The Lord Magnifies Us

What an amazing week I´ve had. I feel like every week here on the mission gets better than the last. The Lord´s work here in Pontevedra is progressing. It is truly amazing as we put forth our best efforts, as small as they are, the Lord will magnify them and we can see the great effects that happen, but not because of our efforts but because the Lord is able to magnify our efforts.

On Sunday I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. I shared my thoughts about the importance of building Zion. As missionaries it is really easy to see the difference between the times when we are out contacting in the streets and when we are gathered with the members of the rama. I love to feel the Spirit that the members have here. I don´t think I have ever looked forward to going to church or any other church activity as I do now. The Spirit is so wonderful after talking in the streets to go into a lesson with a member present or into the house of a member for a meal or to go to the church for FHE. There is great power when Saints gather together in worthy and righteous causes. When we strengthen Zion we do so by starting with ourselves, we make sure that we are daily having meaningful scripture study and prayer, and weekly we are going to church to renew worthily our baptismal covenants.

 I am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given to serve the Lord for two years. I can´t believe that two months are already gone. This week Richard came to church! It was really great to have him there. He is so excited to come to our FHE and English class. I am so grateful that the Lord led Richard to us. He is amazing and is trying so hard to do what is right. Speaking of English class, it is really doing well! When we are out contacting in the streets it is a powerful tool to help people become interested in what we have to say. We met a very happy lady named Ana on the streets the other night and she was so excited that she could come to practice English with us. The Lord puts those people in our paths who are prepared in specific ways to become acquainted with His Gospel.

Los Stefan, our Romanian family, are doing alright. We shared Elder Bednar´s conference talk in Romanian with them this week. The Spirit was there as we tried to communicate our feelings about the importance of church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only reason that they keep inviting us back. We can´t speak Romainian and they don´t understand much Spanish but everyone can understand the language of the Spirit if they are listening correctly. I know that that is the key. It is not my words or the words of my companion that matter, what matters is that the Spirit is there to speak through feelings and hearts. I know this to be true and I keep learning this same lesson over and over as I try to understand and speak this language. Again the Lord through His Spirit can magnify our efforts into powerful things.

I love you all!

Elder Gustafson

Humility in Pontevedra

View from the bridge over the river which runs through Pontevedra

 Family and Friends,

The mission is the best! It is the hardest thing that I have ever done as well as the most rewarding. I don´t think I ever realized either the difficulties or the joys that I could have on a mission. They both are such a blessing for me. Let me share a little of both with you.

On Sunday we went to our little rama (branch) here in Pontevedra. I love our rama and the people in it. It was really difficult for me to understand the brother teaching Sunday School and I was getting discouraged thinking about the things that I could be doing if I had served an English speaking mission. I thought about how I could contribute more in lessons or how I could show the members how much they meant to me. All of the thoughts and feelings of my heart. I felt all of my inadequacy with all the things that I was struggling with. I began to ask why I was here and why I wasn´t able to communicate and why I wasn´t able to be an amazing missionary who could speak and convey the thoughts of his heart. I felt the peace of the Spirit and I learned a couple of things. I learned that the Lord called me to speak in Spanish for a reason.  One of those reasons was because He doesn´t want me to teach people with my words, He wants me to learn to rely on Him. As I study and focus my language learning on my investigators he will provide me with the words He wants me to speak in the moment that I need them. I teach more simply because I can do it no other way. I am so grateful to be speaking Spanish even though I have such strong desires to speak and to make friends and teach eloquently. The Lord works in His own time not mine. I need not carry this burden of worry and frustration when we are promised that as we do our part the words will be put in our mouths to say.

With Nelu

A joy from this week. On Saturday night we went to visit a Romanian family, Nelu and Tudora. When we got in we saw Nelu passed out on his bed. His wife went and woke him up and we sat down to teach them but they wouldn´t let us say anything until after they had fed us. Nelu kept yelling ¡Come! ¡Come! meaning Eat! Eat! while we tried to put food in our mouths. If we ran out of food he would pick up another slice of meat and put it in our hands to keep eating. It was just about the funniest thing I have yet to experience, a big Romanian man yelling at us to keep eating. After we finish eating we tried to share our short message about the Book of Mormon more or less successfully  when Nelu yells ¡Fumamos! meaning We smoke! Of course we said no but still he asked us again "Fuma?" "no" "Fuma?" "no" "No? ¡Yo Fumo!" It was one of those experiences that made us laugh.

I am grateful to be here. Another joy is our Investigator Richard. He is a super cool guy who found the church through his girlfriend, who got baptized in December. Amid the rejections and uninterest from so many he is a blessing in our lives. I am grateful that the Lord has entrusted his teaching to us. Please pray for him.

