My apologies to everyone for not blogging lately. It's been a bit hectic and busy here. I'm loving it.
Today, Kristen and I served at Bahji. Kristen got the kooshi job, she sat around all day, smiled at people, and read. Meanwhile, I worked with the gardens crew, got to know people, broke my knees and back and loved it. During the morning I weeded and did detail cosmetic work around the shrine of Baha'u'llah and after lunch I cleaned the gardens in the mansion compound. Which is about as close to visiting the mansion as a non-pilgrim visitor is going to get:) It was a long day though. I'm tired. Mara has suggested that we study a couple of letters from the Universal House of Justice tonight. I'm ready to order dinner.
Since everything tastes better when you're married I'd like to rub a little salt in the wound and tell you a little bit about my lunch today. First, I'll start off with the stuff that fell short of "Nectar of the Gods" status. I had some strawberry and cream instant oatmeal and sausage. But the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I made was from fresh gourmet bread, good jam, and decent peanut butter. Then I had cornbread, it was wonderful too. To top it off we had olive bread (that totally outdoes Trader Joe's) with an avocado that was so ripe and fresh that we could spread it on to, say, a slice of luxurious olive bread. Then there were the orange (also fresh and grown at Bahji) it was wonderful. To top it off I had espresso and a gourmet chocolate that was a birthday present for Mara.
The last few days have been pretty fun. We went to Tatami, had dinner with the Phelpses, and had other newly weds (five days) over for a dessert party. We've taken the last couple of days off to spend a lot of time at the shrines here and in Bahji. Everything is enjoyable but also spiritual. It isn't hard to be motivated to work incredibly hard here but to be able to just kick back and relax immediately when you are finished. I feel tranquil and at home here and can see myself serving here in the future. Mara and Mark, though they've been very busy, have bent over backwards to make our stay accomodating (though I doubt that they see it that way).
Also, just being here for a few days has really helped me to gain a better understanding of how the Universal House of Justice works and what it's purpose is. I find myself frequently thinking about finding a way to establish a workplace that is as friendly and motivated as the world center and I consistently realize that so long as employees have conflicting interests creating an environment as rich, directional, and motivated is simply not possible. This is not to suggest that things are perfect at the world center only much much better. Interpersonal problems appear to be very resolvable issues.
Anyhow, I'm hungry and want to watch Firefly, have a good evening.
Posted by Mendon at December 29, 2005 11:05 AMFood is SO much better when you're married! : ) I agree wholeheartedly. We were asked by Paravani (our ride to and from Bahji) what we had for lunch and we both groaned with a certain amount of pleasure and started listing off the foods that made our lunch a feast today.
Posted by: Kristen at December 29, 2005 1:13 PM