WEEK 45 - MAY 20, 2018 - PHUKET

Whirlwind past few days! We got to the mission office early Thursday morning to meet my new companion and to head down to Phuket. We rushed over to the bus station and found out we missed the bus by 10 minutes and the next one didn't leave for 11 hours so that was a shame. We kinda just hung out at the mission office and helped around there until our bus left. The bus ride was 12 hours so we rode from 7 pm to 7 am and then got right to work Friday morning! The past three days we've biked around 80 miles so we bike a lot in this area! Also there are lots of hills which is a great workout and we get lots of laughs from people riding by on their motorcycles.

We had a baptism this Sunday too! Her name is Bitoie and she is the girlfriend of one of the members. She is so great! She was so scared to get baptized but that wasn't going to stop her from following Jesus Christ! She invited all her friends to the baptism and one came and is really interested. So right after her baptism we taught her friend and her friend accepted a baptismal date too! I love the fire that recent converts have in sharing the gospel. I like to try and emulate their fire and confidence in sharing the new knowledge they've found.

Our branch is pretty small but the members are incredible! They come from all over the island to go to church! Some drive for several hours and rent a hotel to go to church! They're amazing and they love the Lord. I got called to be the branch clerk in the little branch here so that will be pretty fun. My companion is the second counselor in the Branch Presidency so we kinda help run the branch. We also have to translate every meeting from Thai to English or vice versa. On Sunday I bore my testimony and Elder Manwaring translated then he gave a talk and I translated! This should help my Thai a bunch! There are visitors every week so it'll be fun to see some people from all over.

One thing I enjoyed from my personal studies was reading from the war chapters in Ether. I was kinda curious why these chapters were in the Book of Mormon because it felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again. I decided to go through and look for everything I can learn from these chapters. After doing that I realized that we actually can learn a lot from these chapters but the thing that kept coming back to me was that Heavenly Father will always bless the righteous and will chastise the wicked to humble them. This brought me comfort to know that no matter what is going on in the world around me, if I am faithful then I will be blessed! I love this quote from President Monson too: “May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”  

I love you all so much! I am so excited to be in Phuket and help the work keep going down here. It is such a blessing to be serving around these members and to see how a branch starts going. I'm so grateful for all of you! Have another great week!

-Elder Borg

Pictures:

It rained while we were biking and one of my shirts got wrecked

Baptism!!

WEEK 44 - MAY 15,2018 - PAK KRET

This week we got our transfer calls! I will be leaving Pakkret and Elder Sumsion and moving to Phuket with Elder Manwaring! I'm very excited about the chance to serve in Phuket but I'm really going to miss everyone from Pakkret. There's some amazing people here that have changed my life. I'm so grateful for the chance that I've had to serve here and to learn and grow and hopefully I'm leaving Pakkret better than I found it!

A really cool miracle from this week came before English class. We were walking to the church after eating dinner and we saw a guy walking in front of the gate to the church. Elder Sumsion, who still has 2 broken knees from the trampoline place we went to last week, said "Let's invite this guy to English!" and started to run, or waddle, over to him. I followed right behind him. He was a little surprised to see two white guys running towards him but he was really nice. We told we were having English class right now and asked him if he wanted to go learn. He said yes and came inside with us! Turns out he lives in the other area but the other Elders are now teaching him and he is so prepared for the gospel! I am so grateful to Elder Sumsion for his diligence! We've seen so many miracles like that this whole transfer. I also know that God puts people right in our paths who are ready to hear the gospel.

We've been teaching this family from English class. The mom's name is Tip and her son's name is Window. They've been off and on investigators for a really long time. We've really felt like they're getting close to baptism and they had a really cool experience that solidified that. Sister Tip was praying and asking if the Book of Mormon was true and if she needed to be baptized. She kept praying and wasn't feeling too much but then she started to feel good and something told her to open her eyes. She did and saw a bright white light above her bed. It stayed there all night until she fell asleep then when she woke up it had turned golden. She called Window in and Window saw it too! After that they knew they needed to be baptized. They told is that in our lesson that day and told us they were ready. I was blown away! It was such a neat experience for them and so cool to see how getting that answer completely changed them. I know that God answers our prayers and wants to let us feel that He is there. We just need to be willing and ready to hear him.

