Same ol' Same ol'

 Aug 26

Dearest Family, Friends, and other Earthlings,

Hello and welcome to another weekly installation of the Adventures of Äldste Ogaard! (can anyone tell I'm missing my old radio shows?) I hope that you all have had a wonderful week, and that last week's installment found you all well. I'm running low on time (I had admin stuff to do today, so it has cut into my emailing time, sadly) So I'm going to jump right to the good stuff of the week.

First, everything is still going well with Hanna. She is progressing towards the 7th of September still, and I am super happy. Her dad has expressed a extreme dislike for the Church (and any church outside of the Svenska Kyrka), but luckily Hanna is 18, and she is still willing to go forward. We are taking it steady (we don't want to cause family problems if we can avoid it), but she is still super excited.

Also in the news, we had a less active family come to church, practically doubling our attendance this week! It was wonderful. We met with Familj Camacho (from Columbia) on Thursday, and they said they would come, but I must admit that I was a little skeptical as to whether they actually would. But, as I said to one of the members, I have been thankfully humbled by the Lord. It was awesome. And best of all, the 12 year old daughter -who was sitting and paying the most attention during sacrament- is not yet a member, and so we now have the opportunity to teach the entire family the Gospel! It will be rather interesting, as only the daughter is fluent in Swedish, but I am looking forward to the opportunity!

Anyways, there isn't much else that is going on right now. It's pretty much the daily routine here in Skellefteå right now, but I love every minute of it. I would honestly be happy spending the rest of my mission in this area. (granted, I might not say that 5 months from now, but whatever) So yep, everything is all good.

Anyways, I love you all, miss you all, and hope that you have a good week!

Tune in next week for another exciting (and hopefully more action packed) edition of:

The Adventures of Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard, Missionary Extraordinaire! 

P.S. Here's the picture of the week:

The first picture is my district, the Luleå District (we're the Marines of the mission: first in, last out)

For all you Dr. Who fans, you'll appreciate the second one. Especially because I found it in a tiny town in Sweden. If you aren't a Dr. Who fan, and don't get this, I suggest watching Dr. Who and finding out what I'm talking about.

On solid Ground and Northward Bound

Dear Everybody,

Sorry that I couldn't get off a proper email to all of you yesterday. There were a lot of crazy things going on, and so it kinda tied things up till now. Now that I am reestablished, however, I can kind of clarify a little for why you all needed to wait a day for this weeks installation of the Adventures of Äldste Ogaard.  To put it shortly, I got transferred.

More accurately, I got short notice whitewashed. For those of you who don't know missionary jargon, whitewashing is when they send two new guys into an area who have no idea whatsoever about their new work environment or those they'll be working with. If it sounds like I'm a little stressed, it's probably because I'm a little stressed (funny how that works out, isn't it?). I'm sure you are all wondering where I got transferred to, so I'll go ahead and tell you: I am now in Skellefteå, the second most north area in the entire mission. Oh, and it also has the smallest congregation of any of the areas in the entire mission: 5 or 6 people on average, and almost all of them over the age of 65. So yes, I am a tad stressed right now. It didn't help that in order to gat here I was required to take a train and a plane, and that on top of that the train was delayed so I had to take a bus that got me there 30 minutes before my plane took off. So yeah, fun times. Despite all of this, however, I also know that the Lord's hand is in this, so I am trying to look at this in a more optimistic light. It helps that my new companion, Äldste Knutson, is a Swede, so at least I won't be worrying about the language too much.

A little more on Äldste Knutson: he's fearless; I think literally. He will talk to anyone, no matter how negative the vibe they're throwing out, or what they look like. He is also an amazing pianist. We sat down for a couple minutes in the chapel before emailing, and he pulls up to the piano and starts cranking out Chopin's Etude 12 in C minor ("Revolutionary", one of my favorites of Chopin) like he's playing nothing! I'm not going to lie, I was pretty dang impressed by that. I'm not sure how well his English skills are (he pretty much speaks Swedish the whole time), and he isn't quite an intellectual, but I think things will work out fine on that end of this very frustrating change process.

So I'm not sure if there is anything else to speak of this week, but I'm sure I'll have some interesting stories to tell next week. Lol. Remember that I love you all, and that I miss you.

