Parable of the Monkey and the Fish

I love this little parable. We use it a lot at Vision for Chile, but I had a chance to share it to others today as well.

A typhoon had temporarily stranded a monkey on an island. In a secure, protected place on the shore, while waiting for the raging waters to recede, he spotted a fish swimming against the current. It seemed obvious to the monkey that the fish was struggling and in need of assistance. Being of kind heart, the monkey resolved to help the fish.

A tree precariously dangled over the spot where the fish seemed to be struggling. At considerable risk to himself, the monkey moved far out on a limb, reached down and snatched the fish from the threatening waters. Immediately scurrying back to the safety of his shelter, he carefully laid the fish on dry ground. For a few moments the fish showed excitement, but soon settled into a peaceful rest.

Joy and satisfaction swelled inside the monkey. He had successfully helped another creature.

--Duane Elmer, in "Cross-Cultural Servanthood"

My Visit to Puerto Octay, Chile

This past weekend I was able to travel to a Christian missionary community in Puerto Octay. I was very blessed with the contact with other Anabaptists, and was quite enamered with their church for various reasons. Overall it was like trying on a pair of well fitting shoes; I felt very at home.

I arrived Friday evening and Davids', just in time for supper. Wendells were over for supper as it happened and I was able to get to know them right away. Later, one of the local Pentecostal ministers, Luis (with whom David and Guillermo work) and we had a Spanish singing.

Wendells are newly come down to the community from the States, and are still getting their "sea-legs". I showed Wendell how to spell his name phonetically in Spanish: Hüendl, since the English W sound is so difficult for Spanish speakers to grasp.

Most of Saturday, I helped David with a flat bottomed boat he's working on. They are so close to the lake that I really thought how wonderful it would be to have one of my kayaks close by.

That evening I had supper over at Breneman's. They expressed a lot of interest in Vision for Chile's ministry and it turns out that they themselves are very involved with the local girls home in Osorno. We discussed the need of many of the girls to have a stepping stone from their government supported living arrangements in the orphanages to finding jobs and living arrangements; the government cuts off support when they turn 18. Vision for Chile is working on an arrangement in Santiago for the La Granja girls orphange, via House of Hopw and it seems that some arrangement maybe could be made for the Osorno girls orphanage, by the Puerto Octay colony. This is something to pray about.

Yesterday morning Konrad S led Sunday School and Conrad Goodwin brought the message. The service is held entirely in Spanish including hymn singing. After church, Martins invited me, Kondrad S, Bertha & Guillermo and Radford and Abigail over for dinner. I really enjoyed this time of fellowship. All the food there was good home style "Dutch" cooking which I haven't ever seen down in Chile before. Marla served strawberry pie which was quite a treat.

When I returned to Davids, they were planning a trip out to the beach on Centinela Peninsula. The day was capped by an English singing and supper over at Wendells. Radford and Abigail needed to leave for Santiago and I accompanied them as far as Osorno to catch their bus.

The One That Got Away?

Matt 4:19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

I don't pretend to be any better at this than anyone else. In fact, I think I spend most of my time cutting bait, -I work in the administrative side of missionary work.
[img]http://naturalpatriot.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/trout-fishing-in-tasmania.jpg[/img]
I observed in the back trail of a forum thread, something like this: A fish swam into a certain part of the stream that we all felt pretty familiar with. This fish was looking for something. Instead of taking the oportunity to try to lure this fish in, someone began hitting the water surface with fishing poles saying "Bad fish, bad fish!" When somebody objected to this technique of hitting the surface of the water with fishig poles, we commensed on hitting each other with our poles. I'm sure the fish was very impressed with that. :roll:
[img]http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Hdgs_Fishing.gif[/img]
I don't know if the fish was really interesting in nibbling any serious lures, however, I have to wonder how long before she will show interest again, if ever. I think she's made up her mind this is a crazy part of the river. She might nibble again at some lure; who knows maybe someday a Buddist lure or Wicca? Maybe after she's been beat around the rougher parts of the river for lets say 20 more years, she may even return to a similar part of the river.
[img]http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/idaho/images/s/idaho-fly-fishing.jpg[/img]
I'm just wondering, Jesus was the master fisherman; I know it's a cliché, but WWJD?