I believe that God’s Spirit works in formative ways at the intersection of travel and reflection. Interacting with people who are different than you can teach us so much about God, the world, and ourselves. That’s true in your hometown and it’s true when you travel. The gift of travel is that the ludicrous act of hurtling through the air in a tin can and dropping into a different part of the world heightens our awareness of difference. And in that space the Spirit works.
Many of the books of non-fiction I read are incredible because of whom the authors have read and whom they are pointing you to read next. In the case of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Art and Mystery of Living, Krista Tippett hasn’t just read the authors, mystics, scientists, activists, poets, she engages. She’s actually spoken with them, and has done so over decades. The result is an amazing book. Krista tells some of her own story as she walks us through a journey in the mystery and art of living by contemplating words, flesh, love, faith, and hope.
One of the coolest products of teaching Humanities in the Asia-Pacific this fall was this collaboration with my friend Michael Wright and his incredible weekly letter, Still Life. I assigned one of his letters about exploring diversity locally to the class, and then Michael and I worked together to share what that experience looked like for my students. Here’s what I wrote.
Sunday October 22 was Peru's national census day. What this meant was that it was forbidden for anyone to be outside of their home on this day starting at 8am until 5pm because an army of over 1 million volunteers was walking around the country filling out the census reports by hand. A country of more than 30 million people was put on hold for a day. It was forced to rest.
For the past three summers (and the Smiths and McKinzies before that) we have taken interns from several different universities from the States. This year we welcomed four interns at the end of May who will have been with us for 8 weeks. During these 8 weeks they have gotten to take Spanish lessons, do a week long homestay with a Peruvian family, visit the Living Libraries, experience Arequipa, and be involved in the Bible studies and work that we do.
Kool & the Gang would have loved Arequipa. Almost every week of the year here we could sing: “There’s a party going on right here, a celebration, to last throughout the year”. There are tons of celebrations here. Some are characterized by traditional rituals, but many share common features: music (religious, local, traditional, mariachi-type, and pop), cohetes (what my husband calls “fire crackers on steroids”), cakes, sodas, and beer, and the hora loca, the ‘crazy hour’, a time to dance, make noise and wear funny hats, masks and ties that signals the ‘nearing’ of the end of the party.
The interns are here, the interns are here! Every summer starting in the summer of 2009 Team Arequipa 1.0 hosted interns from various universities. We decided as Team Arequipa 3.0 to continue this work. This year we are hosting 4 interns for 8 weeks. We have 2 interns from Harding University, Lizzie Tripp and Paola Quijano, 1 intern from Oklahoma Christian University, Hannah Henley, and 1 from Abilene Christian University, Sam Jones. We are excited to be working and learning with these students for the 8 weeks they are here!
