Inspire and Be Inspired

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By Line St-Pierre, associate trustee, Ste-Sophie, Québec, Canada

As my friend Chichi said, “We need to be attentive.” This is how this opportunity came about. I never thought I would return to Peru to visit the women I met in 2010 when my husband Gaétan Charland and I travelled to South America, promoting the Urantia Association International’s Leadership Symposium in 2011.

Last October, while in Chicago for a trustees meeting, I met Sandra Burga-Cisneros Pizarro, who lives in Switzerland. Like me, she is a new associate trustee and also the daughter of my friend Lourdes who lives in Peru. When Sandra and I first met, immediately we had a connection beyond friendship. During the weekend we shared many ideas. She informed me that she was going to visit her family in South America in April 2013. She invited me to join her. I told her not to tempt me but finally decided to take advantage of her offer to experience deeper fellowship with the people I met in 2010.

How many of us can declare that the world is a friendly and welcoming place?

This trip had an important purpose: to tell these women how personally inspiring they were to me and to share with them my project to educate women in Canada, to teach them their value, their importance, and their beauty, and to impart to them the truth that God has a plan for each of us.

As I arrived in Lima, I was treated with much kindness and generosity. During my two weeks stay, the Pizarro sisters, Lourdes and Cecilia, introduced me to 35 readers of The Urantia Book, only five of whom, surprisingly, were men. In all the places I have visited around the world, I have never come across any group with so many women readers!

During my visit I attended three study groups lead by Cecilia Pizarro in Lima. There were six to nine participants, and at the end of each meeting, Cecilia would ask the attendees to share their understanding and feelings about the meeting. Even the quietest ones would share something, something beautiful about what they learned. An energy very pure and touching was present.

I was witnessing women leaders acting upon their understanding of the teachings. They want to make a difference and want that service to others be their legacy.

Some of the women serve the needy in their local communities, where people share their concerns and beliefs about life. One woman helps in a center for abused women and children. Others publish articles in local newspapers and invite people for coffee and discussion about life issues. When the timing seems to be opportune, they share some teachings from The Urantia Book, and this can continue for months.

Another woman works with young adults and rephrases the Thoughts to Ponder into words that the younger generation will relate to and then posts them on her Facebook page. Others have put up billboards by the highway with thought-provoking statements, wake- up calls you might say.

An example appears on the billboard below. “If I do not do it for myself, then who will?  If it is not now, then when?”

Many of these women have been reading The Urantia Book for almost 20 years, and they recognize the great responsibility suggested by its teachings. I sense that it is just the beginning of a new era in Peru for service to people by sharing their own understanding with the needy in their country.

A small group have designed a board game with questions on cards. Their idea was to share the teachings in a playful manner as an attractive way to help them solve their human problems, discover their higher self, and take them gently towards the discovery of the book and its teachings.

Our cultures may be different, but women are the same and have the same concerns everywhere. We yearn to have a better world for our children and our grandchildren. By educating mothers to be better mothers, their children will be better parents, better citizens, better doctors, teachers, politicians, bus drivers, technicians, and so on.

This trip was meant for me to meet people on spiritual ground where bonding in action can expand. Just like a spiral that starts with one idea or concept and is elevated by something more, it continues on as the spiral grows wider and higher. While they inspired me in 2010, when I returned to share my project on educating women, they told me that I was an inspiration to them through what I do. We do not always realize the extent of our actions.

The God-knowing man describes his spiritual experiences, not to convince unbelievers, but for the edification and mutual satisfaction of believers. (30.5) 1:6.6

Thought provoking billboard