the meeting place
the meeting place is a cafe that caters to "western tourists", they serve legit coffee, amazing milkshakes, burgers, etc. The space is warm and friendly. But here's the catch: the place is run/operated by a missionary family. All the proceeds of the cafe support 2 local charities (an after-school program and an all-girls school/orphanage). And all the workers are volunteers. With the justification that that money goes to a good cause, we've eaten there 1x/ every wk since we've got here.
The reason I am writing about the meeting place goes deeper, though, its been the best source for community/friendship since we've got here, as well. We've gotten to know most of the volunteer workers, and know anytime we show up, there will be people we know there. The best part about the meeting place are sunday nights: they have discussion topics on "faith and spirituality", with anywhere between 15-25 people, some christians, some random travelers who heard about the group the day before. The topics over the past 5 wks have been: being healthy, forgiveness, good/bad of foreign aid, freedom and . These conversations have been great and really thought-provoking. After about 1.5 hrs of talking, we have a 30 min snack/coffee/hangout time, then whoever wants to stay (usually 1/2 the group) we have a 30 min worship time (singing/prayer). I always leave so alive and so encouraged. I am very very glad we've found the meeting place.
Lastly, I wanted to share some highlights/thoughts from the "forgiveness discussion".
-"what does it feel like when someone chooses to forgive you?" My mind went immediately a time when i intentionally said/ attempted to do..malicious things to one of my best friends. To choose to forgive, it was entirely in my friends hands, nothing I could do, could force him to forgive, that power is in the offended person's control. Choosing to not forgive, that actually hurts the offended person though, bc now they have to hold a grudge and be bitter/hurt, instead of forgiving. So, the fact that they forgave, eventually, made sense. However, they went a step further, they also re-extended trust towards me. What I did, was so hurtful and senseless, they had not obligation to trust me, ever again. So, when i started answering the question: "what does it feel like to be forgiven"...tears rolled down my cheeks as i told the group how wonderful, how freeing, how loved i felt to be forgiven
- if you choose to forgive, you take the power away from the person who hurt you
- maren shared, "what if we gave others as much grace as we give ourselves"
- amazing film about the power of forgiveness, two woman forgive them men who killed their husbands, sons, and brothers: the trailer for the rwanda movie
- amazing story of forgiveness, where the families of two teenagers forgive, after the boy killed his girlfriend... click this link to read it: ny times magazine article on forgiveness
ok...enough of that, i originally stated this would be a picture blog, mostly...so here are some totally unrelated pictures
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| maren and me in the main square...love this city |
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| i dont think you can tell..but this table is a bathtub filled as an active fish tank with a glass top...super cool, we're gonna try to make one in tacoma |
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| Guy makes lots of funny faces, here is one example |
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| HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAFNE (cake for breakfast in peru, on your bday) |
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| 14 yo, our host sister is! |
this link for more pics has hopefully be fixed CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICTURES!!!! (click the underlined words to see more)
