Blessings from heaven

           I am sure that most have heard about the drought in California. It was kind of weird how it just "happened" while we were playing outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. We never had horribly hot weather just so many unbelievably beautiful warm days to play with all the now 14 kids within four houses of ours. But so many dry days mean, ta da, so many days without rain, the driest calendar year on record. Well, the First Presidency asked all members to fast in February for rain, and guess what. It was rainy before we even left for church. It's been such a blessing the way that Heavenly Father has blessed us with rain. A few days of moderate rain (1/2-3/4 of an inch) then days of sun then some more rain, than sun. To see that Heavenly Father is taking care of us in giving us a bit at a time so that we don't have mud slides and floods is faith building. How nice to be able to say after just a few days on intense rain, "ohh yeah, drought is done." But to do so quickly would cause even more problems. We just have to be patient and remember to keep asking for rain and he will give it to us.
        On my mission, every single day that there was a marriage scheduled between investigators there was rain. While the 20 or so members were in Spain, being sealed in the temple, there was a tropical storm that rained for a week. Rain had huge meaning for me on my mission. This drought in Cali is nothing compared to the normal conditions in Cabo Verde. Though our farmers (as of now) will get NO water for their crops this year (so just get ready for produce sticker shock come summer) it doesn't compare with the absolute lack of moisture that I saw there. Therefore, the rain was a blessing from heaven. Heaven showed it's approval for those couples and blessed a whole island.
      We took the girls our in the rain today, too bad it was pouring, and they enjoyed every minute of splashing in the puddles and carrying umbrellas and making paste out of chalk. And we saved a number of worms from drowning and helped a few lawns in the process. Such fun. I will say that I no longer enjoy getting wet in the puddles, but I do like sweeping the water around in the gutters. It's kind of fun to watch it push forward then retreat, carrying dirt and rocks, and then finally falling through the storm drains.