Month: September 2013
On Two Wheels in DC
Missioner-in-training Nate Mortenson reflects on his journey to D.C. and where he is volunteering while in training here. As we packed up the car for our move to Washington, D.C. I thought it would be ridiculous for my wife Mary and me to take our bikes along. I mean life, would be too busy with…
Read MoreShopping for Trust
Missioner-in-training Dae Doseff’s first reflection from formation touches on what life is like in the community house where the missioners-in-training live with our volunteers and other residents. Trust is one of the most difficult things for me to do in life. Trusting myself to make good decisions, trusting that God’s plan is going to be…
Read MoreFranciscan Friday: Building A More Human City
Domestic volunteer and program associate Chanda Ikachana continues our Hunger Action Month reflections by sharing her experiences of befriending those who are homeless in downtown D.C. Over the past few months, I’ve volunteered with the Sant’Egidio community on their Friday night food-runs, a ministry to the homeless in the Dupont area downtown. Last week, our…
Read MoreFriends on the Street
Missioner-in-training Valerie Ellis reflects on the need of those around us. I was thinking back to a time when I really needed a friend of mine to be present in my life. Because I really needed her, I was spending more time with her. It struck me that at times when I didn’t need her…
Read MoreLet Your Mercy Light The Path Before Me
Discerning and preparing for mission can be an emotional process, as missioner-in-training Brittany Koepke shares here. “I could be safe here in Your arms and never leave homeI could just stay right where I am and hope to feel YouBut You have called me higherYou have called me deeperAnd I will go where You will…
Read MoreLife on Pause
Nate and Mary Mortenson Missioner-in-training Mary Mortenson shares her thoughts on the beginning of mission training. Nate and I arrived in Washington, D.C. the Monday of Labor Day, tired and emotional. We had spent our summer moving back home to help my parents on the strawberry farm, taking long bike trips, celebrating weddings and saying…
Read MoreFranciscan Friday: Learning about Humility In the Strangest Ways
Lay missioner Jeff Sved tells a story of purchasing food for the prison kitchen in Cochabamba, Bolivia. “Cabeza de baca…” “Wait a second! You want me to buy cow heads?” The head delegate of one of the prisons here was actually asking us to go out and buy cow heads. I guess when you’re cooking…
Read MoreMission Monday: Kitzi Answers God’s Call to Continue Service in Cochabamba
Second-year missioner Kitzi Hendricks has decided to renew her contract for another year! We are thrilled to have her continue her ministries of providing social services for children and supporting survivors of torture in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Kitzi has also been part of a team working closely with the Archdiocese of Cochabamba to open a new…
Read MoreFranciscan Friday: Combating Hunger in D.C.
In honor of September’s Hunger Action Month, we’re sharing experiences of combating hunger. In Washington, D.C. one in eight households struggles with hunger. D.C.’s poverty rate is the third highest in the nation, and on any given night, 6,000 people here are homeless. While our short and long-term international mission programs focus our attention on…
Read More