Water is Life

To the extent pride is a virtue (and President Benson taught "there is no such thing as righteous pride"), there is nothing that gives this Mormon more pride than the efforts of the Church Humanitarian Services (see a summary of those activities here).

Within those humanitarian efforts, there is perhaps no effort having greater impact than the Clean Water Initiative. This article gives specific examples of the blessing of "living water" in the lives of people of all faiths (and no faith) worldwide. Consider this statistic:

"The Clean Water Initiative began in 2002 with a single project in Laos. The program's budget grew 5,000 percent in 2003, and the next year it doubled again. By 2009, the Church had helped bring clean water to more than 4 million people in 63 nations. This year alone, the Clean Water Initiative will work on approximately 60 water projects in 30 countries."

I am pleased to know two great neighbors who are volunteer missionaries in the Clean Water Initiative. Truly a river runs through them.

President Thomas S. Monson - Prophet, Fly Fisher

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are prophets, seers, and revelators. President Thomas S. Monson has served as 16th president of the Church since February 3, 2008. Members of the Church have long been inspired, instructed, and entertained by President Monson's sermons. His love for people and his personal ministry of visiting individuals is legendary and exemplary. I love him for all those reasons...and at least one more:

His love of fly fishing! Consider this excerpt from an article about his life:

"He also had a cabin in Vivian Park on the Provo River, where the families would intermingle during the summers. Indeed, until he was in his mid-teens, President Monson spent most of July and August each year at Vivian Park. It was there he began a lifelong hobby of fishing. In time he graduated from the common fishing pole of his boyhood to sophisticated fly fishing. It is inferred that a highlight of his fishing career came in New Zealand when he and Wendell Mendenhall fished with a fly called 'Parson’s Glory.' Brother Monson’s reputation for truthfulness constrains us to believe his report that this outing yielded full limits of rainbow trout 'five pounds and over in size.'"

The picture below is of President Monson, the fly fishing prophet.