Dear Family and Friends,

 

So I have three more weeks in the MTC. The time here has kind of flown by, but not really. When I look back, it still seems like it went by slow. I still can't believe I've been here as long as I have. I'm a little worried still about going out to NJ though. It's going to be a way different experience for me. I have heard lately that there are a lot of wards out there instead of branches. I imagine there are still a lot of branches out there, but I've heard that a lot of them are wards now. I was talking to one Elder at lunch, I forget where he's going, but he lived in NJ for a while working for Vivent. He said that he attended a ward there for a while. He said that there was one ward where he was living, and he thinks that there was the spanish ward meeting after them and it was probably big enough to be a ward. This Elder isn't in my zone or anything, he just sat by us at lunch one day. Anyways, I'm really excited to go out there to see what it's like. I've also heard that depending on the mission, Dearelder's might cost the price of a stamp to mail them to my apartment. Some missions deliver them for free and some don't. I'll find out when I get there how that works out.

 

Also, my companion, Elder Springer, is gone. I don't know if I've talked about his knee or not though. He's torn his ACL twice before his mission, which actually set him back on his mission a few months already. When he went to the doctor the other week, it turns out that he has torn it for a third time. He has to have surgery on it before his mission, so he left this past Monday and I think he had surgery on it this past Tuesday. So I got thrown into a three-some. It's been pretty wierd to be in a three-some. I honestly don't like it. It makes it a lot harder to get around and decide where we're going. One of the Elders I'm with is alright. He knows how to take turns talking in a lesson. He's kind of lazy, but I can get him to work by talking to him. The other Elder on the other hand. I don't know what's wrong with him. Everyone has been progressing in spanish, but he's still stuck on the first week of spanish. He can barely put sentences together. I don't know if he's just extremely lazy and zones out during spanish lessons and never really tries, or if he's legitimately having a crazy challenge with spanish. Either way, he says literally 4 things during lessons with our 'investigators'. So that's why I'm worried about getting a good companion, especially my trainer, in the field. However, when we were in class the other day, we were practicing how to invite people to baptism. Our teacher, Brother Frost, wanted to be the 'missionary' and for another Elder to be the 'investigator' and to think of a doubt or something about baptism that the 'missionaries' would have to figure out. I asked Bro. Frost if I could be his companion. He said sweet and that it would be a cool change-up from the usual practices. So I got to be, for a moment, companions with my teacher. It was so fun! He must have been an amazing missionary. When we were 'teaching', we didn't have any troubles figuring out who would say something next, or where to do with the lesson or anything. That just made me super excited and nervous to get a companion like him. I really hope I can get one like him. So yeah, our teachers here are great. We love them. Another interesting thing, President Brown came and sat next to us during lunch the other day. President Brown is the mission president of the MTC, so it was pretty cool to talk to him personally and not hearing him during devotionals in front of the whole MTC.

 

So those three questions:

1. For the first couple weeks, I slept on the top bunk. After our roommates left for Argentina, I got bottom. There's not much of a difference besides how easy it is to get into bed. I'd much prefer bottom bunk. However, I would rather have my full-sized bed.

2. I can't go eat whenever. We have a scheduled time for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We're asked to follow those because of how many missionaries there are here. Even though the cafeteria is huge, they still need everyone to come at their specified meal time. But, if I do get hungry and I don't have a meal for a little while, I still have food that my family sends me which has been awesome.

3. I kind of have two room numbers. My bedroom number is 3M-323. My classroom number is 18M-548.

Love to hear from you all. Thanks so much.

