Quick update

I just wrote the following update for the church newsletter and thought to myself how easy it would be to just post it here too! Thank you all for your support and friendship.

Time has been flying here in Berkeley, California! I am about 5 weeks into the spring semester of my third year at Pacific School of Religion and I am on track to graduate in May 2013. One more year to go! This semester I am continuing my field education as a pastoral intern at Orinda Community Church where I am working to introduce the OWL curriculum to the congregation. I am also taking an Introduction to Judaism course and a class in Process Theology. Being introduced to Process Theology has given me a deepened understanding of our relationship with the divine and with the whole of creation. Maybe I’ll preach on it next time I come home!

I spent two weeks in Taiwan this January as part of an immersion course through PSR and the experience was absolutely transformational. The focus of our learning was the intersection of Christianity and indigenous culture in the aboriginal people of Taiwan. Only 4% of the people in Taiwan identify as Christian but within the indigenous tribes, more than 90% of the people are Christian. Prior to interacting with the tribal churches, I was concerned that Christian missionaries may have wiped out the indigenous culture and belief systems but what we discovered was a people whose Christianity helped them to strengthen their tribal identity as well as provide a foundation for hope for the future.

This seminary experience is at times challenging, life-giving, frustrating, joy-filled, and overwhelming and awesome. Thank you all for your continued communication and support during this chapter of my life and of our lives together. I carry each of you in my heart and spirit as I walk this path.

Blessings, Leslie Moughty

For more photos of my trip to Taiwan go to http://tinyurl.com/7v3epa8

Visiting a church of the Bunun tribe in Taiwan