Hello friends and family,

Wow, a lot of things happened this week. Last Saturday, the branch president, President Wilkens, found me and my two companions and wanted to talk to us. I wasn't too surprised. Our lessons have been struggling a little, and I even told him that it's kinda hard in a three-some. After he talked to us and gave us some words of encouragement, he asked if he could talk to me alone. Once we were alone, he said that he wanted to talk to us to see if everything was working out. He said that he thought it was going well and that the Holy Ghost said it was going well, so he extended the invitation that he felt that I should be the next District Leader. I was a little surprised. I didn't think it was going to be me at all. President Wilkens said he knows that it'll be hard with a three-some but he knows that the challenge will be worth it. So I'm the new DL. It's a little harder, I'm responsible to keep a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds under control and to make sure everything is going well for each missionary. Other than a few leadership meetings during the week, I'm not much more busy than I used to be. But it is a fun job, I like it. Also, yesterday. Some other Elder walked into my residence dorm. A couple of us were in there waiting for our service time to start. (We do service every Wednesday morning. We just clean another residence hall.) He walked in, his name is Elder Ford, and asked for an Elder in my district. He told him that he's companions with him now, and that he's in our district. Apparently, his district left for the field and he still has two weeks left in the MTC. So, we got another Elder in our district now. I'm back in a two companionship, which has been really nice since I've been in a three-some for a while. So yeah, he's pretty cool.

 

So here's a cool story. Every Tuesday night, we have a devotional. Usually it's a member of the Quorum of the Seventy. Sometimes it's just someone high in the church. So last Tuesday night, we started to head off from our classroom, four floors down to where the gym was. As we're headed down, two Elders from the referral center join us. They ask us, "Did you hear who's speaking tonight?" I said I don't know. I thought I honestly don't care, it's probably someone from the Seventy which will be cool, but nothing out of the ordinary. They said that they heard that Elder Holland was coming. At first I got a little excited, then I thought, maybe they're just trying to trick us; because everyone would have heard that Elder Holland was coming. A few weeks ago, when Elder Holland and Elder Nelson came, people were lining up outside the gym like 30 minutes early to get a seat. When we got to the bottom floor and started to head to the gym, I saw the usual crowd and nothing wierd or out of the ordinary. I decided that those Elders were tricking us. So we sat down in our usual spot, which is pretty close to the front, but way off to the side. Then during our last opening song (we usually sing two or three hymns before the devotional actually starts) Elder Holland pops through the door. Everyone stood up immediately. It was awesome! I don't know if it was my excitment to see him or the Spirit he carried with him, but I felt something really cool. Elder Holland walked up onto the stand to where his seat was and just started singing with us like nothing happened. After the song, he waved to everyone and sat down. His talk was pretty cool. He told us that his mission meant everything to him and if we screw up or mess around on our mission... I don't know, I just know that I'm going againt anything that Elder Holland says. I'm kind of scared of Elder Holland. He's very intimidating when it comes to missions for him. He started almost yelling it seems like. It was very powerful. It's something very different when an Apostle is in the room. I was thinking to myself when I was listening to him, that it's pretty much impossible to think that Elder Holland isn't who he says he is. He's an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, literally. It's just amazing to think who is, when you think about it. It was amazing. I don't think there's a single person on this planet that can argue with Elder Holland and win. Elder Holland would even win in a political debate against any of the Presidential canidates. That would be way cool, because Elder Holland would probably share his testimony which would render every other person speechless. It's just so cool to hear him speak, I can't even tell you.

 

So anyway, I'm really close to going out in the field now. I'm super stoked. (Stoked just means really excited.) I probably get my travel plans either tomorrow or Saturday, so my next letter home I'll give info on how that's working out. Then the real fun starts :)  If anyone speaks Spanish, write to me in spanish. I'm pretty confident I can understand most spanish now. I love it, and that I can now talk and communicate well to all the teachers in spanish. I love learning a language, it's so much fun. Love you all. Thank you, and give me time if I haven't answered a letter yet, I'm super busy, and I'm working on writing you back.

