WEEK 42- APRIL 30, 2018 - PAK KRET

This week was absolutely amazing! As our district leader, Elder Mickelson, always says "Miracles bring more miracles" and that was for sure true this week!

Yesterday 3 of our investigators were baptized!!! Woo!! We were so excited and so happy for all of them! Yesterday Brother Pon and his wife Sister Nong were baptized along with Sister Suk! They are all so amazing and were so excited. Brother Pon and Sister Nong have a daughter named Namo and she is so cute and she's the reason her parents were investigating the church. They had always been looking for a place that would teach their daughter correct principles and something that can help her when they aren't around and that's exactly what they found in the restored gospel. They love the prospect of eternal families and cannot wait to go to the temple! Sister Suk is a sweet old lady who always buys us treats every time we meet with her. She just showed up at the church one Sunday and wanted to get baptized and she was able to achieve that goal this week. She's super sincere and loves her Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. It was amazing to see them progress and learn and come closer to the Savior.

Another crazy miracle this week came from a new investigator names Sister Oui. She comes to English class and wanted to learn more about the church so she told Elder Ignacio (my last companion) that she would meet with us after Sonkran. Elder Ignacio ended up transferring and I didn't remember the meeting with Sister Oui but thankfully she did! She showed up one afternoon at the church while we were studying there and asked to learn so of course we said yes! She is so prepared and so excited. It doesn't stop there though. The next meeting starts off with her asking about polygamy. She had read some stuff online and was curious. We started to explain the reasons for it and she stopped us. She told us it totally made sense and she was totally fine with it. Then she demanded that we tell her all the commandments right then. She committed to keep every single commandment right there! It was so crazy but so awesome!

Next miracle was meeting Sister Tip. She works at a smoothie place right next to the work of one of our RC's. We went to visit the RC and we got a smoothie after. She was really interested in English but even more interested in learning about Jesus. After our first lesson, which went great, she told us that she heard a different Christian place said no drinking coffee and tea and how she thought that was absurd. We then told her that was our church and we believed it would help her be happier. She stared at us for a second almost in disbelief while we braced for impact. She then said "ok, I think I can do that" with a smile. It was so incredible to see her faith! She has had some hard trials in her life and we this she is so prepared for the gospel.

While eating lunch we had an elderly man approach us and say "So are you going to teach me or what?" We said of course we are! He had met some other missionaries before and told us his life has been a little difficult lately but he felt at home when he saw us so he came up and talked to us. His name is Wit and he is awesome! He likes to sit in his truck and read Ernest Hemingway stories and now he likes to sit in his truck and read the Book of Mormon. Another amazing miracle!

Funny Thai names from the week: Disney, Growl

This week was incredible and full of miracles! I am so grateful for the chance to be a missionary and serve with Elder Sumsion. He is a great missionary and is bringing tons of energy and enthusiasm to this area! I love serving the Savior and spreading His gospel. I love you all so much!

-Elder Borg

Pictures of the baptisms and Wit and little lizard we found!

WEEK 41 - APRIL 22, 2018 - PAK KRET

Hello!!

This was a crazy week!! We had lots of awesome things going on so buckle up!

We had a baptism last Sunday!! Sister Faa followed Christ by entering the waters of baptism! Her dad baptized her and it was great! It was so cool to see their whole family come together and watch. They were all so happy and excited for her. It was great to be a small part of helping their family get closer to being sealed and become an eternal family. 

This week was also Songkran which is the huge water fight in Thailand. It was crazy and so much fun! We had our p-day on Friday last week so we could go and play with the water. Everyone there would attack us because they wanted to attack the white people! Also I had a big bucket full of water that I would dump on people so maybe another reason why we were a big target. It was fun too because it's a 3 day festival so we had p-day for one of those days but the other 2 were still proselyting days so we would get soaked as we walked around! It was awesome! Very helpful with the hot weather.

