"Even small fish are fish"
--- Czech proverb
If you ever need a quote, there is no shortage of fish quotes. The poetic mind seems obsessed with them. Most of my experience with fish has been after they've been cooked; even then, I've never been a big fan of seafood. When I was little, I had a couple of beta fish named "red" and "blue" and I've only been fishing a handful of times in my life. I'm no fisher, but I can be a fisher of men.
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THE THREE "CANALS" OF REYNOSA
Obispo Flores’ house was on the far west end of the Riveras area, just about as far from our house as we could get (See "Bishops and Shepherds"). As always, the only way we had to get around was by foot. Once we were in the adjacent neighborhood, to get to his, we had to scale a short makeshift wooden ladder up onto a dirt back-road that hugged a wide manmade canal. The log ladder was a shortcut that someone had left on a vacant dirt house lot and was extremely useful for getting around the barrier walled-off two-story houses. The lot and ladder saved us half a mile of walking around and backtracking in order to achieve the 100 feet between us and the canal. Obispo Flores lived on the other side of the canal which was only reasonably accessible from the dirt road by a white covered footbridge which saved us an additional mile of walking if we were to loop around by road.
When I think of river-like bodies of water in Reynosa, 3 come to mind. The first, if you want to call a canal is the "Rio Grande" which divides Mexico from the United States. The second is the Canal Anzalduas. And the third, which is where this story takes place, is the Canal Principal Guillermo Rodhe. These canals were different from all the others in the city, and by that, I mean that they were no small trickle of drain water because there were plenty of smaller streams throughout the city. These were the champions.
In a theoretical world, if all the bridges out of the city were snapped out of existence, most of Reynosa would need to cross the Canal Anzalduas before crossing the Rio Grande if they wanted to walk to the United States (some of Reynosa is already on the other side of the canal). I usually think of the Canal Anzalduas as the first river crossing to Texas. Both the Canal Anzalduas and the Rio Grande are approximately the same in width at about 200 feet across, not that it means they're equal in-depth or velocity. The Canal Anzalduas was actually closer to us than I previously thought at only .6 miles down the street from the Mission Offices. If we were able to walk in a straight line from there, it would have only been another half a mile at the shortest to get to the Rio Grande. When we finished our Missions, we drove across both "rivers" (See "Crossing the Mexican Border"). To give you an idea of how close these were, the Canal Anzalduas was only a quarter of a mile away from the Hospital where Elder Fortaleza and I went to in my story "On the Third Day"; incredibly close. Again, from the time we drove over the Canal Anzalduas, it was only half a mile later that we crossed the Rio Grande which was literally only about 60 seconds later. Besides going home to America, the only other times we crossed the Canal Anzalduas was to get to and from the large inter-city bus station and the "Centro" --- the "downtown marketplace" --- which were within half a mile of each other.
After some post-mission investigation on the internet, I discovered that the canal of which I speak, the canal which we had to cross to get to Obispo Flore's house was part of the Canal Principal Guillermo Rode. Beginning in 2013, the city of Reynosa began a multi-year "revestimiento" project which means "coating" or "lining" in English. This canal is enormous and so you'll understand that I say "manmade" but only parts of the canal are coated as per this city undertaking but it extends far beyond the city in length. It originates in a large lake called "El Azúcar" which translates as "Sugar Lake" in English, created by a manmade dam called "Presa Marte R. Gómez" and travels through the San Juan river. This dam is actually the 3rd largest in all of Mexico and was constructed in the 1930s as a countermeasure to the already prevalent flooding issues in the state of Tamaulipas; in 1949, the canal was inaugurated as a
source of water for the city. Sugar Lake is a popular bass fishing place and it's no wonder that some fish find their way downstream to Reynosa about 40 miles to the Southeast. The same "river" connects almost all the way down to Valle Hermoso another 40 miles away to the Southeast. And that doesn't take into account all the twists and turns and tributaries which make the river longer than 80 miles in length.
And so, we can assuredly believe that the entire length of the canal wasn't lined with concrete, but a great part of it that ran through Reynosa was. The part where this story takes place is in yellow on the map and was the first phase of the project completed which is why it was there by the time this story took place in the summer of 2015.
The videos below aren't exactly where this story takes place where our crossing was, but it's the same canal in the same city.
While many smaller canals were always swarming with some stagnant stinking sewage and garbage, this canal had a concrete bottom to contain all the clean water (relatively speaking) which ran through it. When the summer sun was out, the canal would naturally lower or dry out entirely, revealing the sidewalk-like floor underneath. As per the aforementioned rain and flooding habits prominent throughout the mission, after it rained, the canal would fill almost to the brim with several feet of clean water (maybe 10 to 15 feet deep); it was beautiful. The wide openness of the canal in the evening made for some picturesque orange sunsets near the calm glistening water. Every single sunset, every single night throughout the mission and especially in Reynosa, was always a gorgeous deep orange and red and sometimes purple gradient of the most amazing colored canvas sky you might ever see anywhere in the world.
