WEEK 34 - FEBRUARY 26, 2018 - PAK KRET

It's starting to change from hot to incredibly hot here but we're still seeing miracles and having a great time inviting others to come unto Christ.

We ride in a lot of taxis while traveling throughout our area. I love riding in taxis! The taxi drivers are so funny and the taxis are nice and cool so it gives us a nice break. While riding in one taxi this week the taxi driver said he enjoyed watching NBA basketball. I asked him who his favorite team was and surprisingly he said the Utah Jazz! It was so awesome to find that little connection to home. The Jazz are, by far, not the most popular team in the league so it was crazy to find someone here in Thailand who liked watching them! Probably because of my boy Joe Ingles.

Next taxi driver story. We were riding to an appointment and all if the sudden he pulled over to the side of the road and "took care of business' right there! 

I learned the Thai word for captain which is แม่ทัพ which literally translates to "mother of the army." It made me think about Helaman and the stripling warriors which he several times referred to as "his sons." I am so grateful for the mother of the Borg family army and for her love for each one of her "soldiers." Love you so much Mom!

A common excuse we hear from Thai people when they don't want to learn about Jesus is "religion is just up to the person. Everyone can believe in their own religion and whatever they believe in is what is true for them." Then in my studies I read Mosiah 3:17 which says "And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." We try so hard to help them understand that our message is for everyone and not just for members of our church. They don't always listen but I am grateful for the knowledge of a Savior and the knowledge that through Him is the only way to obtain salvation.

This week we got a referral from a member of the bishopric. The referral's name is เจต (Jate) and he came to the International ward on Sunday because he really wants to learn English. Afterwards we were able to teach him. We taught him how to pray. He told us he really wants to learn English and we bore testimony of how God is our loving Heavenly Father and how He wants to help us in all our trials and difficulties. I was also grateful to be able to bear testimony of how God has helped me learn Thai. If God helped me learn Thai then He will help brother เจต learn English! He was so surprised that Heavenly Father would help him learn English. He gave an awesome prayer to end the lesson and he seems excited to keep learning. He's also been keeping us updated on the soccer matches that have been going on today so he's really awesome.

Funny Thai name: Dang

I love being a missionary! If anyone is debating on whether or not to serve a mission I have this advice for you. DO IT!! It will be the best experience ever! I have already seen so many blessings from my short service so far. 

Love you all so much!!

-เอ็ลเดอร์ บอร์ก

WEEK 33 - FEBRUARY 21, 2018 - - PAK KRET

สวัสดีครับ!!

Another great week! This week we found out about transfers and Elder Ignacio and I will both be staying in Pakkret for another transfer! We are so excited to keep working hard and seeing miracles! 

This week we had zone conference and got some awesome training. We learned about how to develop unshaken faith in the Savior. In the Book of Mormon there are 3 verses that talk about developing unshaken faith and in those verses they each outline a way we can develop unshaken faith. In 2 Nephi 31:19 we must read the word of Christ and rely on His merits in order to develop unshaken faith. In Jacob 4:6 we must search the prophets and in Enos 1:11 we must spend time in sincere prayer. This verses outline a very efficient way to develop unshaken faith in Christ. I know that as we do these things we'll be blessed with faith that will be built upon a strong foundation which is Jesus Christ.

Also at Zone Conference we received permission to use Facebook in our proselyting so if you would like to follow me on Facebook go for it!

The sister we baptized a few weeks ago, Sister Nam, got confirmed this week! She is so amazing! She helps all 4 missionary companionships teach so her schedule is always booked but she loves doing it!  She is always posting things on Facebook to help others understand Jesus. She posts quotes from General Conference all the time. It has been such a blessing to be able to teach her! Sometimes I truly feel like I'm just here and the Spirit and Heavenly Father do all the teaching. Sister Nam is always looking for friends to bring to the missionaries.

