Blessing / Curse,

How can something be both a blessing and a curse? Well here the rain is both.

It is a blessing in the sense that it cools everything off, waters the plants, provides water to the homes of families so that they don't have to haul or pay for it. It washed things clean and fresh as well as keeps down the dust. We all know the necessity of rain and I do thank God for providing.

It is a curse because of lack of adequate shelter, people and belonging get wet and cold. The rain here is cold cold cold! I mean it is a tropical climate and we have rain forest and are usually warm but our rain is freezing cold, no warm summer showers here. The vegetation has been stripped from the mountain and there is nothing to hold down the mud and it begins to slide. The dirt becomes saturated with water and the mud is very heavy and as it slides it grows and gathers rocks and speed and before long you have the side of the mountain sliding downward destroying every thing in its path.

Randy got a call this morning at six and Henry said that there were problems on the mountain and Sandra was going to lose her house. (When the rains come and the dirt is washed away it is a two fold problem. Houses are swept away by a wall of mud and rock or the ground literally washes out from under the homes and they "fall" down)

Well Randy went out early and with a dozen guys began to dig and move dirt and rocks, work on walls and pray. The work went well until it began to rain again. He sent me for plastic tarps from the house. The girls and I rushed up, changed from our Sunday clothes to our work clothes and hurried out to help.

We were soaked in seconds of leaving the car. It was so cold, but you are working so hard and trying to hurry that you don't really notice. We spread tarps as mud slid off the land above us splatting with a really gross sound all around.

We carried large rocks to lay on the tarps, you try to hurry but you either slip and slide all over the place or you get stuck in the mud and it sucks your shoes right off your feet. (It feels really icky ) Water drips in your eyes and you wipe your face without thinking and leave giant streaks of mud across your cheeks.

We dug with shovels and did what we could, I am still more than a little worried, but we did our best and I am praying that no one loses their homes tonight as I sit here listening to the rain that is still coming down a couple of hours later.

While the work was hard, the conditions wet and filthy, the attitudes and the sense of community and purpose were uplifting. Yes I was wet and cold, covered in mud, slipping and sliding all over the place, but I had a terrific time and loved working side by side with my children and husband to help save a families home.

Not a bad way to spend the Lord's day.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, the rain made it very difficult to capture the day.