Fishers of Men

I will make you fishers of men.
Mark 1:17
The Lord will remember those on the isles of the sea.
1 Nephi 19:16

 These scriptures mean a lot more in a country like Kiribati, where their life depends on fishing.  They work to find the fish.  So do we.  But our catching is to bring them to a better place in this life, as well as the next.

Nets are two types: those you string out in a line and those you throw.  The yellow floats keep the top of the net at the surface, the    dark little lead weights stretch the net to the bottom.

 Elder Bush demonstrates the art of throwing the other kind of net that is a circle with weights all around the edge.  The net falls on top of the fish, with the edges wrapping around them.
A fisherman who showed us how to fold the edge of the net into the left hand and put folds of the net on the left shoulder made it look easy.
It took a couple of tries, but I got a good cast.

 Elders Whippy and Mickelsen get back on the boat after visiting North Tarawa.  Penisula, carrying the sleeping mat, was the boat captain and is the materials management manager at the service center.  He is also a bishop of one of the Teaorereke wards.

We have to wade ashore from the boat and back out.  Depending on the tide, the walk through the water can be 20 yards or 400 yards.

Elder Bush carries the bag for one of the elders as we brought Elder Falke and  Elder Kakau in from Abaiang.

A local fisherman in his homemade fishing outrigger, with sail. 

Below, we see the "garage" for a fishing boat.

 Elder Mickelsen found the boat trips to islands aren't always drenched in sunshine.  It rained the whole way back from North Tarawa.  With rough water, it took about 1 1/2 hours.

 Elder Whippy enjoyed even the rain.

 Sister Tieke and Sister Balenecagi  had their investigators baptized in the ocean right in back of our flat at low tide.

Some fishing is the familiar pole and line fishing we are used to in Idaho.

Whether one at a time, or families, we fish for the souls of men to bring them to Christ in a fuller way, with eternal progression for them as the reward.

After a long day, fishermen return with fruit of their labors to sustain their families.  Fishing for men, we help them sustain their families for eternity with the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.