-Elder Justin Gajewsky

 

Dear Mom,

So do you know why the hair that's growing back is gray? Is it because of the surgery or something? That's awesome now that you're feeling so good. So do you not hear that buzzing sound anymore or your eye balls moving or your heartbeat. Is it all back to how it's supposed to be? I'm really missing watching shows like Restaurant: Impossible. People say that you change on your mission. Right now, I really want to watch shows like that on TV, and I'm still not a morning person. A part of me wishes that things like watching TV and just chilling and staying up until 12:30 doesn't change. I love staying up late. I hope I can become more of a morning person, but I still want to like the things I like after my mission. I can't believe Kelsie's so busy lately. What hours is she working? Tell her to chill out a little, she'll over stress herself, haha. I didn't know that about Spencer. It's cool I got him so excited about his mission. Talking to him made me more excited as well. I do wish sometimes that I could go to Germany, but there is so little success there, that it would be really hard. I've heard that NJ has the highest baptism rate on the eastern seaboard. I don't know if that's true, but it's pretty believeable. I'm excited. I did hear about Pres. Jeppson. I also heard that he won't be there to greet us in NJ however. I hope he his though, there wouldn't be a better way to get welcomed in to NJ. That's wierd because this month has been pretty fast for me. I can't believe February is coming to an end already. It's crazy. And RM's say it goes by faster in the field... Wow. I'm sorry though that it's going slow for you. It's terrible to think that my mission will go by fast for me and slow for all of you. But, if it makes you feel better, I'm having a great time. NETFLIX is great. I was thinking of getting that after my mission, but if Kelsie's already got it, that's great! Also, yesterday, I had the best lunch ever. It was a steak sandwich on texas toast with sauteed onions. Then, we found that they had these amazing strawberries in one of the lines. So we grabbed a bunch of those. Then we remembered that every Wednesday and Sunday is ice cream day, so we got a bowl of hot fugde and whipped cream and dipped the strawberries in it. It was amazing. Well, thanks for everything! Love the packages. Love you!

Dear Julia,

I'm glad to hear you're doing well and staying busy. Don't get too busy though, make sure you enjoy your time with your friends at school and stuff. If you don't make sure to enjoy it, you'll all of a sudden graduate from high school like me. I can't believe I'm done with school. So, are you learning spanish in school as well? I think Kaylee is learning a bit. It's pretty fun to learn a language. Anyway, I was looking around on LDS.org the other day and I watched a video from Pres. Monson talking to the primary kids around the world. You and Kaylee should watch it. It's called 'Pass it on'. I think you'll like it. :) Also, I bought a primary song book in spanish here. It's really fun to sing to myself those songs in spanish. I was thinking, if you're learning a little bit of spanish, you might know how to pronounce spanish. If you knew how to sound out words in spanish, I could write out a few songs in spanish and you and Kaylee can learn them. I don't know, just an idea. Love you Julia!

Dear Kaylee,

Thanks again for those valentines! I look at them every day. If you looked at the pictures I sent all of you, I hung them up by my desk. That's great that you're learning spanish. That makes me happy to hear that. What else are you learning in spanish? I told Julia that I bought a primary song book in spanish. It's really fun to sing those songs to myself sometimes. If you want, I can write out some primary songs in spanish so you can learn them. It's just an idea, let me know what you think. I could just wait to bring them home after my mission then teach you them. But whatever works. Also, I told Julia to watch a video from the Prophet on LDS.org called 'Pass it on'. I think you'll like it. Love you Kaylee!

 

Dear Dad,

I got my spanish hymn book. With my missionary discount, it was like $2.50. Great deal! Well I'm liking it here a lot. Any advice on going out into the field? I can't imagine what that'll be like, so I'm a little nervous about it. Tell me what that experience was like for you. Love you lots dad!

Dear Family and Friends,

     All is well here at the MTC. I'm kind of alone now. Elder Walker left for Argentina a little while ago, and just this last Monday, Elder Byington got shipped out to Dallas, Texas. We had our last goodbye for two years on Sunday. It was a pretty crazy experience. I'm so happy for both of them. It's really cool to have gone on my mission so close to both of them. I've officially been on my mission for over a month, the longest I've ever been away from home now. It's kind of wierd. All of us in my district just want to get out to New Jersey now, even though our spanish is still pretty bad. Our spanish has improved a lot though. If anyone knows spanish and wants to write me a letter in spanish, that would be some awesome practice for me! I like it here at the MTC now, but I just want to get out to the field and start doing some work. There's not much else to really talk about. Just another week gone by. The weeks are going by really fast now. It seems we just had P-Day! But when I think about it, I stil have a lot longer to go. It's cool though, I can't wait to be in New Jersey and helping people out and getting to know the Ward members and stuff. I just talked to an Elder recently who had spent a few months in New Jersey doing sales stuff with a company called Vivent. He said that the Ward he attended was in fact a Ward, not a Branch like I previously thought. He also said that he thinks there's a spanish ward too that met after the english ward. So I'm way excited to see the members out there and how strong they are.

