Keeping Your Fishing Line In The Water

   My Dad and Mom used to take us kids fishing and camping in the mountains quite often as we were growing up. I really enjoyed those times, as we walked along the mountain streams, and enjoyed each others company while we fished.  Maybe that is why this quote, on page 152, of  "Preach My Gospel"  stood out to  me--- it reads, "None of us should be like the fisherman who thinks he has been fishing all day when in reality he has spent most of his time getting to and from the water....Fishing success is related to how long you have your line in the water, not to how long you are away from the apartment."

     I have been thinking about this concept and how it relates to our time here in Halifax. I want to be sure that I "have my line in the water" here.  As we have been learning new tasks in the office, it often requires a lot of concentration, and because I am on the front desk, the phone will often ring or someone will come up with a comment or a question and I would struggle at first to re-focus and be gracious about changing tasks. Then I realized that I needed to change my perspective about what I had been called to do --- I wasn't really there to enter data into a computer, or least that was not my primary purpose. I was there to greet and welcome people, show an interest in them. I think of this in relation to how we were trained in the Temple, we were to be "the face of the Temple", to welcome patrons and assist them in any way we could so they would feel Gods love for them, through us.

We are all , in a sense, called to be "Fishers of men."  Just this past week, I answered the Mission office phone and there was a man on the other end who wanted us to pass a referral on to the missionaries on behalf of his friend, who had accepted the invitation to have the missionaries come over and teach him. Moments like that are a treasure!  Or, the other day when two young Elders came into the office, looking sort of downcast, and were sitting with a slouched over appearance, but after a long visit with their Mission President, they both left smiling, heads up and shoulders back, and as they walked out the door, one of them turned back and thanked me for visiting with them while they waited. It touched my heart, I knew that I had done very little in reality, they were feeling better because of what their Mission President had said, but it had all worked together. 

I Love, love this picture! It was taken in the front entrance of the Mission home,  and was posted on the facebook page, "Mormons of Atlantic Canada,". Underneath it  was written, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace" (3 Ne 20:40) .  Do you notice how these shoes are getting a lot of miles put on them? Doesn't it make your heart melt, to see the shoes of these young Elders and Sisters. It does mine.

I was thinking about how the Savior, how wherever He went, people wanted to talk to Him, question Him, touch the hem of His clothes, draw strength  and healing from Him. He always had time for people, He had so much to give. I know that we are still mortals and so we get tired, but I am learning, again,  that we can be stretched, we can do more than we thought possible. It is not always a pleasant process, this stretching business, but God is there to help us along, and the results are pretty great.

It is a beautiful world that we live in, we have been blessed with an amazing gift, the knowledge of the Restoration, to know that God speaks to mankind, and has provided a Savior for us, so that we can repent and return.  

Here are some pictures of this beautiful corner of the world we live in right now. The top one is the view from the balcony of our second floor apartment, the second one is a duck pond we stopped by two weekends ago, for some fresh air. and the third one is down by the Harbor, were we went for lunch one Saturday

One last note about the yellow flowers.  I had seen these dead looking plants in a planter on our balcony, they were there when we arrived in September. I basically ignored them, as I do not have a green thumb and they stand a much better chance of survival if I just stay away!! Ha ha!  Anyways, I thought about uprooting them and throwing them out, as I thought that they were dead. Then the rains came and the brown stems turned green and began to sprout buds and one week, these pretty yellow flowers opened up. I was so surprised--- I love them, they remind me that you just never know what is inside of people, never give up on people in your life, in your family... there is beauty, waiting to blossom. Love to all!