WEEK 11- September 18, 2017 - SURIN

Swadi kap!

Week 2 in the field and I'm loving it! The saying is really true, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. Every day feels so long but it's already p-day again and this week felt pretty fast. Some pretty awesome things happened this week:

-BAPTISM!! That's right! My first baptism was this week! It was a crazy day. We got to the church early to clean the font but we forgot the keys so we had to wait for the Branch Counselor to come open it (there's only 2 members of the branch presidency) so we check the font and it's just nasty so it took us a while to get it all cleaned up. We finally clean it up and start the water and then we went into Sacrament meeting. After Sacrament we checked the water and the whole church is out of water. No water in sinks or toilets or in the font. We get the hose from the neighbor and keep filling it up. So the time for the baptism comes and the font isn't even close to high enough but we go for it anyway. It took us 5 tries to do it! We finally had to go on our knees to get her under all the way! Super funny but also a really cool experience. I was freaking out because I didn't know if I was saying the prayer right with the tones and everything but it all worked out. 

-We traveled out to Buri Ram for our weekly District meeting and that was a blast. We were on this super old junky train but it was so fun. There are only 2 other Elders in our District and they are awesome. Elder Flygare and Elder Ignacio. Elder Flygare is way good friends with Elder Jorgensen so that was fun to talk to him. We went to Swensen's which is a way good ice cream place.

-We also had to go to Bangkok literally so I could sign one paper and then we had to come strait back. And Bangkok is 8 hours away. And we had to be there at 8 in the morning. Not the best. We got on a sleeping train and slept until the train got to Bangkok at 4 in the morning. It was good though because all the Elders from my MTC district came too so I got to see all of them. It was great to hear their stories and how they're doing. I signed the one paper and then we were on a bus for another 8 hours. This bus was playing a Thai movie so Elder Chandler and I crammed in the back and tried to sleep but that wasn't too successful. We did some role plays so that was good but we were pretty beat after 16 hours of travelling. 

-Our work is going pretty good here. We have 4 baptism scheduled for this week but we're worried about a few of them. They haven't been reading their scriptures too well so we are looking for ways to help them with that. The Book of Mormon is our greatest source of conversion so we need to get them reading better. 

-Something spiritual from this week was I got to help give a blessing to a member who hasn't been feeling well. A few minutes before Elder Chandler told me I would anoint her and I had never practiced that before so I studied super hard for a few minutes and then gave the blessing and it went pretty good. Only needed a little help so that was for sure the gift of tongues helping me there. The member was at church the next day too so the blessing must have helped!

Honestly just snacks are fun things to have. And I could actually use one more pair of blue socks. I think I lost one of them :l

We have a phone for our companionship which is great to have. It makes it way easier to contact investigators.

Yeah, Mom, we just drink bottled water and water from the clean jugs in our house.

Elder Chandler is district leader and Elder Tuttle and Escher are the zone leaders and they seem cool from the phone calls I've had with them.

Earth is getting ready to be baptized this week. We also started teaching Mook, Gon, and they both accepted baptism too!

Spiderman sheets is mine. #spideysenses

Elder Chandler's birthday is October 5th so it's coming up!

 I like riding my bike except is is wrecking my tailbone. I'm sure it just takes some getting used to but it kills when I sit on it.

Another good week! The language is so hard but I'm learning slowly but surely. I love getting e-mails so thanks for everything! I miss you all! The people here are amazing and I love getting to know them and teach them and help bring them unto Christ. The Savior loves everyone and wants them all to live with Him again. This is His work. Shall we not go forth in so great a cause?!

-Elder Borg

Hayden and the Surin Branch at the baptism of Wiw. 

Happy day! Elder Chandler, Wiw, Elder Borg, and an unidentified, enthusiastic, branch member!

It's HOT in Thailand! Sweaty Elder Borg!

The "sleeping train" they rode on to Bangkok

School in Surin where Hayden and Elder Chandler go contacting

The dog that is always hanging out in front of their house!

