Ah, finally time to rest after a long day of being hot, sweaty, and getting situated in what would be our new home for the next couple of days. We would have three days of orientation, but as for now, we would sleep.
Earlier that day, we set up tents along a hill near the lakeside. It was hot, but we didn’t care; it was time to sleep. Flashlights went out, voices died down, and all was quite… that is until the rain began to pour in. “Just try to ignore it, go on sleeping, maybe it will stop.” It continued to rain.
The day earlier, on the way from the airport, we caught quite a rain as well. It rained so hard and so fast that after about 20 minutes the car tires were about three fourths of the way deep in water. Therefore, we knew what rain in the Philippines could do.
It was about 12:30pm and people who had set up their tents at the bottom of the hill where really starting to feel the effects of the rain. When I say that I mean most of their sleeping pads were literally floating. Luggage, clothes, sleeping bags, pillows, and books, at this point, were all soaked. The ones whose mothers had packed them 17 gallon sized zip-loc bags and swore they’d never use them, were now forever grateful! We began to evacuate the tents and haul all our luggage to a nearby hut. It was a good thing too, because it wasn’t long before the lake began to rise and almost halfway submerged many of the tents. For the most part, people got under the hut for shelter and just waited for 5:00am to roll around so the day could begin. On the other hand, there were a few lucky ones who were able to sleep through it all.
You might have gathered that we did not get much sleep that night, but after all is said and done, we simply continued on with the next day as planned. At the time it seemed like the worst thing that could have happened, but looking back we are all able to laugh about it now. God used that to remind us that it’s not about our stuff and it’s not about our comfort. We’re here for His glory and nothing else!