     So we have these planners. Every missionary has them, and I think they've been around a while. Each planner has a six week planner in them. By this Sunday, we'll be done with our first missionary planner. One Elder did the math for our planners. By the end of our mission, we'll have 17 planners. So, this Sunday, we'll be 1/17 of the way done with our mission :) Kind of cool to think about.

     So the three questions:

1. I haven't heard the word "fetch" really. It's more "freak" like all the Mormon youth say.

2. My companion is okay at the moment. He's doing fine from the stomach aches he had a few weeks ago, but he just had an appointment yesterday with his doctor for his knee. Turns out his ACL has been torn for the third time, and he needs surgery. So he thinks he's going to get surgery after his MTC stay, then just recover at home for about three months. It's pretty drastic, but he can't really go on a mission with a torn ACL.

3. There are eight of us in our district. There used to be ten, but two of them left for the Dominican Republic MTC a few weeks ago. They're obviously going to serve there in the DR. As for the rest of us, we're all Elders, no sisters. All of us expect one are headed to NJ Morristown. Elder Dembinski is headed to South Carolina. We're all from pretty close. One Elder is from California, and that's about the farthest away. Pretty boring, but cool.

     Thanks for writing to me everyone. I'll try and answer all your letters.

     -Elder Justin Gajewsky

Dear Dad,

     It's good to hear that mom is doing so well so far. I'm glad everything is improving. I can't wait to hear from grandma! It's sad to hear that she can't do stuff like that right now. I'll appreciate anything she writes. I did see quite a bit of Brandon and Kyle before they left. It was really cool to see them in the MTC. It was a little bit of a comfort. Elder Magleby's dad works for Deseret Printing, so he gives him updates on what's happening. I guess some South American country like Argentina or Chile was in charge of printing all the stuff in spanish for the Church, and they were doing a pretty crappy job at it. So they're moving it back up to the States again. They're probably going to start printing real soon now, so those hymn books will most likely be back on shelves in the next couple weeks or so, so keep a look out. I've heard from some missionaries that the MTC seems like half their mission. I heard that from a spanish missionary who spent nine weeks here. So I was wondering how long did the MTC seem compared to your whole mission? I also was looking for the little cleaning brush for my shaver. I thought I packed it with me, but I guess not. Could you look for it in my bathroom or whatever? I usually clean my shaver every couple weeks and I haven't been able to find it. If you can't, I'll just wait to get myself one out in NJ. That's fine. Thanks a lot! Love you! Let me know what else is going on at home.

Dear Kaylee,

     Thanks for the valentines! I loved them. I hung them up by my desk. I'll send you pictures soon so you can see. That's really cool that you're learning spanish. Maybe when I get home, we can talk in spanish. I love you a lot! Keep writing to me.

