Chicken pillows recipe

This is a favorite of my husband, so I got the recipe from my mother-in-law. 

Chicken Pillows recipe

3 Oz.            Cream cheese

3 Tbsp.         Margarine (Separated)

2 C.              Cooked cubed/shredded chicken

1/4 tsp          Salt

1/8 tsp          pepper

2 Tbsp.         Milk

1 Tbsp.         minced onion (dry?)

1 8 oz. can    crescent dough

3/4 C.            seasoned croutons (crushed)

Instructions: Blend cream cheese and margarine until smooth. Stir in chicken, salt, pepper, milk, onion. Separate dough into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforation to seal. Spoon 1/2 C. of mixture into center. Take the 4 corners and pres together to enclose mixture. Brush top w/ 1 Tbsp. melted margarine. Dip in crushed croutons.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Can use cream of chicken soup as a gravy to top. Often served with rice.  

the fellowship of the unashamed...

"I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made- I’m a disciple of his. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. And, when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me... my banner will be clear!" --Brennan Manning

A sister shared this quote in sacrament meeting yesterday. It is truly powerful and show the type of commitment we need to make to live the gospel!

My Culture: Mormon-musician
 

My copy of the Book of Mormon

This book has been one of the things that has most shaped my life. Like the Bible it is a religious text that proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing its truthfulness has led me to do many things, like give up a year and a half of my life to tell people about it in a foreign language. It has taught me principles to live by such as faith in Jesus Christ, charity, and patience. These have guided me in my dealings with family and those around me as well as given me hope for the future. 


The Bassoon

Music has always been a huge part of my culture both secular and religious. The bassoon represents my dedication to music, because it has been an object of my study for 11 years now. But even before I took up bassoon, I liked singing with my family and at church.

My Laptop

This laptop is a symbol of the technological age in which I live. I use it everyday for school, work, communication, and just wasting time. It also has many useful tools for my music study.

surviving week one!

Well, It's been a week since I returned home from my mission. Things are quiet at home. My heart was torn in half to leave Canada and the people I have come to love, but there is much ahead of me to look forward to.

The adjustment has been hard, with many things competing for my attention--some better than others, but mostly good things. I have highly enjoyed getting to play with my nephew and getting to know my sisters-in-law. My relationship with my mother is better than ever :) but I still have my fair share of struggles.

When you go from putting all your attention on helping others and on the gospel to then having to think about yourself and your life and school and finding work and so on and so forth, it gets to be a little overwhelming. So many times I miss what I once felt as I put all my time and energy in the Lord's work, but I learned something from a few talks my mission president gave me before my departure. They speak of how that strong spirit we carried with us as missionaries doesn't have to get less, but can really grow and we can continue to experience immense spiritual growth. It comes from the habits we form as missionaries: early  daily exercise and scripture study, service to others within and without a calling, obedience to God's commandments, disciplining our minds to think of only good things, ceasing to be idle, opening one's mouth to share the gospel--if I but strive to continue those precious things I started, then I can continue to grow and serve. That Spirit doesn't have to diminish! I can continue to grow! That thought has kept me from breaking down this last week as well as the support of my family. It gives me hope.

And that spirit has continued as I have striven to put my attention in the things that are most important and to find things to work towards. Staying busy doing good things has been essential to my survival and as I have looked for opportunities to serve, they have come. I urge any who may read this to do likewise. Look for the best things and cease to be idle. Live each day to the fullest, loosing yourself in the scriptures and in service. Pray for those opportunities and they will come. Pray to see the Lord's hand in your life and your eyes will be open.

treasure above...

