My experiences with coffee have been so rich in the past, that I can't help but wonder what God has in store for me this time. The first time I really thought very much about coffee was when I went to college. There was a great little coffee spot just minutes from my University where I would sit for hours with friends studying or catching up. There was often live music being played, and the coffee and pastries were awesome. That coffee shop became a haven for us away from campus. It's so exciting to think that we could be offering the college students and people in Haviland that same sort of restful, rejuvenating hideaway.
My experience with coffee deepened during my sophomore year of college when I was fortunate enough to join a study tour that sent me to Central America for four months. Coffee is an important part of life for many Central Americans, who make their living growing, drying, transporting, or roasting coffee. During my second month in Central America, I lived with a family in the Mountains of Northern Honduras, the Sagastume family. The Sagastumes made their living from growing coffee. I learned about their ventures in becoming an organic coffee farm, a very involved process. They were among the first farmers in their area to shift to organic farming methods and they often had others come to be educated on their methods. It was extremely important for their farm and others to be organic because their farms were situated above a town whose people drank the run-off water from the farmlands above. With no adequate form of filtering the water, keeping it clean was vital.
The Sagastumes are wonderful people who are very dear to my heart, they live a very humble lifestyle and are yet among the most generous, welcoming individuals I have had the joy of encountering. It is through this experience and others during those four months, that I have engrained in my heart and mind the importance of purchasing fair trade coffee. Coffee that is purchased at a price and through a company that provides for the essential physical needs of the families who give their lives to growing this beverage that those of us who have in abundance enjoy regularly. I am excited about offering a place where people here in Haviland have the opportunity to learn about and be part of the fair trade exchange.
My final and most recent experience with coffee was my time working as a barista in a fabulous coffee shop in downtown Rock Springs, Wyoming. Java Peddler is a one of a kind coffee shop located at the front of a Bike n' Trike (mountain biking) store. The owners are young, ingenuitive and inviting. They are awesome people and awesome parents, who brought their two little boys to hang out in the store from time to time. Our customers loved seeing them, and they were great company for me. We had lots of regulars, those who would stay and chat each morning or afternoon and who I had the blessing of getting to know throughout my time there. There were also travelers, those who were on their way through. It was fun to hear the stories of foreigners here in the states for only a few short weeks and listen to them share about the memories they'd made or the hopes they had for their time. Being located just south of Yellowstone National Park meant meeting people from all over the world.
So, now I am looking forward to seeing what this new endeavor with coffee will bring. I hope that it can be a place of impact, of relationship, of joy and peace for those who come and those who stay. I hope that it can be a place for families, students, friends, visitors, passer-byes, to feel welcome, at home and loved not only by us, but by the One who has made it all possible. ~Molly
No comments:
Post a Comment