Sunday, February 17, 2013

We Know Fear is the Opposite of Faith.



11-4-12

Family – How are you? It’s been a long time since I’ve done a recording. I actually made recordings for the last two weeks but they didn’t send. So two weeks ago was the last time you heard my voice. 

It’s raining outside and it’s a slippery summer but it’s all good because we have some power… for tonight. The last three days have been pretty cold but it’s normally hot and the heat stinks.  The flies here are terrible and annoying as. You know how you see flies all around horses. I think it’s probably annoying to them as well. This week in the flat I’ve killed three cockroaches. They are about a fifty cent piece or bigger. They are massive.  

So as you know missionary wise…. Elder Liutai and I love to tract.  Our area is flippin’ massive. If we wanted to hit all the doors we’d have to knock all day and every day; so that’s what we have to do because we know there’s somebody here that’s looking for the gospel.  There are other ways to find but we love tracting. 

As we were tracting we ran into this one guy who believes that the spirit is in all of us. He also believes that all you have to do is ask this swinging pendulum in your hand a question it will guide you in a yes or no answer. It was very interesting. We explained how we view prayer and what we see prayer as and he could respect and understand it. He was telling Elder Liutai that he was feeling afraid and scared. But we understand that we have a loving Father in Heaven who loves us and wants us to talk to him and that’s why we pray. We also know that feelings of fear are the opposite of faith and we should have faith as we pray. When we feel peace inside we know we are hearing or speaking truth but feelings of fear are the opposite. I guess if you put two and two together, his feelings of fear pretty much explain that the pendulum method doesn’t work. 

Right now we are teaching a Persian family. It is so awesome. Our first time meeting and teaching them was from a referral while I was on exchanges. The elder I was on exchanges with is one transfer behind me in the mission. As we taught it was a good reminder of the importance of the simple truths the gospel holds. As we teach principles, the spirit can work to testify of the truth. The lesson was sweet and next week we are watching the Joseph Smith Video with them.  It’s going to be awesome. They are really interested in learning more about Joseph Smith and his role in the restoration of the gospel. 

Ya know, I’ve been in this area for a while and my teaching motivation was dwindling a little bit but as Liutai and I go out and work we challenge each other to memorize different scriptures. He had challenged me to memorize Mosiah 28:3 which talks about desires. It talks about the sons of Mosiah and how they trembled.  It was amazing. You should read it. The experience of studying that scripture and a few other experiences have really been a quick answer to prayer to get my desires back up.

Love you all, good night, 

Elder Cook

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