Rainbows, rain, and random observations

January 6, 2008

I have so many blog entries composed in my head, but we will see what actually comes out in writing. I find myself thinking in blog entries a lot. But usually I am in the car or in the situation and cannot record my thoughts and they are then forgotten by the time I sit down at the computer.

This past Wednesday I headed out to camp, looking forward to having time to hang out with the staff, run, sit by the river, and get refocused on my work. I delayed my departure twice because each time a heavy rain shower was falling. And I thought that the rainy season was over! When I finally left, I took the “back road” out of the city. (It actually reminds me of driving on random roads in FL trying to avoid the main thoroughfares.) As I headed away from the house and was on the road bordering a river, I was delighted to see a full rainbow in front of me. It was a beautiful scene – the rainbow, the green mountain, and then the white and gray clouds and fog hovering over all. Noah saw his rainbow at the end of 40 days of rain. Apparently my rainbow came at the beginning (though not of 40 days).

I arrived at camp to even more rain but I settled in and got to work. The electric kept going off and on so I did not do much as far as cooking that night. By 9:00 the electric went off for good. When I awoke the next morning it was still raining and since there was no electric and hence no hot water, I stayed in bed and skipped the run. That afternoon I went down into the town for dog food and for the second time I realized that it was good I have 4 wheel drive. Although the road had been smoothed out the week before, the day and a half of rain had created lots of mud and I was sliding even with the 4WD. Had I closed my eyes, I could have imagined that I was driving on snow. It was that afternoon that I decided to see about postponing my return to the city until Saturday. I wanted to give more time for the roads to dry out and I wanted to have as much time at camp as possible.

Thursday evening the staff gathered for worship and Bible Study and everyone came in their jackets and winter hats. I had gotten my lightweight fleece out on Wednesday because it did feel as if winter had actually set in. I was loving the “cold”. I could hardly believe it when I felt like it was cold enough that I might soon have circulation problems with my fingers.

Friday morning it was still raining but not as hard and there was electric so although I had no desire to get muddy, I forced myself to get up and go for a run. As I expected the run was not as bad as I imagined it would be. It reminded me of college days and the runs in the not so pleasant weather. I also realized that I should have learned to love the mud runs back then so that I would be more willing to get muddy these days. Later Friday morning I had some enlightening discussions with the staff that helped me to understand some of the views and mindsets of the people here in Honduras – but more on that later, probably in a newsletter.

Saturday morning dawned gray and drizzly once again but I took the opportunity to run and enjoyed pushing myself. For once I did not have to make the trip to the city alone and got to chat with a fellow missionary from a town 45 minutes south of Pinalejo. It was good to catch up and share insights on work since we are both doing similar things. Once in the city we temporarily parted ways and I did some apartment hunting and errands.

But in the evening a group of us got together for dinner and we had also planned to play Settler’s. The latter never happened because in keeping with the way of life here, we did not finish eating and clean up until almost 9:00PM. It was okay though because it was good to just chat too and share experiences and insights from books we were reading. As I sat there, I had to think about how often new friendships overseas (from my experience anyways) often get to heartfelt, meaningful discussions more quickly. I had met the couple only once in passing before last evening, but the four of us were able to sit and discuss the challenges of life and issues of faith after just a few hours of conversation. I have not had time to really think about whether my observation is true overall, but I am thankful that in a short time with new people we could not just talk but also share a little more of real life.