On the evening of August 20, 2015, we were headed over early while the sun was still out to celebrate Hermana Flores' birthday. It had rained significantly earlier that morning and the canal waters were again flowing. We ran into three men casting fishing nets into the canal and hauling out decent quantities of small to medium-sized fish. I'm not an expert in fish, but since it's connected to Sugar Lake, I assume it was carp, or as the locals call them, "matalotes" which are "suckers". I was stunned at the ease with which they caught fish after every cast. Considering that I'd seen the bottom of the manmade canal before, I was amazed that fish somehow found their way from Sugar Lake to Reynosa
The photos above are the ones that I took of the day I passed by the canal on the way to Obispo Flores' house.
I thought of the scriptures when Christ is first assembling His Apostles and is walking along the coast. He sees Simon Peter and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea and says unto them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And they straightway left their nets and followed him.” (Matt. 4:18-20)
Three years after that fishing experience and call to Apostleship, these disciples in dismay return to the sea trade but find themselves struggling to catch fish. Jesus again stands on the shore and instructs them to “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find” (John 21:4-6). They do so and find an abundance of fish.
I joked with Elder Scott that we should tell them to cast their nets on the other side. We didn't do that but all joking aside, they were doing just fine. But like the disciples, I hoped that they’d leave their nets for a moment to hear the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We yelled across the canal and asked for permission to take a photo (I didn’t want them getting the wrong idea of being photographed by strangers) and we then went over to introduce ourselves. We talked to them a bit and got a close-up look at the fish. They were kind but they didn't seem to be much in a mood for conversation as they were focused on the fish. But what a reminder that was for me! Simple but profound. Focus on what matters most. Said Jesus to the fishermen, "lovest thou me more than these?" (See "Feed His Sheep")
FISHERS OF MEN
When Christ said, “I will make you Fishers of Men” to His disciples, He meant it. The prophet Jeremiah said Messianically:
“Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” (Jer. 16:16)
Fishers draw in net loads of fish with minimal effort as the fish come to them. Hunters have to work harder and seek after each individual catch. There are nations where missionary work is more challenging like a hunt for the one individual in a thousand who will listen. Other places, like Mexico, join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with each metaphorical cast of the net; spiritually speaking this is because many of them are descendants of the Lamanites from the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ and are of the House of Israel. You'll know that this is true as you realize that outside of the United States of America, Mexico is the country with the greatest number of members of the Church anywhere in the world. (See "An Intro to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints")
When I was about 14 or 15 years old, our group of Young Men went up to someone's cabin in the mountains of Utah. In front of his cabin was a decently sized pond that he'd populated with fish. The goal for the evening was for every Young Man to catch his own fish for dinner from the pond. He provided the poles and tutored us in casting the lines. There were about 2 or 3 of us casting at a time. Even though my dad's dad grew up with an affinity for fishing, it had been years since I had tried my hand, and even then, we didn't catch any fish when I was little. But on this occasion, I was one of the first ones to cast the line, successfully reeling in a fish about 20 to 30 seconds later! But, as each guy took his turn, the catching got harder. Why? Because the fish knew what was happening. I was lucky, but not every person got a fish. Now, in the mission, most of the people we'd met already knew of missionaries although I'd say most of them didn't know the message or understand it. At times, it felt difficult finding people who didn't already have their opinions about us, but when we did find that individual who wanted to listen to us, it made all the patient work worth it. Even in Mexico, I'd consider myself a hunter rather than a fisher.
The Apostles were fishers of men who brought many to the knowledge of the true redeemer, Jesus Christ. The prophet Abinadi in the Book of Mormon might be considered both a fisher and a hunter. He taught the people at large in secret but ultimately laid down his life as a final testimony against the wicked King Noah (Mos. 12-17). His words and sacrifice persuaded one of King Noah's men, Alma the elder, to forsake his ways, repent, and join the cause of the Lord, which had enormously positive repercussions in the long run as he baptized hundreds and became the next prophet (Mos. 18). It goes to show that every soul is great in the eyes of God. Even if Abinadi had only converted Alma, he would have been successful. The Lord sends forth both fishers and hunters and neither is of more worth than the other.
As Elder Brogan once said in the MTC, we were "fisher-naries" (See "Welcome to the MTC!"). But you don’t generally teach real investigators of the Church in the MTC, you just practice which is why I called it the “Empty Sea” (pun intended). Practice makes perfect. But the Lord is hastening His work and is calling everyone in the world to leave our nets and to follow Him. I can testify that "The field is white, already to harvest" (D&C 4:4). "The truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done".
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