Nov. 7, 2011 letter segment and pics

Hola Familia!!!

Thank you for updating me on all the happenings there. I have been going through withdrawls from the animals, mountains and anything other than the city and people. hahaha The other day it was raining and a thought came to my head that I had to feed the cows and horses in the rain and it was gonna be cold, but I miss it.

We had aparment inspections this week, and the senior missionaries brought and delivered us the ENSIGN. It was the Conference Issue. I've never been so excited for the Ensign before!!! We are still getting adjusted in our new apartment. We have to walk down to a little on site laundry room. We are excited to be having Zone Conference on the 15th, and they will be giving Flu shots. I don't know if I will be getting one or not.

Yesterday we took out our Recent COnvert Biking with us, Rodrigo Marrero, De Venezuala papa!!! haha he is such a stud he borrowed one of the other elders bikes and rode around with us!!. he's really doing well in the church they've been talking about ordaining him to the office of an elder already, the guy doesnt even have the aaronic priesthood yet but he's awesome. we were talking about it and he was like man i see a lot of guys that are in the ward that just dont do much, He's like man if i Had the Priesthood i would Be a leader or something, It would Be so awesome!!!!! its crazy how pumped this guy is!!!! its awesome he just eats everything up and loves to learn he was asking me about D&C 76 yesterday i was like wow i didn't even ask quesdtions and neglected to learn. Its cool though we've really been talking about the priesthood lately and how its powers are unseperatley connected with heaven. I just know how important it is to live up to the calling.

Love you guys, miss ya tons,

Elder Gust

Some New Pics- :) First Apartment

This is Colton's first Apartment. His companion is Elder Lamb, and they share with another set of missionaries. It doesn't look too bad, I just hope that when the mission president comes that it passes the cleaning inspection. hahaha

First Tranfer- Still in West Palm Beach

this week has been filled with blessings and testimony building events. we have been striving to contribute to our mssion goal by doing our part we have a couple baptismal dates planned for the end of this month, I am so excited for them and their progression. we had two really cool experiences this week actually countless but the first one we got this member refferal and so the very next night we went and blessed their home, I could feel the spirit so strong we left them after making a return appt. and they were so excited to have us back we taught them the restoration on our next visit and they ate it up as if they were starving for the truth the husband alex was asking us during the lesson the same question that joseph smith as well as many have had, we excitedley taught them and introduced the book of mormon to them. the wife who had been pretty quite yet receptive opened up to us and told us about a dream she had a few nights ago. it was about her neighbor the one who reffered the family and she had offered her a bible but this one was different, she said she didn't recognize the book til we pulled it out and gave it to her, she quickly said thats the book!! another family we found while harvesting the same street was excited as we blessed their home, in our first lesson the wife told us the day we knocked on her door she had been praying to find a church and not just any church but the true church. I was so excited as we asked both of these families to be baptized and they readily accepted. Another cool event happened as well we were teaching the 17 year old son of our recent converts we watched the testaments to help them understand a little more about christ coming to the americas. Maria told us for the last 3 nights as she has knelt in prayer she saw the very same image as the one on the movie of christ coming down in a pillar of light. I just know that was a strong testimony and it was awesome for her son to hear her testimony. I know that through obedience we have found these wonderful families and i feel so blessed to be an intrument in helping them come unto christ and finding the truth!!

Transfers are tomorrow and the two elders we live with are being transferred and their are white washed they were execting maybe one of them to leave but not both!!!! me and elder lamb are both staying in our are which i was excited about as well expected to happen. we have some awesome families coming up and im just getting used to this awesome are and wonderful ward!!! our recent converts are doing great they come and are still active!! the couple we baptized we still visit several times a week teaching their 17 year old son ramon has only been in the states a couple months speaks no english works fulll time to help support the family and has zero education but is just a solid kid he reminds a lot of Bailey in some ways just a big kid with a kind heart, everytime we teach him we have to go wake him up haha!! Rodrigo the Venezuelan we baptized might cut our hair today and we see him every week at church, he even gave the prayer in priesthood!! so awesome!!!

