class 31
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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¡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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Only in Bolivia…
Editor’s Note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs reflects on some of the cultural practices in Bolivia, both those that cause her frustration as well as those that she has been deeply touched by. Nearly once a day, I find myself uttering the phrase, “Only in Bolivia…” For my line of ministry work, I volunteer with a rural…
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Love in the Midst of Tragedy
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares how a tragic event in the community brought her back to the realization of the urgent importance of love. “There is a small but significant chance that this will be my last year – but whether or not this is so, my life will certainly be transformed, in a…
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Be Not Afraid: Waiting With Them
Editor’s Note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs shares how fear of being an intruder and of not knowing enough about the Bolivian medical system led to a new understanding of what it means to walk with others through complex and scary situations. I stood on the corner feeling utterly helpless. I was supposed to be meeting four…
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Be Not Afraid: Openness in Prayer
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen shares how offering quiet moments up to God showed her a deeper insight into herself as well as her relationships with friends and family. Moving past a fear of “not being busy” allowed me to open up to prayer. As a mother with young children, I would roll my eyes…
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Be Not Afraid: Leaving ‘Me’ Behind
Editor’s Note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan shares that when she first arrived in Bolivia, she was her own greatest obstacle and had to overcome the expectations she placed on herself. For this year’s Advent blog series, we were asked to write about overcoming fear. We hear the words “Be not afraid” so often in the Bible,…
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Be Not Afraid and Trust God in the Midst of Suffering
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares how her faith was shaken after a traumatic event in the campus community in Carmen Pampa, Bolivia. “Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the…
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Thank God for Answered Prayers
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares how some advice from a friend caused her to see her past and present in a different light and set her on a path of deeper gratitude for the future. Thinking of the future has always brought me a bit of anxiety. It usually reminds me of the need…
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Tuesday Normal Morning
Editor’s Note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs shares a poem that she wrote after an emotional visit with a patient at one of her ministry sites in Bolivia. With one of my ministries, Fundación San Lucas, I often have the challenging and formational experience of going on home visits to check in on various children or families…
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Come Grocery Shopping With Me
Editor’s Note: In order to provide a glimpse into her life in Cochabamba, Bolivia, missioner Catherine Sullivan takes her readers with her on her weekly grocery shopping experience. Every Saturday morning, my site partner Allison and I head out to do our weekly grocery shopping. With a list in hand (along with a price ‘guestimate’…
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A Breath of Fresh Air
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen shares her reflections on mission and culture after a recent visit to Savanna La Mar, Jamaica, to visit fellow FMS missioners Patrick and Brandon. After numerous times of re-scheduling dates, I finally got to travel west and visit with FMS missioners Patrick and Brandon! It is a four hour bus…
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Responding With Love
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares her thoughts about how, often, the seemingly simple and obvious answers are the ones that we should really seek. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about love. During my free time, I’ve been reading more of the Bible – specifically the Gospels – and man, does Jesus talk a lot…
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Colonization
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares her realizations of the long lasting effects of colonization in Bolivia, especially as it relates to Catholicism. At the beginning of the summer, I was able to attend the Maryknoll Mission Center Language Institute. I am incredibly grateful to have had that opportunity. The language school was very well…
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Dancing Through the Doorway
Editor’s Note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs shares how she’s been able to start forming relationships through teaching Zumba classes to girls who are survivors of sexual abuse. Upon arriving in Cochabamba, Bolivia, over seven months ago, I had no idea what kind of ministry I was going to get involved in. By a stroke of luck, during my six…
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Breaking the Chains
Editor’s Note: Inspired by recent holidays celebrating independence in Jamaica, missioner Janice Smullen reflects on the ideas of intolerance versus emancipation and how they manifest universally across all different cultures. Jamaica celebrates two holidays in the first week of August: Emancipation Day remembered since 1834 and celebrated on August 1, and Independence Day on August…
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A Buzz of Excitement in the Prison
Editor’s Note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan shares her experience of the visit of the Virgen María de Urkupiña statue in one of the prisons in Cochabamba, Bolivia. A few weeks ago, my morning began the same way it usually does – I walked through the large green metal doors of the women’s prison, said good morning…
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Solidarity in the Climb
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble reflects on finding solace during an emotionally and physically strenuous climb up a mountain. On June 21st, Bolivia celebrated the Andean New Year. For the Aymaran people, this marked the year 5524 according to their calendar. This day is important because it is the beginning of a new agricultural cycle.…
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Lord, Teach Me to Pray
