Funny Story - at Steve's expense!

Steve went to go to Ipil earlier today (that is the village back behind the lake). Well, we have had so much rain that the parking lot at the end of the road where we normally leave our truck is completely underwater. Has been that way a couple weeks. Well today it was up even more, and Steve was wading through the water when he noticed a lady off to the side of him walking kind of gingerly across one section. Well, he kept watching her and wondering why she was doing that – while he kept walking. Bad mistake. As it turns out, there was a large ditch full of water right there with a plank bridge to cross it – only the “bridge” was now also a foot under water and completely invisible! So the lady was crossing on the underwater bridge while Steve watched her – and walked right into the ditch! He went in up to his chest – not sure the cell phone is going to recover but thankfully the electronic remote on the keys was ok and he had left his wallet in the car… Anyway, then he was edging his way along a little ledge over the water when an old lady came along with 2 big buckets. So Steve balanced on the outside to let her pass – which went great until one of her buckets hit him in the gut and he went flying backwards into the water – again up to his chest! (One of our friends said this reminded her of the cartoon Robin Hood and Little John.) Meanwhile, the wind is howling and there are 3 foot waves on the little lake so Steve took shelter with a bunch of others under a tarp – until someone hollered that one of the boats just sank! One of the rickety ferry boats we normally ride in wasn’t able to withstand the waves and sunk to the bottom. Thankfully it was just tied at the shore with no one on board so everyone was ok. It was at that point that all the people taking shelter with Steve told him he really shouldn’t try to go across the lake because who knows if and when he will ever make it back across after the Bible study (which was a real bummer since it has been several weeks since we have been able to have a study there due to weather and other factors). So he came home, dripping wet and shivering. He seemed to enjoy his hot shower, dry clothes and hot coffee! Always an adventure!!!

I wrote this yesterday and sent it to some friends, then thought the rest of you may enjoy it as well. A few updates - Steve reminded me this am when he read it that he DID NOT get a warm shower - he was just stepping into the shower when the power went off! So he had a cold shower after all that. And the cell phone did not make it. We will hold a memorial service for it later today - then try to make it up to Naga to buy a new one tomorrow.

Hope you had a good laugh at Steve's expense!