Cross-Cultural Living
¡Carnaval!
Editor’s Note: As we journey through the season of Lent, lay missioner Ralph Anderson, OFS, recounts his cross-cultural experiences at two different Bolivian celebrations of Carnaval, a traditional Mardi Gras celebration in Latin America, and shares pictures and videos from this festival. When I was young, my impression of Carnaval was a drunken immoral Festival in…
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Pondering My New Home
Editor’s Note: As she begins her time on mission in Jamaica, lay missioner Susan Sarkissian embraces this season of transition. I just arrived in Jamaica for two or more years of service, and I am experiencing what is commonly known as transition. This is that period where you are unfamiliar with your surroundings, clueless to…
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A Jamaican Music Playlist
Editor’s Note: Lay missioner Joleen Johnson has curated a playlist of songs that reflect the culture of Jamaica. For this blog, I have created a playlist of some of my favorite Jamaican songs to share with you. Many are folk songs and are sung in Patwah, the local language, so I chose videos with lyrics…
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All Great and Precious Things
Editor’s note: Inspired by a quote from John Steinbeck, missioner Julia Pinto reflects on what loneliness is teaching her while serving on mission in the US-Mexico border region. She shows up and greets us in the crowded gathering, office cubicle, family home, jail cell, big city, small town. We often ignore her, distracting ourselves with…
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What It Was Like on the Border When Title 8 Sunset Title 42
Editor’s note: When Title 42 was ended in May, missioner Mari Snyder and the organizations where she serves were preparing to support an influx of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. She shares her reflections on the experience. It’s been just a few months since the May 11th reinstatement of Title 8, with the end of…
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Mystical Body of Christ
Editor’s note: Victor Artaiz, a missioner serving in Bolivia, reflects on the ways he sees the “mystical body of Christ”—that is, the Christian community—alive and committed to service in Cochabamba. In mission, we who have left home and family to accompany others living on the margins in other countries are encouraged and nourished by the…
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Memorials on the Migrant Trail
Editor’s note: Each year, an organization called The Migrant Trail in Arizona leads a solidarity walk across the US-Mexico border and through a well-traversed valley, giving walkers a chance to experience the region and bear witness to the place where thousands of people in migration have lost their lives. This year, missioners Mari and Julia…
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Video: Life as a Franciscan Missioner on the US-Mexico Border
Editor’s note: Lay missioner Julia Pinto takes us on a journey through her daily life and ministry as a Franciscan missioner on the US-Mexico border. Question for reflection: What part of daily life as a missioner on the US-Mexico border surprises you? Where do you see God at work in Julia’s ministry?
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A Day in the Life at a Franciscan Convent
Editor’s note: When missioner Joleen Johnson found out that she had a day off from her ministry at primary school, she made a plan for how she wanted to spend her time. But the day unfolded much differently than she expected, with many opportunities for ministry of presence with the residents of the Franciscan convent…
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An Interview with Sister Grace
Editor’s Note: In this video blog, Overseas Lay Missioner Joleen Johnson interviews Sister Grace, a Sister of Allegany in Kingston, Jamaica. Sister Grace shares her story of joining the Franciscan sisters and learning to love and serve the poor and marginalized of our communities. Question for Reflection: How have you developed your lifelong ministry? In…
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The Way the Wildflowers Grow
Editor’s Note: Happy Earth Day! In this poem, Julia Pinto, a missioner on the US-Mexico Border region, reflects on the ever-changing and adaptable nature of desert wildflowers. Through verse, Julia compares herself to these wildflowers, and shares how her experience on mission has forever changed her and her way of life. Experience has taught me…
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Loneliness and Resilience
Editor’s note: Hogar Nuestra Casa, a home for girls who have experienced sexual abuse, is one of missioner Domonique Thompson’s ministry sites in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Reflecting on accompanying the girls through holidays like Christmas and Father’s Day, she recognizes how this ministry has expanded her understanding of both the impact of trauma and the power…
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Empanadas y Api Ministry
