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Encountering God in Those Back Home

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While we all wait and prepare for the coming of Christ this Advent season, the families of Lay Mission Class 25 have even more for which to prepare.

Having completed their mission terms abroad, Class 25 is returning to the U.S. this season. They will begin their returned mission to North America by celebrating the holidays with their families before coming to our D.C. headquarters in January for reentry.

The support from loved ones is so important that is one of the places returning missioner Joel Vaughn found God this year.

“I encounter God in the faces of the people who visit and wait for our return to the United States,” he said.

Joel’s son-in-law and daughter during a visit to Bolivia

Among the people waiting for Joel and his wife Lynn Myrick’s return from Cochabamba, Bolivia are their daughter Emer Vaughn and son-in-law Alin Cosmanescu.

As we welcome home Lay Mission Class 25 and say goodbye to the newly commissioned Lay Mission Class 28, Franciscan Mission Service is thankful for all the families who share their mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters and brothers with us and those in need around the world.

Thank you for providing teachers and companions to incarcerated men, children with burns, those wanting to learn more about the environment and youth living on the street in Bolivia.Thank you for providing a nurse, deacons, counselor and pharmacist to patients in South Africa. 

Thank you for teaching our missioners how to love by your example. And thank you for supporting them as they live out their call to mission.

To become part of our family of missioners’ supporters, please make a donation to FMS this year.

Charles Joel Vaughn is a returned missioner who served with his wife Lynn Myrick in Cochabamba, Bolivia from 2009 to 2012.