First Baptism

The Baptism yesterday was awesome!!! but you know with me invloved it would have to get a little western!!! All week we werent' sure if maria would get baptized she was sick or her head hurt of she thought the baptism was at the beach and didnt want there to be a bunch of people or the ongoing fact that she was having issues with coffe, so we prayed at every opportunity for them and pulled out the big guns and brought bishop Montero with us to our lesson on like Wed and he did work he ended up dumping there coffe in the trash, he later was like i hope they dont scoop it out of the trash!!! it was pretty eventful and thats probably why maria's head kept hurting, Sunday they came to sacrament along with our golden inv Rodrigo i'll talk about him later, but maria was sicker than a dog and i had my doubts that she would be baptized. we gave her a blessing and sent her home to rest. later after church we called and they were still planning on getting baptized!! i was so happy!!!!! i was kinda nervous because i was memorizing the baptismal prayer in spanish! so we get to the church and they are a little late not bad we got Nicolas dressed and then maria comes out in her regular clothes and doesn't want anyone to see her in the jumpsuit haha so we just go with it and have her change right before hand. so Elder lamb says ok you can baptize nicolas and i'll baptize maria and i was like sweet becuase i didnt' want to be the one to screw up and make a bad experience for her. so im going into the font and nicolas comes in behind me and he's like is hot, its hot and i thought it was kinda cold so i dont know what his deal was. he gets in and i cant hardly talk to him so im just showing him where to hold and i cant understand him because he said his jaw was broke as a kid. so i raise my arm say the prayer and try to baptize him and i just can't get him to be flexible at all and we dont even get close, so i try to have him bend his knees and we try again same thing, he starts giggling so i turn all red and before long im giggling and trying to keep the spirit and we try again same thing i just can't dunk this guy the witness all have huge grins along with the sister missionaries in the front row. im just dying the bishop comes over and leans over the glass tells him what to do cuz i cant and then we try again and still nothing we start on one side of the font and end up over on the other. so elder lamb comes in and gives a couple wacks at it nicolas is still giggling every once and again. after like the third time i come up and help him and we almost tackle the poor man but we finally got the job done. he said afterwards he felt good i hope so we kept telling him he was too strong and needed to be baptized so many times, Luckily afterwards marias went smoothly. man they are a great family. its just cool how he was such a good sport about it and he knew he wanted it he just couldnt move that way!!

Top 5 News Items

1. What were your first impressions as you flew into Fort Lauderdale, Florida?
WOW!! Where am I? I'm the only white person here. I love the feel of the humidity and the smell of the ocean breeze.

2. Who was at the Airport to meet you?
Walked out of the terminal and past security, and saw missionaries with tags and quickly recognized President Anderson. I had such a huge smile!!

3. How did you feel about the people you meet the first day?
The spirit was so strong, immediately I could fee their enthusiasm and flame for the work. Elder Neally (AP) gave a pass along card to the man at the airport who took our picture. Another Elder asked the lady in the toll booth if he could get her information and come by and bless her house. How amazing. President Anderson is just outstanding, loving, and personable. Sister Anderson is even more so. Wow, they are so great!!

4. what is making you happy right now?
This work is true. We were able to contact and place 2 Book of Mormon's. Jason and Leila are our first two contacts in Florida and what a success!!!

5. What advice that you recieved before you left turning out to be the most valuable?
Lose yourself in the work and find yourself at the same time. The only way home is through exact obedience. Give em heaven. There are millions of people waiting to be baptized in Florida, I just need to open my mouth.

My Area!!!

My First Area is West Palm Beach. It is a bike area, so we bike 15-16 miles a day. The majority of people live in trailers. It is suppost to be the fastest growing spanish ward in the mission. My Companion is Elder Lamb. We are white washing, which means we are both new to the mission, rather than having one companion that already knows the area. I got to bear my testimony at church last sunday, it was a great experience. I love my companion, I love this area, and I especially love the people. I've already had tons of rejections which is cool. :) We live with another companionship. They have a car, but ride bikes too. It's so much fun to finally be in the field surviving. I don't understand a lot, but love it!

Con Amor,

Elder Gust

Hey Familia!!!!

Dear Familia,

I'm starting to get anxious for Florida, but I also want to utilize my time here in the MTC to prepare the best I can. Next Wednesday my district gets to host the new missionaries coming in I can't wait.