Dear Mom,

     I really enjoyed my valentines box. Those cookies were really good! I did share a little bit, but I mostly just hogged them, haha. I hear you're doing a lot better with your ear. That's so awesome to hear about that. I really hope the symptomes don't happen in your other ear, that would be terrible. That'll be great to go to Disneyland in a couple years and to have to be able to enjoy all the sounds without that annoying thing. Maybe it'll fix your vertigo-dizzy thing completely and you'll be able to ride all the rollercoasters! We'll see. I really miss watching Restaurant: Impossible late at night. That was always a really nice way to end those days. I doubt that that show will go on for another two seasons, but when I get home, maybe we can rent them and watch one every night for a while. I keep thinking about how cool it would be to run into that one guy that helps Robert with the contruction part who lives in NJ. I forget so many things now. Everyone does. We're so cut off from the world that we don't remember things like names of actor, and movies, and stuff. I'm even starting to forget German, sad.. I think my spanish is finally starting to catch up with my german. I hope I can remember it when I get home, but I'll be glad to be able to speak fluent spanish. I totally forgot that you were reading the Great and Terrible series! Is the Second Sun, the third book?? So that means you finished Where Angels Fall? I remember that part with Azadeh. It was such a crazy part of the book. That's so going to be the first book when I read when I get home. It sounds like I'm talking a lot about stuff after my mission. A lot of us do that. We're not homesick that much or not excited to be here at all. It's just a way of staying sane and talking to each other. We're all very happy and glad to be here. We're all super excited to go out to NJ and love and help those people. I just like to look forward sometimes. I even think sometimes (before my mission too) what it'll be like to be a parent and grandparent. That's just me looking forward, and I think the same with the others here. I love you a lot! Thanks for everything!

Dear Kelsie,

     One more song please?? :) If you have time in the midst of all your crazy homework and work, I would like the song from Tangled "At last I see the light". I think that's the name of the song. English and spanish, because I don't know any of the lyrics.. Love you much! Thanks! Let me know how you're doing too. I'd love a letter from you!

Dear Grandma (Lilleba),

     I talked to Elder Magleby. There's a lot of Magleby's in his extended family that he doesn't know. He doesn't know who they are off the top of his head, but he said that he's sure that he's related to them somehow. I'm really excited to go to NJ and hear all the spanish there. I've hear that a lot of spanish-speaking countries have their own dialect of spanish in a way. So the people from the Dominican Republic will speak spanish a little differently than those from Guatemala, or Mexico, or Argentina, or Chile. They're a lot of spanish countries out there, and I've heard that the New York - New Jersey area is the melting pot of all of them. So I'll be able to meet people from all over the American Continents! It'll be really cool! I love you, and I love to hear from you! Thanks so much!

     -Elder Justin Gajewsky

Dear Grandpa (Per),

     I'm doing great. I'm loving the spanish language. It's really fun to learn another language. Even though it's not Norwegian, Spanish is still pretty cool! That's awesome about the smoke signals. I never really knew about that. Technology has come a long way since that. I'm sure email is a little faster now! I'm sending this email Thursday, Feb. 16. I'm guessing that you'll get it pretty much instantaneously. Love you lots grandpa! Thanks for writing to me!

     -Elder Justin Gajewsky

Dad!

     I just found out that they're done printing all the spanish hymn books. They should be on store shelves beginning of next week. However, Elder Magleby's dad says that the MTC bookstore will probably get them like tomorrow or Saturday. Also, I haven't told you guys this yet, but I get 40% off at the MTC Bookstore for most stuff. So, don't buy me a spanish hymn book. I'll just buy it here with my 40% off. Thanks for looking for me though! I can't wait to get a hymn book. Another thing, on my way to come email you again, I ran into Brandon Walker! I looked at him and I was thinking, my heck he looks familiar! I asked him what he was still doing here. I guess he wasn't able to get his visa to Argentina right away, so they put him in the Salt Lake mission for the past couple weeks. He says that the mission field is way better than the MTC, so that got me really excited. He's back at the MTC today just for a few hours to meet with an Argentian Ambassador and to get fingerprints and stuff. I don't know exactly when he's leaving, but I'm guessing next week sometime. I think his visa is finally going through. So it was really cool to see him. If you want, you can share this email on my blog or whatever you all are doing for my mission. Oh, and let my know what your email is, so I can email your email account too so you can get it at work right away. Thanks! Love you!

     -Elder Justin Gajewsky

Justin and our wonderful neighbor Wes Harward who works at the MTC. He went to visit Justin one day!!