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen reflects on the challenges of her first few months teaching in a primary school in Kingston, Jamaica, and how she has altered her mindset to fit these challenges. Prayer isn’t so much about making something happen, but asking how I may accomplish my best within what is happening. St. Francis…
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Look For Her Eyes
Editor’s Note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan in Bolivia shares how she stays hopeful during her daily practice of reading the news. One of my favorite pastimes is scrolling through different news sources and articles, comparing stories and trying my best to keep up with the goings-on of the world. It is often how I start and…
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Focusing on Mission
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares how a recent reflection with FMS staff helped her re-focus on her ministries and reaffirm her decision to devote this time in her life to mission. This past week was a real treat because two of our program directors from FMS, Emily and Meghan, came to visit us in…
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Sorry I Forgot the Camera
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen reflects on some of the new sights she’s seen in Jamaica and how sometimes it’s less about getting the photo and more about engaging the people and sharing bits of each other’s stories. There was an old Saturday Night Live skit, probably in the 70’s, with (I think), Buck Henry…
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Introducing Eli
Editor’s Note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan shares how a trip to the marketplace in Cochabamba, Bolivia, turned into an experience of solidarity and deeper integration into the culture. I have been working at Manos con Libertad three to four days a week for three months now. Manos con Libertad is a co-operative of inmates from San…
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Little Bits of Solidarity
Editor’s Note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs reflects on the notion of solidarity and what it looks like now that she’s on mission in Bolivia. Solidarity is a big, somewhat ambiguous word that we throw around a lot nowadays. We often talked during formation about how we were going on mission to live and work in solidarity…
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Measure in Love
Editor’s Note: Missioner Erin McHugh adapts the lyrics of a well-known song to reflect her experiences during her first few months on mission in Jamaica. I’m sure many of you have heard the song “Seasons of Love” from the Broadway musical Rent. I have heard this song several times in the last month as we…
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Roots
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen shares how she’s found comfort learning more about herself as she adjusts to a new life in Jamaica. Putting down new roots is so difficult. Being new to Jamaica, I feel as if I am continually struggling to find a good foothold, stand secure among swirling cultural forces, and just…
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Perspective and Pastoral
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble reflects on adjusting her expectations and what she thinks things “should” look like during her first months on mission at Carmen Pampa University in Bolivia. Every Tuesday night, the university’s Pastoral group has a meeting. Pastoral is a group that comes together to share their faith with one another and…
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Love in a Suffering World
Editor’s Note: After accompanying her friend and fellow missioner through illness, missioner Allison Dethlefs reflects on fighting through feeling helpless and finding assurance that merely being present is more powerful than we often realize. For three months during our training for long-term mission it was repeatedly pounded into our heads that our main ministry was…
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The Winter Before the Spring
Editor’s Note: Missioner Erin McHugh shares how she trusts that despite some uncertainty, her time on mission in Jamaica will be one of much growth. Spring is beginning back in the States, but we all know that spring doesn’t come without a winter. I felt like this winter I was being hit with one snowstorm…
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Accompaniment
Editor’s Note: During this National Volunteer month, missioner Aubrey Kimble shares some of her meditations on volunteering and service. Volunteering has always been something that has interested me. I began volunteering a bit here and there throughout elementary and middle school to help with various campus events. I became slightly more serious about volunteering in…
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“Praised Be You, My Lord, With All Your Creatures”
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen reflects on the adjustments during her first month on mission in Jamaica and the beauty that she’s discovered there. “When you send forth your breath, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Ps. 104:30 “Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures, especially…
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Letting Go and Accepting God’s Timing For a Call
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen reflects on some of the the conversations she had before she left for Jamaica when she explained to others what she was going to do. Often, the response she received was, “I would like to do what you are doing, but…” After these conversations, Janice reflected on the notion of…
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Letting Go and Expanding Your Capacity for Love
Editor’s Note: Missioner Catherine Sullivan shares how she’s had to shift her concepts of family life during her transition from her home in the United States to her new home in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I have always been very close with my family. They were my first prayers upon waking, my last prayers before sleeping, and a…
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Letting Go and Healing My Brokenness
Editor’s Note: Missioner Janice Smullen reflects on the gifts of Lent and the opportunity that it offers for healing of our broken human nature. Is it possible to love Lent? To love 40 days of fast, reflection, soul searching and acts of mercy? We spend a lot of time during Lent reading and contemplating Christ’s recognition of suffering…
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Letting Go and Choosing the Adventure
