"Anyone can be a fisherman in May."

-Santiago, in Hemingway's epic novella, "The Old Man and the Sea."

This week has been quite wonderful compared to the discouragement of last week. The weather has been incredible the last three days. It rained for a few days last week and cleared the air of the dust and haze, leaving us high fall clouds, a great view of the mountains, and temperatures about as perfect as they can be. But there's more than the weather to be thankful for today.

Tuesday afternoon I took a trip downtown to talk to some fishing shop owners. I'd passed these little shops before and wanted to stop in to find out where I had to go to do some trout fishing. The first shop I entered looked pretty good, had a wide selection, but nobody in the store paid me any attention. So I shook a little dust off the ole feet and went to the next shop. As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by two different people who were very eager to talk to me, even though I told them I didn't want to buy anything. When I asked about trout fishing, I got a few answers and a few confused looks. But again, these people were super helpful. They went and got the shop owner from his home to come talk to me. He came, bringing a map of the area, and sat down to talk with me. He told me about a few different places that were good and a few places to avoid. He also told me of a fishing shop on the way to the mountains that sold fly fishing gear. It was ran by a former employee of his. He called the guy up to see how things were doing and to tell him that he had an American friend there (yes, he called me his friend) who wanted to trout fish. He asked if he had all the necessary equipment and when the best time for me to go would be. When I was ready to leave, the shop keeper gave me his personal business card, an invitation to call anytime I needed anything, the name and number of his friend, and he walked me to the door. I never bought or acted like I was going to buy anything, he was just helpful for the sake of being helpful.

It's exciting to mix the things I love the most, preaching the Gospel and being outside. I will go see the shop keeper again, and hopefully if the Lord is willing, I will share with him. Transitioning from fishing to the Gospel is about as easy as it gets. And if I do visit his friend, it would totally appropriate in this culture to stay overnight. You know, there's no way I could spend the night in someone's house, talking about fishing, and not get to the Gospel somehow. I have said it before in the last few weeks, but really, now I feel like I am doing what I came to do. These types of opportunities are what I've been praying for and now they've been given to me. Pray that I take full advantage of it and follow the Spirit's leading in these relationships (there you go Shea).

The whole experience made me well up with pride too, I must admit. I have never met a group of people more fun to be around, more helpful, and more willing to just sit and talk, than fisherman. I will be the first one to tell you that you can't believe half of what a fisherman tells you (which is why you shouldn't believe half of what I say). But what they lack in accuracy, they make up for in volume. I don't care who it is, where it is, or what it is about, a fisherman has a story that is related, and I promise you, it's better than the last one that was told. We're always trying to out-do each other, that's why the fish get bigger everytime we tell the same story. We're not catching bigger fish, so we just make the fish we have caught a little bigger. I think God understands. Not only does He understand, he appreciates it. Nothing proves that to me more than reading about Jesus calling his disciples. It is commonly agreed upon that James and John (the "Sons of Thunder") and Cephas (aka Simon and/or Peter) were part of Jesus' inner circle. They were the Apostles that were closest to Jesus during his time on earth. John refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," Peter was the one who walked on the water and who was nicknamed "the Rock" for his confession of the Christ (he's not the Pope guys, let it go), and the three of them witnessed the Transfiguration (which has to be one of the coolest moments in all of history). But you know what else these three have in common? According to Matt. 4, they were all fishermen! That's right, Jesus started this whole show with a bunch of fishermen. So I feel that I'm in good company.

Anyhow, I don't know when I'll actually make it up there to fish, since it's about two hours away and I don't have access to a car. The guy said the best time to go would be in March or April, which is typically the best time for trout fishing. But I may have to go sooner. I'm dying to do some fishing and honestly, I have something to prove. I've been on four different continents and have caught fish on two of them so far (didn't get to fish in Europe yet). But even besides just catching fish in a different place, Santiagos words are true. I need to catch fish in the fall and in the winter, because anyone can be a fisherman in may.