I pray for you all back home every day!

Love,
Elder Gustafson

Progression

Put on the whole armor of God - In Sergovia with a "knight."

Felix and Leo came to church! This has really been a great week! It was so great because we just have awesome investigators, an awesome district and my companion is a boss. It was great also because the members threw me a surprise party on Tuesday. It's even greater because the Torrejón District survived transfers with everyone staying. So all said it has been an awesome week to be a missionary here in this time and in this place.

Let's start by talking about how cool Felix is. Felix is progressing really well he has really sincere desires to learn and make the changes in his life so that he can be baptized in December. This week we taught him about the law of chastity and he told us that he wants the Hermanas to start teaching his girlfriend so that they can learn and progress together. On Sunday in Sunday School we talked about eternal marriage and he leaned over to my companion and said I don't just want to get married, I want to get sealed. It was a super cool moment. Thank you for your prayers on his behalf. I know that prayers are answered.

Leo also came to church this week! He has been coming regularly but for some reason he hasn't picked up his phone for the last 2 weeks. He never called us back and so we didn't know what was up. We were worried that he was going to drop us but as we called him on Saturday he picked up and told us that he would come to church this Sunday. He came and we were able to have a long talk afterward about what was going on and help him feel of the peace of Christ. I am so grateful for that peace. Sometimes life as a missionary just gets crazy trying to keep all the people that we, teach, visit, and are concerned about in order but the peace of Christ stays with us as we are worthy to have it.

Life is great in Torrejón. Please keep praying for our investigators.

I love you all!

Elder Gustafson

Surprise Birthday party with members and missionaries

GF cookies at the birthday party

Sword I got in Segovia

(It's really only about 4 inches long and isn't a sword at all, just a letter opener!)

A Love of Spain

Torrejon District in Segovia at the Roman Aqueduct

Cathedral in Segovia

Top of the castle in Segovia Spain

 We have just had the best day here in Segovia today. We went out to Segovia to see the aqueduct and castle that are here. And it’s been a really fun pre birthday treat! (Pictures to come if the bus wifi lets me send them.) 

This week in Torrejón has been a blast! It really has been an awesome week! I got to go on intercambios with the elders from Coslada which was really fun. I went with Elder Aussant who is Canadian and just a great missionary. We hit the streets hard and were able to see some miracle people come out which was amazing! We met a woman from Tanzania who told us that Akuna Matata (from lion King) actually does mean no worries in Swahili, and then accepted a follow up visit to continue learning about who we are and why we are here in Spain. I love intercambios because of the miracles that we see as well as all that you can learn from the other person. During this intercambio I realized that I have been more focused on teaching lessons than I have on teaching to the needs of our investigators and involving the members in the needs of our member not only in the lessons with our investigators. When we make sure to focus on needs we have success and they feel our love because we have addressed not what we want to teach but what they need to prepare themselves for baptism.

We have been meeting quite frequently with Felix this week which has been a real blessing for us. He is an amazing investigator. He essentially has discovered what it means to have a personal relationship with God which will help him immensely in receiving an answer. Please pray that he has the desire and strength to get up and come to church on Sunday after working late into the night.

We have struggled to meet with Leo this week but he decided to come back to church this Sunday for which I am very grateful! He is a wonderful man, I'm sure that I have expressed that before but really he is one of the most sincere people that I know. I am so grateful for the love that I have come to feel for these people here and the love that they show to me. It is through love that I get up every day and keep working for them. I am so grateful to have the blessing of devoting my life to them. I am sure that I receive far more blessings than the little that I do merits but I am grateful for everything that I have and feel here.

I can't believe that once again transfers are only one week away. It freaks me out how fast time is flying in Torrejón. As I have gotten busier this transfer the time has gone twice as fast. I am so grateful for Spain. I am so grateful for the people here. I am so grateful for the experiences that I am having here, the good ones and the hard ones. I love this country. I can't imagine being in any other place or doing anything else right now. Love comes through service. I am grateful for this blessing of love that I receive for the people here from my Savior. I know that through His atonement all will turn out alright in the end, if we harken to his voice and call. I love Him.

I am grateful for and love you all!

Elder Gustafson

 Stained glass windows from the castle in Segovia.

Birthday Week - Elder Gustafson Nov 3
Hermana Kelelman - Nov 5
Hermana Graff - Nov 2
Elder Wade - Nov 4

Another great district meeting.

Consecration

October 26, 2015

Hola a todos!

This week I have been thinking a lot about consecration. What is consecration? Why should we be consecrated? What does it mean to be consecrated? How do we become consecrated? Etc. I would love to share my thoughts with you all. On Sunday in one of the classes we talked about the story of the Rich Young Man. In this story a rich young man comes up to Jesus and his disciples and asks how he can inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, and the young man replies that he has done that since his childhood. Jesus then tells him to sell all that he has and to follow him and as the scriptures say he went away sad. The young man was not willing to give everything that he had to follow the Lord. As I thought about this story I thought about the applications in my life. Am I giving all that I have to the Lord? The answer is no. There is always something more that we can give to the Lord. As we ask the Lord he will let us know exactly what else we must do to become more consecrated to Him. We must be willing to accept that counsel and act upon it.