President Nelson and Elder Holland also visited Thailand this week! It was such an amazing meeting! It was the biggest gathering of members in Thailand ever. I was able to see all my old companions and all the members from Surin! It was so much fun to see them all again and to catch up on how they're doing. Elder Holland gave an awesome talk about the appearance of the resurrected Savior to the Nephites. His main point of his talk was that because Christ and Heavenly Father love us so much They will give us anything we righteously desire just as Christ stayed longer with the Nephites. It was a really awesome talk! President Nelson gave a history of temples and what we do in the temple. Everyone here is so excited for the temple already but that just doubled the excitement! After the meeting as they were walking out Elder Holland locked eyes with a missionary companionship sitting towards the front and gave this powerful advice: "Work harder" It hit that companionship and they shared it with the rest of us and I think it hit us just as hard! We are working hard but there's always more we can be doing!

This week we also had zone conference which is always fun. We were combined with the north zone and also the missionaries in Burma so it was huge and so much fun! One thing I really enjoyed from zone conference was a little training on making your bed. Making your bed might seem like a small task but it can change your whole day. If you make your bed to start the day it is one completed task that will usually lead to several other completed tasks for the day which results in a good day. If you happen to have a bad day then you can come home to a made bed. It also teaches about how the small and simple things are so important. If we aren't able to keep the "small" rules or "small" commandments then there is no way we'll be able to keep the "big" ones. 

This week we had a pretty cool experience. We were walking to grab some lunch and a guy said hello to us so we stopped and talked with him for a second. He said he was just walking around and he used to be Christian. We were right by the church so we asked if he wanted to go tour the church and he said he did. We walked around the church for a bit and then we went and sat in the chapel. We all just kinda sat there for a while. The Spirit came into the room and we could all feel it. He opened up to us and said he's been feeling pretty sad lately. We shared Mosiah 24:14 with him and told him that God will lighten his burdens. After that we prayed with him and he gave such a sincere prayer. I have rarely felt the Spirit that strong. After that we tried to set up an appointment with him but he told us he doesn't have a phone, or a facebook, or any other way of contacting him and he doesn't know his address. The next day he didn't come to our appointment and we haven't seen him since. It was a crazy experience but really disappointing that he didn't come back. Me and Elder Sumsion were both wondering why that happened. We were both grateful for the Spirit we felt but disappointed he didn't come back. We hope that eventually he'll find his way back though.

I love you all and am grateful for all of you! I am so grateful for the chance to serve in Thailand. Have a great week!

- Elder Borg

WEEK 40 - APRIL 12, 2018 - PAK KRET

Hello everyone! Happy General Conference!

We got to watch Conference this Saturday and Sunday and it was spectacular! We pulled all the couches of the chur h into one room and watched conference on the nice church couches! It was awesome! I have such a hard time picking a favorite talk because they were all truly so good! One thing that really stood out to me was President Nelson's teachings on receiving more personal revelation. I know that seeking personal revelation will strengthen my relationship with the Savior and with Heavenly Father. I also felt service was outlined seversl times. I really loved Bishop Caussé's talk on how this church is about people and not numbers or buildings. I love his thought on how our church is not just a Sunday church. We are able to come closer to Christ every single day and not just on Sunday. I am excited to apply the things I learned from conference and I would invite all of you to take a few minutes to look at what ypu liked from conference and how you can apply it more in your daily life.

I am assigned to train Elder Sumsion and he is so amazing. At times I don't feel like I'm training because he is so prepared already. He has a great testimony and is so excited to get to work. We were wearing almost the exact same thing at the transfer meeting (see picture below and notice blue flower ties) I saw a picture of the new missionaries a few days before and guessed correctly that he would be my companion! He actually met my family a few weeks before going into the MTC so it was crazy to find out I would ve his trainer! I am so grateful for him and for the things I will learn from him. Greenies have a special fire about them and I'm hoping some of that greenie fire rubs off on me too!