We got a new investigator named brother Baulo and he is so awesome! He's been coming to church for about 5 years. He is a little special but he received permission to be baptized! We've been teaching him and his faith is so good! He has read the Book of Mormon twice and keeps asking for more copies because he keeps giving away his Book of Mormon to others! I love him so much and can't wait to help him get baptized.

This week in English class for Valentine day we taught our students how to use pick up lines and it was so funny! They couldn't understand them at all but they were all just cracking up! Our English class is so awesome.

My tic-tac buddy loved the tic-tacs you sent! He asked for about 50 on Sunday so his tongue was nice and orange. I'm quickly becoming his favorite Elder ;)

I love working with Elder Ignacio! He is such a people person. He loves being with people and everyone loves him! He also has a real desire to spread the Gospel. We work really well together.

We passed by the mascot store again and they had some new hardware for us to try out. (See below)

Some friends from Surin came and visited us at church! It was so great to see them and even better to hear that they are still faithful and going to church every week.

I love you all so much! 

Have another great week!!

-Elder Borg

WEEK 32 - FEBRUARY 12, 2018 - PAK KRET

We had an awesome week! This week Sister Nam called us and asked if she could move

her baptismal date up to this week and we said "Of course!!" She passed the interview and

was baptized last Sunday! It was such a great meeting and she bore an amazing testimony afterwards.

The Saturday before the baptism she called us and was freaking out. Her family never really approved

of her being baptized. Her dad is a leader in Buddhism and they are very strong Buddhists.

Sister Nam knew the Book of Mormon was true and wanted to be baptized so bad but she was so

worried about her family. She fasted last week to ask for help. Saturday when she called us she said

her parents had called her and told her she could get baptized. She was so excited that she called us

right after she started another fast to thank Heavenly Father! It was so amazing to see her faith work

miracles. After her baptismal service there was a missionary fireside at the church which she attended.

When the Stake President asked who is preparing to serve a mission her hand shot right up in the air!

She wants to be a missionary and bring people the happiness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has

brought her! I love teaching her and helping her develop her faith.

This week we went on a switch-off with the Zone Leaders and I was with Elder Flygare, which was

awesome because we were in the same district a few transfers ago! We saw an amazing miracle!

We went to visit a recent convert who hadn't been coming to church because she's been sick. Her

mom is also an investigator. When we got there we offered to give her a blessing and she happily

accepted. Her mom also requested one because she's had a headache for a while and just hasn’t

been feeling well.  The member asked me to give her the blessing which was a miracle in itself

because I've never done that in Thai! I gave the blessing for the member and Elder Flygare gave

one to her mom. After the blessing the mom looked so confused. She said "What just happened? I

feel completely better! My head doesn't hurt and I don’t feel sick." She started freaking out by

hugging us and holding our hands. She asked if she can call us her sons and of course we said yes! :)

The member's voice also came back and she said she was feeling better too!  It was such a sweet

experience and awesome to be able to use our Priesthood to help them and to see the miracles that

happen from that.

This week in my personal study I was able to prepare for a lesson we were asked to teach in church

about spiritual gifts. I really enjoyed reading the Parable of the Talents that the Savior gives. We can

take the talents in the parable as literal talents that the Lord gives us. Every person in the world is

special and has divine gifts from God. Often I find myself only looking at my weaknesses but the

Savior teaches us to develop our talents and to find more talents.  If you don't know what yours are,

then pray and ask Heavenly Father what they are because He wants to tell  you! 

People are much more normal here than in Surin ha ha, so I don't have too many crazy stories to tell.

Someone did say I look like Captain America though, so there’s that! :)

Thailand is the best.  I love this Gospel and the Savior and I love being a missionary.

Have another great week!!

