It has been
an interesting weekend here in Loja. Friday morning was nice and warm, as we
were walking to El Sendero for lunch it was hot. One of the workers at Sendero
said it was going to storm. The sky did look weird. The air seemed to cool down
while we were eating and I put my sweater back on. Walking home just a few
sprinkles hit us.
About 15 minutes
after we arrived home I heard the sound of sleet. I ran up to the third floor
to look out the window to see what was going on. The children at the school
across the street were outside on the balconies, some screaming when the
lightning would hit. Thunder and lightning doesn’t happen here much.
It was quite
exciting, I ran up to the class room to see Terry taking pictures of the hail.
There was a loud boom and then lots of hail and rain. It was only a few minutes
until water was piling up and rushing toward the classroom. I took my shoes off
to help Terry clear the drain. You don’t go barefoot here. I wasn’t going to
ruin my good shoes so for the next five hours I was barefooted.
It was so
bad Terry couldn’t find the drain. We built dams of towels by the door and
swept the water down the stairs. The classroom is the only room with wood
floors, the rest are tile. I ran up and down the stairs into waterfalls cause
by the water pouring over the stairs to retrieve more towels. I built a couple
of dams by our apartment and the one next to us.
For an hour
we swept water down the stairs. The next five hours were spent cleaning up the
water we swept down the stairs. One of the guests who had spent the night was
helping us by using a dustpan and throwing water into the showers. Another
missionary came to our aid with a squeegee. We battled water with our brave crew
using what weapons we had, brooms, dustpans,towels, a squeegee, and mops.
The battle
of the Hail was over around seven and we all went back to our barracks to crash.
I found out later that several of the mission team were bailing out their homes.
The battle of the laundry is about to begin. We will take all the towels and
sheets to the laundry but first we have to dry them as the laundry charges by
the weight.
Yesterday we experienced four seasons in one day.