Wiw's baptism program

Elder Borg, Elder Chandler, and  branch member 

The "crazy landlord" who is very friendly and loves to talk to Hayden and Elder Chandler

Making chicken for dinner

PICTURES FROM ELDER BORG'S LAST DAYS AT THE MTC and FIRST DAYS IN THAILAND

Hayden arrived in Thailand just before midnight on Tuesday, September 5, after thirty hours of travel! He's so happy to be there, has a great companion, an amazing mission president and "mission mom," and is so grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel. Let the adventures begin!

 

District 7E

Thailand-bound missionaries (Hayden is on the front row, second from right)

South East Asia missionaries 

The Zone: Hayden's Thai District and the other Thai district.  Also, the Hmong District,
the 2 Vietnamese Districts, the 2 Cambodian Districts, and the new Thai District. Hayden is  on the second row, far left

District 7E

With Elders Ellsworth, McDonald, and Nielson at the SL Airport

A mighty army of Thailand-bound missionaries

They made it!

Hayden with President and Sister Johnson. They are AWESOME!

With Elder and Sister Gay, the office couple

New missionaries ready to go! (Hayden is on the back row, fourth from the left)

At Lumphini Park, the site where, in the 1960's, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated Thailand for the preaching of the gospel

WEEKS 9 and 10 - MTC and THAILAND! September 11, 2017

Hey hey!!

Wow! What a crazy, awesome, hard, but exciting few weeks! We made it to Thailand safely, but extremely jet lagged, at about midnight on Wednesday. Elder Nielson left his bag and the AP's got lost while driving us home, so we didn't actually get back until 3:00-ish. We stayed in a hotel, which was kinda fun, but we were all so tired that we went to sleep as soon as we got there. 

The next day we did a lot of administrative stuff like paperwork and getting blood drawn and stuff like that. We also went to the park where President Hinckley dedicated Thailand for missionary work and we read the prayer he said together so that was really neat. We ate dinner at the Johnson's house, spaghetti and breadsticks, which were so good. Everyone could hardly stay awake so the Johnsons would just laugh at us. The Johnsons are so nice and I'm excited to get to serve more with them!

The next day we prepared for the meeting where we found out our trainers. Everyone was on pins and needles. You could feel the excitement. It was so awesome! When President Johnson read my name and then Elder Chandler's, he jumped up and gave me a huge hug. It was so awesome! He is the coolest guy (I'll tell more later). After that we ate lunch-pizza, which was super good- and then we hopped on a bus for 8 HOURS. I thought my traveling was over for a bit but boy was I wrong. The bus was so long but it gave Elder Chandler and I a chance to get to know each other better so that was awesome.

It's just me and Elder Chandler in our house (Yes, we have a whole house to ourselves!) It's super fun. We listen to music in the mornings because we have a huge speaker. We have 2 rooms with air conditioning so we spend 99% of our time in those rooms (study room and bedroom). Our house is in the "suburbs" (I guess that's what you'd call it). There's other houses next to us, but I rarely see people out there.

Surin is pretty similar to the city that I stayed in in Brazil and it reminded me of some of the smaller cities in Peru we visited too. It's hot always and the people are super nice even when they are rejecting what you want to tell them.

There's 2 other missionaries in our district but they live about an hour away. We have district meeting tomorrow so we'll go see them so that'll be fun!

We're in the Roi-et zone! There's about 20 other missionaries in our zone. We have zone conference in about 2 weeks so it'll be fun to meet everyone.

I am currently e-mailing from an internet cafe which is nuts. Everyone is gaming and yelling at each other but it's pretty sweet.

Elder Chandler in from Grand Junction, Colorado. He bikes and in his words "was a huge partier" in high school. I'm Elder Chandler's second child (person he has trained). He's super committed and a really hard worker and a way good teacher. He's been in Thailand for a year so his Thai is really good. He has a brother and a sister and his dad served in Thailand too! He is so committed to finding people to get baptized and is such a good example for me to follow.

