Sept. 24, 2018 ~ The Bee is Honored Because She Labors for Others (Week 63)

I have taken up beekeeping with a less active member.
I LOVE IT AND I WANT MY OWN BEE FARM…
They (the bees) are nice if you're nice!

“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.” (Saint John Chrysostom)

Elder M. Russell Ballard said, “It is estimated that to produce just one pound… of honey, the average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world… a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon. Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s (contribution) of honey is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees to do becomes lighter because all of the bees faithfully do their part…

(Like the honeybee,) great things are brought about and burdens are lightened through the efforts of many hands “anxiously engaged in a good cause” (D&C 58:27)… Imagine what good we can do in the world if we all join together, united as followers of Christ, anxiously and busily responding to the needs of others and serving those around us—our families, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow citizens… As the Epistle of James notes, service is the very definition of pure religion (see James 1:27) … simple, daily acts of service may not seem like much in and of themselves, but when considered collectively they become just like the one-twelfth teaspoon of honey contributed by a single bee to the hive. There is power in our love for God and for His children, and when that love is tangibly manifest in millions of acts of Christian kindness, it will sweeten and nourish the world with the life-sustaining nectar of faith, hope, and charity…

In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children. Then go throughout the day with your heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. Stay focused, just like the honeybees focus on the flowers... If you do this, your spiritual sensitivities will be enlarged and you will discover opportunities to serve that you never before realized were possible.”

(Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Be Anxiously Engaged”, General Conference, October 2012)

Abuelo (Grandpa) Clemente.

The girls are a family we are teaching... the Alvarados.

They came to church and loved it.

The little girl in front looks at me at church and then said,

"You are hella pretty"… and I died laughing. I love their family.

We invited them all to be baptized on Wednesday and they said no but they still want to learn more so please pray that they will say yes and get baptized!