July 7^th 2014

Mom:)

This week has been a really powerful spiritual experience for me. I have learned some life lessons.

The process I have really learned is truly understanding how to receive personal revelation. We really have to look deep inside ourselves honestly & understand our true desires in connection with God's. God will not give you an answer you are not ready to accept.

We are working with A TON of people haha. We found many families & we are doing a lot of teaching & there is a lot of potential. For example we are working with a woman named Ani who wants to be baptized & she is so elect. We are continuing to work with Zdravko but he is struggling to receive a testimony about Joseph Smith.

There are many things I don't know, but I am learning so much bit by bit!!

Please continuing praying for Zdravko& please pray for Ani that she & her husband Yordan will have the desire to be baptized & will be baptized.

Love Elder Gustafsson:)

July 28^th 2014

Mom:)

Thank you for your well thought out email!

Ruse is the most beautiful city which I have served in thus far. It is soooooo hot. It's the hottest & the coldest city in Bulgaria. The Danube river is real close & I can see Romania from my apartment. My apartment is very nice but it gets very hot throughout the day because we only have a klimatik in our bedroom. A klimatik is like an air conditioner? & a heater? I don't know exactly how it works. My new companion is Elder G. He is from American Fork & he is a champion runner! What are the chances of having two companions in a row which are champion runners? We run every day:) of course I am slower. He has been in country for 5 months. We are getting along great:)

My role as a district leader is to lead & take care of the district. I love it, it's the best role I think. Ruse is a branch & there are about 20ish members. There was 22 this last Sunday including the missionaries & an investigator.

I think it is so excited that the Lord is using your talents & passion for family history work. You have always been a great speaker & people person so I know the Lord is using you to accomplish his purposes. Ever since I have been out here I have just become more & more excited about family history work. I want to know stories about our ancestors. Tell me about Grandma Kallen& Grandma Pidcock; stories when they were young, experiences they had in world wide events etc.

Okay so about the vacation/trip: I have known the whole time that you could not pick me up from the mission haha. But that's okay. First: Don't plan anything that we will not be able to afford. We need to live within our means but besides that I am all for going to Sweden, visiting the family there & going to the temple, & showing you Bulgaria. If we can do other things too that would be great but we must do Sweden & Bulgaria. The summer will be great & it sounds like a blast! It would be great for Ingela to come too..but if she can't I understand because she has her family responsibilities.

Just start saving a little every month in order to make it possible. But again if we can't visit Bulgaria immediately that is okay, but we must visit Sweden & the family there. I need to see them.

Okay there was something I forgot to mention last week. Last week before I left Sofia a different tooth of mine broke. So I had to go to the dentist again (It was great:) I love it there! Seriously I love those dentists. But anyway so I have to pay for it out of my own pocket most likely. So for a birthday gift I would like to just get that taken care of. It was 200 Leva so I will need that money in my account just in case. By the way, I have no idea how much money is in there anyway. I have taken some out from time to time. I bought a nice electric toothbrush for 50 leva which has a two year guarantee so that was part of my birthday too. No problem. Last but not least I broke both of my suitcases (one was already broken) so I will need to purchase new ones (They run about 89 leva) before I leave Ruse but that is not a rush so don't worry about that just yet.

Sorry for the random expenses. I don't need anything new or nice I decided for my birthday. I can buy a new suit before I go home. But for now I will just continue working:)

If you send a package just send it to the mission home like normal I'll get it for zone training.

I have been learning all sorts of new lessons here in Ruse like prayer, charity, & patience again haha. We have no investigators so I guess I came here to find new people!! Yay my favorite haha.

I just found out yesterday that my single convert in Hackovo, my first city, since I have been there about a year ago, he has: Received the Melchizedek priesthood, has become the group leader leading the group, & has baptized two of his friends! What a miracle! I never would have imagined it! It has brought me indescribable joy! Truly our works reach way farther than the time we spent there.

I know this is the work of God. This is his church!

Love your son, Elder Gustafsson

ps. the internet zala which we have right now does not allow us to send photos. But I will try to find a new internet zala which allows us to send photos. Sorry!