      -Elder Justin Gajewsky

 

Dad,

Thanks for giving me that challenge to read in spanish. However, the dearelder printer or whatever doesn't want to print the accents. So everytime there is an accent, it just put ? instead, so it's a little hard to decypher, but I think I got it. Thanks for telling me about mom, are all her symptoms gone now except for dizzyness? That story about President Brown is really cool. I've heard a couple similar stories here about contacts like that. They're really cool. What they do with dearelders here is they just print them and put them in our mailboxes. So I don't print them out myself or anything. I think it'll be the same in the field, they'll just print them at the mission office or something and then mail them to me. We'll see. You should just write to me as soon as I get out there. I'm pretty sure I got a package last Friday though. I've gotten one almost every Friday here, which has been pretty cool. Speaking of packages, if you have something to send me tomorrow, that's cool. But don't send me one next Friday. I'm probably leaving on Monday or Tuesday, and I don't want to have some food that I have need to eat or try to pack. Thanks for everything dad. Love you. And I'll let you know when I'll be at the airport when I can call home. Maybe, I'll call home and if I have enough time I can just call your cell if you need to go to work.

 

Mom,

That's so sad that you had that set back. I really hope and pray that you get better soon. It's been over a month that you've had that surgery and I think it's about time you get back to a normal life. Thanks so much for all the packages. I really enjoy them. Honestly, I haven't really been trying to eat too healthy. At all the meals, I have the opporunity to drink from a variety of pops (all caffeine free). No Dr. Pepper or anything, but they do have Coca-Cola caffeine free. But I just have juice! They have a ton of juice! All from minute maid so they're really good. I like Grape Juice, Cranberry Juice, Orange Juice, Pink Lemonade, and Orange Guava Passion the best :) They have quite a bit, and I'm very content on thirst three times a day. It's great, but I'm sad to think that I won't be able to have juice all the time in the field. So I'll enjoy it while I can. That would be really cool to get a letter from Conrad. Also, if you see Sister Breton and she asks about me, ask her to send a letter in spanish if she wants. I really want to practice my spanish. That's one thing I'm really excited about the field. I can't wait to talk to native spanish people, especially in the spanish wards. Anyways, love you a lot! Thanks for everything! I get my travel plans either tomorrow or Saturday, so I'll let you know about when to expect a call from the airport. The kids may have to stay home from school for an hour or so. I'll let you know!

 

Kyle,

     I'm so glad you're taking care of my room. Go ahead and play with my airsoft guns. Just be careful... they hurt... a lot. Baseball sounds really fun. You should think about Jiu-Jistu as well. That's just wrestling mixed martial arts style. It's really fun and then none of your friends can wrestle you to the ground. You can beat them all and show them that you can take them! Think about it, baseball sounds fun too. Thanks for writing me bro! Keep it up and take spanish next year!

 

Julia,

     Thanks for writing to me! I'm glad you watched the video. When I watched it I immediately thought of you and Kaylee, so I just wanted to tell you that. Don't think of the boys at school. They're just dumb and immature, and they will be for a while. Don't worry about them and just hang out with your friends. You have good ones! Keep them! You'll be glad you did when you get older. I love you lots! Keep writing to me :)

 

Kaylee,

    Don't worry about those boys at school. They're just jealous that you like Justin Bieber and not them. I'm totally going to send you those primary songs. Just give me a few more days. I don't have much time on the computer here. So Kaylee, those three questions:

1. I do write in spanish a little. Not too much though. Mostly, I'm speaking it, and reading it a little. I read the Book of Mormon in spanish a lot, and I'm beginning to understand it a little.

2. There are a few buildings at the MTC. My residence building I'm in is about four stories high. The building where my class is in is five stories high and I'm at the very top. I have to climb those stairs several times every day because I'm not allowed to take the elevator.

3. I do so much stuff every day! We have a couple hours for personal study, where I read the scriptures. We have a couple hours to study spanish. We have a lot of classroom time where we learn how to teach, then practice. I also have time to go teach 'investigators'. They're just our teachers who pretend to be someone from their mission that they taught. We're really busy all the time. It's way fun though!

 

Kaylee! I miss you so much! I haven't seen any children except for a few visitors of the branch presidency's children. I will definately call when I'm at the airport. You may have to skip some school though. I hope that's okay ;) Love you lots.

 

-Justin