"Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet"
--- Roger Miller (American Singer-Songwriter; 1936 - 1992)
God sometimes answers prayers in unexpected ways. Most of the time, it would seem, our prayers are too focused on asking for things that we sometimes underappreciate the things that we have already been blessed with. Sometimes we wait until the end of the day to thank God in prayer for everything at once. But may I recommend that we not wait to thank God but instead thank God continually. I have had many prayers answered rather quickly. And a few I am still waiting upon the Lord for. But I have a testimony that the Lord loves us and will answer our prayers in the best way possible in His time and we will always be grateful for it. I only ask that you remember to ask in faith, believing that you will receive.
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WATERLESS
Unlike that first house we lived in back in Rio Bravo, our water supply didn’t depend on rooftop tanks and gravity-driven water pressure. Like almost every other house I lived in thereafter, our house in Bugambilias was equipped with an underground electric pump that forced water through the plumbing. Clean running water is something we don’t think twice about in the United States. It’s accessible to us like the air we breathe. I mentioned how the neighborhoods in the southern end of the Area had water problems (See "7th Area: Bugambilias, Reynosa"). We did too but just not as often. Fortunately, we didn't have the problem of water seeping out of places it shouldn't. But when the electric pump stopped working, we suffered just the same. Not because we needed water to drink, because we didn’t drink tap water, but because without a working pump we didn’t have water to shower, to wash our hands, to shave, to brush our teeth, to wash dishes, we couldn’t even flush the toilet without water. After a long day in the hot dusty streets, all I wanted to do when I got home at night was to take a shower. Imagine being me for a moment, going to bed without being able to shower, brush your teeth, shave, or use the toilet.
Only on rare occasions would our water pump stop working, like it did on Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Sometimes it was due to a power outage, but most of the time the problem was a sudden onset mystery like it had a mind of its own. I recall waking up one morning to such a scenario. It was a disappointment not being able to shower but I didn’t stress out too much. It could have been worse and my main preoccupations were on the day’s work ahead of us. We'd be away from home most of the day anyway. I figured that the water would come back on later by itself like it always did, so I'd be able to take a shower before going to bed. But you can imagine my disappointment when we finally get home at night and we go to check the taps and there's still no running water. I was sweaty and gross as always from walking the humid yet dusty streets all day and I was getting desperate for water.
Mine and Elder De León's bedroom was on the second floor and due to the lack of vegetation around our house, we didn't need to worry about mosquitoes so we'd leave the balcony door open every night to cool the house down after the sun turned it into an oven. I dreaded the thought of spreading that wet grime on my bedsheets but the cool night air and the soothing chorus of chirping of crickets helped me forget about all of that. Just the same, as the days warmed up, I only slept with a light bed sheet tossed over me and the thick gray woolly quilt I'd been given lost its usefulness.
A QUICK ANSWER TO PRAYER
As we finished our nightly planning, I prayed silently asking Heavenly Father to bless us with water (See "Prayers" and "It Shall Be Opened"). Would you believe it, not many minutes later, we heard quick pattering applause of rain on the roof and the roar of thunder booming through our bedroom balcony door and reverberating throughout the house.
It was probably 10:30 p.m. but I took the initiative to be the first to step outside and see if what I thought was happening was true. Barefoot and in my shorts, I looked up at the ink-black cloud-covered night sky, and let the cool fresh spring rain hit my face. I collected the rain as it fell in my palms and slapped it onto my face. It was so refreshing and even almost brisk to the touch. I let the water splash my arms first, only wearing a t-shirt and pajama shorts, I didn't even bother putting shoes on as I stepped out a bit farther into the black nothingness of the impenetrable darkness of the late hour, the ominous thick cloud canopy sky, and veiled by brick walls on either side of our property (not that anyone would be out in that weather at that late hour); and I don't even think anybody lived next door. The only light was that from our house behind us and the faintest silhouette of all other surroundings.
The other Elders soon followed suit just as excitedly. The quickening downpour of rainwater produced a shallow but large puddle as it collected against the curb of our property and the wall to the main road which we all proceeded to splash about in like little kids in a kiddie pool. The air was otherwise calm and inviting. The occasional shockwave of thunder was soothing, like God himself was in audible glory. Unlike Matamoros, this water was clean, even desirable, because we were in a well-kept paved gated community. Fresh rainwater flowed through our secluded culdesac and towards our home at the end of the street. Then again it was dark so I assumed it was clean but even if it wasn't pure, it wasn't like we were going to drink it. We splashed and kicked the refreshing water on our dirty bodies, basking in and “showering” in the rain as it fell. I've loved rain for as long as I can remember provided I have the option of taking shelter indoors, but this was the one exception, given the hurricane and other torments that came with living near the Gulf of Mexico (See "Eurus" and "Rushing Waters"), that I willingly went outside in it. It felt incredible, even euphoric, just to embrace the storm before going back inside and drying ourselves off with our towels. There’s something extra relaxing about rain after a hot day's work.
Shortly after entering the house again to turn in for the night, I heard the trickling sound of the toilet tank filling up again. If what I thought was true, this meant that the water pump was working again. Sure enough, we turned the faucet and discovered our water had returned. God heard and answered my prayer for water on two accounts that night. The water only turned back on after God made it rain. I know that Heavenly Father does answer our prayers, it may not always be in the way we want to or expect, but I know that He answers them in the best way possible.
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