Cross-Cultural Living
Advent Day 19: Light
Editor’s note: FMS Missioner SarahJane Cauzillo currently serving in Cochabamba, Bolivia offers an Advent reflection ‘light’. It is the rainy season here in Bolivia. In just a moment, a clear blue sky can be completely transformed as the dark clouds come rolling over the mountaintops. The sun can be covered in an instant as the…
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Advent Day 11: Forgive
Editor’s note: Missioner Hannah Hagarty currently serving in Kingston, Jamaica reflects on what it means to forgive after the injustices she’s witnessed while serving overseas so far. Children born with HIV. Children that have been abandoned by their families because they were born with a physical or mental disability. Women and men in my close…
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Advent Day 9: Healing
Editor’s note: Missioner Tim Shelgren serving in Kingston, Jamaica offers an advent reflection on healing by sharing some stories of the “extraordinary healers” he has encountered throughout his time on mission so far and his new found understanding of what Jesus might have meant when he used the term “greater works”. “And Greater Works Than…
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Not Where You Go, But Who You Travel With
Editor’s Note: DCSC volunteer Julia reflects on the unexpected, beautiful discoveries she made during a work trip to Chicago. Julia touches on friendship, self discovery, and Franciscan values throughout her writing. Work Trip in Chicago? Sign Me Up! This blog idea comes to you by courtesy of Mrs. Nichole Petty. When my site supervisor, Dr.…
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Transitus Speech — Honoring the Life and Death of Saint Francis
Editor’s note: Executive Director Elizabeth Hughes shared the Transitus Reflection at the Franciscan Monastery. Liz focused on St. Francis’ message of humility, fraternity, and trust and how we continue to live that today. Good evening. Thank you for the invitation to share with you tonight. My name is Liz Hughes, and I am the Executive…
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God’s Language of Love
Editor’s note: Former missioner Erin reflects on her time in Guatemala and the many ways love broke all barriers during her time on mission as she readjusts to her life back in the states. After being back from Guatemala now almost three months, I have found myself taking the time to re-read my journals, blogs,…
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Honestly, a Continuous Work in Progress
Editor’s note: Missioner SarahJane reflects on her personal privileges and what that means while serving others in a different part of the world. “We don’t go to the margins to make a difference. We go to the margins so that folks at the margins make us different.” “We want to bridge the gap that exists…
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Faces of Jamaica
Editor’s note: missioner Hannah Hagarty reflects on the people and experiences she’s encountered in Jamaica through a series of photographs. Here is a collection of photos of people who I have connected with so far during my time in Jamaica. These photos show my typical week during my time on mission in Jamaica. [unitegallery Augblog1]…
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A Journey of Love
Editor’s Note: Missioner Erin McHugh reflects on her mission in Guatemala at Valley of the Angels school and the relationships she has built within the community. I have recently been reflecting on my original call to mission, and specifically my call back into mission after my first experience in Jamaica. When I discerned to be…
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“Loosening the Choke on the Development of Young Children”
Editor’s note: Missioner Tim Shelgren shares some of the progress he has seen in his 3rd grade classroom in Kingston, Jamaica, and reflects on the source of overactive behavior in the young boys. Since I arrived in Kingston, Jamaica four months ago, I have been serving as an assistant in a unique 3rd grade classroom…
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Come to the Table: Kinship
Editor’s note: Missioner Maggie Van Roekel continues a three-part blog series on how kitchens and cooking have become important to her on mission. In part three, Maggie shares her relationship with her host mom, Anita, and how they first bonded over baked goods. There have been many times during my lifetime where a kitchen has brought…
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Learning Humility and ‘The Sacrament of the Present Moment’
Editor’s note: Missioner SarahJane Cauzillo reflects on her ability to be present to those she serves in Cochabamba, Bolivia and the graces God has given her to do so. “If you have come here to help me… you are wasting your time. But, if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,…
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Gangs, Gunshots and God’s Grace