Until Next Week,

Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard

P.S. This weeks photos are all of the wonderful people I left behind in Borlänge. The first is of ; Ana and Jonathan, two of my best friends in all of Borlänge second,the Davis', The Borlänge senior couple ; and the third, Gabriel, the coolest young man in all of Sweden. I am really going to miss all of these guys.

                  ( P.s. This is a note from Aubree. This letter actually came before "Settling Down in Skellefteå"  I just but them in the wrong order)

Settling Down in Skellefteå

Hello Everybody!

I would just like to start off this email by thanking all of you for the love and support you all have given me this last week. It hasn't been easy, but little step by little step, I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable in this area, and I imagine that all of your prayers probably had something to do with it. =) Also, thanks again for all the emails. It is very very touching for me to open up my email account Monday and see a huge outpouring of love and affection from all of my family and friends.

One thing I need to say really quick: because of the nature of where we email in this area and other logistical factors, I may not have as much of a chance to answer individual emails as I did in Borlänge. Never fear, I still plan on responding, but it may be a little more delayed than before. I will have more time to write, however, so keep an eye out for letters in the near future!

OK, so on to how this week has gone: it's been very interesting, and very wonderful at the same time. Just because I can and that's how I roll, I believe I will begin with the interesting, and move on to the wonderful as the email progresses (because everyone enjoys a little dramatic buildup, right?)

So first off, this week has been just packed full with travel. And when I say packed full, I mean PACKED. As you all may remember, I came here to Skellefteå on Monday of last week. That in of itself was a very long and tiring journey (about 6 hours total, involving a delayed train, a bus, a plane, another bus, and a 45 minute walk). We had about two days to catch our breath, and on thursday we were off again to Örnsköldsvik so we could stay overnight to head down to Sundsvall on Friday for Zone Conference. That trip was about a 4 hour trip by bus and train. Then, Friday morning our train gets delayed by an hour and a half so we are late to Zone Conference. That trip was about an hour and a half. We get to Zone Conference, have a wonderful time (I got to chill the whole day with my old buddy Äldste Miller, whom I shared an apartment with for 2.5 months in Västerås), and then proceeded to board a train to Umeå so we could take a bus to Skellefteå. This would have been a 5 hour trip, if not for the hour long train delay. As it was, we ended up getting to Skellefteå at 12:30 A.M. and man, I was so tired, it was not even funny. So in total, this week I spent a total of 17.5 hours traveling about 690 miles around northern Sweden, as the crow flies. Not the highlight of the week.

What was the highlight of the week, then? One word, five letters: Hanna.

Perhaps I should explain a little bit. Hanna is a new investigator to the church. She met the missionaries via her English class where the missionaries were guest speakers. She kept thinking about them and thinking about them, so she decided to request a visit via lds.org. The missionaries came and taught her about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and about the Book of Mormon.

Then the missionaries got a call and were transferred.

This is where I come into the picture. We met Hanna at the church the day after Zone Conference to talk more about the Gospel. We asked her about her reading in the Book of Mormon, and she said that she was almost finished with 2nd Nephi (keep in mind, she started reading this book 2 weeks ago). We asked her what she thought about it, and she said she felt really good every time she read that. We talked to her and explained that those feelings came from the Holy Ghost, which testifies of truth. We then talked about how we follow Jesus Christ and about the Plan of Salvation, and how we can come to live together with Him through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We then invited her to pray if this was true, and she did. After praying we asked her how she felt, and she said she felt it was true. We then asked her if she would be baptized, and you know what? She said yes! It was so exciting, and the Spirit was so strong. We set a date with her, and now we are helping her prepare herself to make this sacred covenant with God. Let me tell you, any struggles I've had on the mission were worth it to see the joy on her face when she said she felt what we had been talking about was true, and when she agreed to follow Christ's example. It truly was amazing. I could actually feel the love of Christ in that room. I'm not sure that words can describe this all, but suffice it to say that it was an amazing experience, and I am so thankful that I had the chance to be a witness to it. I am so excited for Hanna and for her decision.

So yeah, not sure anything can top that. It has in the total, been an amazing week. Not sure what else to say, so I guess I'll just end with this: I love you all, I think about you every day, and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Till Next Time,

Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard

The Triumphant Return to Västerås

Käre Familj och Vänner,

Hi there folks! Boy, I have to say that I am loving the news that has been coming from the emails I have been receiving! First off, A huge congratulations to my cousin Jordan on her marriage last week. Man oh man, I wish I could have been there (although, from what I heard, I may have been in attendance by proxy via a Sarah Palin cutout). I hope that all goes well with the radiation, and know that I am praying for you and your new husband that you can both start off your new life together without any worries in the background.

