garden
The Gift of Water
Editor’s Note: In a follow up to her last post about water shortages in Cochabamba, missioner Annemarie Barrett emphasizes the importance of gardens in the community through the story of one of the women in Santa Rosa. Recently I wrote about the severe water shortages we are currently experiencing in Cochabamba. The women in Santa…
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Comfort and Joy: Seeking out Nature
Editor’s Note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, missioner Annemarie Barrett reflects on the challenge of living in the concrete city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and shares how moments in nature provide a source of great comfort for her. One of the harder parts of living in a big city like Cochabamba is the…
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Learning To Be A Farmer
First-year missioner Patrick Montine shares an update from the field. Right now it is summertime here in Jamaica, which is about the same as any other time of the year:hot and humid. The schools are out for the summer (as well as any other ministries we have with children) so instead I have been working on…
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Learning from Weeds
Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett completes our series, “Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community and Justice.” At the end of the day, I am learning that Mother Earth is our greatest teacher. When we look close at the garden, it is all there. “Greatest teacher” of what? What is “all there”? In reconnecting…
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Mother Earth Teaches: The Sacred Nature of Seeds
Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett continues our series, “Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community and Justice.” “In the Andean cosmovision, we recognize that we are part of our environment. We are not superior to the Earth, nor owners of her, but we coexist in harmony with her, in relationship with the Pachamama, and…
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Mission Monday: Sharing and Solidarity with Workers
On this Labor Day edition of “Mission Monday,” we share a reflection from first-year lay missioner Annemarie Barrett who serves in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I had white paint all over my paints, sandals and even in my hair. I was painting the inside of one of the sheds in the parish garden of Santa Vera Cruz…
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Franciscan Friday: Spring Fugue
This Friday, guest blogger and Secular Franciscan Susan Burke, facing her garden, reflects on caring–or not caring–for things we care for. This morning I made myself a pot of coffee and thought I’d settle down with Morning Prayer. That’s what I thought—until I opened the door to the back porch and remembered I hadn’t watered…
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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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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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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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