Sunday, June 23, 2013

Putting My Shoulder to the Wheel


Käre Familj och Vänner,
Hallå igen from Borlänge! It has been an interesting week with interesting weather to match. I tell you, if you ever want to see bipolar weather, you should definitely come to Sverige. I'll never get used to how it can start off completely sunny, turn rainy by midday, and then be clear skies by the evening! Also, sometimes it's pouring rain while totally bright and sunny out. Talk about confusing! =)
So I'd love to tell you about how this week has been absolutely amazing and everything has been sunshine and rainbows, but sadly, that is not quite the case just now. In fact, as far as investigators go, things took a little turn for the worse this week. One of our investigators, Robert, decided to drop us this week. It was hard; we had been helping him take steps to quit smoking, and had just started him on the Church's addiction recovery program, when he decided that it was just too hard and therefore there must not exist a God. It was hard to take that phone call, let me tell you. We would have tried contacting him again to see what happened, but past indicators show that contacting him when he's frustrated is a bad idea. So we wait, hoping that some day he will decide to turn his heart to God again.
As far as our other investigators, they either can't meet, are out of town for the summer, or refuse to progress. We are working our butts off trying to help people, but as far as that goes, nothing really came this week.
There were some bright spots in the week, however. We had some wonderful opportunities to do some good ol' physical labor to help some of the members, so that was nice. We mowed this massive lawn for Leif, an older gentleman who can't really take care of it by himself, and we spend pretty much every saturday over at the house of Syster Susan Edling, a younger widow in the ward whose husband was a major packrat. We are helping her dejunk and rearrange stuff in her garage so she can sell and get rid of things, and let me tell you, the amazing food she cooks afterwards doesn't hurt (got to love Filipinos and their cooking!). It was really nice to be able to do some work that relies entirely on my efforts, and not the agency of others. lol. Anyways, that was a nice break from knocking doors and hearing people say "inte intresserad" (three guesses what that means in Swedish).
We also had a funeral this week, which was a real eye opening experience. The funeral was for a member in the ward who passed away about a week and a half after I came to Borlänge, Gunnel Wiberg. She was the only member in her family, so it was a really heart breaking experience to see how her families felt at the funeral. I realize a lot more now how much it really means to know that we can be together with our families again after death. We didn't say much to them, but I hope that in the future we can offer some of them the comfort that we can have in an understanding of God's plan.
So that was my experience last week, and may I say I am looking forward to this week a lot more. We have several referrals we received on Sunday to stop by this and next week (including an investigator who was taking the lessons in Uppsala and just moved here), and we also are going to have the chance to celebrate Midsommar this week! For those of you less versed in swedish culture, midsommar is like one of the biggest holidays in Sweden, and it flipping rocks! Look it up on Wikipedia.
So, before I close, I would just like to recognize one thing. I was reminded yesterday that in the States Sunday was Father's Day, so I would like to take a moment to tell my father just how much I love him, and how his example has played an amazing role for me, especially out here on my mission. I am working hard to make you proud, Dad, and I miss you so much!
So until next time folks, farewell, remember I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from you! =)
Sincerely, Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard

P.S. Here's your weekly photos as well! Note: The reason I don't have a nametag on here is because we were at Leif's house mowing his lawn, and I forgot my clip-on tag. Don't Judge =)

 

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