Bolivia
Mission Monday: Mother and Community Love
For this Mission Monday post, Missioner Annemarie shares a story of the pain of a mother’s love and the healing power of a supportive community. Missioner Annemarie with her mom before she leaves for Bolivia. In the CEB that I have come to know in the northern zone of the city, there is a woman…
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Mission Monday: Saying Yes
New lay missioner Annemarie Barrett shares what her time so far in Cochabamba, Bolivia has taught her about being open to new opportunities and the unknown. I have been reflecting lately on what it means to live as a lay missioner and to constantly be saying “yes,” and on what it takes to be able…
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International Recipe: Arroz con Leche
Served warm with canela (cinnamon), arroz con leche is a traditional dessert beverage in Bolivia and many parts of Central and South America. As lay missioner Jeff Sved finished his first Lent in Bolivia, he learned that arroz con leche is usually one of dishes enjoyed on Good Friday. It is customary to fast in…
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Update From Bolivia: Patience and an Open Heart
New lay missioner Annemarie Barrett has been in Bolivia since January 2013. Here is her update on her experience so far. Without the comfort of familiar schedules, places and plans, I can tell you now that the process of growing into a new context is even more challenging than I had expected it to be.…
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Mission Monday: Patience in Solidarity
To kick off week three of our Lenten Walking in Solidarity series with its theme of”Living Solidarity: Work, Family and Citizenship,” new missioner Jeff Sved writes about his experiences so far in Bolivia. Paciencia. With time and practice I’ll be able to communicate adequately in a new language. Paciencia. With time I’ll get used…
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Mission Monday: Teaching Solidarity
Each Monday during our Lenten “Walking in Solidarity” series we look at how Franciscan Mission Service is striving to live out the theme for the week. This week’s theme is solidarity through education and formation. “Teaching” solidarity is at the very core of Franciscan Mission Service’s work. We have two programs in particular that embody…
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Postcard from Bolivia: Carnaval in Oruro
About 28,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians parade over four miles at the Oruro Carnaval. Just because new missioners Annemarie Barrett and Jeff Sved are in language school right now doesn’t mean they can’t have some fun. Our missioners joined about seven other classmates from the Maryknoll Language Institute to experience the most famous of Bolivia’s…
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Franciscan Friday: Look At Our Reality From the Perspective of the Poor
Recently I found myself in a small upper room in a Franciscan Spirituality Center in Tarata, a town about an hour drive outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia. I was sitting in a plastic chair in a circle of Franciscan volunteers from around the world, some from Germany, others from Brazil, and me from the United States.…
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What is an adequate response to the love that I have received?
“What is an adequate response to the love that I have received?” New Missioner Annemarie tries to answer that question after spending the last month saying goodbyes to friends and family before leaving for her two-year mission in Bolivia. How can I not smile? When I am surrounded by so much love from family, from…
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Mission Monday: “Death ends a life, not a relationship”
This week, missioner Nora returns to Casa San Salvador, along with seven other returning missioners, to begin the process of re-entry from her time in Bolivia. As Nora recalls her service abroad, she reflects on the memories that center around life’s biggest transition – death. Memorial in honor of Bolivian Protesters. For me, one of…
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Blessings in the New Year
Just as we are blessed to begin a new day, we are thankful to begin a bright new year! 2012 was a good year for us and we have much to look forward to in 2013. – The homecoming of eight missioners from Bolivia, South Africa, and Zambia. Nora Pfeiffer (Bolivia) Catherine Giller (Bolivia) Lynn…
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Encountering God in the Face of Missioners
While our missioners encounter God in those we serve, we often find ourselves experiencing God through our missioners themselves. Development Director Br. Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, shares how our missioners inspire him: Br. Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, with some of our missioners in Bolivia: Kitzi Hendricks, Lynn Myrick and Joel Vaughn “My ministry with Franciscan Mission Service…
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Encountering God in Difficult Times
“The Stoning of St Stephen” by Pietro di Cortona Today is the Feast of St. Stephen, who as the first martyr is an example of total trust and forgiving love. His story can be found in the Acts in which he gave a speech and the crowd responded by wanting to stone him: “But [Stephen], filled…
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Encountering God in Community
