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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