1. I remember the first time we had to make that 20 min. walk home from school in the rain. Now remember reader, we'd only been here in CR for about a month, and I was a gringo fresh from the States where I'd always enjoyed being dry when it rained. Amie and I had our umbrellas. The children (all three) were packed into our double stroller that thankfully came equipped with a plastic covering. I was grumpy, and was having to push the heavy, wet stroller with one hand and hold the umbrella with the other. I thought Amie was walking too slow, and I couldn't believe I was getting so wet. Horror of horrors, I was walking in the rain and getting wet. Oh, poor pampered gringo me, now joining the two-thirds of the world's population who don't have cars either.
What I've learned: The Lord has graciously helped me to be more tranquilo (relaxed, calm) since I've either walked to or from school in the rain dozens of times now. If you get wet, guess what..? you later dry off or change your clothes. The Lord showed (and shows) me just how up tight and self centered I can be. With the rain He also rained down His grace on me.
2. I remember one day we were leaving school and the bottom fell out. Cats and dogs, toads and frogs (as they say here). We were getting hammered with rain and had just begun our walk when we saw an older woman, and what appeared to be her 30 something year old son beckoning to us from within their garage. Amie looked back at me and shouted, "Should we go in?" to which I replied, "Absolutely!" Since we'd been in the country for months and we'd come to understand that hospitality is a big part of this culture, concerns like, "What if they're murderers who want to lure us in so they can kill us?" or "What if they're thieves who want to rob us and leave us for dead?" etc. etc. Those concerns just weren't there. Plus, we were really desperate. :-) So we ducked in and were greeted with grandmotherly kindness. He son brought us towels to dry off with and they invited us in showing us their house, paintings, offering us coffee, etc. until the rain died down. They turned out to be Christians and the father of the house was even a Gideon (those guys who pass out Bibles and/or leave them in hotel rooms).
What I learned: There are many things about this culture that I love that we have almost lost in our culture in the States. Trusting a stranger and having love for neighbor are almost lost due to fear. In some cases it is necessary to not totally trust a stranger, I understand that. But we've largely lost hospitality to strangers and/or neighbors. Thank you God for that family that took strangers in. I still see them occasionally and she greets me with a "Que Dios lo bendiga" (May God bless you). I think, "He already did through you."
3. I remember waiting for a taxi in the rain in front of the super market with arms full of groceries. I'd waited for one inside the plaza for at least 30 min. Occasionally one of those little red taxis will pull inside the plaza parking lot to see if there's anyone waiting for a ride in front of the store. Not that night. I'd waited until it had gotten dark and knew Amie was going to start worrying soon. So, I had to walk out to the street in the rain with what felt like 50 lbs. of groceries hanging off my arms. I didn't have an umbrella (you only forget it once, trust me) but even if I'd had it I wouldn't have been able to hold it and all the food too. So I'm getting drenched trying to flag one down, and I happened to notice that I was unwittingly humming a praise song. I though, "Wow, praise God! I'm singing to God in the midst of this." I finally got home. Wet, but happy.
What I learned: That God can make you joyous even while in unfavorable circumstances.
So going through all this rainy season wetness has really helped me. Would I have chosen this? Probably not, but I'm glad for the memories and the things the Lord has taught me. I guess there are just some things you can only learn while in the rain.
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