feeding the fire

Dear family,

Thought I'd share what my mission president said in his weekly update:

"Elder Shane M. Bowen taught about “Agency and Accountability” in an article he wrote for the Sept 2012 New Era. In the article he tells a story of a wise old 10449_000_005Cherokee teaching his grandson about life.

“A fight is going on inside me,” the grandfather said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One is evil: he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good: he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

"The same council is true for us. We become what we think and talk about. We reap what we sow.  We get what we go for. This age old advice is still true and always will be. Let us always be wise about the wolf we decide to feed."
It is so true. And it goes right along with what Sister Cottam said about obedience in her e-mail. If we seek the good things, good things will come. If we seek blessings, we must be obedient, then they will come. If we want to baptize, then we must walk, talk, think, sleep and eat baptism. If we want to help people come unto Christ, we must find Him ourselves.
The Lord put us through a trying time the last transfer. He taught us where to focus, to have patience, and to work smart as well as hard. This week we have seen miracles happen as we have started to work with the two new hermanas in the ward and as we have focused our efforts.
Having Hna. Camejo and her companion Hna. Varley (who had just been serving in the English ward in our district) was the jump start we needed! They stayed with us for two nights until the mission found them an apartment. It was super fun :) They have brought a new energy to the work and we found a new investigator with their help who is golden. Officially we now have the northern part of the area and they have the southern.
The investigator is Alex Jose and he just started living with a member family. He is reading and praying and came to church and the baptism of one of the primary children yesterday. He's on fire and we are so excited to work with him! He has a date for next month.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all so much!
Yours,
Hna. Cottam