This week we saw an awesome miracle. We went into a neighborhood to invite for a little bit and as we were walking around we saw a family working on their car. We said hello and asked if we could help. They politely declined but said someone wanted to meet us. They called inside the house and a 15 year old boy came out. We told him we were missionaries and we represent Jesus Christ. We then asked if we could share our message with him and he said yes! We got to know him and taught him how to pray. In his prayer he asked for help to follow Heavenlf Father more. It was really heartfelt and really awesome. We were able to go back the next day and teach him and his sister the restoration which they loved. They both listen so intently and are so willing to keep learning. We are so excited for them and can't wait to keep teaching them!

Funny Thai name of the week: Bank

This week we watched a squirrel fall off a telephone pole, taught some more English, taught more investigators, and invited others to come unto Christ. I absolutely love being a missionary and I love this gospel. I love all of you too! 

Have another great week!

-Elder Borg

Attached below are several signs from Thailand that I think are funny!

WEEK 39 - APRIL 9, 2018 - PAK KRET

Hello everyone! Happy general conference!

We got to watch Conference this Saturday and Sunday and it was spectacular! We pulled all the couches of the chur h into one room and watched conference on the nice church couches! It was awesome! I have such a hard time picking a favorite talk because they were all truly so good! One thing that really stood out to me was President Nelson's teachings on receiving more personal revelation. I know that seeking personal revelation will strengthen my relationship with the Savior and with Heavenly Father. I also felt service was outlined seversl times. I really loved Bishop Caussé's talk on how this church is about people and not numbers or buildings. I love his thought on how our church is not just a Sunday church. We are able to come closer to Christ every single day and not just on Sunday. I am excited to apply the things I learned from conference and I would invite all of you to take a few minutes to look at what ypu liked from conference and how you can apply it more in your daily life.

I am assigned to train Elder Sumsion and he is so amazing. At times I don't feel like I'm training because he is so prepared already. He has a great testimony and is so excited to get to work. We were wearing almost the exact same thing at the transfer meeting (see picture below and notice blue flower ties) I saw a picture of the new missionaries a few days before and guessed correctly that he would be my companion! He actually met my family a few weeks before going into the MTC so it was crazy to find out I would ve his trainer! I am so grateful for him and for the things I will learn from him. Greenies have a special fire about them and I'm hoping some of that greenie fire rubs off on me too!

This week we saw an awesome miracle. We went into a neighborhood to invite for a little bit and as we were walking around we saw a family working on their car. We said hello and asked if we could help. They politely declined but said someone wanted to meet us. They called inside the house and a 15 year old boy came out. We told him we were missionaries and we represent Jesus Christ. We then asked if we could share our message with him and he said yes! We got to know him and taught him how to pray. In his prayer he asked for help to follow Heavenlf Father more. It was really heartfelt and really awesome. We were able to go back the next day and teach him and his sister the restoration which they loved. They both listen so intently and are so willing to keep learning. We are so excited for them and can't wait to keep teaching them!

Funny Thai name of the week: Bank

This week we watched a squirrel fall off a telephone pole, taught some more English, taught more investigators, and invited others to come unto Christ! I absolutely love being a missionary and I love this gospel! I love all of you too! Have another great week!

-Elder Borg

WEEK 38 - April 4, 2018 - PAK KRET

This was the final week of the transfer and it was really good! We had some fun times and were able to teach lots of people and help them come closer to Jesus Christ. Last night we got transfer calls and I got the news that I will be training this transfer! I am absolutely terrified but could not be more excited! I have felt very blessed by being able to serve around such great missionaries and am excited to be able to share all the things I've learned with a new missionary!

This week we met with a family we have been teaching lately. They are the cutest little family. Just the mom, dad, and a 7 year old daughter. They are such a happy, giggly family. They fed us this week and we had the chance to teach them the Plan of Salvation. They loved it so much especially the thought of being sealed in the temple as a family. They have been so fun to teach and are excited to be baptized this month. We called them later just to follow up with them and after the call they asked "can you call us everyday?" Of course we said yes!

