A New Community

Over the Memorial day weekend, I was able to attend a conference for the Krista Foundation which I've mentioned a little bit in my earlier blogs. Going into the situation, I was completely unaware of what to expect from this weekend and with my leaving so soon I almost viewed it as a burden which was taking away one of my few remaining weekends to connect with my family and friends in the short time before I leave for Africa. But, they were giving me a check for $1000 so who was I to say no? Well, it turns out that by the end of the weekend I hadn't thought about the grant at all and money was the least of things I had gained from my weekend.

What I ended up finding was a whole community of people who in a short time have become sincere, dear and lifelong friends. I'm lucky to have found a budding community already in connecting with many of the other people who I will be serving along with in Mauritania. But, in the Krista Foundation community I have found a group of people who will be able to help me along in my personal spiritual journey through the Peace Corps. Already, I know that finding this community will help to both enrich my service experience and, I believe, enrich me in my ability to better serve the community into which I'm entering.

One of the things we were told by this amazing story teller who was the guest speaker at our conference is that in some cultures, God is viewed as a spider who spins the webs that connect and hold the universe together. If that is true, then surely this universal spinner has touched my life, once again, connecting me with far reaching webs to other people, communities and experiences all across the world. The speaker also at one point had us all close our eyes and envision in 4 or 5 words the world we wanted to live in. The world we wished could exist on this Earth. When I closed my eyes I heard and saw, "There will be food (Of Course! my first thought!), music, laughter and dance! Looking back on the weekend and the community, that is exactly how I would describe it. This weekend was one of those serendipitous moments which marks a distinct change in a persons life that will shape the rest of the years to come and I am full of gratitude for that.