Editor’s note: Sharing food is a significant aspect of Bolivian culture, and it is a moving part of many of missioner Victor Artaiz’s ministries. He shares how, along with a few friends, he found another way to share food with people experiencing hunger in his neighborhood. It was an evening after Mass at San Francisco…
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Humility in Franciscan Mission
Editor’s note: Missioner Mari Snyder reflects on how she is learning humility, a key Franciscan value, through her ministries in the US-Mexico border region. Experiencing humility on mission is an oh-so-very-frequent occurrence. The words minor and lesser and to live on the margins of society are words used within the Franciscan community to describe –…
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Living Out Franciscan Values on Mission in Bolivia
Editor’s note: Missioner Victor Artaiz was welcomed to the home of a large family in the countryside of Bolivia. During his stay with them, he witnessed Franciscan values come to life. I am no longer surprised by the levels of Franciscan values I experience on mission here in Bolivia! Case in point are my experiences…
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Learning from Children
Editor’s note: Julia Pinto, a missioner in the US-Mexico Border region, shares how the children she meets and teaches at CAME, a migrant shelter in Agua Prieta, teach her how to be loving, welcoming, and intentional. “Maestra Julia, what words would you like to learn in Spanish? We can teach you.” That is my best…
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Pressing Questions
Editor’s Note: Lay Missioner Mari Snyder reflects on the hardships of migration as she follows a trail through the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border. I invite you to look at the following picture and note your very first thought before reading further. Yes, the Sonoran Desert and its mountains are simply stunning; they’re a…
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Steve: How a Boy Who Couldn’t Speak Spoke to Me
Editor’s Note: Missioner Joleen Johnson serves weekly at Bethlehem Home, a home in Kingston, Jamaica, for children who experience various physical disabilities. Although Steve, one of the boys, cannot speak, Joleen has heard God’s voice in a profound way through relationship with him. My Sunday routines are consistent, even when nothing else on mission in…
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A Feast Day for Our Wholly Human Families
Editor’s note: Reflecting on the recent Feast of the Holy Family, missioner Mari Snyder shares the mission statement, written during FMS Formation, that grounds her call to serve. Her experiences serving at the Migrant Resource Center this year have only deepened her call to serve “wholly human” families that she meets on the Border. Early…
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And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Editor’s Note: Missioner Joleen Johnson shares a reflection on life and death that she wrote and shared for the Transitus prayer service, which celebrates St. Francis’s passing from life to death, and the deeper meaning she found after her grandfather’s passing a few days later. As a Franciscan Mission Service missioner placed in Kingston, Jamaica,…
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Day 7: Grime
Editor’s note: On this seventh day of our Advent blog series “His Light Would Not Go Out,” current missioner Domonique Thompson reflects on her ministry at a soup kitchen or comedor in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Instead of a transactional experience, she notices that those who come to be served find ways to serve themselves. Men, women…
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Day 6: Heal (or Not to Heal)
Editor’s note: On this sixth day of our Advent blog series “His Light Would Not Go Out,” returned missioner Rhonda Eckerman shares the profound healing she experienced once she left her burdens at the altar with Christ. I came to FMS in August 2020 heartbroken as I had recently lost my mother and my family…
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Day 5: Tarnished
Editor’s note: On this fifth day of our Advent blog series “His Light Would Not Go Out,” current missioner Julia Pinto explores how accepting our flaws, or what makes us tarnished, can lead to a more honest relationship with God. Tarnished? I don’t want to be tarnished! Rather than lackluster, I desire to be beautiful…
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Day 1: His Light Would Not Go Out
Editor’s Note: We begin our Advent 2022 blog series, “His Light would not go out,” with a reflection written by our Associate Director, Rose Hardwick. Using an image from her mission experience in the Dominican Republic, she reflects on discernment as a process where God lights our way, step by step. Careening down the dark…
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When You Say YES to God
Editor’s Note: After two years of mission in the U.S.-Mexico border region, Overseas Lay Missioner Rhonda Eckerman shares her favorite memories of service and recounts the joys that come with saying “yes” to God. Two years ago I said yes to Franciscan Mission Service and to a move to the U.S. – Mexico border taking…
