Monday, January 6, 2014

How strange African weather is...

Hey!
I have a real life story for you today. It happened yesterday at church. Hope you enjoy it!



---X---

Church was different yesterday...
Everything seemed calm when we arrived.
We sang as usual, we had our first break, sang, had our second break, sang, and the kids were sent to Sunday school. My dad got up with his translator and began his service. All was well...

Then it happened.

The clouds began to drip water, softly at first. Thunder clapped, and the giant tap in the heavens was opened in full blast!
Our church's roof is a tin roof so my dad had to move closer to the congregation to be heard. It was a futile move. His voice was swallowed by the water descending like bullets onto the roof. At first I thought it might be hail, but it wasn't. It was large, fast moving raindrops making the racket.

The rain was a surprise because during the first break, a hour earlier, I was thinking about how hot the sun felt on my pale skin. The sky had only been slightly clouded when we finished our second break. And now, twenty minutes later, you had to shout to speak to the person next to you.

I looked out of the glassless window next to me and watched water rushing over the soil in the garden. The tiny pathways were flooded up to the point that they looked like rushing rivers.
Minutes passed and we finally realized that the storm wasn't going to calm down soon. My dad talked to the elders and explained to them that he would continue his sermon next week. We picked up our Bibles and hymnals and walked to the door. Taking a deep breath we opened the door and ran the five meters to our car. We couldn't move too fast or we would slip and fall on the mud, and by the time I reached my car door I was soaking!

We drove to the house and was pleasantly surprised to find the man who lives with his family in the small apartment on our yard had opened the gate for us. We parked in the car port and went inside to change our clothes as fast as we could.

I was thinking afterwards, in the three and a half years we had been attending this church never once had it rained this hard. Sudden storms isn't something unheard of here but it had never happened while my dad was preaching before. And I hope that it won't happen again!

---X---

The brown next to the road is water rushing out of the half meter ditch

The road to our house


I'm really enjoying your comments on my last post. My brain is spinning with story ideas. I think it will be very possible to include everyone's ideas into one crazy story! :)

~DFTBA

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