We've had a lot of teaching opportunities this week, which I love because I learn the most during them. We had some great devotionals this week on success and what it means. We watched a movie called, "Mountain of the Lord", if you get a chance to watch it, DO!!

Thank you so much for all your love, support, letters, and packages and especially Lexi's art projects. Thank you for being the best family ever!!! Bailey, work your butt off and do well in school, because out here you can definately tell who works hard and who doesn't.

Love you all,

Elder Gust

Another Crazy week!!

Friday is P-day, but we are fortunate enough to receive letters in between. I will share a portion of his last letter....

Since being out here I'm learning in ways I could have better prepared. One way I feel inadequate is my knowledge of the Book of Mormon. We set a companionship goal of reading the Book of Mormon for our investigators needs and in turn I would learn also. One investigator we have Eduardo was having trouble in his life and thought our Heavenly Father had forgot about him.

I hope you all know I love this gospel and I never pass up an opportunity to testify about the Book of Mormon. I also learned that we don't need to spend all our time and energy resolving the investigators concerns, wheat we should do is spend all our time and energy building that communication line with our Heavenly Father because He knows them and can answer and resolve their concerns.

I miss you all--
Love,
Elder Colton Gust

More Pics!! It's hard work, but we find time to play

Colton has been in the CCM (that's spanish for MTC) for
6 weeks. He is enjoying the work and his espanol is coming along. In one of his letters, he sent a prayer in Spanish. We had Bailey read it, as he is the one taking a spanish class right now. It was very cute. As you can see from below, Colton will always be a cowboy. No matter where he is, he will always find something to ride. "Look Ma, No Hands. "

It's Picture Time

Colton sent home these pics.... We hope you enjoy them as much as we are.

Mi Familia Letter and 244 Pictures... WOW

Familia!

One of the many successes we've had this week is that Luis has accepted our invitation to be baptized. We have talked to him about the importance of the Word of Wisdom and how important it is to keep and is prohibiting him from feeling the Spirit. We have also talked to him about the plan of salvation.

Mom and Dad I just miss being able to talk to you and share all my day to day experiences thats probably what I miss the most, and being able to hug you guys and tell you how much I love you though my actions. I really do love you guys and couldn't do this without your loving support.

Read Alma chapter 17 and 18 as a family. I read it today for personal study and in my opinion he is one awesome missionary.

love you guys,
Enjoy the Pics
Elder Colton Gust

My Little Princess

Lexi,

How are you Princess? I miss you so much lil sis. Mom said that you're staying busy with Dance camp. Please help her put together a photo album for me! pretty please.... I have your pictures hanging in my room that you drew. You're getting so good at drawing. I have sent you a picture that I drew for you.

I love you Lexi.

love,

Colton

One envelope.... FOUR LETTERS!!!

Man, I have him trained. Well..... at least for the time being. Okay, so I went to the mailbox today, and there it was an envelope. But it wasn't just any envelope. It was sent from Elder Colton Gust, and it was thick. I walked home from the mailbox squeezing it and trying to figure out what he would have to say that would take that many pages. So, I opened it... there was a letter to Pops (Dave), and one to Bay, one for Lexi and one for Mi Madre. How exciting 4 for the price of one. Yippie.

So we all sat down to read our individual letters. Then we decided that we wanted to share them with each other. One at a time we went around the room and read our letters to each other. Dulce (Sweet).... so here it is a tid bit from each letter.

Mi Padre,
Thank you for all the updates, I love hearing about your trips. I loved the scriptures that you gave me about humility. I shared one with my branch presidency in my weekly letter to them.

Our companionship is goin' good. We're still having trouble teaching in unison, with the spirit, with excitement and passion, and most importantly letting the spirit convert our message. We've had some really solid lessons and we've had some flops. We pray for our investigators and our ability to use the spirit to convey our message.

We'll get it, I know we will. I feel I am already a better teacher just because I know how to invite the spirit into our lessons.