Editor’s note: Missioner Cindy Mizes expresses hope for the children she is serving in Jamaica after she reflects on a difficult experience in the classroom. On my first day in my new ministry as a Teacher’s Assistant at St. Francis’ Primary School, I gingerly walked into the classroom of 21 young boys (ages 8-10) not…
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Feeling Welcomed in DC
Editor’s note: DCSC Volunteer Anne-Marie Elsinger, describes her experience becoming familiar with DC from an African perspective. I have always considered DC a big city with a small city feel. It has a population of almost 700,000 people, yet people still greet you on the street. I came to DC because I deeply desired immersion…
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The Incarnate Christ in All I Meet
Editor’s note: Missioner SarahJane Cauzillo shares “an experience of letting go of my controlling nature, and learning to depend on others. Christ presented Himself to me in those who helped me along the way in my travels [to Cochabamba, Bolivia].” Lord, I am a stranger traveling in a brutal, yet wondrous land — far from the…
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My Adventure Through Guatemala
Editor’s note: Missioner Misty Menis-Kyler shares her recent experiences traveling around Guatemala. Since the school year ended and Camp Angel’s is over, I was invited to travel for three weeks with two of the volunteers who had come to help at Valle. I have never traveled just to travel before, but I felt it was…
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Faith Calls Us to be Neighbors: The Feeling of Hospitality
Editor’s note: As a part of FMS’ 2017 Advent blog series, missioner Anna Klonowski reflects on the moments of hospitality she’s experienced in Bolivia. I have experienced hospitality this year on mission in so many new and unexpected ways. This makes me think of a quote from Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said,…
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Faith Calls Us to be Neighbors: Aymara Hospitality
Editor’s note: As a part of FMS’ 2017 Advent blog series, returned missioner Lee Lechtenberg shares an experience of hospitality while adventuring the Inca trail with fellow missioners in Bolivia. Our journey began in the falling snow at the top of a mountain, trying to find the beginning of the Inca trail that would take…
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Faith Calls Us to be Neighbors: Open Doors, Here and Abroad
Editor’s note: As part of FMS’ 2017 Advent blog series, missioner Janice Smullen shares her experiences welcoming refugee families with open doors. When the churches in my area first met with Catholic Charities to hear specifics about the Refugee Resettlement program and to decide if we wanted to participate, Catholic Charities brought a man from…
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Faith Calls Us to be Neighbors: “You Must Stay!” An Experience of Not-So-American Hospitality
Editor’s note: Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv., is an FMS Board member and serves as Vicar Provincial of his Franciscan Province and Director of PostNovitiate Formation. As a guest blogger for FMS’ Advent blog series, Fr. Brad recounts a time he was generously welcomed into a friend’s home in Jordan. It was the spring of…
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Dios Está Aquí
Editor’s Note: Executive Director Elizabeth Hughes shares a reflection from her October site visit to FMS communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia and Carmen Pampa, Bolivia. There is a popular Spanish worship song — that also happens to be one of my favorites — called “Dios Está Aquí.” Its English lyrics proclaim “God is here, as certain…
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A Boricua Thinking of Home
Editor’s note:Missioner Stephanie Ashley Caban shares her perspective as a Puerto Rican concerned about the island after the devastation from Hurricane Maria. “Hey mom, I’m at a baseball game right now with the Casa, can I call you ba-” “Hola mami, soy yo, tu abuela! Te amo mucho!” “Abuela!!! Como está usted?!…
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A Deeper Definition of Dignity
Editor’s note: Missioner Catherine Hope Sullivan explores perspectives on sexuality through the lens of her experiences in San Sebastian Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Are you all singing along? I know I am. I have known that song for as long as…
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Full Arms, Fuller Heart
Editor’s note: Missioner Amanda Ceraldi shares her interactions with the families of the children she cares for at Valley of the Angels School in Guatemala. I could hear them from across the parking lot. A group of girls screaming my name: “Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, we have a surprise for you!” They pulled me into the…
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Many Passions: An Interview with Stephanie Ashley Caban
Editor’s note: Missioner SarahJane Cauzillo compiled her interview with fellow missioner in training Stephanie Ashley Caban, who shared her journey to FMS and towards a sense of cultural identity. It’s early in the morning. The sun has yet to grace us with its presence, and the grass still glistens with the night’s dropping of dew.…
