WEEK 5 - MTC - AUGUST 8, 2017

สวัสดี (Hello!)

Another week in the books! Time is starting to move by a lot faster! I'm starting to love the MTC more and more! This week was awesome with some really cool things that happened:

The whole MTC watched the Character of Christ talk by Elder Bednar after our Sunday devotional which was really good too. Jenny Oaks Baker played the violin and spoke to us. She talked about how her and her family went on tour last summer and the countries they toured were Japan and Austria. Pretty cool huh? I can picture mom's reaction right now! One of her last songs was "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" which reminded me of when Sister Henry played that at my farewell. It was so good, I really appreciate the Hymns now since it's the only music I can listen to and I am constantly singing Hymns. I probably drive my district crazy but I help supply their food so I think they'll survive ;) Anywho after the Character of Christ Elder Bedanr came and did a Q and A with us for an hour or so! It was so cool! You would have thought there was a major celebrity coming because the whole auditorium gasped and started cheering when they said he was coming! This sister sitting in front of me was sobbing and people were dying to have him answer their questions. I just enjoyed seeing him and his wife and hearing how much they love the missionaries. Definitely a high point of the week.

Another cool part of the week was when we got to class Wednesday morning (Feels like a Monday because it's after P-day) there was a note to us from one of the people we taught at TRC. He talked about how much he loved hearing from us and how he was a missionary in Thailand and how he prays for the missionaries in Thailand every day. He talked about how much he loved his mission and how we have legions of past missionaries praying for us and hoping we succeed. It was a super cool note.

I play basketball whenever I can and with whoever I can. It just depends on who's there and what courts are open. Generally I play with the other elders in my zone. We play volleyball sometimes and on P-day we usually lift weights and ride the stationary bikes.

I still see Elder Hulme every once in a while but he leaves today. He's going to be great! It was awesome to hear how Elder Scheffner is doing! He sounds like he's loving it! First Delta V member in the field and he's already got someone on track to be baptized. What a stud.

I got the second shot for Japanese Encephalitis today. And I got a Thor band-aid so that was pretty sweet. Probably cause we look so much alike ;)

No news on passport or visa but I'll let you know when I hear anything.

Chips are always welcomed but we eat absolutely anything you send. My roommates never stop raving about Sister Borg and Bishop Borg. They love the Borg family. The whole zone knows that room 415 is the place to be if they need food at night so our room feels pretty popular after classes!

We got 13 new Mong-speaking Elders in our zone this week so that was fun. Even though we're all the same age they feel so much younger than us! It was fun to help them get through their first week just like the other Elders helped us. 

Choir is so awesome. The choir director is Brother Egget and he's so funny. He tells stories and makes it so fun. The two weeks before we got here the choir sang "Praise to the Man" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" We barely missed singing two of the coolest songs ever but we've sung some really cool songs too. This week we're singing "Sweet Hour of Prayer". Everyone in our district goes and we practice Sunday and perform it at the devotional Tuesday. 

A few funny things from Elder Nielson this week. We're continuing to speak only Thai to each other and sometimes he carries it over to other people. We'll be talking to some Elders who don't speak Thai and he answers some questions in Thai. They just stare at us blankly and we just stare right back (mostly cause I don't know what Elder Nielson said either, his Thai is really good!) It's so funny to just watch that happen and feel the awkwardness. Another thing is we've been teaching two Thai Elders from the other district and they've been teaching us. We had to make fake investigators and now Elder Nielson likes having conversations, before we go to bed, as if we were actually the investigators. It took me off guard the first time but now it's kinda funny. investigators "Scott" and "Nort" are really getting into it!

Class is way fun. When Brother Sugihara and Brother Tirrel teach it is a blast. Brother Sugihara is short and Asian and Brother Tirrel is super tall skinny and white so they are complete opposites but they tell such funny stories about their missions and we love learning from them. We usually teach one of the teachers a day and spend the rest of the time learning "whayagon" (grammar). Thai is awesome. I'm starting to get pretty good at reading it. Reading the scriptures is so different from reading anything else because they have a whole royal language they use for the scriptures. I'm almost done with 1 Nephi 1! And we've been memorizing the first vision in Thai and I have a lot of it down. 

A few Thai words from this week: ปรมปรา = legendary (brambrah)  สามัคคี= unity (samakee)

This week I started trying to study the Savior more so I went to the Bible Dictionary and read and researched each of the names the Savior is called in the scriptures and that was really spiritual. Definitely a good way to come closer to Him. He truly is "Wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the Prince of Peace," Prince of Peace is my favorite one out of those few names of the Savior. He truly can calm the storms in our lives and immediately reaches out to save us when we start to sink.

I really enjoy going to the Temple each week. Today we woke up at 4:50 because last week we got there after we wanted to. Even though we were all groggy and tired it's awesome to feel to peace that comes in the Temple. Also everyone always says how awesome the Draper Temple is so that's pretty neat.

Elder Ference got some glow in the dark stars and he had extra so he gave some to us so now the ceiling of our dorm looks so awesome. We turn the lights off and stare at the "stars" every night. Pretty awesome!

Elder Nielson and I got called to be sacrament coordinators in our zone this week. It reminds me of being a teacher because we set up the sacrament each week. 

I have an iron right next to my room so that's good and my laundry bag is perfect sized. everyone loves how people wrote on it!

Really sad to hear about Curtis and Owen's injuries. I hope you both recover quickly and I've been praying for you every day. The Lord works in mysterious ways. What might look like a trial or hardship now will ALWAYS be turned into a blessing. Remember D&C 122:7.

 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

I hope you all have a great week! The seats in the backyard look so cool! Keep mine ready for me and always remember who the king of "Borg Court" is ;) 

Love you all!

-Elder Borg

Elder Borg with his companion, Elder Nielson, and some missionaries from the other Thailand district