-Elder Borg

WEEK 31 - FEBRUARY 5, 2017 - PAK KRET

This was a crazy week! We have seen tons of miracles and I'm loving every second of it! Well, mostly. The sisters in our district were talking to one of our investigators and discovered that this woman actually lived in their area. After further examination, we sadly found out that all but 2 of our investigators live in the Sisters' area! So disappointing. We quickly turned them over to the Sisters and wondered why this had happened. My companion and I felt like we knew our boundaries well, but we see that we were a little off and it really impacted us and the people we were teaching. We kept praying and asking for help and continued working hard and we were blessed with lots of new investigators this week that came from all different sources. We got referrals from English class and we even had people just walk into the church on Sunday! It was awesome too see how the Lord blessed us after we had a trial. 

I recently enjoyed reading a verse from D&C 64:33. "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." I love this verse! This helps give me comfort when people don't want to listen to us. When they don't want to listen we try to just leave a good impression on them so maybe in the future they will be more willing to learn. By doing this we lay a foundation for people to open their hearts in the future and the small things will turn into the big things.

This past week I went on a switch-off with Elder Hafen, who came in the group after me, so it was my first opportunity to be the Senior Companion in Pak Kret and it was great! I truly felt the Spirit guiding us to talk to people and helping loosen both of our tongues. In one of our lessons on the switch-off we gave someone a baptismal date and they accepted! It was so awesome! At the end of the switch off Elder Hafen said a prayer and I instantly felt the spirit enter our small apartment. It truly felt like he was really talking with our Father in Heaven. I was so impressed by that.  I am going to work on making my prayers more personal. I'm grateful for Elder Hafen and his example.

Last Sunday in the International Ward sacrament meeting we had a Thai brother show up. His name is John. John is a little crazy. He's told us he's a bishop and pastor in other churches but he is doing that just to bring people to our church. In the fast and testimony meeting nobody got up at the start of bearing testimonies for a few seconds so Brother John took it upon himself to start the meeting. He bore his testimony for about 20 minutes sharing a story in broken English that nobody understood. At the end of his testimony he gave a prayer for the congregation. Everyone was a little confused but the meeting proceeded. Although he was a little “out there" and not sharing too much I learned to not be afraid to share my testimony from Brother John. He looked around the group with a look as if to say "Really? Nobody is getting up? Alright, I got this!" I love that about the Thai people. They don't need to be told twice to share their testimony. They understand the importance of sharing a testimony and love sharing it with others. Sharing your testimony doesn't need to have some amazing story or need to be eloquently delivered. It just needs to be from the heart. Nobody can deny a personal testimony, that's why it is so important that we share it with others. Especially our friends and family searching for the truth of the Gospel.

I'll hop off my soap box now! Hahaha. I love you all so much! Thanks for all your prayers and support. I love hearing how you are all doing! I'm so grateful to be a missionary and have the opportunity to share this amazing message with the Thai people.

         -Elder Borg

Pictures are from a “wat” we visited yesterday (old Buddhist Temple) and the little boy is Mipu, my buddy who loves to eat my Tic Tacs, wearing the tie I gave him :)

WEEK 30 - JANUARY 28, 2018 - PAK KRET

Another awesome week in Pakkret! I love it here! The people are awesome and the work is going great!! We have two people getting really close to being baptized:

Sister Nam learned with missionaries several years ago and didn't take it serious at all by her own admission. Now she's learning for real and she is so solid! She loves learning and accepts all the commandments so willingly. She works at a restaurant and always gives us free food which is so nice of her! This week she gave us black bean ice cream! It was about as good as it sounds but it was way fun to try!

Sister Yuwi is the lady who called us a few weeks ago wanting to learn. She is so amazing! She accept everything so willingly and lives it! She has been asking us for hymns to listen to in her free time. She reads and listens to the scriptures everyday. Whenever she is stressed she listens to the scriptures and feels better!

