He had us in stitches at the dinner table last night!  Been at Shiloh for nearly a week now.  We love this man to pieces.  He's a very strong believer, a fearless witness for our Lord, kind, interested in people, helpful, just a tremendous person.  And what a wonderful story teller.  He's been in many parts of the world.  Been everywhere.  Seen everything.  Done everything.  And knows how to capture and hold the attention of his audience. 

This is a true story.  Happened some years ago up in the Far North of Cameroon where he lives.  In their area the villagers hate monkeys.  Bands of monkeys come through the area and really wreak havoc with the crops.  So the solution is to have dogs.  Every farmer has his dog.  Fierce hunting dogs.  They tie a bell around the neck of their dogs so they don't loose track of them when they are out in the bush hunting for wild game.  Monkeys learn early in life that the sound of a bell (clang, clang, clang) means one thing.  A dog is chasing them.  They  fear dogs more than almost anything else.  

One farmer was so frustrated with the monkeys ruining his crops that he decided to do something about it.  Fashioned a trap out of wire.  Set the trap near his field of corn.  Sure enough, he captured a monkey!  This clever farmer tied a bell around the neck of his prisoner, and then released him back to the wild.  Off ran the monkey, happy to be free again.  Clang, clang, clang rang his bell.  He soon caught up with his particular band of monkeys.  You know, his brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, the whole gang.  Problem was, when the band of monkeys heard the clang, clang, clang of his bell, they took off running for all they were worth.  They never stopped to investigate.  Why bother?  Monkeys know that sound means a dog is chasing them, and nothing else.  

About this time, a man from a distant village took off walking towards the farmer's village.  He needed to see a man from that village about something.  When he was deep in the forest, suddenly a band of monkeys rushed past him.  And running for all he was worth right behind them was a monkey with a bell around his neck, of all things!  (Clang, clang, clang.)  The band of monkeys raced high up into the trees to get away from the "dog".  Problem was, no matter how many trees they ran up into, and how many trees they ran down from, or how far or how fast they ran on the ground, the "dog" was clang, clang, clanging along behind them.  The man watched in utter amazement as this little drama played out in front of his eyes.  Finally the band of monkeys and their clanging companion disappeared over the horizon and the man continued on his journey.  Later on, when he reached the village, he told the villagers what he had witnessed.  How could a bell get around the neck of a monkey???  The farmer came forwarded and admitted that he was the one who had done it.  And to this day, the monkeys have never come back to his farm to steal his crops!