We taught a new sister this week who walked into the church one Sunday. After going over the restoration with her we asked her if she believed the things we were teaching her. Almost instantly she said "Yes. Absolutely. 100%!" I was a little taken back because usually people are a little hesitant or don't know but her faith was amazing. She knows that she walked into the church for a reason. We told her that if she would read the Book of Mormon sge would gain a stronger witness of the truth and she told us she didn't need to because she already knew it all was true. Hahaha it was so awesome and eventually we helped her to see she still needs to read it!

At English class this week we decided to have the students put on a skit about the different seasons of the year. My group was in charge of winter and we planned to do a simple skit. When it was our turn to present one of the girls in the group just took over and started screaming, "IT'S SNOWING! WE NEED HELP! SOMEBODY MAKE A FIRE!" And then she started running around in a panic. The group just rolled with it and built a tent, made a fire, and started fishing. After this one of the boys in the grouo stepped forward and announced he would be singing a song. He broke out into "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran and just sent the class into a frenzy. Everyone was waving their arms and recording it and waving their phones like flashlights. So that was the story of how a simple skit turned into the best English class in all of Thailand.

This week in my studies I read a talk in the April Ensign by the new one of the new Apostles, Elder Soares. It's called "Paths to True Happiness." Happiness is something that is very important to everyone and I'm always looking for ways to increase my happiness. In the talk Elder Soares goes over a few ways to true happiness and one of them is faithfulness. A quote I really loved was "Faith is a practical principle that inspires diligence. It is manifest in our positive attitude and desire to willingly do everything that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ ask of us. It is what takes us to our knees to implore the Lord for guidance and encourages us to arise and act with confidence to achieve things consistent with His will.
As you go forward in your journey, you will be tested to see if you will do all things that the Lord your God commands you (see Abraham 3:25). This is part of the mortal experience. It will require that you press forward with steadfast faith in Christ, being led by the Spirit and trusting that God will provide for your needs." I love everything in this quote. I have really felt the need for purposeful prayer lately and I love how tgat is a manifestation of our faithfulness. It is also a way we can be truly happy. I also read in James 5:11 which says "we count them happy which endure." Oftentimes I think happiness comes when I'm free from stress or not worried about anything but real happiness comes while we endure. President David O. McKay said "Happiness is found only along that well beaten track, narrow as it is, though straight, which leads to life eternal.” I know that happiness really does come from enduring and will come through our faithful prayers and our diligence.

I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the chance to serve as one of His missionaries. I'm so excited for this upcoming transfer and for the miracles that await! 

Love you all!

-Elder Borg

WEEK 37 - MARCH 26, 2018 - PAK KRET

Sorry I don't have a lot of time to write so this will be pretty short!

This week we found a bunch of new investigators! We found a group of Burmese students who speak really good English and are super interested in the gospel. We also found a cool Pakistani family who is also really interested and they have a bunch of really cute little kids! Ww tried to teach them the Restoration but it was a little hard to communicate. Eventually we settled on just teaching about God and Christ but they are so excited to learn more!

Funny Thai name from the week: Babe

This week we met an old guy from Wisconsin whose name was Ted. He bikes around Thailand for 6 months of the year and spends the rest in Wisconsin. He knew the Mormons and wasn't interested in what we had to say but he was interested in telling us how we can lose weight. Tip from Ted: the key to losing more fat is to eat more fat. If you're looking for an excuse to eat more fat then here it is strait from Ted the biker in Thailand. 

This week while studied Preach My Gospel I read chapter 2. I read something interesting that said we, as missionaries, need to know what an investigator should know, feel, and do because of our teaching. I thought that was really interesting so I have been going through all the lessons tryinging to figure out what investigators need to know, feel, and do after learning each of the lessons. It's been interesting to look at it that way. One thing that stood out to me too is in all the lessons our investigators needs to understand that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. All things in the church seem to revolve around those two points so those two points are crucial for our investigators to understand and to gain a testimony of.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all you do for me! I miss you all a bunch!

-Elder Borg

Found this while walking around Bangkok.

The new Thailand Bangkok temple will look like this in a few years!