I encountered God this year in the warmth with which the community I have here has continually expressed to me, comforting me in times of sadness, laughing with me, and sharing themselves and their cariño (affection) for me in so many ways. Sincere relationships, it is there that I experience God´s acceptance, love and beauty.…
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Encountering God in Your Eyes
Hermana Chelo and missioner Kitzi Hendricks When our lay missioners serve abroad, they work alongside religious in solidarity with the poor. Mission Kitzi Hendricks shares a recent conversation she had with a sister at her service site, Madre de Dios, a shelter for abandoned and abused girls:Hermana Chelo is a little Spanish nun who has…
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Encountering God in Prison
Missioner Lynn Myrick reflects on a time she and her husband, Joel Vaughn, were invited to an event at the El Abra, the maximum security prison for men, one of the couple’s ministry sites in Cochabamba, Bolivia. “Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of…
Read MoreEncountering God in Joy
Happy Gaudete Sunday! As we light the pink candle on our Advent wreath today, we are filled with joy at the coming of Jesus. It is this joy that we are called to share with others so that they might see and encounter God through us. Rodger, a catechist who works with missioner Catherine Giller…
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Encountering God in Those Back Home
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…
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Encountering God in Our Hearts
Today, Kitzi Hendricks shares the story of one of the girls she serves in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the Madre de Dios shelter for girls who have been abused or abandonded. Martha is one of the adolescent girls I have been working with at Madre de Dios since she arrived at the shelter in March. When…
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The Christmas Challenge: Getting Creative and Simplifying
Our missioner Kitzi Hendricks shares how she challenged herself in her Christmas preparations and hopes you’ll do the same. As the Christmas season approaches, I find myself contemplating the best way to prepare myself for it during my first year on mission. I have found myself turned a little bit upside down without the sounds, the…
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Mission Monday: What it means to be without power.
As Superstorm Sandy raged and roared outside, missioner candidate Jeff Sved found that going without electricity would be very similar to his adjustment to a new culture and a new lifestyle. What does a week without electricity mean for a group of missioners-in-training?A little extra challenge. And a whole lot more to reflect on… For…
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Mission Monday: About A Week Back…
We were touched by Missioner Joel’s latest blog post. A reminder of why working for peace is so important – it won’t haunt you later. Photo by Flickr user Jayel Aheram In Santa Vera Cruz I share some time with people who are terminally ill and living at a hospice operated by the Missionary Sisters…
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Mission Monday: They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Missioner Nora Pfeiffer is not the only one moving on from their community in Cochabamba, Bolivia. And saying goodbye to neighbors just makes you realize how much you appreciated the company. I find myself recently reminded of the words from the Joni Mitchell song “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t what you got…
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Mission Monday: Passing the Baton
As members of Franciscan Mission Service’s Mission Class XVIII is in D.C. train for mission abroad, members of Mission Class XV prepare to return to the United States this holiday season. Joel Vaughn, who serves in Cochabamba, reflects on this transitional time. Passing the baton. Stock image by Grace Yang. As Lynn and I complete…
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Bolivia’s Pedestrian Day: Raising Awareness and Having Fun
Kitzi Hendricks, on mission in Cochabamba, shares her experiences from Bolivia’s second annual National Day of the Pedestrian, an event to raise awareness about the environment. Missioner Kitzi Hendricks enjoying a rare traffic-free bike ride on the street of Cochabamba El Día del Peatón is probably one of my favorite days in Bolivia. It is…
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Mission Monday: Ready, Set…
For this Mission Monday post, mission candidate Jeff Sved shares the process of slowing down that he’s found challenging during formation. Jeff’s picture of the Franciscan Monastery If asked to describe how formation has been so far, I’d say it has been a walk in the park. Are most of you picturing a lazy, unproductive…
Read MoreNew Mission Candidates get a taste of Bolivia
Over the Labor Day weekend the new mission candidates started arriving from all over the country. And what good timing! It just so happened there was a Bolivian festival going on at the Prince William County Fairgrounds in Manassas, VA. Many of these candidates are interested in going to Bolivia for their two years, so…
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Mission Monday: An Eye-Opening Experience
“How often I still only see the surface in my own life and those I come in contact with,” reflected missioner Michael Redell after learning more about the lives — and homes — of the people he serves in Bolivia. Women and children at a health workshop His ministry with a mobile hospital in rural…
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Praise for Brother Sun – Happy Aymara New Year!
