Winter is Here

“Winter “ is officially here. We had a major thunder and lightning storm with rain last night that knocked out the power. I loved lying there in bed listening to the heavy rain but I wondered how it was affecting the villages and mud huts. The rain let up long enough to walk to church this morning but started up again shortly after the service started. The congregation of 800 meets outside under a semi built shelter. Tall poles hold up a tin roof and the sides are open so we had full view of the torrent of rain belting us from the side. Rivers of water rushed in under our feet and we had to tie the ends of our dresses up to keep from getting wet. The goats grazing just a few yards from the building looked longingly at our shelter but refused to join us, opting instead to cuddle up next to the brick fence. It also got really cold (for Africa anyway) but I was lucky and had one of the young girls fall asleep on my lap for the entire service so we both kept pretty warm. We left at 2pm and it was still raining hard. The streets had turned into flowing red rivers and there was a power line down that blocked our way home. A few detours later we made it to the house soaking wet but thankful that we didn’t live in a mud hut. I stepped outside after lunch and promptly introduced my rear to the hard cement - wet red clay makes a surface slicker than snot, lol. It is 6pm right now and still raining….I don’t think we will be going anywhere tonight.