{"id":868,"date":"2013-07-05T21:14:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T13:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/?p=868"},"modified":"2013-07-05T21:14:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T13:14:31","slug":"here-comes-the-rain-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/2013\/07\/05\/here-comes-the-rain-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Here comes the rain again…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our second trip to the village was to be a week long, with the goal of getting some maintenance done on the houses before our families moved back in.\u00a0 The area had been experiencing a lot of unusually dry weather so the trail remained dry enough for certain vehicles to get into the village.\u00a0 We decided to take advantage of this and hire our neighbouring village friend with the truck to haul in some building materials such as plywood, and some of the Eastons\u2019 belongings such as their mattresses and appliances.\u00a0 (Mattresses in particular are best not hauled in by water buffalo and sled in the midst of rainy season.) \u00a0My tribal friend, Gaton also came out to accompany us back in.\u00a0 It sounded like a grand plan, so we went forward with it.\u00a0 Then it happened\u2026<\/p>\n

As mentioned, the weather had been unusually dry up to this point.\u00a0 Normally we would be getting into rainy season here, which generally means you can count on a good down pour every afternoon by around 3 or 4 pm.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t happening this year.\u00a0 But the day Dennis and I travelled north to begin our trip into the village a low pressure system developed to the west of our island, Luzon and the forecast was promising lots and lots of rain for the coming week\u2026 while we were in the village.<\/p>\n

We loaded up the truck as planned that morning but as is often the case here, plans never go quite accordingly.\u00a0 By the time it was all said and done, it was 2 pm before we actually got on our way to the village.\u00a0 Although (technically) we were the ones who hired the truck, there\u2019s always a number of people from our village and surrounding area looking for the opportunity to either send cargo on the truck or catch a ride themselves.\u00a0 Such was the case this time and as we moved along, pausing at various points in town.\u00a0 The pile on the back of both stuff and people, seemed to increase with each stop.\u00a0 As we left town and headed into the hills we could see some wispy clouds to the west but nothing looked too ominous just yet.\u00a0 I could see though by the way our driver friend kept looking at the load and the sky and shaking his head that something was going to happen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After about an hour we reached the last leg of the journey, \u2018the Junction\u2019 as it is known by the locals.\u00a0 It is at this point where we turned off the main road (it certainly isn\u2019t a \u2018main road\u2019 by North American standards, but that\u2019s all relative) and started down the trail towards our village.\u00a0 Normally in the midst of dry season this leg of the journey can take about 45 minutes, provided there\u2019s no stopping and the trail is still in decent shape.\u00a0 As we climbed the first hill, I quickly noticed it must have rained at least once since our 1st<\/sup> trip as the trail was showing evidence of water gouging and wash out.\u00a0 I confirmed this with the driver who said it had rained just 4 days earlier, and he glanced out the window yet again at the now quickly darkening sky.<\/p>\n

I too, had begun to notice the clouds begin to build in from the west as we made our way from town to the Junction.\u00a0 I\u2019m always amazed at how quickly weather can change here in the tropics. You can go from a bright, sunny day to pouring rain in a matter of minutes, but fortunately we\u2019ve learned some of the tell-tale signs that indicate something is about to change in the weather.\u00a0 (Even then surprises do happen!)\u00a0 I texted Shannon to start praying for the rain to hold off until we arrived at our destination.\u00a0 As we drove down into the first valley along the trail I started to hear a distant rumbling and saw the occasional bolt of lightning in the now black horizon approaching us.<\/p>\n