So why was I thinking about consecration? Leo. Leo is a great man who I love with all my heart. I have spent much time studying, pondering, and praying, about him and how to help him progress towards covenants with God. We all have or have had barriers that separate us from God. Sometimes it is being disobedient to his commandments, sometimes it is pride, sometimes it is not repenting, sometimes it is focusing too much on the things of the world. Whatever it is we must take the step of faith that, in that moment, the rich young ruler was unable to take.

Consecration is not easy to achieve because it has a cost to it. In a talk by Elder Tad R Callister called Becoming a Consecrated Missionary he talks about the cost of becoming consecrated. He says, "Some time ago I saw a movie on the life of Martin Luther. He was about to be tried for heresy. Shortly before he was to meet with the Court of Inquisition, his spiritual mentor (a monk who had trained him and loved him) was cutting his hair with a razor. At one point the monk reprimanded Luther for having turned the world upside down, leading the world in revolt - Protestants against Catholics. Then in a stirring moment, Luther grasps his arm and asks: 'You wanted me to change the world. Did you think there would be no cost?'" As a missionary my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. There is a cost for both myself and those that I invite to come unto Christ. We met with a man named Steven (an investigator of the Coslada elders but they were sick so we filled in) and he told us that he wanted to come back to Christ after having turned away in his adolescence. We talked about the path back to Christ he knew that he would have to make changes in order to return to Christ and is willing to make them. He knew that he will have to consecrate himself completely to Christ in order to conquer the obstacles that will come up as he works his way back. We as missionaries have to do the same we must dedicate ourselves our whole heart, might, mind, and strength to the work of the Lord. As we do that we see miracles. As members when we put Christ first and do everything in order to advance his kingdom that is where we find true joy!

I believe it was Elder Holland that said you cannot have one foot in Babylon and the other in The Kingdom of God. It is true! I know that this gospel is true I love it! The gospel makes us free! I am here to give freedom to all who will accept it. I get to be a part of the best work in all the world!

My invitation for you all is to find out through prayer how you can become more consecrated to the Lord and then make the changes that you need to. It is something that one of the APs challenged us to do and it is a beautiful invitation and one that will make us even happier.

I love you all,
Elder Gustafson

Fun following District Meeting

Torrejon District at the Night of Nations

Gluten free sandwiches provided by members at the Night of Nations.

Changes in Torrejon

Torrejon District at Stake Conference at the Temple complex

 Today as a District we went to the mall here in Torrejón and we were talking about the ward here and the changes that we have seen over the last couple of months. As we talked we realized that there has been a change in attitude towards the missionaries here. It really is one of the greatest blessings that we have seen here in Torrejón. Even though we haven't had the greatest number of lessons every week or the most number of investigators who have committed to baptism I am grateful for the change in attitude from the members and the missionaries in working together as opposed to working against each other. It is true that a ward will not grow without a focus on missionary work, working with the missionaries and the missionaries will never have success if they forget that they must serve, love, and work together with the members in this great work of the Lord. 

So how did we begin to see the change take place in this ward? First, prayer and fasting to the Lord to know how to help them. Second, forming relationships with the members in order to understand really what their needs are. Third, serving the members according to their needs. We have been privileged to be asked to give members blessings in times of need, to make members cheesecake, to accompany members to the hospital for an operation that they are going to have, and the blessings go on. As a result the members are engaged and want to help us in the missionary work. After a lesson on Saturday with Estafania and a member that we brought with us, the member asked us to call him every time we were going to visit Estefania and he would be there to help us teach. Another example, we brought Diego, a young man in the ward who will be leaving on a mission to Argentina in a couple of weeks, to a lesson with Leo and he was able to clearly and specifically identify the need of Leo without having talked with him too much beforehand. It was a solid lesson and he also told us to let him him know when we can go visit more investigators. I am grateful for the work that the Lord is doing here in the ward of Torrejón.

Speaking of our awesome investigators, we are still meeting with Felix. He is going through some hard times right now and could use all of the prayers that he can get. He especially could use prayers for him to get Sunday's off at work so that he can come to church and work towards his baptismal date in December. Also we are meeting with Leo who is progressing really well and wants to be baptized. He however is still looking for a job and so doesn't want to get a job where he has to work on Sunday's and go inactive after being baptized. It is a great desire but he needs many prayers for him to find a job in the afternoons or Monday through Saturday. He is awesome and a great man but just needs a little boost this week! We also have Estefania who has great desires to keep learning and progressing we had a great lesson with her about faith and repentance the first two points in the gospel of Jesus Christ where she told us that many of her questions were answered and that she is feeling really good about what she is learning in the church.

Anyways life is good! My companion is a champ and you can all thank him for the photos from this week. He is doing really well changing into missionary life but as always with any change could use your prayers as well.

I love you all!

Elder Gustafson

District traveling in the Metro

My Companion loves taking selfies.

Sunset