berdoa untuk hujan

I just returned from family group, and was reminded of something I've been wanting to write about for about seven months now-- prayer.

Prayer here is a bit different. First of all, there is a much larger emphasis on the importance of prayer. Both the churches and the seminary have weekly prayer meetings (often referred to as corporate prayer). It is also very natural, and almost expected, to pray aloud. For example, if someone is leading a prayer at the front of the church, everyone else will speak their own prayer aloud. I often find this fascinating; I love to sit back and listen to the mix of languages all praying together. But, at the same time, I find it difficult to leave my quiet Lutheran roots behind and also pray out loud. I feel conscious that everyone else will be listening to my prayer, especially when it doesn't fit within the ebb and flow of Melayu. But yet it holds you accountable-- by praying aloud there is no time for your thoughts to wander. Either way, I have a feeling that one day soon this traditional pray-er will miss being surrounded in one mutual, multilingual prayer being offered up to God.

It rained yesterday for the first time in I don't know how long. The rain here is different; it seems to stop and start at a moment's notice. It also rains in sheets, harder than I've ever seen it rain. The rainy season is officially over, and Malaysia has taken on a new personality in the dry, or burning, season. Everywhere you go there are brush fires, a stark danger that is difficult to control. The rain came as salvation yesterday, in the form of wet earth and cool air. As things returned to green, I sat back, listening to the chorus of frogs, and wondered where they hide in the rain's absence.