Musings on the last rainy day of the year...

When Tete is cloudy we smile...

When I arrived from my week-long committee meetings in Pretoria, South Africa, the pilot announced 37C/98F as the temperature in Tete. Since I'm used to thinking that 38C is hot; I was immediately thunked into reality when I exited the plane: 37C is hot, too! I couldn't help but smile.

The feeling of pervading warmth is not completely unpleasant. There is some degree of wonder in the whole experience. You are embraced with a kind of cushion of heat. You breathe in air that is the same temperature as the breath you exhale. A breeze doesn't cool you, but is just the same temperature as your sweat... which you don't really feel because it actually body temperature. When the novelty wears off, you just want to move out of this feeling of unity with the air around you. But, alas, there is no where to go...

That was on Friday afternoon around 3pm. On Saturday morning we awoke to surprising showers of blessing. Dripping blending with birdsong. The steady, soft sounds cool the morning and for an hour or so, the thirst of the Earth is quenched. Later in the afternoon we are out near the airport again-- this time for a child's birthday party. The sun peeks through the clouds and we marvel at the way there is never a FULL cloudy day in Tete. The sun always shines sometime in a day.

On Sunday we drive to church under gray skies again. We pass the cathedral where the faithful were leaving the first mass with palm branches. It was lovely to see that tradition carried on through the years as we are reminded how Jesus was welcomed as a king one week and condemned to die less than a week later. There is so much to be thankful for... the freedom to celebrate Jesus... the evidence of His message being spread around the world... the rain that refreshes and the heat that amazes...


More showers lightly sprinkled our car during the service. There was sun again in the afternoon. Today is gray with a few persistent raindrops... but the laundry will dry on the line by afternoon because the sun will come out; it always does in Tete.