Thunderstorms…

It’s 4:30 on Friday afternoon. I’m sitting out listening to the rain and enjoying the cool breeze that accompanies it. It’s a wonder how simple things like a thunderstorm become enjoyable. The coolness the comes with the rain is as close to air conditioning as it gets over here. :) I feel like I should write something though provoking, but I’m not sure that I have much to say so I’ll just type and we’ll see.

The rain here in Guinea comes so suddenly, and when it comes its always big and boisterous. Never meek and calm. I don’t think its ever sprinkled or drizzled since I’ve been here. It’s always a big thunderstorm or heavy rain,  comes and passes on, but other times the rain just goes on for what seems like forever….never  trailing off. Like this storm that’s going on right now, I think it’ll last for a while.

Another interesting thing about the rain is that it always seems to slow time down. The raining has been falling for maybe 15 minutes or so but it feels like it’s gonna fall forever. –Commercial: just now there was a HUGE crack of thunder and flash of lightening…nothing like at home. It scared the mess outta me. My heart jumped and I almost threw the computer from my lap! The thunder and lightening here are amazingly beautiful but also dangerous. – Anyway back to my thoughts…So sometimes it feels like it’s going to rain forever, but the sun always comes back out again; at least it does here. Once the sun is out for a few minutes it doesn’t even seem like it was storming. The sun is out bright and hot as ever and we go back to our daily duties; happy for the rain to water and cool things down but glad it’s over.

I feel an analogy coming on… It’s kinda like life. A problem comes on all of a sudden; it’s strong and unrelenting. The problem feels like it’s never gonna go away and seems to last forever. Until one day the sun shines again, the problem is gone and our lives can go back to normal. While the problem is around we worry, pray, and wonder when it’ll go away. We get scared or do all we can to protect ourselves. Then once the problem goes away we get back to life as it once was, forgetting all about the problem we had. Why is it while we’re dealing with a problem we’re so concerned with it that we forget that trouble doesn’t last always. How quickly we forget that God won’t give us more than we can handle. Or that He allows problems to draw us closer to Him and refine our characters. Weeping may endure for a night but JOY comes in the morning. God doesn’t promise that problems won’t come or that they’ll be easy to deal with, but He does promise to provide a way of escape and to make us conquerors through Jesus.

Many times in the past I’ve been so engrossed in my problems that I can’t see beyond on them to the beautiful sun that’s coming. I’m learning little by little to deal with my problems and maybe one day I’ll learn to enjoy my problems, just as I’ve learned to enjoy the rainstorms here. If I look at my problems as an opportunity to grow, refine my character and draw closer to God maybe I won’t fret so much. If I’ve learned to enjoy the rain as a time of peace, reflection, and cool air :) then I can learn to at least deal with my problems. So thank you God for the problems and for the hard, unrelenting rain in Guinea!

~Alex~ aka Flematu (that’s my Susu name, but I’m not sure how you spell it. I’ll have to ask)

 

I meant to upload this pic a few posts back….these are Guinean Francs, the currency here. 1 USD = 5,100 GF approx. So I think this is like $100 dollars so that makes me like 1/2 millionaire in GF lol It was kinda hard getting used to thinking in huge amounts. Like a jar of jelly is 8,000 GF, which is like a dollar and some change. I bought a cell phone here…very basic phone… for 120,000 GF which is 24 dollars. Things seem cheap when you convert is to USD but I had to start thinking in Guinean Francs since cost of living is cheaper here I guess.

Yes we have a stove and oven! No we don’t HAVE to cook on coals. We’re technology savvy over here :) the only annoying thing is that orange regulator in the corner, that controls the flame and how high it is. Took me a while to get good at using it and controlling it well

 

Don’t laugh! that’s me walking to the village with Auntie Cathy. This picture is meant to show you how tall the grass is, it’s probably a lot taller by now. But by November/December it’ll all be gone because dry season will be coming and they’ll burn it all down for planting and stuff.