Islander winner being carried by fans; Video: Our street during a rain (not at its heaviest))We were told when we arrived that we were coming near the end of rainy season, but our first weeks here we didn’t see much rain. It was hot and sticky, but the skies were blue. Occasionally a small cloudburst would drop a bit of relief, but it would only last a short time before the sun returned and dried up the puddles. This week has been different. This week it has rained. It has rained every day this week and except for a short two-day reprieve it has rained for almost two weeks straight.
The rain has been steady and heavy, letting up for only short amounts of time. The days have been dim and dreary, with only brief appearances from the sun, which as soon as it appears, is quickly swallowed up again by dark black clouds. The rain is indifferent to the time of day; morning, evening, day and night, it falls. Sometimes it falls tremendously hard. At times the storms have included such violent thunder that the entire house shook. Our street becomes a raging river during the storms, and for some time after the water runs down past our house and down the incline of our road (we live on a slight hill) until it empties out into the ocean. Then at other times it is more of a gentle drizzle that lingers for hours with dark gray skies.
We had a chance to experience th
e rain first hand this past Sunday as we helped with the staging of the first ever, official Island marathon. We had the fun job of pulling the numbers off weary runners at the finish line. This was not at all a bad job until the rain really started to pour. Before long we were completely drenched from head to toe. But this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the islanders or the spirits of the runners. Many people came out to cheer and enjoy the spectacle and the runners ran despite the driving rain. Some of the runners ran until their cheap shoes fell off. Some ran the entire way with socks and plastic sandals. Some were so weary crossing the finish line that they were carried away for medical attention. Others pretended to be weary so that they could drape their arms over our female teammates. (When else would it be culturally appropriate and possible to get away with having your arms around two young unmarried foreign women?) But everyone seemed to have a good time, and you could tell that t
here was a lot of pride that their little island was able to put on an event like this.PRAYERS ANSWERED
The marathon went really well, despite the rain. Our language learning continues and our attitudes continue to be good, despite the rain. Grace and the rest of us are doing well health-wise, despite the rain. We had a nice Easter, spending time together singing, praying and celebrating as a team. We have found a cybercafe near our home that has high speed internet (when the server is working)- so suddenly we are be able to do bigger pictures and even video via email and blog.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
The rain has been hard on our language walks. It’s hard to schedule Grace’s naps with breaks in the rain, and even when we do get out, there are far fewer people hanging around when the roads are wet and everything is dripping. Pray that we find time to practice and people to talk to so that our language learning will continue to grow. Our team leaders’ neighbors have been unable to get pregnant. Pray that through our prayers God will work a miracle and reveal himself through a baby. (He’s done similar things before.)