WEEK 36 - MARCH 12, 2018 - PAK KRET

Another awesome week from Pakkret and Chaeng Wattana! I am loving it here! We have some great investigators and the members are awesome! This week we had zone conference and got some great training from President and Sister Johnson.

At the end of zone conference we played some companions unity bonding games. Inj the spirit of march madness the whole zone was set up in a big bracket as companions. We played games including moving M&Ms to a cup while only using a straw, a scripture chase, and a non-laughing contest. Elder Ignacio and I are pretty tight so we made it to the championship round! Unfortunately we lost in the egg toss but it was still a blast! I'm so grateful for Elder Ignacio and his kindness and desire to serve. He always puts others before him and is always so happy!

This week we were teaching a new investigator named Sister Da. We were reading the Book of Mormon together in 3 Nephi 11 because she hadn't kept her commitment to read it. We got halfway through the chapter and she started panicking and said she had to go take care of some customers so she told us to come back next week. We left feeling a little sad about not getting to teach her more. As we were walking down the street a guy was sitting down and invited us to sit with him because it was really hot and we were pretty sweaty. We started talking with him and he said he had learned a little about Christianity before. He asked about the resurrection of Christ and we explained how we will all be resurrected and he was pretty excited about that. After that he asked "Do you guys maybe have a book or something about what happened after Christ was resurrected?" We had just been reading 3 Nephi 11 so that was fresh in our minds. We offered him the book and he almost wouldn't take it because he thought it was too valuable and he needed to pay for it. He finally agreed to take it and read it after much coaxing. It was so cool to see how he immediately saw the value and importance of the Book of Mormon after just a few minutes of talking. We are excited to meet with him this week and explain more about it.

On Tuesday we met with the mom of a sister in our ward who is getting ready to leave on a mission. The mom just had some questions about who missionaries were exactly and what her daughter would be doing. I felt so guided by the spirit. We were so prepared to answer all her questions and she was pretty amazed about what we do and how dedicated we are. She couldn't believe we can't watch TV or go to movies or anything. It made me feel so thankful for the chance I have to be a missionary and dedicate these special two years and really become converted. The mom of the sister was really impressed and we taught her how to pray so she can pray for her daughter on her mission. 

This week we taught one of our baptismal daters named Sister Game. She is 18 and her parents don't really want to give her permission to be baptized. She knows the church is true but is really nervous about offending her parents. We had Sister Nam help us teach since she had gone through the same situation just a few weeks before. She bore such a great testimony and laid out a game-plan for Sister Game to talk to her parents and share her testimony. It was so cool to see a Sister we had taught testify to another person and help share the gospel. She wants to be a missionary so bad! I can't wait to see how many thousands of lives her service will bless!

All our other investigators are doing really well. The ones who we got permission to be baptized are still coming to church and doing great! 

Funny Thai name of the week: Window

At church on Sunday we had 20 investigators make it to church and they all loved it! This is one thing we have focused on in trying to help our investigators develop. All of our investigators loved it and are so excited to come back next week! I have grown to love going to church. The Sacrament is such a blessing. I always underappreciated the chance to just sit and be reverent and think about the Savior. I know our investigators felt the power of it too.

Last week for p-day we attended the highly acclaimed Dream World! Dream World is probably the only amusement park in Thailand so therefore it is the best. If you can picture Lagoon and then picture about half the quality of Lagoon then you've got Dream World. We went with a bunch of other missionaries and we had such a great time! We loved all the rides no matter the quality! We got lots of funny looks from other people. When we entered the park we had a swarm of photographers swarm us. We felt pretty popular but we didn't know why. As we were leaving the park the same photographers swarmed us again, this time with the pictures they had taken of us plates right on an authentic Dream World dinner plate. It was so funny! Unfortunately I didn't have the guts to buy one but I did snag a good picture of one.

I love being a missionary in Thailand! This country is so special and we are so excited to hear from the Prophet next month! Thank you for all your prayers and e-mails. They are so appreciated!! I love you all so much!

-Elder Borg

Elder Ignacio and I at zone conference

With Elder Jorgensen at a trampoline place

Dream World!

