At La Mesa Turquesa, we value...

It's always good to revisit your values and your "why", and we did just that this week with our team and our volunteers that serve at La Mesa Turquesa. As a group, we talked through what each statement meant to us and how we see that being lived out at La Mesa. Here's a quick look at what we value (a translation of the poster):

• We value people.
• We value all cultures.
• We value relationship and friendship.
• We value your story.
• We value learning - we want to learn more about our neighbors, their culture, and their customs.
• We value community and our neighbors.

We had a great discussion around these statements, what they mean to us, and how we see them in the work of La Mesa. We unpacked a few words that have various meanings to various people. And we talked about how "different" is not bad or wrong... it's just different. Many times, we have a clash of customs or ideas or ways that things are done, which can lead down one of two roads. 1) We can choose to judge and correct and argue our point, or 2) we can choose to listen and learn and accept that there are differences in cultures and customs. One of these roads will lead to relationships and dignity and building bridges of peace and understanding.

All of the La Mesa Turquesa statements for why we run the center the way we do has it's roots in the statutes of our non-profit and in the distinctives, values, and mission of TMS Global.

I was particularly happy that one of our volunteers raised his hand after about 45 minutes of discussion and said, "I think these values are all great, but I think we need to talk about WHY we value these things. Why do we think these things are important?"
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This was the perfect segue to the WHY... because all people are created in the image of God. All people are His creation and He cares about all of them. It doesn't matter what color, what race, what country or culture or religion. It doesn't matter why they fled their country of origin. It doesn't matter is they have a job or if they are living on free meals and clothing from the church clothes closet. We don't judge if they are Catholic or Muslim or Russian Orthodox or atheist. They are children of God, created in the image of the Creator. And so, they have immense value - to our God, and to us.