Also worth mentioning is an early happy birthday to my wonderful brother, Taylor! Bro, I still can't believe that you are turning 16 in three days. It's just crazy, man! I hope that it is absolutely sick, and that you have a blast on your date! =)

Ok, so I'm sure you are all wondering what has occurred in the life of Äldste Ogaard this week. Well, except for a few scattered experiences worth noting, not much, honestly. Semester rages on, and the number of people we meet with continues to steadily decrease as the month progresses. I'm praying that the fast approach of August will bring things back to speed, but it's hard to tell. It is, after all, Sweden we're talking about.

But, moving on to that which actually matters. So this week, we had several awesome opportunities, as well as a couple funny experiences. For instance, this week has been absolutely crazy when it comes to biking! We have rode here, there, all over the place. The longest of our travels via cycle this week was most definitely our trip out to our bishop's house. 5.6 kilometers uphill one way, and like 4.1 kilometers down coming back. Man, I thought my bike was going to explode when we got going on the downhill. I caught some video of it, but sadly it is too big to email.  But yeah, so lots of exercise for me this week.

Also really awesome, I got to return to Västerås for companion exchanges last week! I was with a greenie (Äldste Packer of Pleasant Grove, Utah) and we had a super sick time! we went street contacting, met with Mikael and Diana, and basically just tore up my old hometown. It was really fun to be back in Västerås with my improved Swedish skills, and to share my knowledge of the area with a new greenie. I have decided that as soon as possible, I want to train. It would be so fun. =)

One funny story I have to tell about this trip: So Hitch and I were headed down to Västerås Thursday morning, and we had to leave super early to catch our train (hint: we woke up at 3:30 to get ready), so we were still dead tired still by the time our train got to Ludvika for us to switch to the Västerås train. So we get off the train, and wait around for about 15 minutes before hopping on the Västerås train. We immediately start dozing once we get in our seats. So right as the train starts moving, Hitch jumps right up and says -totally dazed- "We need to get off the train, Now!" Without even waiting for me to say anything, he springs over to the conductor and tells her they need to stop the train. She, all super worried, asks him why. Oh man, you should have seen the confusion on her face when Hitch told her he needed to get on the Västerås train, and his when she told him that this was the Västerås train. So he comes walking over to me, and I am just dying with laughter. Needless to say, I teased him about that for a couple days. I still wonder what would have happened if he had hopped off that train without me, though...

Anyways, so yeah, not a ton going on right now, but that's my week. I hope that you all have a wonderful week, and that you remember how much the Lord loves you. In way of spiritual message, I leave you with this, borrowed from a talk given by Elder Ballard of the 12 Apostles:

A wealthy father knew that if he were to bestow his wealth upon a child who had not yet developed the needed wisdom and stature, the inheritance would probably be wasted. The father said to his child:“All that I have I desire to give you—not only my wealth, but also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify for your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have lived. I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom and stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become as I am, and all that I have will be yours.”
I hope that you all remember that we follow the commandments to become something, not just to avoid something. It's really helped me on my mission to keep that in focus.
I love you all, I miss you, and I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Signing out till next week,

Äldste Kody Chistopher Ogaard

A Dalahäst I saw while on my adventures this week

Some of the amazing scenery of Darlarna I saw on my bike ride from the Bishop's house

Äldste Packer, the greenie I totally wore out in Västerås on Thursday

Lazy Summer Days? Not for the Missionaries!

Dearest Family and Friends, (see, I used English for once!)

Hello Hello from Darlarna! Man oh man, I'm not going to lie, it has been a ssllooww week here in Sverige. Thanks to semester and the fact that almost everyone and their brother is out of the country for the month, we have not had much to do this week. Investigators can't meet, the members are all gone or have family over, half the houses we knock on are emptier than Rexburg on a Sunday... essentially, I'm praying for the end of July.