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The Dump
Editor’s note: Missioner Misty Menis-Kyler shares a glimpse of Guatemala City’s dump and the people who live and work there. Last month I had the privilege of taking the Holy Spirit mission group from Texas to a site off campus called the dump. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is the dump where…
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Jesus Commands Us to Love, Part 2: Down in the Depths
Editor’s note: Missioner Janice Smullen continues her blog series, “Jesus Commands Us to Love,” by tracing Jamaica’s movement for social justice. God is always offering grace and unconditional love to us, but history has shown us that human beings are capable of displaying a dark and desperate side.Young Miss Bev (from Bat Mitzvah Girl, a…
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Compartir: The Mission of the Church
Editor’s note: Missioner Maggie Van Roekel contemplates her immersion into the culture of the rural University in which she works and what this means for her personal spirituality. “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so…
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Jamaica: History and Future of a Paradise Island
Editor’s note: Missioner Cindy Mizes reflects on Jamaica’s history and the invitation to solidarity and mercy. I recently had the opportunity to visit the National Museum Jamaica, which opened my eyes to Jamaica’s past struggles. As began to I explored Jamaica’s history, I learned about the early Spanish colonization and merciless treatment of the Tainos (Jamaica’s first…
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Jesus Commands Us to Love – Faces of Unconditional Love
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen starts her new blog series by reflecting on the transformative power of unconditional love. Sister Marita found a small baby bird, brought it inside, and began to feed and care for it. I was able to help by “bird-sitting” one weekend while she was away. We were manually putting a…
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“Baby, You’re a Firework!”
Editor’s note: Missioner Misty Menis-Kyler reflects on her childhood experience with fireworks and her love for the Fourth of July, relating it to her time now on mission in Guatemala with the students at Valley of the Angels. Growing up, the Fourth of July was my favorite holiday. It still is. It wasn’t because it…
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Joy Incarcerated
Editor’s note:Missioner Catherine Sullivan offers a photo essay that is a window into a special day in her prison ministry–her goddaughter Michelle’s baptismal presentation. [unitegallery CHS717] Reflection question: Often light shines the brightest through the darkness. Where can you find light in your hardships?
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A Time to Rejoice
Editor’s note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs recounts a celebration at one of her service sites that gave her insight into her community’s strength and ability to turn trauma into joy. For the past year-and-a-half I have been volunteering at a girl’s home called Nuestra Casa (Our House). The home takes in girls ages 5-18 who have…
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“Praised Be to You, My Lord, For Sister Water”
Editor’s note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble reflects on how a trip to Amboró National Park gave her a chance to relax in a beautiful natural setting and reflect on care for creation. The university here in Carmen Pampa is currently on break. I decided to take advantage of the time given and went on a much-needed…
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Crystal’s World
Editor’s note: Missioner Cindy Mizes shares about a day at Jacob’s Well with the residents there, and how one personal experience in particular gave her a lens to understand the societal issues that Jamaica is facing today. She was sitting alone quietly in a wheelchair that had been pushed into a dreary corner of the…
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Rooted in the Present
Editor’s note: During a visit to a local, Jamaican coffee farm, Missioner Janice Smullen reflects on presence, rootedness, and how to bloom where any of us may be planted. Recently, I was able to spend a two-night holiday with my visiting sister at an eight acre coffee farm containing 5,500 coffee trees, about 3,000 feet…
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“Hermosa”
Editor’s note: Missioner Erin McHugh reflects on moments during teaching that have brought up questions for her about privilege, beauty, and unjust societal standards. I recently had a lesson in my English class about beauty and I asked my students, “How do you define beauty? How would you describe a beautiful person?” All the girls…
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Michel’s Madrina