We have 5 people with a baptismal date! They are Wiw, Rat, Oo, Rojana, and Earth. We just committed Earth to get baptized yesterday which was super cool. He was really nervous, but we bore our testimonies and I told him when I was baptized I didn't know everything but I did know that I felt happy and I did know that God was happy with me and that seemed to help him! So Earth is set for the 24th and the rest for the 17th. 

The members here are so awesome. They love talking to the missionaries and teasing us. I hardly know what they're saying and they always laugh when I talk but that was kind of expected!  The Branch President is an RM and he's only about 25. He's really good though and super nice. There's about 8-10 people in priesthood and there were about 50 people in sacrament. There was one really old guy who blessed the sacrament. He wears sunglasses all the time, even when blessing the sacrament, his zipper was down and he was wearing a bright green and red Christmas tie. Theres a group of about 6 youth who are really strong so they're fun to talk with. Sacrament was kind of crazy, but funny. Little kids were screaming and we didn't have anyone to play the piano for half the meeting but it was great! The members feed everyone after church too!

My new bike is black and neon green and will be a trusty companion for my next two years. I am taking suggestions on what to name it.

Of course  I'm wearing my helmet, Mom. :) we have bright green reflective vests to wear at night which say I AM MORMON on them.

The first P-day we're just buying food and other stuff for the rest of the week. We have quite a few different errands to run so that's kind of it.

Everything I've eaten has been pretty good! My stomach has been kind of destroyed but that was expected too. The food the member fed us was probably my favorite. It was a kind of chili curry with rice. Worst thing was Elder Chandler said this drink was way good so we both bough one and it was literally blended up corn. It tasted like straight corn! It was disgusting. We both took one sip and threw it away. Funny though!

I've been sleeping great, I wake up at around 5:30 every day but I think that's probably me getting used to the time change. I usually don't have too hard of a time going back to sleep for a little while. 

We wake up and exercise, we do P90X ab ripper, so that's been brutal but good! It reminds me of doing it with dad in the basement. Then we shower and get ready. Then we plan out our day. Then we go contacting, then we come back home and do our studies. Then we go out and do whatever else we need to do, like talk to specific people or set stuff up for activities. At night we either go contacting at the market or we have an activity with investigators, like game night. Then we come home and call people to set up appointments and get ready for bed. Lots of biking and talking to people when I don't know what they're saying. :) 

I really am enjoying contacting people and meeting all the members! They're all so happy and fun to be around!

The experience with Earth was really cool and I've felt a lot of comfort coming from reading my scriptures and praying. One scripture I've enjoyed is Luke 11:36.

36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

 I've been trying to have the light of Christ with me so people will recognize me as a representative of the Savior. Being happy is a big way to do that, so I've been working on smiling a lot, even if I don't know what in the world is going on! 

The flight was the longest thing ever. Longer than the whole 9 weeks in the MTC!  I was in the middle seat so that was the worst. But I read a lot of scriptures and talked with some people so that was fun!

I miss you all so much! I'm so excited for Daren with his baptism this past week! What a stud! Thanks again for all your prayers and e-mails. I always love hearing how everyone is doing. I pray for you all every day!

Love you!

-Elder Borg

Hayden and his new companion, Elder Chandler

Visiting with people in a park in Hayden's new area, Surin

Hayden and his new bike! He's still searching for the right name for it!

First Sunday dinner in Thailand, fried noodles and Oreos!

Hayden's desk (is that a Nerf gun?!)

Beautiful arch in Surin

Riding a tuk tuk (you can see Hayden and Elder Chandler in the mirror)

Elder Borg and Elder Chandler's bikes, their trusty companions

Street in Surin

Another street in Surin (notice the blue tuk tuk)

Hayden's "new home"

View from their window