Thousands of Bolivians gathered this morning on Inka Rakay, a mountain sacred to the Aymara people, to greet the sun rise that marks the winter solstice and their new year. Pilgrims wave the Andean flag, called a wiphala, at the sunrise to greet the new year. Because June 21 is the shortest day of the…
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Happy Father’s Day – Ministry of Presence
Richard Nalen encourages nap time with two girls, Noemi and Natalia, that are being treated for burns at Mosoj P’unchay, part of the Franciscan Social Center located in Cochabamba, Bolivia “‘Zeechard, no te vayas,’ whines Marcos, who expresses dissatisfaction as I near the door. He is my two-and-a-half year-old friend, although my wife Kristen once…
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National Volunteer Month Profile: Kitzi in Bolivia
Kitzi Hendricks started her Bolivian mission in January after completing three months of training with us in Washington, DC. Originally from Sacramento, California, she graduated last year Creighton University where she studied psychology and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. Today Kitzi shares about her new ministry with Madre de Dios in Cochabamba, a shelter for…
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National Volunteer Month Profile: Lynn in Bolivia
Today we highlight the other half of our couple serving in Bolivia: Lynn Myrick. Lynn was a college English professor for 28 years until she felt called to serve God in a new and different way. After earning her Masters in Theology from Vanderbilt Divinity School, she served as a college chaplain until May 2009 when…
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The Earth Day that Pachamama led an anti-litter campaign
Missioner Jean Lechtenberg dressed up as Pachamama for Earth Day 2008 in Carmen Pampa, Bolivia To the indigenous peoples of the Andes, everything is inhabited by spirits – rocks, trees, mountains – but Pachamama is the earth itself. She is the source of all life, fruit, grain, springs of water, and the mineral riches of…
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National Volunteer Month Profile: Nora in Bolivia
The green thumb of our missioners has to be Nora Pfeiffer. Most of Nora’s ministries in Cochabamba, Bolivia relate to the environment — from hosting radio shows, helping with retreats, composting, and tending a garden with the children at the Franciscan Social Center where she lives. The University of Richmond graduate is today’s National Volunteer…
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National Volunteer Month Profile: Catherine in Cochabamba
After having served in Bolivia from 2002 to 2004 and returning in 2010, Catherine Giller is in her final year of lay mission with FMS. Her primary ministry has been serving in programs focusing on children and youth, including lunch and afterschool programs. She was recently invited to work with Voces Para Latinoamerica and Voces…
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National Volunteer Month Profile: Michael in Bolivia
Michael Redell started his first year of lay mission with FMS in January. Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, his background is in education and coaching. Before coming to FMS, he went on a short-term mission to Peru and taught for a year in Alaska. “Ever since I had volunteered down in Peru…I knew I wanted…
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“In giving, we receive” – Selfless Sharing in Boliva
Today’s mission story reminds us of the contagion of charity. One person’s giving prompts other people to give, as Emily Ward witnessed while working with poor women in Bolivia (2006-2009).And whenever we give, we receive more in return. While our missioners give two years in service abroad, they receive in abundance from their community the…
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“To be consoled as to console” – Leonel and his father
The students of the rural Unidad Académica Campesina – Carmen Pampa overcome many obstacles to receive a college education in Bolivia. The indigenous Quechua and Aymara peoples have little access to health care or education and survive by farming small plots. Students often juggle the stresses of school with those of helping their family. Our missioner…
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International Women’s Day 2012: Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty
FMS missioner Emily Ward (Bolivia, 2006-2009) with women in the Tantakun bakery of Mineros San Juan in Ushpa-Uspha, Bolivia. Happy International Women’s Day! Today, organizations and individuals across the world recognize that securing peace, social progress, freedom and the enjoyment of human rights depends on the participation, equality and development of women. The United Nations…
