Getting busy

Greg and I are starting to be busy with Baha'i activities in Denver - with the core activities all over the world, it's so nice to be able to say "hey, we did this in Surabaya" and be able to draw on our experiences there and in Tacoma so that we can help people who are just starting to serve in these areas. We've been asked to speak and show our slide show several times, and have plans to present more. We've once again opened our house for devotional gatherings, where we gather with people of different religions to read quotes and prayers on a specific topic showing the unity between all religions. Our last one had the theme of 'happiness.' Of course, we had to make and eat sushi, first - I think sushi is the ultimate 'happy' food, though I know there are those of you out there who disagree... Greg is only a few weeks away from becoming a tutor for the series of study books open to all, and I'm beginning to tutor the first book in the series along with my mom, which brings up discussion topics such as "why do we pray?" and "what happens to our soul after we die?" and "why are we here?" and, more importantly, "what are we supposed to do while we're here?" The workbook opens with the quote "The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct" from the Baha'i Writings, and the end result is deciding how we as individuals and as a group can start to 'better' the world. Plus, Greg and I are now involved in planning the first of quarterly meetings held between all the different Baha'i communities in the area - in our case, that includes Denver, Aurora, and Englewood.

We've also been attending various events taking place in the Colorado Indonesian community. I still can't get over seeing little Muslim girls with their heads covered wearing velvet dresses, thick tights, and winter coats - after Indonesia, the contrast is so shocking to me. I expect to see flimsy summer dresses and bare feet every time I see one of them! Strangely, it seems that the Muslim and Christian (predominantly of Chinese decent) Indonesian populations continue to remain separate in America. The second event I attended with Greg, was a housewarming which, unbeknownst to us, started with a full mass lead by an Indonesian priest. It reminded me of attending mass in Irish with my Catholic flatmate - she understood the mass, and I could catch a word here and there after studying Irish. In this case, Greg's Catholic High School education had to guide us. It concluded with the singing of a hymn as all 30 or so guests processed through every room in the house, out the garage door, back in the front door, as the priest sprinkled water from a branch and the couple carried a large wooden cross and a lit candle (which had to be re-lit after the trip outside). Then we had a type of soto ayam and mie goreng (fried noodles), talked, and eventually played Clue. We got to speak a little Indonesian - particularly Greg, because, guess what - he still looks like he's from Surabaya!

Apparently the group called the Black Soldiers - black men who ride horses in parades and such - has added a group for women and children. I'm working with a woman and her horse a few hours a day, and hoping to also work with some of her friends in the group. It was a bit of a rough start, since both the woman and her horse are inexperienced, but they're doing well now.