Scouting out the Area

Hello everybody! Welcome to this year's missionary Halloween Spooktacular! This is your friendly ghost host, Äldste Ogaard, and may I say, I hope that you are all having a frightfully good week, and that you are all ready for a properly spiritual experience! (OK, I know I know, enough with the Halloween puns)

Seriously, though, this last week has been a crazy whirlwind of a week, and I'm not even sure where to begin! I guess I should probably start from the beginning.

So this week has basically been a let's-catch-Äldste-Ogaard-up-to-what's-been-going-on week. we have gone around everywhere, trying to meet with all the members so I can know the lay of the land, so to speak. I  tell you, there are so many different things to think about, it spins my head around. First off, we're starting to work with family history a lot more, so I am really working hard to learn as much as I can about Family Search and doing family History. Honestly, there are way more things to learn than time in the day. It's super cool though, because family history is HUGE in Sweden. And when I mean huge, I mean 3rd most popular hobby in the country huge. So yeah, it's a pretty big deal. Plus, we now are required to spend at least an hour a week working on our own family history so we can be more adept at helping other people with it. I was messing around the other day, and I found that I have a line that goes all the way back to 400 B.C.! That's right, I can almost trace my roots back to the time of Nephi and Lehi. Jealous much?

We're also really trying to step up our game with contacting people as well. I'll be honest with you folks, I'm a little rusty when it comes to talking to random strangers. I always get super tongue tied and nervous, and usually end up just staring out the bus window instead. BUT I know that the Lord puts certain people in my path for a reason, so I'm really working hard on being a little more brave and taking some steps to talk to people.

Hmm... What else happened this week? Well, we met with a super cool member by the name of Joseph, and man is he a fireball! I mean, you can feel the spiritual energy and willingness to work almost literally radiating off of him. He and his wife are so super nice, and I am super excited to work with him. Him and his wife are just starting with Släktforskning (family history), and they are super pumped to do the work for their ancestors. It will be so cool to help them with all the new knowledge we are gaining here, and I am super excited to see what we can find!

Anyways, other than that, not a ton to report on. Just looking forward to November (we have an American family in the ward, and I think we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with them), and hoping to see some amazing things happen in the near future.

Remember I love you all, and that I hope you have an amazing week! Oh, and I want pictures of all the Halloween costumes. I mean it!

Love,

Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard

P.S. I'm going to be dressing up like a missionary this year. Aren't I original?