It's Raining, it's pouring - but nobody is snoring!

Omar waiting for the rain to stop.

I write this through bleary sleep deprived eyes as yet again the heavens opened and a deluge fell on Cartagena, the thunder storm that preceded the downpour kept me awake from about 2.30am and then at 3am the rain started coming through the roof above my bed (I was [prepared with a waterproof cover over my sheets and the bin on standby!) this roof is part of the new building and has been “repaired” 3 times- the builder will be getting another call today! Then as the rain got heavier we came downstairs, about 4.30am, to check how the rest of the house was and found good news and bad news, the good news was the passageway that flooded into the lounge through the window the other week wasn’t filling up too badly and was still below the window, however the drainage hole in the bathroom was flooding back into the bathroom and out into the main room. Therefore we were found in the early hours sweeping water out of the house into the street! Although not as bad as last time, it was at a worse time of night for me as I tend to sleep late anyway so this took my total sleep time last night to 2 shifts of 1 ½ hours!

However, we always have to give thanks that our flooding problems are never as bad as the children or Señora Esther, our cook, whose house floods as a matter of course as it wasn’t well constructed. She arrived this morning saying that in the early morning the house was flooded up to shin level and as it is still raining now that will only increase. It is frustrating for her because there is nothing she can do to prevent it as the work that needs to be done on the house to make it flood proof costs over £1000 which she does not have. This problem is also preventing her from selling or renting the house so that she can move out of that area which is a very dangerous area and she is a single mother with an 11 year old daughter and elderly mother at home. Please pray for God to provide for this need.

The climax of the dance routine

Meanwhile the children continue to surprise us, when we expect to have many children come to things few turn up and when we are not expecting any, such as this morning with the rain, they all come!! We were not expecting any to come this morning however we have 8 here learning how to make bracelets, however during the earlier part of the week when we had glorious sunshine and IK teaching dance (a favourite of the kids) we had only 6 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon when 13 had signed up for each session! It is nice that they keep us on our toes but poor Esther never knows if she is feeding just us or the 5000! The other Friday attendance at the service was so low that we ended up eating the food she had prepared for the whole of the next week!! The low attendance to the services, both kids and youth, is concerning, the 2 weeks since Martin and Rosa left have been very low, 54 rather than the normal 74 average. This could just be due to the school holidays which also started at the same time as them leaving but please pray that it increases again and that those who have stopped coming do come back. When we have visited them they have all had excuses for why they didn’t come but none especially believable!