WEEK 35 - MARCH 4, 2018 - PAK KRET

Hello!

There is some amazing news in the Thailand Bangkok Mission! President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffery R. Holland will be visiting Thailand next month!!!! They will be doing a special member devotional and we are really hoping for an announcement on the groundbreaking of the temple! Everyone here is so excited to listen to the prophet. He will be coming April 20th. I am so pumped!! We are so blessed to be able to hear from the prophet himself and one f the Apostles.

This week Elder Ignacio and I didn't know we had an electricity bill due so at the end of proselyting one night we get home and turn on the lights and we have no power! We spent the next while figuring out how we were going to keep cool and not die during the night from heat. I was a little worried because if you know me you know I hate sleeping when it's hot. The Lord must've seen our desperate situation and sent a massive rainstorm that night. We opened all the windows and doors and welcomed the cooler air. We made it through the night somehow and hurried and paid the bill the next morning. I'm grateful for the tender mercies from the Lord and how He knows our small problems.

This week we were able to visit the Bishop of the International Ward and his family. They are so nice and such a fun family. The bishop is about 6'8" and all his kids play basketball so we fit in really nicely. We had planned to share the Restoration with them but we had to hurry to get to our English class so we ended up just sharing a scripture. I felt like I should share Mosiah 2:41 with them. We shared the verse and bore our testimonies of how we will be happy if we follow the commandments. We also testified that God wants to bless us in all things both temporal and spiritual. At fast and testimony meeting yesterday the bishop's wife got up and bore her testimony about how that scripture was exactly the thing she needed to hear and how it helped her with a trial she was facing. It was so cool to see how the Lord used us to help a member who was in need and I was so grateful to be a small part of that miracle.

One problem we have been seeing with our work is it is really hard to meet with investigators often. Everyone feels so busy and they kind of put us in the backseat. We try to explain the importance of what we're trying to tell them but it doesn't seem to help much. On Saturday, out of the blue, one of our investigators, Brother light, texted us and said he was free to meet! We met with him and had a great lesson. He's been an investigator for a long time and recently received an answer that all the things we are teaching him are true. After the lesson we extended a baptismal date to him and he accepted! We are so excited for him and are so grateful that he was willing to meet with us. 

Lately our mission leaders have really been encouraging us to find more new investigators and have really been pushing us hard to work diligently. Elder Ignacio and I took it as a challenge and really put our heads down and worked hard this week along with our district. We were so blessed and found tons of new investigators this week! It felt so weird because literally everyone we were talking to was actually listening to us and interested! I know that wasn't a coincidence. We had been praying hard for more success and Heavenly Father blessed us to find lots of people. In the end our district reached almost double the goals we had set and we almost accomplished the whole zone goal just as a district. This was a strong testimony builder to me of working diligently and seeing the Lord bless us for working hard!

Funny Thai name from this week: Mom

In my personal study this week I read a talk from President Oaks called "Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament." In priesthood quorum the members got into a large discussion about whether we need to wear a white shirt in Sacrament meeting or not and I came across this quote by Elder Holland. “May I suggest that wherever possible a white shirt be worn by the deacons, teachers, and priests who handle the sacrament. For sacred ordinances in the Church we often use ceremonial clothing, and a white shirt could be seen as a gentle reminder of the white clothing you wore in the baptismal font and an anticipation of the white shirt you will soon wear into the temple and onto your missions” 

I loved this quote because it shows, again, the importance of missionary work. It is right up there with the temple and baptism. In the temple we help rescue people from their sins just like we do on a mission. I am so grateful for the chance I have to serve a mission.

I love being a missionary!! I love helping people change their lives to come unto Jesus Christ more. I'm so grateful for the miracles we are seeing and for the blessings that come from working diligently. I love you all so much! Have another great week!!

-Elder Borg

Pictures:

Us with new investigator Brother Adoon

While waiting for a taxi we took sunset pictures

It rained a bunch this week and Thai people hate the rain so they always put bags on their heads. They believe if their head gets wet they will get really sick