How Sarah Sees It: Everyday so captivating I wish they were Golden Gated~Day 2

San Francisco-the place where architects come to just show off---

Not only are the buildings in this place nice, each one holds a design all its own. Its like walking through an art museum in a time machine, each glance capturing a new space.

Yesterday I started to have feelings for this place, but I must admit I now have a full blown crush on this enchanting city. It's simply beautiful in a way that's not that simple. Displaying its majestic views with a nonchalance that invites you to settle in.

Now that I'm done musing about the atmosphere for a while, let me go on to what I have learned about my trips purpose today-and that is to explore this idea of interfaith more.

This morning we met with the people who were involved and helped start the United Religions Initiative. Before this I was unaware that a movement existed for peace and justice with people of different faiths to affect positive change in our world.

I had always turned to my faith to find experiences to serve others, but this felt so much bigger. It made my heart leap to think of people with such marked differences not only learning about each other with an open mind but serving side by side for the same goal.

Admittedly, I had never really thought much about the social work of other religions. The atmosphere I was in sometimes led me to think that Christians were the only ones who felt called to feed the hungry, help the lost, and support the lives of others.

We learned that URI works through what they call cooperation circles that are formed in different areas all over the world and must consist of at least 7 people representing at least 3 different religious traditions.

One such circle was featured in a video and consisted of young women from the Middle East, who I believe were Hindu. They were providing trees to families who had just given birth to a girl. Most of the time, these babies were aborted because females were not valued in society as highly as males. Seeing their passion for supporting life through a religion that is completely out of my scope really hit me with what we shared. The human heart. With all the complexities of the make-up of our identity, we all still have a heart that loves and breaks and longs to beat one more day.

I saw more of that heart in the faces of the people we met in San Fran. Our meditation instructor shared with us how she had started practicing with her mother when she was diagnosed with cancer, and had continued after she was gone to find cohesiveness and synergy throughout her day.

Hearing these stories is like finally stepping out the door after staring out the window, a dimension you always knew was there is finally brought to light.

Aside from building figurative bridges, we got to see the grand Golden Gate bridge doing my favorite walking alternative-biking! Apparently I am one of the only ones in my group who has actually continued the practice long after my childhood years. It was great getting to see my team members tackle the hills of SanFran together-giving me plenty of picture opportunities.

I even took some while on my bike-which dubbed me the little rebel of the group