One thing that has stood out to me this week is the concept of repentance. Most of the time I think of repentance as saying sorry for things I have done wrong and then not doing them again but repentance is changing our lives to become more like the Savior. So yes, we do need to say sorry and not do bad things anymore but we also need to repent and change for things that we can be doing better. For example I read my scriptures everyday but I can always repent and improve my scripture study. We should always be steadily repenting to improve and become more like the Savior. This has also helped me while taking the Sacrament is to not just look at the things I'm doing wrong but the things I'm doing ok that I can improve. And Ether 12:27 always gives comfort when I feel like there's too much that I'm not doing right. "27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I know He truly can turn our weaknesses into strengths if we will just come unto Him.

Funny things from the week: we met with a LA member and he was eating ketchup with his cake(?), he then started drinking coffee and we told him he shouldn't so he said he would stop but then he forgot and kept drinking it so we threw it away for him. We were riding a taxi home and as soon as we sat down the taxi driver yelled that we were white and started singing a song about a white girl he loved. Halfway through the song he reached over and grabbed my hand and squeezed it while he sung so that was fun. Another taxi driver had set up a way to watch movies while he drove! 

I absolutely love being a misisonary and love all these awesome experiences! I have loved serving in Pakkret and will miss it tons. I know that this is God's work and I'm so glad to be a part of it. Love you all!

-เอ็ลเดอร์ บอร์ก

WEEK 43- MAY 6, 2018 - PAK KRET

Another great week in Pakkret! Nothing too special happened but we had a great week nonetheless! Being a missionary is so much fun! I love teaching the gospel and being able to be a representative of Jesus Christ. Some funny stories from this week:

You might remember a few weeks ago I wrote about Brother John who is Thai and got up to share his testimony and spoke for a long time. Well thuis fast Sunday he was back in the international ward and once again got up to share his testimony except this time he called me out to come and translate for him because he didn't know the words in English. (Keep in mind my Thai is still pretty basic) He gets up there and starts telling the story of how Joseph Smith and the church acquired papyrus scrolls and all kinds of random stuff. He goes on for about 2 minutes and then looks over to me to translate. I have absolutely no idea what he said so I tied to give a brief synopsis but his story is going nowhere. After about 15 minutes of this the bishop had to stand up and tell him to wrap it up. It was pretty funny and also humbling to see how little Thai I know!

One miracle we saw from this week came in the form of an elderly man with his hair dyed pink. Yep, you heard me. Pink. We met him at a park. He was just standing by a little pond and we decided to go and talk to him. He was pretty surprised to see us talking to him but he was nice and listened to us! He agreed to another meeting at the same place a week later. Usually if people say to meet a week later they don't mean it and they'll skip out on the appointment. The week passes by and we go to look for him at the park and sure enough, no one is there. A little disappointed we start walking away and see a guy sitting down on a bench across the pond so we decided to go back and talk to him and it turned out to be the guy with the pink hair! This time he was really surprised! He kept his promise though and listened to what we had to say! He seemed genuinely interested and gave a really nice prayer! We'll see how he keeps progressing!

All three of the people we baptized last week were confirmed this Sunday! They are so incredible and so excited to serve in the church. They were able to meet the area 70 for Asia for a few minutes and asked him a few questions. At church a few days later the area 70 approached me and asked who they were. He said he felt something really special when talking to them and now he wants to invite them over for FHE! I truly felt something special about this family too! I love them and am grateful for the chance we had to teach them!

Something I enjoyed form my studies this week came from the Bible Dictionary about the Sabbath Day. In the Bible Dictionary it says: " The importance of a sacred day for man to rest from his temporal labors, contemplate the word of the Lord, and assemble for public worship is a major item in a person’s spiritual development." The existence of a weekly holy day is a most important safeguard." These sentences show the serious importance of the Sabbath day. I know that the Sabbath Day provides much need spiritual growth as well as physical rest and the more we prepare for the Sabbath and the Sacrament, the more we will get out of it! I love Sunday and the chance to recharge and prepare for another week.

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

-Elder Borg