I can guarantee you that none of the people in the mountain villages have taken a bath or washed their hair this week – including me! Let me tell you why.
We drove into BYT on Monday morning, leaving warm windy weather. As we got up higher in the mountains we found ourselves socked in by heavy dark clouds and fog. Whether the water on the windshield came from the wet leaves on the trees, or from the fog, we did not know, but the fact of the matter was that things were getting wet. We hesitated at the beginning of the shortcut because if some of those narrow, cliff-cambered, rutted roads were wet, it would have to be considered suicide to go that way.
However, if you had lived here for 6 years, you would think as we do – that this is the dry season and we do not get rain in January, so down we went. It was 45 mins of tense driving though, because going straight down hill, around sharp corners on a hand made narrow pathway, where your left tires must ride partway up the bank to avoid going over the cliff with the right tires, you cannot afford to make one little slip with those tires. Put that together with the fog factor and dripping leaves and you have a highly dangerous situation. BletJhaw is a really good driver out here because he prays his way along and God does incredible things to get us home safely. This time is no exception – we arrived home safely. Not long after we arrived at the house it began to rain!!! So many times the Lord gets us home before He allows the rain to come!! It is always time to praise the Lord!
Now it is raining just like rainy season, night and day for 4 days. (INCREDULOUS)! It is bitter cold and windy. We have no thermometer, no running hot water, no fireplace, no heat. All day long you can see your breath in the house. The only way to keep warm enough is to drink boiling water, go to bed under a pile of blankets, or play with 9 year old NauTee, jumping wildly while batting a balloon back and forth. We have time for this because not many patients are braving it out in this weather.