Elder Derek Knighton

July 28, 2014

This has been a great week! we have been able to meet several new people, and have great visits with those that we have been seeing for weeks! This sunday was a very unique sunday, and i just wanted to talk about some of the remarks that one young woman said in sacrament meeting. They are something i want to be able to remember for the rest of my mission! So, on sunday there were 4! farewells! 2 in both of the wards that we cover, its an amazing thing to see so many young people leaving on missions, and remember that not long ago that was me! Anyways in 22nd ward, one girl spoke, who was not leaving on a mission, she is seventeen so she was just a youth speaker, and spoke before anyone else.  She told the story of a man who took his young family fishing for the first time. This man loved to fish, and wanted his family to follow in his footsteps. They were out there for hours, and he didnt catch anything. he was too busy untangling fishing line, tying on lures, and helping his family. He had very little time to fish himself, and caught nothing. As they were leaving another man asked if they caught anything, and with a smile he replied that they had not. This man had been there as long as they had and had caught quite a few fish, and asked the man how he felt about not catching any, being puzzled by the smile that the man had. The man replied "unfortunately there are times when we don't catch any fish. The important thing is to just enjoy the fishing." The girl in sacrament meeting that told this story then related it to missionary work, and said that Fishing doesnt always imply catching, And as missionaries, or "fishers of men", we might not end up doing a lot of catching, but as servants of the lord, the important thing is to enjoy the work that we are doing, "enjoy the fishing!" i want to be able to remember that, because it is very true! as nice as it is to catch, we might not always be catching. but as long as we are in the service of God, we should always enjoy the fishing! i know that is kind of a simple thought, but as a missionary it can sometimes be hard to stay positive, and this was a really good message for me to remember that it is in the lords hands, and we should be happy doing his work, and even if we don't always have success, finding joy in the fishing is success by itself in my opinion, just a different kind. it is personal success, because you are finding joy in serving the lord. i love you guys!! have a great week!!! :D i hope everyone is doing well!

Derek Knighton!