Dear Family & Friends,

     Another normal week has gone by again. I keep progressing well in spanish. I really do believe in the gift of tounges now. It's amazing how many words just come to me. I feel bad though, because that gift isn't coming as fast to other missionaries here. I guess they have their own challenges that they're going through and are going to learn from. I'm just glad that I'm doing so well right now. I can communicate somewhat easily with the teachers in spanish. I hope that by the end of my stay here at the MTC, I will be able to hold a good conversation with them and close to normal speed. However, I'm not doing as well with the 'investigators'. It's hard to explain something to them that I've known my whole life. Just the other day, we brought up the Holy Ghost to 'Ever' and how he can receive revelation through Him. It turns out that 'Ever' doesn't know anything about the Holy Ghost. I had the hardest time trying to explain it to him. I've grown up my whole life knowing who the Holy Ghost is and what he does. It's super hard for me to put myself in 'Ever's' shoes and figure out how to explain it to him. I'll figure it out someday... I hope. There's another Elder here who is actually from American Fork, UT. I was talking to him the other day, and it turns out that he knows Brandon Walker a little. I guess when Elder Magleby (that's the Elder's name) got his mission call, Brandon told him that his friend (me) got the same call to Morristown, NJ spanish. So Elder Magleby kind of knew of me before our missions. I get along with Elder Magleby pretty well. We both have pretty much the same views on a lot of things, so we get along really well. We're both pretty laid back and chill (unlike a lot of Elders here, including my companion). He also took some german in high school, so we both remember words in german sometimes when we can't think of them in spanish. I'm hoping we can be companions later on in our missions, because then we would be even more likely to be good friends after our missions, being so close and all. So yeah, our district is pretty crazy. We're known for being the crazy and unfocused district. It's hard because I'm trying to focus and be an amazing missionary, but a lot of the others just want to have fun all the time. (Another thing that Elder Magleby and I have in common.) Sometimes I wish I were in a different district, because the other districts are always obeying ever rule, and they're always having fun. The ones in our district just don't get that yet. I believe, though, that this is a challenge for me and for the other couple in our district that are really trying to focus. I believe that this will be for our benefit eventually, and we'll be blessed for quietly leading our district to focus and stay on task. 

     As for those three questions, here you go:

1. It's hard to say what I'd change about the MTC. There's a lot I would want to change, but I know that everything that we do is inspired revelation for the representatives of Jesus Christ. Everything here is here for a reason. I would change the amount of free time (or personal time) after classroom and planning each night. We only get like 20 min and then it's quiet time for 15 min, then lights out. I wish we had like 45 min to talk and hang out with other missionaries.

2. I have eaten cereal for dinner. I usually do it though when it's something not that good. Like for a couple nights, we had hotdogs for dinner. That's just kind of wierd for me to have so often. I feel nasty when I eat a hotdog, a plate of french fries, and 3 glasses of root beer. So I started to change. The other night I had two bowls of Life Cereal and juice for dinner. It was awesome! The other night too, they had cranberry almond salads at the salad bar. I'll tell you what, I felt much better eating a salad and some juice then hotdogs, fries, and soda. I am growing to like the food here. I just think about what I'm going to get and I make sure it's somewhat healthy.

3. Free time? HAHA! We have such little free time. The time during the regular day that doesn't have anything scheduled is used to get somewhere or to shower after gym. However, on P-Day, we have more free time. I use that to relaxe and talk about life with other missionaries. I have to say, that I really wish I were here during the summer. The campus here is really nice. It would be so cool to eat outside and read the scriptures under the giant trees and around the gardens.

     Thanks for the letters. Sorry I don't respond to all of them sometimes. I'm staying really busy and don't have much time to write. But I'll do my best to keep up. Keep sending letters, I really do enjoy them.

     -Elder Justin Gajewsky

 