Sure love you,
Colton


Dear Bay,

How are you feeling about your surgery? You are in my prayers, and I know that you are gonna have a fast recovery. How is the haircut coming? I know that you love that mullet. ha ha I sure love you bro. Study hard in spanish so we can speak it without no one knowing what we are saying.

love ya,
Colton

Hola! Mi Madre!,
I love getting your letters and I love hearing how your doin'. I'm greateful for everything you've taught me. It's been awesome doing laundry and doing everything on my own because you taught me so well. I've had to teach Elder Wardle how to do his laundry, but he has helped me learn patience and a true love for the gospel. Gym is one of my favorite times of the day. We are playing 4 square, jogging, and basketball. I've had a blast just clearing my mind and getting my blood pumping. I feel way out of shape cardio wise, but I am trying to strengthen my heart and get more endurance. I played 3 on 3 basketball for about an hour and thought I was gonna die. ha ha.

Love you Madre!
With all my heart.
Colton

Las letras

The Letters have been amazing. We have received two hand written letters and one email for the first week. I would like to think that this will continue for the next two years, but I would be kidding myself. We are enjoying the letters, and would like to share some of them with you all.

Dear family :),
Thank you for being so strong to let me go and experience this adventure. I hope you all know how much I love and care about you even if I show it in a different way. I know this is without a doubt the right thing to do. The MTC is the most organized place I've ever been in and the joy I feel here is beyond explaination. (What??? you can't say that about our house? ahaha) I just had to add my two cents. :)

My companion, Elder Wordle is a really quite but kind hearted companion from Boise Idaho, Cool HUH? Please pray for me and I will pray for you. Thank you for being such an amazing family.

I love you all very much and would be lost without you.
Love,
Elder Gust

PS. Stay tuned fo the next episode


July 11, 2011
Hola! Hola! Mi familia,
I've been getting your letters and have really enjoyed them. Tell Bailey to email me cuz he never gave me his address before I left. How's my lil sis? Probably so big I wouldn't even recognize her! I look at the pictures she drew me quiet often! I really wish I could write and tell you all my experiences but there is just too many to count. But, I am keeping a really good record in my journal and taking lots of pics. Mom and Dad, I love you guys so much and I am grateful to be your son! My district is so awesome we all get along way good and maybe have a little too much fun. The pics will tell you all the stories.

I pray for you guys everyday, as you guys are always in my heart. We learned how to contact today, I feel like I'm getting the hang of it.

Love,
Elder Gust
PS. I love you guys, time for bed. Bueno Noche!

Hasta luego- Until Then

Saying, "We'll see ya soon" wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. We pulled up to the grassy field just across the street from the MTC. As we climbed out of the car, we looked around and realized that we were surrounded by several groups of missionaries in their gym clothes. They were playing soccer, basketball, volleyball, 4 square, and some were even running laps around the block. As I looked over to see Colton's expression, I realized that he was just taking it all in. It almost seemed like a dream. A very happy, joyful dream. He was a little worried that he would only have gym class once a week. Which I thought was so interesting, because he surely didn't care about fitness for the past several years. ha ha. Seeing Colton grinning from ear to ear and feeling his excitement made it easier. I've never seen him so happy in all my life. When he got out of the car and we said our goodbyes, we handed him over to two missionaries who were already walking away with him. They were asking him questions like, "Do you have any keys or a cell phone?", and "Do you have your immunization card?" We knew he was in good hands and have faith that he will be ok. "God Be With You Till We Meet Again".

A change came about in our car on the way home. Shocking to those who know our kids. Bailey and Lexi actually were acting like they loved each other, no fighting and no telling on each other. Picture in your mind if you will the love or should I say miracle in the back seat of the car. :) AWE... Peaceful.....

Packing and Weighing In

Colton,
In less than 24 hours you will be ready to spend your first night as a full time missionary and be edified by the spirit of our Heavenly Father. Yes, I am sitting in the kitchen watching you weigh your luggage and yourself. Your starting weight is 172.6 lbs. Your bags are hugh, but your Mother has helped you figure out how to utilize your space better. The Bishop and Judilynn stopped by to say Goodbye. We just talked to Uncle Kevin and Uncle Greg. They are so proud of you and the example you are to their families. Thank you for being such a strength in my life.
love Dad.

Getting set apart as an Elder

Colton was set apart at the Diamond Valley Stake Center by President Steven Bennett on July 5, 2011. It was an amazing experience and immedately after I could see a change in Colton. He was calm and peaceful, cheerful and loving. I'm not saying that he wasn't these things before, but I could feel a difference in him. I knew that he was filled with the spirit and was given the keys and tools to truely become a successful Elder.