Wow, this week has been pretty crazy. There has been a lot that has happened. So on Tuesday, we actually had a funeral. There is this lady named Amanda. She is an investigator, and has been for a few years now. She's actually quite stubborn. Amanda is in her late thirties I would guess. She has five kids all under 12. A little while ago, she found out she was pregnant with another! Just over a week ago, she found out that the little baby had no heartbeat. She was really heartbroken. She wanted to have a funeral for her baby. I guess she went to another church to ask if she could borrow the building for the funeral. That church apparently gave her some grief about holding a funeral there. Our friend Edwin, who is a relative to Amanda offered our chapel. Of course we would let somebody use the chapel for something like that! Our church is all about service! So on Tuesday, we had a funeral for her baby, named Esperanza (which means 'hope' in Spanish. It was a really good funeral. The Bishop spoke about the Plan of Salvation is Spanish, then my companion spoke about the same thing in English. It was really good. I think it changed Amanda's heart. She told us that she wants to come to church, and her oldest daughter, 12, told Edwin that she wants to come to our church now. Hopefully, she'll change.


Just this last Saturday was the annual service project in Passaic, NJ. We all met in the Passaic chapel, which is much like the Dover chapel, and teamed up with some scouts in Passaic and some other volunteers. We split up in groups and took trash bags around and picked up trash. As you can imagine, we got some stares. Some people asked where we were from (meaning was organization). We didn't teach anybody while serving. We just served. We actually got done really quick. The mayor was pretty surprised. President Jeppson was a little disappointed because we didn't do much. Last year, they did a lot more and it took them longer to do it. President Jeppson was hoping we could do more. It was a really fun project! Looking forward to next year!


So we finally got Ivan set for baptism this week! We took Brother and Sister Arriola in the ward to come and talk with the parents, since they're both non-members. Sister Arriola is the Primary President and she works with Ivan a lot. She really made sure that Ivan's mom was good about it. It went great! Ivan's mom is good with it! Him and Sydney are both good to get baptized this weekend on the 27th! Sydney, if you don't know, is nine years old. Her mom is a member, but her dad isn't. He hasn't been that sure about baptism for her, so she didn't get baptized at eight. Her dad finally said yes for the 27th. So we will be having two baptisms this weekend, along with another little girl from the other Dover area. We talked with Ivan and Sydney on Sunday. Ivan wants me to baptize him and my comp to confirm him. Sydney wants a member, named Lucio Cielo, to baptize her, then I confirm her. It'll be great! I'm excited!

Well I love you all! Thanks so much for everything! I will send more pictures next week. Forgot my camera, haha. Love you.
-Justin Gajewsky

Q of the W:

1.  Who exactly is Edwin?  We are a little confused if he is someone in your ward, a friend, another missionary, or what? 


1. Edwin is a member. Convert actually. He's been a convert for almost two years now. He's great! He doesn't do much. He doesn't have a job or anything, so he comes out with a us A LOT. He's almost a missionary. He's about 30, but he still wants to go on a mission with his wife when he's older.
2.  What is the hardest thing about spanish?  Like how fast they talk or the slang??

2. The dialects are probably the hardest part. Since New Jersey is so concentrated with people from everywhere, there's Hispanics from everywhere. The people from the Dominican Republic have the craziest Spanish.

3.  If you could change anything about your apartment, what would it be?
3. The other Elders are really messy. They leave dishes around and don't clean very much. I would make them cleaner and more organized. It gets me frustrated sometimes because they're the Zone Leaders and they're supposed to set the example, but around the apartment, they don't do that.