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The Transient Southwest
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Julia Pinto shares glimpses, through poetry and prose, of the ever-changing nature of accompanying migrants on the U.S.-Mexico Border region. Few people around, fewer things to do and see, Why do attachments here Seem to form so easily? Neighbors, volunteer friends, confidantes, It all feels in vain. Mucho dolor…
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100 Days in Jamaica
Editor’s Note: Joleen Johnson reflects on her first 100 days as an Overseas Lay Missioner in Jamaica. I’ve officially been in Jamaica for three months now. In fact, I calculated it, and my 100th day in Jamaica was June 9th, 2022. My time here has felt like it’s just flown by, and I really can’t…
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La Paz Sea Contigo
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Victor Artaiz reflects on the gifts of the Holy Spirit working in his life as he serves on mission in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I recently celebrated the Feast of Pentecost with men and families at El Abra prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Within the Catholic chapel, the celebrant priest, Padre Juan of…
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Discovering Our Common Tongue
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Julia Pinto shares how the gift of music created a moment of connection despite differences in language and culture on the U.S.-Mexico border. Just a typical afternoon in the Arizona May “springtime” – 94 degrees, 7% humidity, clear skies, and plenty of sunshine. I park near an abandoned shoe store…
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Hugs, Hugs, and More Hugs
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Rhonda Eckerman shares a reflection on greeting strangers with hugs on the U.S.-Mexico border to convey comfort and love. I have now been working across the U.S.-Mexico border for over a year, and one of my favorite customs is greeting a stranger with a hug. I watched in wonder as…
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The “Our Father” I Lived Yesterday Afternoon
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Mari Snyder participated in her first shift at the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta, Mexico, just yards away from the U.S.-Mexico Border. She shares the Our Father in Spanish with a very personal English-language interpretation. Padre Nuestro, Our Father, Que estas en el cielo, Who art in heaven, but…
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Appreciating God’s Creation in Jamaica
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Joleen Johnson shares a photo blog of God’s creation in Kingston, Jamaica. As a way to appreciate God’s intricate creation, this blog post consists of photos of just a few flowers and plants (and one parrot) found in Kingston, Jamaica. Each petal is different than the next and has God’s…
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Night at the Art Car Museum
Editor’s Note: Julia Pinto, an FMS missioner on the U.S.-Mexico border, shares a story of meeting a retired Border Patrol agent and how he challenged her assumptions. My fellow missioner and I were invited by one of our ministry partners to a dinner on March 22nd at Art Car World, a small, local museum in…
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Fasting, Ham Sandwiches, and a Gift
Editor’s Note: Overseas Lay Missioner Rhonda Eckerman, who serves on the U.S.-Mexico border, reflects on a moment she will never forget during a time of fasting. In the spring of 2021, I participated in a fast entitled “Fast for More Compassion from the People of the United States for the Migrants Coming to the Southern…
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One night in Mexico
Editor’s Note: Lay Missioner serving at the US-Mexico Border Rhonda Eckerman recalls a time spent serving at the Migrant Resource Center. She candidly shares some stories from her first night. The Migrant Resource Center is a small two story building located approximately 20 feet from the port of entry turnstile that rotates into 1st Street,…
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FMS Lifelong Missioner Feature: Tim Shelgren
Program Director Emily Norton had the gift of interviewing Tim Shelgren (Mission Class 33, Serving from 2018-2020 in Kingston, Jamaica) via a Zoom call. Below is the interview. Q: How have you chosen to live out Franciscan simplicity since returning to the US? The day I left Jamaica, I remember standing in the airport on…
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A Time for Everything…
Editor’s note: Overseas Lay Missioner, Hannah Hagarty, reflects on her time of mission serving in Jamaica as well her time back at home, recognizing the beauty of Ecclesiastes within her life throughout this period of many transitions. I just returned to Jamaica on September 20th from being home in the states for a 6-week stay.…
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Language and Culture: A Vibrant Relationship