Editor’s Note: Missioner Allison Dethlefs reflects on the journey of being at peace with the people and things she had to say goodbye to at home in order to embrace the new phase of life as an FMS missioner in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Every new beginning is an ending of sorts. Every time you set out…
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Letting Go: Let Your Old Life Fade
Editor’s Note: Missioner Erin McHugh reflects on the truth that sometimes, you have to let go of your old life in order to fully enter the life that God has intended for you. Although this realization is never easy, this act of letting go ultimately allows us to be our authentic selves. “Let Go and…
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Letting Go of Anxiety
Editor’s Note: Missioner Aubrey Kimble shares how the beginning of her time on mission in Bolivia has challenged her to let go of anxieties and the desire to be in control. Through this process, she is discovering great freedom. Lent is one of my favorite times of the year. Even though it is often a…
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Comfort and Joy: The Importance of Community
Editor’s Note:As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, newly-commissioned missioner Erin McHugh shares how her experience of accompanying young people on retreats last summer gave her the strength she would need during her time of mission formation in Washington, DC. I have often found that throughout my life, I find my comfort in…
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Comfort and Joy: Running in Relationship
Editor’s Note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, newly commissioned missioner Allison Dethlefs shares how her love for running has led to deep and lasting relationships. Most people probably wouldn’t associate long-distance running with comfort and joy. It’s quite understandable—years ago the thought mostly filled me with horror and dread. But that was…
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Comfort and Joy: Even in the Darkness
Editor’s Note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, newly commissioned missioner Catherine Sullivan shares her thoughts on preparing to leave for mission and how discomfort and sadness are made new through God. I would have to say that personally, joy is my normal state of being. I am the one who sings in the kitchen…
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Comfort and Joy: Peace on Earth Begins with Birth
Editor’s note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, current missioner Janice Smullen reflects on the joy that she’s received from her role as a doula, a person who is trained to assist a woman before, during, and after childbirth both physically and emotionally. Although I have never seen a doula depicted as being present…
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Comfort and Joy: A Friend through Discernment
Editor’s Note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, newly commissioned missioner Aubrey Kimble shares part of her discernment journey during her semester abroad in Seville, Spain. During my junior year at UNC, I had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in Seville, Spain. It was absolutely one of the most formative experiences…
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Class 31 Commissioning
At the end of August, our missioners-in-training all arrived at the Casa San Salvador mission house in Washington, DC to begin formation training with Franciscan Mission Service. During the next three months, they would attend classes on scripture, Franciscan spirituality, and cultural sensitivity together. Through all of this, in the classroom and out, a group of acquaintances…
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Peace Within, Peace Without
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Janice Smullen shares her experience of volunteering with Little Friends for Peace during her time of formation in Washington, DC. “If peace is what every government says it seeks, and peace is the yearning of every heart, why aren’t we studying it and teaching it in schools?” Coleman McCarthy The mission of…
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A Unique Approach to Mission
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Erin McHugh looks back on the past three months of formation in Washington, DC and looks ahead to how she will apply her experiences to her time on mission. Wow, it is hard to believe our formation in DC is coming to an end, but I will never be completely formed. While…
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Dancing in the Dining Room
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Catherine Sullivan shares her experiences of community life and how living with 12 other people has impacted her. The two most talked-about aspects of our Formation are classes and volunteering. But what has been most formative for me during this process is living in intentional community. As many people know, Saint Francis…
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Celebrating St. John Paul II
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Aubrey Kimble shares her experience celebrating the October 22 Feast of John Paul II at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, DC I hate to say that I didn’t know very much about JPII before Formation. I heard that he was a great pope, but I never really thought to go…
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God of Fall Colors and Torrential Downpours
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Allison Dethlefs reflects on the week she and her classmates spent in Ossining, NY, for the annual Collaborative Formation Gathering (CFG), a joint training with Maryknoll Lay Missioners and the Society of African Missions. The scenery in Ossining was absolutely breathtaking. While I loved meeting the missioners from other programs and growing…
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Called by God
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Erin McHugh shares how she finds comfort in the face of fear and doubt. One of my favorite sessions during our time here at Formation has been Scripture and Mission. During this session, we look at the Bible in a historical context, but especially at the passages and books related to social…
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The Many Pieces of Support
Editor’s Note: Franciscan Mission Service overseas missioners are asked to fundraise in support of their training and service. Missioner-in-training Janice Smullen reflects on a recent support-raising class and shares her experiences inviting others to join in her mission journey through financial contributions. “Some give by going. Some go by giving.” -Fr. Anselm Moons (Franciscan Mission Service founder.) There are…
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