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Mission Monday: The Power of a Smile
New missioners Kitzi and Michael continue their Spanish studies at the Maryknoll Langauge Institute in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Today Kitzi shares about the friend she made on her walk to class. “A smile is the shortest distance between two people” –Victor Borge “I have a new friend in Bolivia and it all started because of a…
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Mission Monday: Nature’s Lesson in Persistence
New missioner Michael Redell is in the middle of language school in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He shares today the lesson nature taught him about facing challenges, such as learning Spanish.I remember last week being quite frustrated with what seemed to me slow progress in learning Spanish. So, I decided to take some time and sit outside to…
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Mission Monday: A Quinceañera at the Franciscan burn center
Bolivian children recovering severe burns are sometimes brought to the Franciscan Social Center in Cochabamba to heal. Missioner Nora Pfeiffer, who lives at the center, shares with us this “Mission Monday” a recent special birthday celebration. The 15th birthday girl and the cake made by Nora Here in Bolivia, a girl’s 15th birthday is particularly…
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Four Days in Bolivia – What Kitzi’s Seen So Far
After arriving safely in Bolivia, our newest missioners started their Spanish-immersion classes at the Maryknoll Language Institute yesterday. In her first blog post abroad, Kitzi Hendricks summarized her observations so far. As is common with new arrivals overseas, many of her observations are general and are from an outsider’s view. Her understanding and appreciation of the Bolivian culture…
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Franciscan Friday: Prayer for Missioners
Michael Redell Kitzi Hendricks Susan Slavin Missioners Michael Redell and Kitzi Hendricks arrived in Bolivia today while Susan Slavin makes her final preparations for Kenya. As they begin their two-year mission journey abroad, please join us in praying the Franciscan Prayer for Missioners: Lord, make our sisters and brothers serving in other countries instruments of your peace. .…
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Prayers for Christmas: Dreams and Goals
“My hope for the new year is that everyone I love fulfills their dreams and goals.” – Sylvia, a student worker at the pastoral juvenil vocacional in Bolivia where missioner Lynn Myrick teaches English and coordinates a film series. On this New Year’s Eve, Franciscan Mission Service certainly doesn’t believe that “old acquaintances should be forgot and…
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Deadline for tax-deductible donations: Dec. 31
Original photo by Charles Thompson Don’t miss your chance to make a tax-deductible gift in 2011 and help us promote peace and social justice through Franciscan lay mission! Donations made out to “Franciscan Mission Service” must be postmarked to P.O. Box 29034, Washington, DC 20017 or submitted online by 11:59 p.m. on December 31 to met the…
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Prayers for Christmas: Renewal
Today’s prayer comes from Lynn Myrick, a missioner currently serving in Bolivia: “I am grateful that God continually renews the human spirit in the midst of suffering and struggle. In the new year, I bless the efforts of all those who strive to renew the earth: artists, musicians, scientists, teachers, engineers, doctors and nurses —…
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Prayers for Christmas: Wisdom and Strength in the New Year
The Christmas liturgical season is just beginning! Join us through the new year in praying with our missioners and those they serve overseas. Today’s prayer for Christmas comes from Noemi, a teacher at an after-school program in Bolivia where our missioner Catherine serves.“Lord, for the next year I ask you to continue to bless me, and to…
Read MorePrayers for Christmas: Food and Health
We hear the Canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, in today’s Gospel from Luke: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;my spirit rejoices in God my savior.for he has looked upon his lowly servant.From this day all generations will call me blessed:the Almighty has done great things for me,and holy is his Name.He has mercy on…
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