 The food here is great! The chocolate is sooo much better. The milk is like shelf milk that tastes different but it's still pretty good. The Serrano family is amazing! He is the Branch President and his wife makes me a loaf of GF bread on Sundays.  This Friday we went to their piso to eat lunch and have correlation meeting and after eating a gluten free meal she brings out a tray piled full of  GF brownies. It was probably the most wonderful thing I have ever seen or smelled or tasted.

I love you all and am so grateful for your love and prayers on my behalf.

Love,

Elder Gustafson

Park/Beach at Villa Garcia

Sunset at Villa Garcia

Beautiful Pontevedra!

The Madrid Spain Temple

CCM - Nefi District with our teachers

The view from our classroom at the CCM.

Hello All!

With President and Sister Jackson

I´ve survived the CCM and am now in the wonderful city of Pontevedra. It is in the Northwest of Spain above Portugal, right on the coast. Everything here is green because as I´m told it rains here all the time. (I have yet to see any of this rain though.) On Tuesday night I took a sleeper train up to Vigo where I met my trainer Elder Giforos. On the train I had the really cool opportunity to talk with a man named Jesus. I was talking with the other guys in my room, as best as I could with my basic CCM Spanish and he came up and asked if I was American and could he practice his English with me. Of Course! We had a great conversation about Spain and the Gospel. I love being able to share this message as I stand as a witness at all times and in all places.

The rama (branch) here is awesome! It is pretty small in numbers but it is strong in faith. There are between 15 and 20 members that come each week. I always wanted to serve in a small rama and I´m glad to be here. The members are incredible people with strong testimonies of the Truth. On Sunday the branch president´s wife brought me a loaf of homemade GF bread and she told me that she wanted me to feel comfortable here. The people are all just amazing and wonderful.

We are teaching a Romanian family, Los Stefan. They are super cool people and want to learn but it’s hard to teach them because they don´t understand a whole lot of Spanish. We are trying to learn some Romanian which is fun but difficult while I´m still trying to learn Spanish and a little Gallego, the local dialect. But it is great! We showed Los Stefan the Joseph Smith Restoration video and the Spirit was there and bore testimony of the truthfulness of the BoM and Joseph Smith. It was an experience that again taught me that language is not a barrier to the real teacher, the Holy Ghost. I am grateful to be serving here in Spain and to have such wonderful people to teach and to talk with on the streets. My companion is amazing and I am grateful for his guidance. I know that this is the True Gospel of Jesus Christ and there is nothing I´d rather be doing right now.

 I am grateful for my sister who has faithfully served the people of the Philippines for the past 18 months. I hope that I can live up to the standard that she has set as a consecrated missionary of the Lord.

I love you all,

Elder Gustafson

The study room in our apartment in Pontevedra

The view from our apartment

Even in Spain...

Me standing on the grass at Real Madrid Stadium. 
(This is for you Josie!)

 

The End of the Beginning

We had a visit from Elder Bennett of the Seventy

 This is my last email from the CCM. Tomorrow morning we all head out into Spain. I am so excited and a little nervous but more excited. I can´t wait to know where I will be headed and who I will spend the next three plus months with. I can´t wait and also at the same time I am a little sad. I have put so much effort into trying to love and show charity for all those here, especially in my district that it will be hard to leave them. I am excited to see who they become over the next two years and as the sons of Mosiah and Alma talk about in Alma 17:2-3. I also will miss President and Sister Lovell who have shown so much love to us. I think I may miss the cooks, most of all. They are wonderful women who make the best food, usually.

Yesterday I had my interview with President Jackson. Both he and his wife are great people and I am excited to be able to serve under their direction. 

 I love you all,

Elder Gustafson

Teaching in the park

Singing in the park

The People of Spain

February 22, 2015

 

Hello All! 

This week I have been filled with a love for the people of Spain. In the CCM we have practice investigators (our teachers) who we get to teach. It has been the coolest experience to grow to love these people for who they are and to be able to feel the spirit with them. After we had our last lesson with them we had feedback and they help us improve our teaching. We got to talk to Hermana Suarez about the Spanish Culture and people for half an hour during feedback. She gave us great insight into the history of the Spanish people and how that has shaped their views on religion. I do not know why anyone would ever accept another religion after what has  happened with religion in Spain, unless it was absolutely true. I am so grateful to have the truth on my side and I can´t wait to leave on Tuesday, excited to do my best to fight for this people. To help them to learn for themselves what I already know, that the only way to return to live with our Father in Heaven is to come unto Christ through baptism in His church.

 I am grateful for your prayers on my behalf, as well as your letters and emails. Your love strengthens and encourages me.

I love you all.

Elder Gustafson