We lightened our load slightly at the bottom in a tiny settlement of 4 houses, and I jumped out of the truck briefly to take a better look at the sky and see who was getting off.\u00a0 The driver motioned to me to get back in and on we went.\u00a0 It was a good thing he was driving and not me, as the long climb back up out of the valley was interesting to say the least.\u00a0 The trail was showing significant evidence of recent rain storms as we cradled and\/or swerved around deep crevices, all the while climbing upward and around several tight corners.\u00a0 I could see the driver focusing intensely as he gripped the steering wheel and swung it back and forth and we careened from one side of the trail to the other.\u00a0 We both knew that if he stalled out on the hill or got stuck in one of the wash out trenches we were done for and the ride was over.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The top was a welcome sight for us as we could now see our valley just beyond the next ridge.\u00a0 It also brought into view a now very, very dark and foreboding sky, ready to let loose on us at any moment.\u00a0 Thunder rolled around us and every few minutes lightning would strike.\u00a0 We just needed to get through the next valley, over the hill and down into our village and we would be safe and dry.\u00a0 Would we really make it down the still dusty and rugged trail before the sky gave way?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the top of the next ridge we stopped again to unload more passengers and cargo.\u00a0 This village was the last one before our final destination, but not our driver\u2019s.\u00a0 He was from this village here and was hoping to make it back there again today.\u00a0 I began to seriously doubt whether or not he would actually do it, or if we would even make it to our village in time as the wind suddenly picked up and I could literally feel the temperature drop.\u00a0 He hurriedly dealt with the ones being dropped off, mumbled a few words and we were on our way once again.\u00a0 The trail was rough enough, but it felt so much more now as we hastily bounced and jostled our way down the hill and across the valley.\u00a0 We were almost there\u2026 and then it really happened!<\/p>\n

We were only about a 5 minute ride from our village when the skies finally gave way and the rain came gushing down.\u00a0 So close, and yet not quite there!\u00a0 We soon stopped driving as the road became too slick and soupy.\u00a0 The one working wiper on the driver\u2019s side also couldn\u2019t keep up with the torrent of water flooding the windshield and so he couldn\u2019t see where he was going.\u00a0 We were also getting soaked inside the truck as the side door windows were stuck open and the handles missing.\u00a0 I happened to be sitting on the outside and Dennis was in the middle so you can guess which one of us took the brunt of the downpour.\u00a0 Our driver hopped out and yelled at Gaton over the deafening roar of the rain, who had been riding on the back of the truck with the cargo, to go to a house we had just passed to borrow a tarp so we could cover the cargo.\u00a0 Dennis and I figured that by this point though, everything was likely soaked through, including our bags with clothes and other personal belongings.\u00a0 Too bad!<\/p>\n

Within 20 minutes the rain slowed to a drizzle and the sun began to peek out from behind the grey clouds.\u00a0 Gaton found a tarp and arrived back at the truck shortly after Dennis and I left to walk the rest of the way into the village.\u00a0 It was only 1.5 km but the previously dusty dry trail was now a series of slippery little slopes covered with gooey muck that both clings to your footwear and makes you feel like you\u2019re sliding on ice all at the same time.\u00a0 We finally arrived and as we walked through the village to my house, greeting people as we went, we were met with smiles and chuckles.\u00a0 Everyone could tell we got caught in the rain and then the mud as they looked us over.\u00a0 We obviously stood out as we were a soggy, muddy looking couple of white guys.\u00a0 But we made it\u2026 almost unscathed!\u00a0 (The truck also made it the rest of the way to the village the following day, once the trail dried up a little.)<\/p>\n

As I say all this it reminds me of how \u2018fluid\u2019 our plans have to be as we work for the Lord here in the Philippines.\u00a0 We make our plans as we move forward, trusting Him to direct us.\u00a0 Proverbs 19:21 tells us that \u201cmany are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.\u201d\u00a0 How true this is as we seek Him each day.\u00a0 Our number one desire in all that we do should be to allow Him to fulfil His purpose through us.\u00a0 I may not understand at this moment what His purpose was in allowing us and our cargo to get completely soaked that day, but I can at least stand in awe at the beauty and majesty, and the awesome power of God that I saw as we drove along and observed the storm moving towards us.\u00a0 I can and certainly am very thankful for the distance we did get to with the truck.\u00a0 We had considered waiting an extra day, but we are very thankful the Lord gave us the insight and worked out the details so we could hire the truck to go when we did.<\/p>\n

To Him be all the glory!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our second trip to the village was to be a week long, with the goal of getting some maintenance done on the houses before our families moved back in.\u00a0 The area had been experiencing a lot of unusually dry weather so the trail remained dry enough for certain vehicles to get into the village.\u00a0 We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}