Editor’s note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan reflects on the role of “madrinas” in the Bolivian culture when she is asked to be a baptismal godmother for a friend’s daughter. Madrina is a very important term in Bolivia. There is actually an entire day and festival dedicated to madrinas, because here the word refers to a friend…
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A Day at CUBE
Editor’s note: Missioner Anna Klonowski shares about her work at the CUBE social center in Bolivia and the children there whom she has formed friendships with. One of the highlights of my week is spending several days with the kids and adolescents at Centro Una Brisa de Esperanza (CUBE), or, in English, Center a Breeze…
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Sharing in Solidarity
Editor’s note: Missioner Cindy Mizes reflects on some experiences from her months on mission in Jamaica which have moved her, given her hope, and called her to share God’s mercy. In the short time I have been in Jamaica, I’ve come to love this country and to contemplate its bleeding wounds which run deep and…
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My Brother’s Keeper
Editor’s note: Missioner Amanda Ceraldi shares how she has found a deep, inspiring example of what it means to be our brother’s keeper in the lives and actions of her students at Valley of the Angels. Juan* was sitting at the table crying. Tears streamed down his face from his bloodshot eyes. He tried wiping…
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The Privilege of Choice
Editor’s note: Missioner Maggie Van Roekel reflects on the privilege of being able to receive education and choose a job, sharing how teaching and the attitude of her students have challenged her own understanding. As I am finishing my first semester at the UAC, several people have asked me what I feel has been the…
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Allowing Joy to Find Me
Editor’s note: Missioner Erin McHugh reflects on the nature of joy and shares how she was able to find joy when she surrendered, relaxed, and practiced presence with those around her. “Somewhere along my journey, it happened. Quietly, imperceptibly, almost without my knowing it, I relaxed. Got comfortable with myself. I began enjoying myself, accepting…
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¡Nunca de Rodillas!
Editor’s note: In a sequel to her last blog post, “The Weight of Waiting,” missioner Allison Dethlefs continues to learn more about the issue as she stands in solidarity with the Bolivian families who are fighting for better health care for their children. Recently, I read an article in one of Cochabamba’s main newspapers, Opinión,…
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To Choose Neither
Editor’s note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan shares a poem juxtaposing the societal norms of the US and the societal norms she experiences throughout her time on mission and her ministry in the Bolivian prisons. These lives continue to baffle me. They are lives lived entirely for others …
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Easter Celebrations
Editor’s note: Missioner Maggie Van Roekel reflects on how the missing of Easter mass opened her to renewed solidarity with the Bolivian people and a deeper awareness of privilege. The Easter season is one of my favorite times of the year. I love celebrating the mystery of the Resurrection. Attending mass during Holy Week has…
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The Weight of Waiting
Editor’s note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs reflects on early mornings, long lines, and the frustrations with the healthcare system in Bolivia from her experiences on mission, and how—through these encounters—she has felt called to deeper solidarity with the families she accompanies. The darkness pressed in on me as I fumbled to shut off my alarm. I used…
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Benedictine Encounters
Editor’s note: Missioner Anna Klonowski reflects on times she has experienced hospitality and how she has felt moved to reflect that example in her own life. As an FMS lay missioner, I am a proud member of a diverse, widespread, Franciscan family. I am a part of this family today largely because of my formation…
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New Beginnings
Editor’s note: Missioner Misty Menis-Kyler looks back on her first few months of mission and her time at Valley of the Angels, telling of encounters which have shaped her time on mission for the future. The months here at Valley have gone by in a blink of an eye. The days and weeks seem to…
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Touched by Kindness
Editor’s note: Missioner Erin McHugh tells how an invitation to a Guatemalan family’s celebrations opened her eyes to the hospitality of the Guatemalan culture and the generosity of the people. Mission is challenging and lonely at times. You are entering into a foreign country with an entirely new culture. You are the outsider in this…
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