We visited lots of members this week here's a few of them:

Sister Mem: She's a recent convert who is so awesome. Every week after church she gives us a bag full of treats. She is the family history consultant in the ward and loves her calling! She has 2 little kids, Pinky and Mipu. Mipu is 7 and super chubby. He always asks me for tic-tacs and always takes my food but he's so cute. He loves asking what our favorite movies are and favorite superheroes. I gave him a tie and taught him how to tie it and he was practicing the rest of church. We went and visited their family and he wanted to hold my hand and wouldn't let go. It was so awesome.

Brother Chat and Sister Nampung. Brother Chat drives a taxi and takes us lots of places. Him and his family come to every activity and help so much. They are also recent converts and are so strong in the gospel!

Brother Nad and Sister Nong. Brother Nad is in the bishopric and his wife has been helping an ton with Sister Yuwi. Brother Nad teaches English and always tells us if we ever need a referral he always knows someone. He loves talking to us in English and is super spiritual. He gives us powerful sermons about his days as a missionary in Thailand.

This week while on a switch off with Elder Mickelson we found an elderly man and his daughter. They live in very poor conditions but were so excited and prepared to listen to the gospel. They had learned about Christianity before and loved learning more. The man couldn't walk and had been waiting for someone to come teach him. His daughter lead us to him in their house. After we taught them they committed to come to church. It was such an amazing feeling to see them walking into church on Sunday. The members were so helpful and so loving to them. They provided a wheelchair for them and helped push them around all day. It was truly a neat experience to watch.

This week I got to give a talk in Sacrament meeting about Jesus. I chose to talk about His love for us and how we can show that love to others. In John 15:12-13 it says 

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

We will most likely never have to lay down our lives for our friends but one way we can "lay down our lives for our friends" is through serving them. When we serve other we put their needs ahead of our own. Christ was constantly serving others while at His weakest. After suffering the Atonement he healed the guard's ear who was coming to take him to crucifixion. After being tempted by Satan he sent angels to comfort John the Baptist who was in prison. If we serve others they will feel of Christ's love for them through us. We love serving because when we serve others they want to know why we are serving them. Service brings an awesome opportunity to talk about our Savior and introduce the Gospel to others. My challenge to you is to look for ways to serve others this week and introduce the gospel to others through your service.

I love you all so much! Thanks for your love and support! I love being a missionary and I love the Savior!

-Elder Borg

I accidentally sprayed myself in the face with bug spray!

WEEK 29 - JANUARY 24, 2018 - PAK KRET

We had an awesome week this week! Lots of success and miracles! One awesome miracle we saw was last p-day someone called us and was really interested in learning about the church. We got to meet with her on Tuesday and her name is Sister Yuwi. She told us she would drive by the church and always just felt like she wanted to be at the church. She felt good whenever she looked at it but her friend took her to another Christian church which talked about how wrong Mormons are and how bad our church is. She felt bad and jyst kind of forgot about the church. Few days later she was out jogging and one of our inviting cards with Jesus on the front was on the street and she picked it up and knew it was a sign from God. She called us and set up a meeting. She accepted everything so willingly including a baptismal date! She came to church and brought her husband too! They were both so awesome and are excited to keep developing their faith!

We also been teaching Sister Nam. Her parents really don't want her to be baptized even though they live in Laos and don't see their daughter too often. Sister Nam always tells us she knows the church is true and is so excited to get baptized. She called and bore her testimony to her parents and she isn't worried about it anymore so that's good. She's great!

This week we went and helped at IDC which is basically jail for illegal immigrants. We had to go through a clearance and everything. Once we got in we were all in a huge room with a fence with all the immigrants on one side, then about 4 feet of space, then another fence. Everyone is screaming at each other trying to communicate and it's strait chaos. A member of our ward made a great observation about it. Sometimes the world we live in feels like IDC. Everything is loud and it's really hard to focus on the still,small voice. I have found that quiet times of prayer and pondering are the times I feel the closest to the Spirit.

