What do you do at the beach on a rainy day? I had never really thought about it because it seems to never rain here, but this dilemma arose on Thursday as we had our first rainy day since I’ve been living in Spotorno (over a month). I thought the Earth was going to stop turning with the way that people were reacting. On Wednesday the lifeguards told me of the weather predictions, which are remarkably accurate here compared to the US. All around me I kept hearing the word repeated… “pioverá!” I’ve come to realize that many Italian families use the beach as a sole means of keeping their children occupied during the summer months of being out of school. The mothers sit around all day sunbathing and gossiping while their children run rampant playing and stealing each others toys or simply trying to find someone else to play with (usually me). So the thought of rain here sends panic into every mother’s mind.

Morning came and, sure enough, we were forced to eat our breakfast inside at the kitchen table due to inclement weather. I think this may be only the second time that we have eaten a meal indoors since we’ve been here. Luckily the rain let up by about 10am so that we were able to go onto beach. Granted, it still looked gray, rainy, windy, and cool to me, but as long as it’s not storming they’ll send out the kids to play. Crisis averted…the weather let up and was fine for playing at the beach all afternoon. But right before 6pm, I started hearing that word being spoken again all around me. Someone nearby said “It’s already raining in Noli”. Panic breaks out again. Sara and I gathered all the toys, the two boogie boards, the five towels, the snorkel masks and flippers, the extra swimsuits, and all the shoes to bring them inside. By the time I came back out to get the kids, pandemonium had broken loose. “Piove? … Sí, piove!!” The children loved it and were running madly with delight while playing in the rain. Parents everywhere were frantically chasing their children and screaming for them to come. I, of course, decided to just sit and watch the spectacle, meanwhile thinking this all could have been avoided if the families didn’t wait until the very last minute to go inside for fear of having to play with and entertain their own children indoors.

All joking aside, there was a pretty fierce storm that night. I already had dinner plans with my friend, Heather, so I ventured out with a jacket and umbrella to the bus stop. Apparently here people do not go outdoors when it’s raining…ever. They thought I was crazy. It looked like even some of the businesses had decided to close, although it was still just a drizzle at this point. I made it to Noli and had a lovely dinner of pizza, beer, and crepes for dessert. Yumm! The storm had passed by the time we finished so it was really no problem at all. And then came one of my favorite parts:

Heather had to go home and I had about 30 or 40 minutes before my bus was coming. To walk home from Noli takes about 30 minutes, so I figured I’d just wait and take the 5 minute bus ride. It was in this moment that I realized how close God wants to keep me to Him. It has been very hard for me over the past month to stay ‘connected’. There is no church here for me to attend and I haven’t met anyone yet with my same beliefs. My schedule is crazy, so my prayer and Bible reading times have been sparse and sporadic. But God still uses moments like this when he works everything together for me to be forced to be alone with Him. While waiting for the bus, I started walking along the coastline. I then took a detour off onto a rocky pier that jetted out into the sea. While sitting here, there was nothing but darkness around me and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. Best of all, God gave me an incredible lightning storm off in the distance over the water. I watched in awe. I could feel his arms of love wrapping around me and hear Him repeating His command in Psalms 46:10…