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How Coffee Saved My Life: And Other Stories of Stumbling to Grace

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Ellie Roscher will lift your spirits and pierce your heart. Her thoughtful and passionate style confronts the reader with visceral, raw emotion and gentle, sacred insight. Roscher relates her year of mission work in Lascano, Uruguay, a small town of 2500 that has no place for a blonde North American, or so it seems. The gut-wrenching (literally) nature of some moments will give even the most stoic reader pause. Roscher holds nothing back as she unfolds the incredible joys and sorrows that an entire year living as "the other" brings to her. While the material would have an impact in even the most clumsy phrasing, Roscher drives each moment home by bringing Lascano and its inhabitants to life, vividly capturing the essential humanity of every person she describes (even herself). Although Roscher's writing is reason enough to purchase the book, she has done a spectacular job of providing tremendous quotations from other writers that both frame and deepen her own work. She has also included numerous poignant journal entries that she wrote in the midst of her turmoil in Uruguay. While the book is billed as a piece about spirituality and mission (which it certainly is), Roscher's arrow hits many other targets as well. The book will definitely aid anyone preparing for extended travel. It will also allow even the most ardent homebody to connect in self-reflection. Finally, the book at its core lays bare the realities of White Privilege. Rarely, if ever, are most Caucasians in the United States confronted with their "whiteness." Ellie Roscher spent an entire year as "the other" because she was white. Her willingness to reveal intensely personal moments of both elation and tragedy is a gift for anyone hoping to better understand her or his cultural awareness. Ellie Roscher has written a book that has already changed lives - her own and those of many people in Lascano, but the amazing gift is that the book clearly has the potential to transform the lives of anyone daring enough to plunge in, even if it might mean some stumbling to Grace for the reader too.

Failure and accidents have many positive bonuses if you take them right. "How Coffee Saved My Life: And Other Stories of Stumbling to Grace" is an inspirational memoir from Ellie Roscher drawing on her own experiences and what she has learned through her own bumblings through the world and offers much wisdom. "How Coffee Saved My Life" is proof that poignancy and sage advice can come from any age.

This is a true story and an incredible account of the dedication and courage of a young woman who served a year abroad as a missionary. I read it cover to cover in one sitting and bought 15 additional copies to give to friends.

A candid view of the challenge and grace of expanding our sense of community by immersing ourselves in a culture that is 180 degrees different and learning we are the same.