I just returned home recently from a trip to the wonderful city of Eugene, and after a day or so of decompressing, I'm ready to share!
The excuse to get out of town this time was the Baha'i "Summer of Service" program! Lodging and transportation were provided, meaning I can continue to be a mendicant and live meagerly.
I helped teach a children's class, played some frisbee, ate some amazing food, and engaged in some worship with other young adults/late teens. (One of the culinary highlights was trying Café Yum for the first time; the other was trying T4 and getting a taro milkshake). I also did a home visit, where I met a lady named Barbara who tried to teach me how to crochet; however, as someone who cannot even tie a pair of shoes, this didn't go well. XD
I was recently confirmed as a Baha'i, and it's a very interesting story how this came to be. I will share another day.
Anyways, after only a short week, I felt I had known these people my whole life! They were that welcoming. I began studying from the Ruhi book 1. One thing to mention is that, the Eugene community is very vibrant and almost everyone I met is something of a musical virtuoso; my two tutors were beautiful singers, and we made songs to help me remember the scriptures; but then - I forgot the songs!
Oh yeah, I promised I would put the word out about this up-and-coming band called Ashtrey, a cheeky amalgamation of the two members' names! So if you can, give them some love.
I spent the week without my laptop, so I resorted to good ol' fashioned notebook writings. Aside from reading the Seven Valleys, and dilligently meditating and transcribing verses from it, I also managed to cook up some theory-craft; recall that I am not an expert in any topic, I just do this for fun (I am a rechercherian, after all!).
The group did a cool send-off for me at the end, where everyone took turns writing touching little messages into a very cool hard-cover book, which is a memento I will keep with me for the rest of my life.
My tutors agreed to continue the studies with me via Zoom; and, on the way home, I met with some Baha'is that lived way out in the woods past Oakland, on a grand piece of property complete with a family cemetary. Cathy (Kathy?) was nice enough to arrange a meet-up for me at my town's park, since I do not have transportation and am "stuck" out here. I put "stuck" in quotations, since I enjoy being here, as the community is wonderful!
Other News
My sister had a baby shower! Yup, I am going to have a new nephew soon! I am stoked.
I interviewed fellow Cascadian and wanderer Kirby Urner for my YouTube channel! We plan on doing more videos together.
Conclusion
This trip breathed a new life into me, and left me invigorated! It stirred me to do more for my local community, and I was reminded that service can be very "small", because the Love of God magnifies such small endeavors, and they radiate outwards.
One of the most important things I am going to keep in mind is the twofold purpose: study and service. I am probably the worst offender when it comes to being holed up from the world, so this is a great springboard to taking further action. One of the things that struck me during this intensive was that intellectual and spiritual matters are deemed equally important: it could be easy for an atheist to side with reason, or a theist to be too heavily biased towards spiritual matters, but they are indeed equal.
Thus, the adventure was a mix of casual friendship, deep and intense spiritual and philosophical growing, and physical activity. It's nice to be in an environment where people are trying to mutually grow and nobody's cutting you down with "it's not that deep, bro!"
There is a lot to reflect on, and I must continue forward, but I plan on sharing more of my spiritual journey on here in the future! ❣️