I will say this, however. The less active work goes jätte bra (really well). We have been visiting a lot of less active members these last couple weeks, and things are starting to really pay off. We talked to several members this week who really expressed a hope that their family members will come back to Christ and church. It was really amazing; one of the sisters we talked to just lit up like a lightbulb when we said we had met her brother, and that he was willing to continue meeting with us. She said that she was so grateful that we were helping to heal her family, and she told us that if we were doing so much to help her, she had better start working to help us out a little. =) It was good to hear that. I tell you, I really feel that as a missionary, one of the best things I feel I can do is help the families of these members; it's so hard when you have received all these blessings from the Gospel, and those you care about most don't have that and don't seem to want it. I hope that I can be an instrument in blessing some of these peoples' lives though Christ.

Anyways, sorry that this email is super short and a tad disorganized. My mind is a little caught up in all the stuff I have to do this week to get the ball rolling, so I don't have a ton to say. Iallafall (anyways), I hope you all know how much I love all of you, and that you have a fantastic day. Remember to say hi to your missionaries, and if you can, have them in your homes. Members are the key in our work, and your missionaries will sing your praises in their area books for years to come if you help them fulfill their purpose to help others come to Christ.

Sincerely,

Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard

The one of the machine is an electric robotic lawnmower. They're very common here in Sweden. I'm totally getting one when I buy a house...

Oh, and the two people are the Borlänge senior couple, Elder and Sister Davis. They're from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and I love these two!

The South Will Rise Again! (OK, technically it's the North, but who's counting?)

Käre Familj och Vänner,

Hello again from the beautiful climes of Borlänge in the Stockholm North Zone. Man, let me tell you, big changes are happening here in the zone this month, and I'm not going to lie, I am a little less than excited about it. Perhaps I should clarify a little bit. This week we are going through what I would like to call Mega Transfer. Basically, the mission president decided for some reason or another to play musical chairs with the entire mission. 75% of companionships are being effected by this transfer. Basically, it's flipping huge, man. On the bright side of things, me and Hitch are staying clear in our area right now (thanks be to the fact Hitch just got here). On the not so bright side of the coin, however, almost everyone I know in the zone is getting moved to other parts of Sweden. In fact, I am now officially the only remaining missionary remaining from when this zone was created (sidenote for those not familiar with LDS missionary terms: a zone consists of a totally arbitrary geographic area with two zone leaders, who are kinda like my immediate supervisors). So it is with sadness in my heart that I say that I am now the Old Man of Stockholm North. I am going to miss all of my fellow Northlanders, especially Syster Clouse and Äldste Miller, two of my best friends in the entire mission!

Anyways, on to things that you all actually care about =).  So for this week, I can't really say that there is a ton of things that have gone on here in Borlänge. It is the beginning of Semester (or as we call it in the states, vacation), which means almost everyone is out of town or "too busy to meet". Not going to lie, it's a little jobbigt (Translation: it's a pain), but we move forward.

One thing that was really cool was the number of less active people who came to church this week! We have really been working hard with quote unquote "finding the Lost Sheep" in this area, and it really paid off! We had 4 people come to church this week who haven't been in a good long time, and everyone was so happy to see them there! Truly, it was a wonderful experience.

Oh, and I guess since it did happen last week, I should probs mention what a 4th of july is like in Sverige. Here they have a different name for it; they call it Thursday. Seriously though, I did nothing for the 4th. I was on splits with the Zone Leaders, and the Zone Leader I was with was from Finland, so yeah, basically, it was Thursday. Oh, and to answer Aubree's question on what the national holiday is like in Sverige, it's about as celebrated as the 4th of July. Other than the fact that people have the day off from work, not much really goes on. Svensk folk may love Sverige, but they are not very vocal about it. lol.

Anyways, that's pretty much how my week has been. This week is nothing special, just doing the work like a boss (and a humble one at that). Hopefully I'll have something a little more exciting to share with you all next week in the adventures of Äldste Ogaard.

Till then, wishing you all a wonderful week, and a happy sommar!

Sincerely,

Äldste Kody Christophr Ogaard

Concerning Guitars, Lakes, and one Very Satisfied Elder

Käre Familj och Vänner,

Jag ska säga denna ska vara än intressant vecka, för jag ska prata svenska hela vecka! (translation: this is going to be an interesting week, it's SYL week!)

No, for real, I am speaking Swedish this whole week. We are preparing for the lovely new greenies who will be gracing us with their presence in the middle of this month, so we all need to be on our top game! May I just say, I am SO glad I am not training this round. Some of the other people in my group may be, and I feel sorry for them. =)

But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of my adventures in Borlänge, Sverige! It has been a wonderfully exciting/exhausting week, and I have about a billion and a half stories to tell, and I am guessing I will not get to half of them. So have some patience with me, and I hope you all enjoy the ride!