Dear Dad,

     I still have a good amount of Diovan left. By the time I'm ready to go out to NJ, I'll be running low. So you could probably send more anytime. Next time you do send a package, could you send me my pair of mockasins. I don't know how to spell it. Kelsie would probably know what they are. I have a pair of them in my closet. They're just the leather-looking slipper things. They're really comfortable and I'd probably use them a lot. My scripture I chose is Isaiah 6:8. It's in the front cover of the book Chosen Soldier. It applies a lot to the soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and other places. It also applies to missionaries. In the verse, the Lord is asking who will go for us. As we accept our call to serve, we're saying that we'll go fight for the right. I shared that with my district, and I really like it. It did take me like 30 min to try and remember the scripture. I remembered that I really liked that scripture in that book, but I couldn't remember the scripture at all. I finally remembered something it said in it, and I just used LDS.org to search for key phrases. I finally found it. That's my favorite scripture. Tell grandma I want her to write to me! I would love to hear from her. Yes, I do write in my journal. I write in it every night, and I will write in my journal every night for my whole mission. If you look through any of your mission journals and find any cool stories, I'd love to hear them. Elder Magleby's dad works for Deseret printing. He said that they only print language church materials for a period of every year. So if you can't find any at the BYU Bookstore, it may be a while before they get more spanish hymns. But keep checking regularly for more of them. Thanks for everything. Love you!

 

Dear Mom,

     By the way, the salads here are pretty good! Haha, just thought I'd tell you that the caeser salad I had the other day was pretty good. I'd like to know who asks the questions, so if you could, just let me know who sends those, thanks. I'm taking a lot of pictures. I'm thinking of sending a card home soon, just so you can have a few pictures of me. I have one specifically that I like a lot that I want as my new facebook pic, so I'll send that home soon. I absolutely loved meeting up with Wes Harward. It's so great talking to him. He gave me some advice on learning the language that I wrote down and put in my mission journal. I really appreciate his help and all. I liked seeing him. I guess he's going to Jerusalem in April and then Notre Dame in August. Pretty crazy! He's really jealous that I'm going on a mission. He says he's always jealous of the new missionaries that he gets every three weeks. He works in the english area, and he gets to meet new missionaries every three weeks. Love you very much. I hope you're doing a lot better. It's the same here as always. Let me know how things are going at home.

 

Dear Kelsie,

     Thanks for those lyrics. I'm pretty sure they're correct. Dearelder doesn't like the accents on the top of the letters, so it replaced them with question marks. I'm trying to decypher them, but I'm doing pretty well. Help dad find my mocasins for me. I don't know how to spell that. But I would like to have them. They're in my closet, I think. Thanks much! Love ya!

Feb 2, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,
     My time here is getting more enjoyable. I like all the Elders here, and they're easy to get along with. The days still seem to go by slow, but I can't believe it's already Thursday for me. It seems like Sunday was like two days ago. Some of my teachers have said that the time on a mission is a time warp. Every day seems to go by really slow, but before you know it, it's another week gone by. I haven't felt too much like that, but they did say that happens the last 18 months. It's quite the experience. Everyday I learn several new things. I'm actually really starting to love spanish. I think I'm doing pretty good at it too. When we taught the 'investigator' Ever (that's his name), I was going on pretty good on why he should read the Book of Mormon, in spanish! For the past few days, I've said every single one of my prayers in spanish! So when I'm praying for all my family and friends, know that you're being blessed in spanish as well;) As a zone, we've made it a goal to speak spanish as much as possible. Even though right now, most of it is spanglish, the teachers and more experienced missionaries say it always helps.

     I don't remember how much I've told you about the special devotional on Tuesday the 31st, but here we go. The First Presidency did NOT come. Sad... But Elders Russell M. Nelson and Jeffrey R. Holland did come. It was so cool to see them! First, Elder Holland came up and shared his testimony about missionary work. That was so powerful. After, Elder Nelson gave a history lesson on missionary work and the MTC. Since this is the celebration of the 50th year of missionary work, that was very appropriate. He also dedicated the five newly referbished (I don't know how to spell that) buildings. That was also very cool.

     Well, nothing else too new. I finally saw Kyle, Elder Byington, at lunch. What happened last Thursday was, I emailed you guys, did laundry, went to the temple, then saw Kyle in the cafeteria before I got dinner. So it was like four hours after I told you guys that I hadn't seen Kyle yet that I finally saw him. We took a couple pictures and we've seen each other quite a bit the past week. It was something really cool and awesome to see one of your best friends in the MTC with you when a lot of the other missionaries come from places where they're the only member of the church in their group of friends. I feel really blessed for that.

