Be ye fishers of men
by Kiona Forsyth / ga02172007

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hears only" James 1:22
 

Our spiritual thought was based on the quote by Elder Bednar from a recent CES address.  "We are all familiar with the adage that giving a man a fish feeds him for one meal.  Teaching the man to fish, on the other hand, feeds him for a lifetime.

As gospel instructors, you and I are not in the business of distributing fish; rather, our work is to help individuals learn to "fish" and to become spiritually self-reliant.  Experience has enabled me to understand that an answer given by another person usually is not remembered for very long, if remembered at all. But an answer we discover or obtain through the exercise of faith, typically, is retained for a lifetime. The most important
learnings of life are caught-not taught.

This is what we felt the Spirit had prompted us to teach about tonight helping you teach the children how to catch"

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Each member of the presidency then presented one of the following:

Are my "fish" together? - We talked about unity in our classrooms and how fish follow in schools and how we can keep our children together.

Do I have the right tools to "fish"? -  Having the right tools and what they are used for [Fishing pole, hook, baits and lures]. One of the focuses was music in the classroom.

How do I fish? - Now you have the "Tools" to fish - How do I fish or teach the children how to catch? We talked about different "Casting" methods.  Choosing appropriate teaching methods. We asked the teachers of different was they are helping the children to "catch" in their classroom.

We used examples from the "Teaching, No Greater Call" and had our Chorister there to help with the music in the classroom.

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- Our invitations were GAK picture #209 "Calling the Fishermen" with an overlay of Velum listing the pertinent info for the evening (date, time, etc.)

- For "treats" we had artichoke dip with Large Goldfish to dip, Swedish fish and chocolate dipped strawberries.

- One of the counselors' did a great handout with a stamp of a fish on one side and the quote from Elder Bednar on the other folded in half with a small package of Swedish fish in the middle.