Editor’s note: Overseas missioner, Anna Metzger, reminisces on her time in Bolivia while at home in Kentucky. She dives into the connections between language and culture, considering lessons learned from her journey into the Quechua language. Most simply put, being home is hard. For years, I dreamed of living in Latin America, and just as…
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Convent COVID Retreats and What I’ve Learned…
Editor’s note: Megan Hamilton, an FMS missioner serving in Kingston, Jamaica reflects on her time during the pandemic, the many things she has learned, the idea of intentional luxury, and what it means to truly live the Franciscan charism. I’ve spent most of the last six months self-quarantined in an historic building in Kingston, Jamaica…
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Living Water and Light
Editor’s note: Overseas missioner Anna reflects on the past two months quarantined in Bolivia through the song “Springtime” by Chris Renzema. Like all of you, we have been living in quarantine for the last two months in Bolivia. With that comes a lot of uncertainty and free time. I challenged you in my last blog…
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Lessons From A Mandatory Retreat
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps member, Julia reflects on the changes brought about by this pandemic and the insights she’s found along the way. It has taken me six weeks to adjust to the changes brought on by quarantine living. We shifted to working remotely; our community shrunk from twelve to three as members went…
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Raspy
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Becky Kreidler reflects on the different sides of God she’s encountered through recent trials and tribulations in her life. I’ve been abruptly learning that my soul has some rasp to it. Despite my resistance, it has kept coming up, begging for me to acknowledge its existence, and making it known that…
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Nothing or The Best of Something?
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Anna reflects on these times of quarantine and how she’s spending it in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As the whole world is asked to stop, us missioners in Bolivia also find ourselves cooped up in our apartment in downtown Cochabamba. Now, I have to say, I am extremely grateful for where we live. …
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Ramblings from a Tropical Ramble
Editor’s note: FMS Missioner Megan Hamilton reflects on her new life in Kingston, Jamaica and her decision to stay and serve her new community throughout this pandemic. I look out my balcony at an arching, rustling mass of green: palm and mango trees, a hundred-plus-year-old giant the Jamaicans call a French Peanut tree. The sun…
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Hannah’s Nature Vlog
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Hannah Hagarty has returned home from mission back to Iowa due to the Coronavirus outbreak. In this video, Hannah will take you on a peaceful journey of her childhood home sharing pictures and videos of the beautiful scenery that helps remind her of God’s presence even amidst all this chaos. We…
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You’re Not So Tough
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Sabrina reflects on vulnerability, friendship, and accompaniment. I have always struggled with holding in and suppressing my emotions. I tell myself that I am just a very logical, level-headed person–one that doesn’t have emotions. It’s hard for me to express myself or admit what’s going on inside me. Most of the…
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The Ways Between Bethlehems
Editor’s note: Megan Hamilton, an FMS missioner serving in Kingston, Jamaica reflects on two Bethlehem’s: the first being the one that blossomed her love for catholic servant leadership, and the other being her new ministry site in country with FMS. My second day in Kingston Jamaica I am at Bethlehem Home, an orphanage for kids…
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Rest In Our Past
Editor’s note: Becky, a current missioner in Cochabamba, Bolivia, reflects upon how her entire mission journey with FMS illuminates her present moment. She became a FMS missioner in 2018, and attended formation with class 34 in the fall of 2018. Upon discerning to be present to those in Guatemala, she left in January of 2019…
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Trusting In God’s Tomorrow
Editor’s note: DCSC volunteer Michael Broughton reflects on the ways trusting in God’s plan has brought him to FMS, along with new experiences, friends and passions for helping those in need. Hello! Since the last time I published a blog post, my life here in D.C. has transformed quite a bit. I have grown to…
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Peter
Editor’s note: Missioner Hannah Hagarty currently serving in Kingston, Jamaica reflects on 5 words that have become the foundation for her time on mission so far and the ways these words are exemplified in her friend Peter, a 15 year old boy from Jamaica living in a home for boys born HIV positive. Presence. Love.…
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