8/10/2010

Man, It's Been A Day!!

Today was a pretty great day. In many ways it was just a normal Tuesday. I got the kids up and sent them off to school, got myself ready and went and taught my English classes, had a parent teacher conference, it was nice. After school I gave one of the girls a haircut, we did homework, and just hung out for a while. Just like every other day at 4:00 we sorted and put away the laundry, and got uniforms ready for the next day, and THEN IT BEGAN. The heavens opened and there was the worst torrential downpour I have ever seen in my life. It rained EXTREMELY hard for about an hour and then as quick as it came it moved right along. The problem was, the clouds and the rain left but there were rivers of water EVERYWHERE.

Suyapa, one of the ladies on our staff walks about 45 min to and from work every day, and I couldn’t imagine her walking through all of the mud and water to get home, so I offered to take her home in my car. After the kids ate dinner, Junior, Suyapa, and I headed out to take her home. We were heading out of our neighborhood, when I had to drive through a part of the road that was completely covered by water. There was another car coming towards us, so I was going to move over to allow room for him to pass, and all the sudden my car started sliding. I slid right off the road, and into the ditch. The water was so deep, it started immediately pouring into the car. I tried going forward, tried going backward, and I was stuck, there was no moving, and my car was steadily filling with water. All I could do was pray. Within seconds, there were about 15 men surrounding my car. It was INCREDIBLE! Some of them were fathers of the kids in my classes at school, and some of them were complete strangers, but they all came together to pull me out of the ditch. It was overwhelming to see all of these men, some dressed in slacks and ties, others in sweats, some standing in water up to their knees and others in water up to their thighs, doing everything in their power to help.

To make a long story short, they got me out of the ditch and on my way. But my poor car got some major scrapes and bruises, and it’s REALLY wet on the inside. I maintained my cool pretty well until I passed one of the other teachers from school on the road and when I stopped to talk to him about it; I lost it and balled like a baby.


I came home did my best to dry my car out, hugged on my babies, and tucked them all into bed. When Jorge and Rosa got home, I was hungry and tired, but I thought I should head over to tell them about my car. When I got over there I found that the torrential downpour left them a gift as well. They had about two-three inches of water and mud covering the floor of their ENTIRE house. So I headed over to my house to grab a couple brooms and a mop to help clean up. When I walked in my front door I realized that while I was tucking the kids in Mirjam and Benjamin (our Danish volunteers) had been working hard. They had the table set and dinner made…what a blessing. We all headed over, helped Rosa and Jorge get the mud and water out of the house, and headed back home to eat dinner.

It’s been a long day, I’m exhausted and so very sad about my car, but yet again God has shown himself faithful. In a very stressful difficult situation, it was such a blessing to see the hand of The Lord at work. Today I’m praying that those 15 men will be extremely blessed for their willingness to help this gringa that got myself stuck in a ditch. J

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Sweet Rhonda - an amazing day indeed! Crazy thing is - there hasn't been a DROP of water here in Ceiba for days! Weird indeed! I'm sorry about your car, but am grateful you are safe. Prayers your way sweet friend!