Random Thoughts

Elections were today.  The people I talked to said the lines were long.  At one site, they waited in line four hours to vote.  At another they waited three.  But they voted.  Now the polls are closed and the counting has started.  The TV stations are broadcasting the counting of the votes from the major areas of Guatemala.  The people counting are sitting around the table.  One person unfolds the ballot and hands it to another man who announces which party was chosen.  That vote is tallied and the ballot is then handed to someone else.  They expect the counting to be done by midnight or 1 am.  The ballots here show the pictures of the candidates along with their party logo.  People vote by writing an X across the party chosen.  People going to vote are also fingerprinted.  Most likely there will be a runoff election in November between the parties that end the closest tonight. 

I went to my old church this morning.  I went hoping I would be able to get information about how to contact the pastor's wife from when I was there before.  Her husband passed away earlier this summer, and I wanted to have a chance to talk to her.  Well, when I arrived at the church this morning, she was actually there--she and her daughters--so we were able to exchange phone numbers to make plans to get together sometime.

Then this afternoon I went to visit my old "host mom" (the lady I boarded with when I lived here before).  While I was there, the rain started to pour.  The last time I visited, the same thing happened and I got soaked on the walk home (even with my umbrella).  I decided to wait a little bit to see if it would let up.  In the meantime I shot up a little prayer that God would stop the rain so I could stay dry on the walk home.  I immediately cut myself short, though, reminding myself that there were lots of other times I prayed prayers like that and the answer was no and that I didn't really have any reason to complain about it.  After all, who was I to demand that God change the weather (or even the climate) of a region just so life could be more convenient? 

Then, not too long after this, my host mom told me the rain had stopped, and she said it was because she had asked God to please stop the rain for Rebekah so she wouldn't get wet.  And look, she said, He did.  I thought that was funny, especially since she had no idea what had been running through my head just a few minutes before.

So I walked home without even needing to put up my umbrella.  I was thankful, but I also realize I would have had just as much cause to be thankful if I had walked home and gotten wet.  After all, God isn't my own personal genie...