By rachels522
This morning I went to my first Quaker friends meeting. The Quakers first came to Monteverde in the 1950s as war protesters. Before my experience today I knew little to nothing about Quakers. From what I understand Quakers are a sect of Christianity. The meeting was one of the most eye opening cultural experiences that I have had.
The first part of the meeting involved signing hymns from a songbook. I thought I wouldn’t recognize any of the songs. However, one of the songs was “Dona Nobis Pacem,” a Latin song about peace that I recognized from my temple growing up. I felt that this song, which is about peace, embodied the Quaker message. The most amazing part of the ceremony was that there was no true leader. Members would suggest songs and then singing would commence. Most songs were broken into rounds. Despite, the lack of an organized leader the rounds were still in-sync and beautiful.
The next part of the service was silence. Literally just….silence. Occasionally somebody would sign up and give a profound thought. For example, one person stood up and explained how beautiful the act of humility is. I am a pretty talkative person, and I typically don’t value silence. This was different. We sat for an hour and a half in almost complete silence. It gave me time to reflect on the first eight weeks of my study abroad experience. I thought about the things that I have done and the things that I still hope to accomplish while on the trip. It made me realize that as I continue exploring the world I need to take time to sit silently and reflect on what I hope to get out of each new experience.