So to start off, Äldste Anderson is gone. Yes, we sent my dearly beloved blond friend up to the icy climes of Sundsvall, where he will surely return a Utah-cicle. It was a sad day on wednesday to see him go, but such is a missionary's life.

Luckly, I received a companion who is just as cool, if not cooler. His name is Äldste Hitch, and he hales from the rainy land Washington (some random town on the peninsula). He has been out just a little under ten months, and I must say, it is really hard to understand his Swedish, because up until this point he has served his entire time in southern Sverige, and has a terribly strong Skånska accent (the bad birth child of Swedish mixed with Danish). Luckly for my new companion, he redeems himself with his hilariousness and his AMAZING musical talent. This guy plays guitar to put Carlos Santana to shame, sings like a rockstar, and plays the violin like it's nothing at all! Needless to say, we have a good time.

In fact, we actually had a really fun opportunity with music this last week: we got invited -well, more like forced- to play for some drunk partying Swedes in our neighborhood. We were walking home from a day of swingbys on our newly fixed bikes (I missed biking SO much), and we passed by these people grilling. They were totally wasted. One of them stands up and walks over to us and says, in terrible English "Hey, do you speak English?" We said yes, and he then asked us if we were priests. We, thinking this could be some kind of bolt out of the blue blessing, replied that yes, we were priests (after a manner of speaking). Apparently he was more interested in the guitar attached to my companion's back, however, and he asked us to come play some music for his friends and him. We, never being the ones to turn down a contact (drunk or not) played a couple songs for them: Hallelujah, random songs about California; basically, the kind of songs that drunk Swedes expect from musical American traveling priests (I like that title, by the way. It has a ring to it). After a while, we made an excuse to get away (it probs didn't look too good with us sitting playing guitar with a bunch of beer cans sitting everywhere) and proceeded to spend the rest of the evening laughing our heads off over the whole experience.

Oh, another experience worth noting: I got my first two legit door slams in Borlänge this week. Sadly enough, they were both less active members, and both times I only came to give them food and be on my way. The first was a Chilean woman who rejected a cake I brought for her birthday. I was rather upset about that for a while. Seriously, who rejects cake on their birthday?! The second was a woman who turned down free cookies that we had spent all morning making. I'll admit, I wanted to just hand them to the kids who were playing outside, but I thought that probably wasn't the best idea. So yes, a little bit of rejection this week, but I think I'll live. (Oh, and if by some strange twist of fate this email reaches rejecter #2, those cookies were delicious, and made with Marabou chocolate in them. Your loss)

One more thing that we had this week was a baptism! Now, before you get all excited, it was a 8 year old from Utah who was visiting Sverige with his family. His great-great grandfather came from Dalarna, so they decided to have the baptism here in one of the lakes. It was a wonderful experience. That boy was glowing, and also slightly frozen. =) It was a really fun experience. Also, he's from Sandy, and his parents know Grandma and Grandpa Ogaard. Small Mormon world. lol (For Grandma and Grandpa, it's the Johnson Family, and I believe the father's name is Bryce)

Lets see, anything else? Nope I don't think so. That is, unless you all consider important the broadcast from the General Authorities of the Church backing up everything I've said about member missionary work for the past 4 months. Not going to lie, I felt pretty dang good after watching that broadcast; it was really a testimony to me that my focus on less actives and strengthening and encouraging our wards is the key to success in missionary work right now. I know many of my missionary friends have already said this to all of you, but please, please, please pray to see who you can share the Gospel with. I have a statistic for you: of those contacted by the missionaries alone, 1 in 1000 will become a member. When missionaries teach with a member, however, 1 in 3 becomes a member of Christ's church and follow his example. Think about it: when you invite people into your homes so they can see the blessings of the Gospel in your lives, it has a profound impact on them. In fact, I would ask you all to watch this video and then follow what it shows. I really love this, and I think it teaches a lot. http://bcove.me/1ah4fj3u We are disciples of Christ. We are not out to increase number in our church, we are out to invite people to follow Him, and the Spirit will testify of that. Show all the love of Christ, and be an example of the believer. Miracles will happen.

I love you all, I miss you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Sincerely,

Äldste Kody Christopher Ogaard