WEEK 6 - MTC - August 15, 2017

Hello All!

Well, I've made it through one transfer! Gang! (“skilled" in Thai). Things have been going great this week. Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke at our devotional on Sunday night and that was awesome. He used D&C section 29:5 in his talk which is one of my favorite scriptures and has provided some comfort in hard times, so that was a nice tender mercy. The choir sang Sweet Hour of Prayer for the devotional and that song has never meant more to me than being out on a mission. I'm pretty sure I've said more prayers than ever before, but I always think of the saying "When life gets too hard to stand, kneel" so I've spent many hours in prayer while I've been here.

Elder Ballard's talk was an interesting one and very informative. He talked about "locking our hearts" against the temptations on our missions. It felt a little like an Elder Holland talk with its high intensity, "just enough to singe our eyebrows." ;)

Elder Anderson is speaking to us tonight, so that will be awesome. We’re so lucky to have the apostles speak to us. 

Haircut was good this week, not as good as a Gray Gables haircut but it got the job done! We didn't have to pay, we just swiped our card and we were good. They asked what kind of haircut I wanted and I had no idea, so I just said shorter and that seemed to work! 

Mom, my health is great! All the other Elders are worried because they've gained a lot of weight and I haven't gained any yet and I eat just as much as they do. Eh pohm may ruu (I don't know).

Our zone is so awesome. Everyone gets along really well and it's fun getting to know all the other Elders too. We have Thai, Vietnamese, Hmong, and Lao speaking Elders right now and tomorrow we get 9 new Thai Elders and 20 Cambodian Elders! Super excited for that!

I have no idea when our real departure date is, but it's around the 4-6. I'll let you know when I get real info. We should be getting our flight plans in a week or so.

I saw Elder Griffiths and Elder Willes on the first day they were here! Cooper is in the same building as me for class, but on a different floor and Joe is in my same residence hall but a different floor. They both looked great and seemed like they were hanging in there. Elder Griffiths is here for the long haul too, and Elder Willes will be in the field before I am! I also saw Elder Donahoo which was fun. Elder Nielson enjoyed speaking Spanish to him. I tried speaking some German but I've forgotten almost all of it. Too much Thai in my head.

The dear elder letters are the best. They're just folded up pieces of paper and I usually get repeats of each letter but it makes me feel good when I get 5 letters with the same message printed 3 times. Hahaha

Yeah, I go to the mail room to pick up packages. We get excited because we get a special slip in the mail saying we got a package so that's always fun.

I've been studying the Atonement a lot this week. It's amazing how I feel clean every time I study it. I encourage all of you to study the Atonement. We can never comprehend the sacrifice the Savior has made for each one of us and He did it out of complete love. We've also been studying charity a lot this week. Our teachers tell us not to learn Thai for ourselves but to learn it for the people in Thailand. From the stories they tell us the Thai people sound amazing and I'm so excited to meet them and teach them. 

Bear Lake sounded awesome, but I'm quite disappointed in the production of Zipzz. All we've done for them is give them our love and support and how do they repay us? With sickness and sadness. Peedwong (disappointed). :)

I love that #9 on Owen. He looks much better than I ever did! I'm glad the Chargers will still have a Borg in 9 this year :) I will faithfully be wearing my navy and silver tie this Friday to support the Chargers in their first game! Hoping for the best for CCHS.

Favorite thing about Elder Nielson this week: He is a legend at eating food. Whatever you put in front of him he pounds it and never leaves any thing on his plate. What a stud. I've really loved getting to know him and learn from his diligence and spiritual knowledge.

Favorite quote from this week: "1 person is a crazy, 2 people are missionaries." -Brother Egget, choir director. We truly are a "peculiar people" but we are the Lord's people. It's crazy to think this is what I'll be doing for the next two years but the more I think about it the more excited I get to grow my testimony and come closer to the Savior. Whoever speaks at our devotionals always talks about the power the missionaries have and that is for sure true. 20 days left and then I'll be in Thailand and I can't wait!

Love all of you. Thanks for all your support and prayers. I miss you all! 

-Elder Borg

One of our teachers headed back to Thailand, so she isn't our teacher anymore. This is a picture with Sister Kaumagnoi the last day she was here.