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Dear Family....

I am way excited for Diana and Aaron. The pictures turned out well (To Nanna: Props on the dress). All of the change that is occurring this season is very interesting to watch, I think. As missionaries we have a few "key-indicators" that we monitor to review and analyze our progress. Our motto for our mission goes something like this: Faith is the power, Obedience is the price, love is the motivation, the Spirit is the key, Preach my Gospel is the way, Christ is the reason. That motto holds true for missionaries. But as President Dodge was talking about members in God's church he considered what sort of Key-indicators God might have for members and what the motto for members might look like. So he changed the motto to be something like this: Faith is the power, obedience is the price, progression is the key, the spirit is the guide, exaltation is the reward. I like that. Progression is the key. And the general definition of progression is change right? Therefore change is something that we need to work with all of the time. And the keyest of key-indicators for us members is whether or not we are progressing.
We cannot compare ourselves to anyone else because how many talents we have is not important, only that we use the talents that we have and we are progressing. After we die, we will all have the opportunity to continue our path of progression until we become like Christ, but if we are not on the path then we cannot progress. I would challenge everyone to conscientiously seek to improve everyday and study the scriptures. Improving yourself is always an awesome use of time. I've talked to a lot of missionaries who wished that they didn't waste so much of their time playing computer/video games because they realize that they could have used that time doing something awesome to be a better person. I suppose when you know that playing games is against the rules and you understand how important obedience is to success then you start to desire greater things. I've seen a lot of missionaries who have made that change. But anyway, make sure you are progressing!!

These past few days have been crazy. I feel like a huge transition is occurring. I had my last interview with President Dodge before he goes home. He told me that the second half of your mission goes twice as fast as the first. He said that I have all of the tools and resources that I need to continue to be a great missionary thereafter. And then he asked me how I felt like I have changed so far. And he explained how he feels and has seen me change. I am grateful for his words. I learned a lot from the example of the Dodges. They took very good care of all of the missionaries, they could compare to our parents in the mission field. With mission Presidents like the Dodges missionary moms have no need to worry! I'm sure that the Smiths who are replacing the Dodges will be just as good. The mission is sure to take another big transition. President Dodge said that his first moves in the country was the easiest because he had to rely completely on the Lord for everything. But then after that his own thinking sometimes got in the way.

When I first got into Ayuthaya I taught a member who was struggling with some problems. We continued to talk to her and teach her whenever she had questions or concerns. Just recently that same member sat down and talked to one of our investigators and told her to pray and trust the lord. That investigator changed completely and now she has a lot of desire to learn and is excited to prove the promises and blesses of the Lord. Awesome.


So, I haven't the opportunity to make any of my style of cookies yet but I have made sure to spread brownies to all of the members. I gave some of my birthday cake to that investigator that I just mentioned. Also, when we had a big activity with the lopburi branch I suggested the Sock game to them. They really enjoyed it. Instead of putting all of the candy in the middle of the circle of people they made a place for rolling the dice and a place for eating the candy. Whenever they rolled doubles they would have to run over to the candy, put the socks on, and then go for it. And if adding the running wasn't hard enough, for the last bunch of candy they split into two groups. With two groups they were rolling doubles like crazy and switching people every few seconds. That was good fun. Then, each Tuesday we are doing activities at the church such as ping pong. I taught the people who came how to play Hiya. heh heh heh


I love you all!

Elder Lilly