We also got to visit a few families from our international ward! It's always so fun to teach in English and eat American food, but I'm a little scared it will hurt my Thai! We visited the ward mission leader and his family. He has 3 boys under the age of 7. I felt right at home! I felt like I was right back at Gray Gables with my little brothers! They were wrestling and playing the whole night, it was so awesome! It was awesome to share a message with them and feel of their pure faith in the Savior.

This week I've been studying diligence. I read a great talk from Elder Eyring. It's called Act in All Diligence from the April 2010 conference. One quote I loved says: "When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: “Remember Him.” The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He goes before us. He chose us to follow Him and to bring others with us." I love the part about remembering Christ. If we all would remember Christ more often we would have much better lives. I'm going to work on remembering Christ more in my daily work. I am so grateful for Him and for his example of selfless service.

I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers! Have another great week!!

-Elder Borg

WEEK 28 - JANUARY 17, 2018 - PAK KRET

This week I got transferred from Surin to Pak Kret (outskirts of Bangkok) with Elder Ignacio. He used to be in my district when I first got to Thailand. He's a great missionary and we work really well together. It's been awesome! We've already seen great success! We gave one of our investigators a baptismal date and she accepted. Also, earlier today, we had someone call us out of the blue and she said that God had lead her to us and she wants to take lessons from us and learn, so that was a way cool miracle.

It was super hard to leave Surin. I felt really close with the members there and I loved serving with Elder Wilcox. He is such a great missionary. We had a blast together and we also worked hard. I had a bunch of people come see me off which was really hard but so nice! They are such good people. They had lots of treats and presents. Surin is for sure a special place. I learned so much there. I definitely plan to go back someday. 

Pak kret is almost the exact opposite of Surin. The people here are still so amazing but Pak kret is a huge city! We live in a small condo on the 33rd floor of a 33 story building, right next to a huge highway. We walk everywhere or ride the bus. There's an actual church building here and about 80 strong members, which is almost triple what we had in Surin. 

In Pak kret we're in charge of a Thai ward and an International English speaking ward! It's way cool to hear Sacrament meeting in both and to understand everything that is going on.:)  On Sunday night we went to the Armstrong's house (he’s a friend of my parents from high school) and it was so awesome! They were so nice and the food was so good. Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, the works! We have so many dinner appointments coming up which is so great. We really feel  the love from both the Thai members and English-speaking members. The church members are so supportive all over the world.

On Friday we played sports as a ward activity and it was awesome! We played chairball which is basketball but someone is holding the hoop and tries to catch the ball in it. I thought it was kind of casual but as soon as the ball was tipped there were bodies flying and people getting tackled. It was nuts but so much fun! 

One cool holiday we found out the other day is called "Wan Deg" which is Kids Day. Everyone takes time to do stuff with their kids. At all the malls there were activities and stuff for kids. Pretty cool!

Something I really enjoyed from my scripture study this week was from 1 Nephi 11. It talks about the condescension of Christ in coming down to earth and in being baptized. I wasn't sure what condescension meant in this context but I looked it up in the dictionary and it means

Affability to your inferiors and temporary disregard for differences of position or rank Christ descended to the level of all of us in coming to earth. He was sinless and perfect, yet He was baptized to show His submissiveness to the Father. The humility of Christ is so amazing in coming down to our level in order to know how to help us the best and in order to lift us higher. I am so grateful for the Savior and for His Atonement and resurrection. I love serving Him and His children. This week while tracting we found a mascot shop and of course I had to try on the ridiculous duck head that was in front. I think this is almost as funny as the new tiger head that Curtis obtained at the Berrett Christmas party! Funny Thai name of the week: Name (yep, his name is name) I love you all so much! Thanks for all your love and prayers for me! I'm so excited to be serving in Pak Kret and to see miracles here! Have a great week! -Elder Borg Pictures: Elder Ignacio and I at a teaching appointment with Nam Lana Phetsayam Duck head!! Elder Ignacio and by a rice field View from our condo, 33 floors up!