Missional life, Resources

A book you must read..Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, is a book you must read.   Without knowing that it was already a bestseller, I ordered Three Cups of Tea:  One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time.  It arrived on Friday.  I started reading it on Saturday.  Tonight is Sunday and I just finished all 338 pages — it is that good!

Greg and David tell a compelling story of determination, friendship, bravery, humanity, and courage as Greg Mortenson’s inadvertent promise to build a school in a tiny, remote village of Pakistan morphs into an international mission, The Central Asia Institute,  to build over 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan for boys and girls. 

Three Cups of Tea takes its title from a comment by Haji Ali, a local tribal leader, who tells Greg that —

“The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger.  The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest.  The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die.”  — Haji Ali, Three Cups of Tea, page 150

Three Cups of Tea is a story about —

  • the son of Lutheran missionaries, Greg Mortenson;
  • a mountain climber who failed in his attempt to climb the world’s 2nd tallest mountain, but surmounted greater obstacles to bring education to the children of remote villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan;
  • bringing peace to a new generation of Muslim children;
  • what Americans should be doing to win the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world;
  • a dream that wouldn’t die, and a man who wouldn’t quit. 

Buy the book by clicking through threecupsoftea.com.  Amazon contributes 7% of book sales if you purchase that way.  This is an amazing story of a real American hero who has saved thousands of children from poverty and ignorance in the most volatile area of the world.  Greg Mortenson is a national treasure.  Support his cause by buying, reading, and sharing his book. 

YouTube has videos of Mortenson’s schools.  Search CAIschools.  Watch this video of the Patika school —

“The Patika School is located in the Neelum Vally where 70,000 people died in an earthquake in October 2005. CAI has since built 7 schools in the valley. The Patika School was hit hard with 103 girls dying that day when the old, 2 story brick/cement school colapsed. This new school brings hope and education back to an area devastated.”

4 thoughts on “A book you must read..Three Cups of Tea”

  2. Shawna, you would really like this book. Especially the stories of the first girls in two of the villages to receive an education, and the impact it had on their villages. Thanks for stopping by, good to hear from you! — Chuck

  3. Amazing book, I completed reading it yesterday and was left with a numbed heart. As I said in my blog “I thought (and argued) Life could never be as interesting as fiction. But after reading Three Cups of Tea, I’m afraid I’d have to say I was wrong.”

  4. Maverick, it is an amazing story, isn’t it? YouTube has several videos you might want to check out. The work goes on, I am happy to say. Thanks for commenting, and come back soon!

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