I pray for rain?
I-I-I prayyy forr rain? Yes, that is right I have been praying for rain.
Living in the Northeast I am often traumatized by rain, so generally I do not pray for rain, but for the rain to stop. In the last few years we have skipped spring and gone right into monsoon season. There is no middle ground and often it rains for weeks on end before a day of sun. The rain often begins to ware on my mood, I think I notice it more as a teacher because rain means indoor recess and by golly those kids need the playground.
After 8 months of straight summer (this includes June. July, and August stateside), I have found myself praying for rain: the kind that brings the whole team together for a movie day in bed. The kind that is so hard and heavy that you can’t leave the house. The kind that is tranquil and serene.
I think that my route order was absolutely perfect. We have had such good luck weather wise. I think the climate has a lot to do with people’s opinions of a country and how they remember it. Malaysia was hot, hot, hot and muggy, there was often little escape from the heat, but we were blessed with a fan. Australia was dry and hot, we often escaped to the shade in our ENO’s, Vietnam was hot, but we had air con so I guess I didn’t notice as much. Cambodia was hot and again we would escape to the shade in our ENO’s. India brought spring like conditions and Nepal was warm during the day and freezing as soon as the sun went down.
I currently find myself in Africa, East Africa to be exact. Where it is rainy season. The rain is such a blessing here. It rains everyday and brings with it a breeze that cools the land. It is a rain that makes time stop for a few minutes. A rain that causes everything to fall silent and you to feel like you can hear your thoughts and finally breath again.
I am actually sitting here in our living room with my teammates blogging during just this kind of rainstorm and I am reflecting on the last 7 months. I am thinking about all the “Rain Days” of the race. I wonder if they stand out because they were so few or because they were so special, nonetheless I thought I would share them with you:
1. We arrived in Malaysia after hour and hours of travel, to a complete washout. It was 6 A.M. and pouring. We all thought, “Hhherree wee goo.” My team and I hopped on a bus and headed to Changlun where we would all slip into some form of a coma for the next 7 hours.
2. One afternoon on a walk to MarryBrown’s for Wi-Fi, Emily, Alex, and I were caught in a torrential downpour. We skipped and laughed the rest of the way there.
3. On an outing one weekend where a pastor invited us to a “Waterfall” for a BBQ we soon found ourselves surprised by an afternoon rain shower. We ate wet meat and danced in the river.
4. On our first weekend in Australia we were invited to join 2 other teams at the YWAM base for a pool party. We had so much fun climbing into the hammock above the pool and flipping out into the pool, making a whirlpool, and eating chocolate during a rainstorm.
5. Our last night in Australia our team did a night watch, we each took a different hour of the night to pray and worship. Around 3 A.M. the rain started like I had never experienced. Lightening streaked the sky and thunder boomed. We had done some last minute laundry and we had 3 rows of clothes “drying.” We all ended up outside gathering the soaked clothes and watching the storm.
6. It rained once while we were in Ho Chi Minh City. I was headed to the market with Emily and Natalie for some bargaining. Then Nat and I sat and chatted over coffee at the swing bar.
7. We went on a camping trip with another team our last weekend in Vietnam. It poured the entire night. Some people slept in their ENO’s; they tried to hold out before crawling into a tent with a loving teammate. If you ever meet Emily Zimmerman be sure to ask her about this night, reference “Sandwich,” I think it was her favorite night of the race.
8. My favorite rainstorm was our first day in Phnom Penh. I was so tired and it was torrential out. I lay in bed with Alexa talking about the last 3 months, hearing her stories, and then we watched Christmas movies for the rest of the night. (I slept through most of the movies.)
It really didn’t rain at all the rest of Cambodia or India.
9. In Nepal we were at the rural village and we had a 3-hour hike back to our “Homebase.” We trekked back across 13 rivers in the rain. Hannah and I were walking buddies.
10. One morning 33 (Americans, Aussies, and Locals) boarded 3 jeeps and headed up 6000ft. We swerved and curved our way to the top. We finally reached our destination 14ish hours later after getting stuck in waste deep mud puddles and a broken axle. My favorite part of this day was after we drove upstream and stopped for breakfast. I was so excited for our trek I just wanted to chest bump. So I said, “Hey Samson, wanna chest bump? Be gentle.” So we did and I ricocheted right off into a puddle mud and we all laughed and laughed.
Some of my favorite rainy memories of my life happened while a training camp. So here are two more:
Our first night it was torrents of rain and we had to run from the auditorium to the gym and we all leaped and galloped with such joy. Some peoples knew right away their tents weren’t made for the race because they arrived back to find their tents filled with water.
My all time favorite rain event was the “Shower.” The night our squad slept on the bus it was also a downpour. We grabbed some soap and shampoo and washed in the rain and the gutters. I don’t know if a group of people has ever experienced more joy in the rain.
I hope you enjoyed these tales and I am glad you got to experience the rain with me.