Dear family,
This has been a rewarding week...and a rewarding year and a half :).
We had two investigators at church yesterday and a less active who hasn't been to church in years--Jose! The Lord truly blessed us.
Juanita started saying yesterday that she wants to stay with us in the church. She wants to be a part of it! So tonight we're setting the goals with her to make that happen! Woot! If someone had told me a month ago that she would have this sort of change, I may not have believed it. The Lord works miracles, and I think a huge part of it was the member support she's been receiving. She's in very good hands:)
The other investigator is someone new named Ricardo. He arrived a little late but highly enjoyed the service and the experiences shared by the speakers. We taught him the restoration and he accepted a date and is set to come to church next week! He'll do well. He will get along just fine with the other recent converts like Fernando and William.
Fernando, the recent convert, just received a calling to serve in the young men's! Woot!
And Jose is progressing so well. He knows what he needs to do and he's starting to do it. It's been amazing to watch him go through the repentance process. The ward is being very supportive of his return :) I am so grateful to have been privileged to help him start that process by reminding him, but it was the Lord who prepared him and is cleansing him. The Lord works miracles. They have not ceased. And they will never cease as long as there is faith :)
I am going to miss these wonderful people of Toronto. I have come to love them so very much. There's nothing like it--the love you gain, the work, the people, the change in yourself. I love my mission!
We'll see you all soon! And congrats to Jacob and Athena! YAY!!! I'm so excited for you :)
I love you!
Signing out ;)
Love,
Hna. Cottam

sprint to…

dear family,
This week has picked up a little from last week. We found a new investigator! Her name is Maricruz. She's been hard to get ahold of since we first met with her but we have another appointment for tonight so we'll do our best to help her progress:)
Last Thursday we had skills and interviews with the president and it really made me think again about our investigators. Are they not progressing because they don't understand or because they just aren't ready? I know that as we start to drop those who are truly not ready, which I feel may include Raul and Salvador, the Lord will put more people in our path who are, as long as we take every opportunity to talk to the people we meet and invite them and to be prepared to teach them. Actually we have already started to see it. Salvador couldn't meet with us this week so we have time to teach our new investigator Maricruz. There are prepared people out there. We just have to do what it takes to find them and invite them and do all we can to help them. Just as there are many prepared, there are many who aren't. We have to go by prayer to know the difference.
We have a many potentials for this week that we are super excited about :)
I love you all!
Make it a great week!
Love,
Hna. Cottam
p.s. don't send any more snail mail :) Thanks!

ooweee! let it snow! (this is from today)

Dear family,
we received 25 cm of snow thursday and friday!!! Yay! I love it! but it's starting to melt off now. Traffic was horrible those days and we got to help someone move their stalled car through an intersection.
This week has been kind of tough because we've had many an appointment fall through because of snow, work, etc. But it ended very well with a miracle or two:)
We went to church not expecting anyone to show up. None of our investigators had said they would make it. As we were talking to a member in the hallway who do we see but Juanita! I never expected her to give it another chance, but here she was striving to be more open to the church instead of comparing it all with another church she liked so much. She came with an open heart and was edified by the meetings. We found out that Sis. Cote had invited her to the stake dance Saturday. She went and enjoyed it and had promised to come to church the next day. She told us she turned off her phone so that her work couldn't call her to come in and came to church! Miracles happen every day! And especially when we strive to be obedient. We've been working on a couple of little things in order to be more obedient and the Lord has blessed us. Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles.
just a side thought. I was actually thinking about obedience a while ago and how it would apply into the rest of my life. After seeing members who have fallen because of disobedience to the commandments I understand a little more as to why. The promises we make in the temple are so very sacred. When you break one of those the consequences are severe, just as breaking mission rules, because you make the promise to abide by them. The discipline one learns as she or he keeps these simple mission rules will serve them for the rest of their lives by giving them the discipline to keep those sacred covenants that we make in the temple and it will help one keep a more sacred lifestyle as they strive to apart themselves from the things of the world like in media choices, etc.
Back to Juanita, now that she has overcome the challenge of not liking church we want to focus on the Book of Mormon and word of wisdom and do our best to help her set a date to be baptized and become a part of the Lord's church.
Most of our other investigators are not progressing. We dropped Ambrosio--can't accept the Book of Mormon. If Salvador doesn't change in his opinion we will be dropping him soon as well. Raul needs something but we're not sure just what. He is having a hard time just getting to the chapel. Because he didn't come yesterday we'll have to set his date back again. We may try teaching him in the church to help him just set foot there and break that ice.
We also had a wonderful lesson with Jose the inactive. We brought the bishop to the lesson so they could get to know each other and the bishop could offer his help. yay bishops!!! (love you dad;) It went really well. Very soon we'll see him in the chapel again :) It's been beautiful to see him working within the repentance process so far. He's so very close.
Other than that we're doing well. We have a couple of potentials for this next week and are looking for many more:)
Love the work. Have a great week!
Love,
Hna. Cottam