Elder Borg in THAILAND: WEEK 4 - MTC

Wow! it was so awesome seeing you guys yesterday! I can't believe it worked out! I waited at my station while doing the tours the whole three hours and I thought I wouldn't get to see you. But I would recognize that "Hey!" from Dad anywhere. It was so awesome seeing you all there, and so cool that Curtis was in an all out sprint to hug me. Reminded me a lot of Peter when he sees the Savior while fishing the second time. (In no way am I comparing myself to the Savior). Curtis is a lot like Peter is his extreme loyal defense of the people he loves. Reminds me of when he screamed "Hey, that's my brother!" at a 10 year old who pushed Owen in a basketball game. Love you Curtis, hope the first day of work goes awesome today!

Elder Byers and Elder Jorgensen raved about all you! They said I have the coolest family, which I do. They loved getting to meet you. Also the the Thai sisters have not stopped talking about you! At least 5 times yesterday they said how cute you all were and how lucky I am! That was a very nice compliment from sister Munro because I definitely do not feel like my Thai is very strong, but it is for sure improving. I can understand most of the lessons we teach but it's a lot easier to understand than to teach, so I usually bear my testimony a lot and say very simple, basic doctrine sentences, but by small and simple things shall great things come to pass.

I'm glad you got to meet Elder Nielson! He keeps me on my toes. He always wants to wake up earlier, which we have been doing. (Only about 10 minutes earlier, don't be too impressed ;)) I'm very grateful for the ban on English he's been using. My Thai is growing way faster than it would have without that. I guess it's sort of like being immersed in Thai! Hahah!

Elder Jorgensen is honestly such a blessing. He is such a funny guy and always keeps the district in a good mood. Him and Elder Byers just got made Zone Leaders and they're awesome. He always knows how to cheer me up and I would absolutely love to me his companion later in the field. Also, I found out he does an incredible Jerry Seinfeld voice so I've enjoyed hearing him use that.

Going to the Temple was an awesome break from the busy schedule we have. It was really nice to sit in the Celestial room for a few minutes and just enjoy the peace. It reminded me of the first time I went through and seeing everyone there which made me so happy. Also, for some reason, my district decided to wake up at 5:15 this morning (that's right, folks) and go to them temple. It was still dark outside but it was another awesome experience at the temple and I was so glad we went. If you haven't been to the temple in a while I challenge you to go as soon as you can because we are blessed when we go to the temple!

The lesson we taught last night went great! We actually taught about the temple and eternal families and the sisters we taught first had just been discussing the temple before we taught them, and the second sister we taught had been planning to go today! Coincidence? I don't think so.

I took some more Advil and said a lot of prayers and the headaches went away after a few days!

I was planning on getting my hair cut next week so we'll see how that goes. Definitely not as good as a haircut from Mom at Gray Gables!

Elder Nelson has eaten a few of the fruit leather you got him so that's good. I think he just likes fruits and vegetables and we get plenty of those here!

P-day goes until 4ish when we go to dinner. Then we have choir after that and devotional after that! P-day and Sundays are the best.

Yes! The pizza is awesome, the line,however, to get the pizza, is not. For some reason the line at the cafeteria gets ridiculously long when they're serving pizza so that's kind of a bummer. We got to have subway yesterday though, so that was yiam jung looy (awesome).

The nights before bed are some of my favorite parts of the day. We talk about class and say random Thai words and tell stories of our lives back home. Usually Elder Nielson throws in a scripture reference here or there. We get ready for bed and talk with the other Elders from our zone. At 9:45 the district gathers in our room and we have a little devotional to end the day. I shared the poem you sent me with everyone for one devotional and it was great. I love that poem. It's Adam's favorite, so it reminded me of him when you sent it.

We've gone outside a few times but no walks yet. I think our teachers worry about being able to contain us outside! Also it's uncomfortably hot so it's usually a no-go.

I've heard from Elder Scheffner, Elder Hulme, Elder Williams, and Elder Chandler on our Delta V e-mail and i'm excited to hear from Elder Savage and see Cooper and Joe and Parker in a few weeks!

I've had a few cool experiences this week:

I used the picture book you sent me of all of the pictures of family and friends in a lesson and it went really well. Our teachers say the Thai people are very visual learners so they love having pictures and objects lessons to see when teaching. It was cool to be able to share a lesson on families and be able to show my family and then i took a minute to look at the pictures after.

On Sunday we did our usual temple walk and our ponder thought was to think about the first vision and Joseph Smith. I pondered and thought a lot about that and didn't really get too much out of it, so i felt a little discouraged. After dinner and the devotional we had the opportunity to see the Joseph Smith movie and wow. It was spectacular. I encourage all of you to go watch it again. There's a part in the movie that talks about the first missionaries and everyone cheered. It was awesome to see the start of the work that we're dedicated to. Also in the movie it said my favorite scripture which hit me so hard. D&C 121 verses 7 and 8.

"7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."

Joseph Smith really was the prophet of the Restoration and I love learning about him and the restoration of the Church. The Restoration is awesome to learn about and even cooler to teach. I love Joseph's positive attitude and willingness to do everything the Lord commanded him. He reminds me of Dad in a lot of ways.

During the tours I was standing at my spot and talking to a few people about Thailand and how the language is going and the MTC and whatnot. I noticed an older woman walking slowly and staring at me. I asked her if she enjoyed the tour and she came up to me and just looked at me for about 30 seconds. A little awkward at first, but I just stood there smiling waiting for a response. Finally she said something like, "You have such a light about you. I can tell you know this gospel and are ready to serve.You just glow when you talk about your mission." It was a really cool experience. I thanked her several times and Elder Nielson asked what brought her to the MTC because she appeared to be alone and she said she wanted to be with the missionaries and feel their happiness and love for the gospel. Seriously the coolest thing.

We are starting to learn how to read and that has been crazy. There's so many rules that our teachers say that we just have to learn because that's just hoe Thai is. Some letter make different sounds than they're supposed to and some don't make any half the time and some just change the tone of the word. It's been tough but it's awesome when I figure out a word and can read it! We say "soo soo" a lot which means press on/fight on/keep going!

I miss you all so much! Also, I'm sorry if you sent me a DearElder last week and I didn't respond. I didn't get my mail until Wednesday last week because of Pioneer Day. I love hearing from everyone and anyone! Keep letting me know how things are going at home!

Love you all!

-Elder Borg