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Embracing Connections

Editor’s Note: As she waits for her time on mission to begin, lay missioner Susan Sarkissian reconnects with friends and family members and cherishes her relationships with her loved ones. When the FMS Formation ended in November 2023, I knew I had a long wait for my Jamaican Visa to be approved. My heart and…

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Developing Gratitude

Editor’s Note: Development Associate Madeline McKissick shares a deeper meaning of her ministry with FMS. She describes what her day to day looks like, often in the form practicing gratitude, within a non-profit office setting. As the Development Associate of Franciscan Mission Service, I do a lot of work with donor relations. I make phone…

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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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Bridge-Building in Bolivia

Lay missioner Hady Mendez answers one of the questions mostly frequently asked of a missioner: “What do you do in Bolivia?”  I build bridges. No, not the kind people walk on or cars drive across. I build other types of bridges. Another way to describe what I do is “bring people together”. It’s not actually…

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Mission Monday: Let’s Talk About Nonviolence

This past week the formation class attended a session on nonviolence, a subject that candidate Annemarie is very passionate about.  For this Mission Monday post she shares her reflection on the training and the connections she had made through her spiritual journey.  Annemarie (left) at anti-war rally in Oct. 2010. Recently, as a part…

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