     I guess I haven't gotten your email yet, or something, but I guess I'm not answering those three questions this week. Oh well, I'll just do them next week.

     Oh, and here's an interesting story! Saturday, my companion had some bad stomach aches, nausea, cold shivers, and a headache. Since the clinic is closed Saturday and Sunday, we went to the front office and he called the MTC doctor. The doctor told him to take some medication and take a four hour nap, then call back and report. So we did just that. After we called him again, the doctor said that my companion might have appedicitis. So he send us to the ER. We hopped in an MTC van and drove to the hospital! It was pretty cool to see the 'outside' world after three weeks. After about 45 min in the waiting room, outside we saw one of our teachers come into the ER. Her name is Sister Kochevar, and I guess she interns at the hospital. So we talked for a minute as we finally got a room. They did some tests on my companion and gave him some medicine. Our teacher regularly came to find us and talk with us. After our visit was over, at about 8:30, we figured we could eat at the hospital cafe since we already missed dinner at the MTC. So we had some outside food which was pretty good. It was a pretty fun experience, dispite the fact that we had to go to the ER. I'm doing fine though. I haven't felt sick at all. Maybe a little headache here and there, probably from the load we're learning and a little dehydration. But I fix it fast.

Dear Mom,
     Thanks so much for fasting for me. I feel really blessed that I'm starting to enjoy in here a lot more. I'm glad to hear that you're doing a lot better. I can't wait to hear how successful your surgery was. When do you think that you'll be back do normal and fixed? I'm also really thankful for the packages you've sent. Those are always nice to open up and see what's inside. The mornings are getting easier. I still don't like getting up at 6:30, but I'll get used to it. I just hate waiting in line for the shower. It's also a real pain to go from almost complete darkness to the extremely bright lights in the bathroom. It takes me like five minutes to finally keep my eyes open. That'll get easier out in the field I think. I'm glad to hear that Kaylee is trying to write me a letter. Let her know that I'll be happy with anything she writes me.
     I also wanted to hear more about Alan. I never knew that he had MS. I do remember hearing something about him going to the hospital of Facebook, but I never found out for what. I don't exactly know what MS is either. It's like where the muscles deteriorate? Is that what that one kid had that was good friends with the Beuerman family? And what's the bad kind like?? Another thing, I haven't seen Wes Harward at all. I want to see him really bad! If you can, tell him that my classroom number is 18M-548, and to visit me if he can. Also see if you can get what building and floor he teaches at, so maybe during some of my freetime I can go try and find him. I would really like to meet up with him if I can.
     Thank you! I love you.

Dear Kelsie,
     Thanks for those swedish fish. They were pretty good, and free. There's a bookstore here and I can get more swedish fish if I want, but it's nice to get them in the mail. I have a favor to ask of you. A couple of us like to sing Disney songs and stuff. Since we have no internet, we can't look up the lyrics in spanish. If you can't find them in spanish, that's totally fine, just let me know. Preferably, could you try and find I'll Make a Man out of You (Mulan), I Can Go the Distance (Hercules), and then maybe another fun one we all like. I remember finding different language versions of those songs on YouTube with the lyrics in those languages written as the subtitles. That would be awesome if you could do that. Thanks so much! Love you.

Dear Dad,
     Thanks for sending me that package. I got it and I am enjoying it a ton. I don't know if you've been keeping up on my bank account, but I have been spending a little bit of my money on stuff here. I bought an MTC shirt and a New Jersey Morristown Mission shirt. I also bought some pictures to make my desk area a little more enjoyable. I'm conscious of the weight of my suitcases too when I'm buying those things. I have been keeping my letters too. I think before I leave the MTC, I'm going to send all those letters back home along with some spanish books I've gotten here. I kind of want to keep those letters for now and the books, just as a memory of my MTC experience.
     Now that I've had a little taste of what missionary work is all about, I can't believe you were a Trainer you're second transfer! I want to hear more about how that went for you. Were you really nervous? Scared? Or not? Most people here say you don't become even the senior companion until about six to eight months in. Tell me more!