When all Hail broke loose

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.