Missionary Life

Haiti 

We had a mission priest from Japan this past weekend at my parish (he is in Japan but very much not Japanese).  During his homily he said something that caught me and has really been sticking with me.  He said....

"Being a missionary is going where you are unwanted and needed and leaving when you are wanted and not needed."

It is no secret that I am discerning a future as a nurse missionary in Haiti, or wherever the Lord decides he wants me, in the way that people typically think when they think of missionary.  However, that isn't the point I am going after today.  We are all missionaries.

Our current American culture is sad-porn, abortion, artificial contraception, fatherless homes, violence, faithlessness, materialism, greed, do you want me to go on?   Our society is yearning for Truth and they don't even know it.  Step on a typically college campus and you will find most students living from one binge drinking night out to the next, sleeping around, and without any focus or self worth.  Our world needs us.  They need us to live the Truth with joy, they need us to be willing to share our Faith, and they need us to have a personal relationship with the Lord so that we are able to show them what a relationship with the Lord is.

Our society doesn't want us.  They enjoy living instant gratification, pay check to pay check, and all about "me" lifestyles, because, well, it seems easier and seems more fun.  However, the common lifestyle of our culture can leave anyone empty, lonely, and despairing.  Our culture doesn't want us, but they need us.  Be a missionary today and show the people around what it means to live the Truth joyfully in a personal relationship with the Lord.    Because until we are unneeded and wanted we need to live a missionary life today, wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

"Most" Posts of 2013

Sarah over at Amongst Lovely Things (please go check out her blog she has the darnest kids   (including baby twins) and is a great photographer) is hosting a link up of the "most" posts in 2013.  I personally really enjoy end of the year post that link back to posts throughout the year and we all know I am a sucker for link-ups.  Hope you enjoy looking back with me at the "most" posts of 2013. 

Post with the most clicks

I am not really sure why but my post with the most clicks is my "God in Austria: Introduction" post.  It makes me realize that I want  to write more posts about my trips and life in Austria. 

  
Post with the most comments

Its a tie for most comments.  The Not Alone Series Introduction and the What I Wore Sunday (Vol. 13).  Why that particular WIWS I will never know.  

Post with the best picture

Really you are going to ask me this? This was so hard to pick between and I was able to narrow it down to two.  The first is the picture that I say in the post is my favorite of my roommate in this What I Wore Sunday post.  Isn't she just beautiful?! And then the second one I would have to say is from the post about one of my best friend's wedding which I was a bridesmaid for.  The picture we sent to her now husband before the ceremony has to be a favorite. 

Post that was hardest to write

Ok this one is really hard because if it is hard to write I tend to just not write it.  I am very adamant that this blog is not a journal and thus my heart and intense intimate thoughts aren't smeared all over the blogsphere.  Despite that I would say there are alot of my Not Alone Series posts that were challenging to write so that I didn't smear my heart all over the internet but I still wanted to to encourage woman and let them know they are not alone.  Some posts were easier than others but some of them were darn hard. 

Post that was your personal favorite (not your readers' favorite- your favorite)

Another double.  How can you pick just one.  The first one is less about the post and more about the crazy excitement that I know existed while writing it.  That would be my post right before we left for the airport to travel to Haiti.  Ignore the crappy picture and know that there was so much excitement getting ready to begin another adventure to Haiti.  God is so good to me. 

And the second one is just an honest Not Alone Series Post about settling or the lack there of.  Go over and tell me if you agree that it ranks up in the favorites. 

I hope you enjoyed looking back at 2013 with me.  I will also be doing a little update to my 13 books in 2013 and I look forward to another year of writing and reading here in the blog world.  

Haiti 2013: Part 4

Found this in my drafts and I don't know how it never made it to published....

The posts about Haiti continue.  If you haven't read the other parts yet I encourage you to go back and read parts 1, 2, and 3 so that you can get a more complete picture of the trip.

One of the missions of our trip was to do house visits to the sick elderly so that we could pray for and with them and bring them vitally important food that they might otherwise have no way to obtain.  The elderly in Haiti are not treated as they ought, often forgotten about and not taken care of.  A common mindset is, "I barely have enough food to feed my starving children why should I feed my grandma who is going to die soon anyway."  The terrible thing is, even if the mission brings them food these elderly people's family won't help them cook it, sweep for them, or do much needed things like fix their leaking roof.

The woman in the following picture, her roof was leaking and she would sleep soaking wet.  Her son lives not 10 yards from her and won't even come down and visit with her let along help her out.  For some reason it was this woman that most captured my heart.   I let the picture speak for itself.

We visited a number of old people.  They were filled with joy that a group of young people cared enough to come to see them saying they wished they had coffee or fried food to offer us.  We prayed with many of them seeking Christ's protection and healing power.  

Katie, the long term missionary, translated for us, their words of thanks.  This woman in the picture below I met last year and it was a privilege to be able to see her again and this year she looked healthier and younger.  

Some of the old people we visited could only lay in bed, or should I say straw mat on the floor, all day.  They touched me so much partially because they are my patients, they just live in a very different country in which medical intervention is not even a thought.  They more than likely have many of the same health problems.  

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 11)

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If you haven't been around this corner of the blog for a while then you might not know that I just got back from a mission trip to Haiti.  In that case go back and read the past 7 posts about it.

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You don't have time to read 7 posts?  That's fine than you should at least read the first three parts about my trip here, here, and here.

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Due to my trip to Haiti in which there is internet but not good enough to watch streaming video, I am just now finally watching some videos from the coverage of the conclave and election of Pope Francis I because I don't want to completely miss out on this history that just occured.  I would be lying if I didn't say I am kind of bummed that I missed out on the constant EWTN coverage but I can't complain too much considering I was doing the Lord's work on a Caribbean island.

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Since everyone else got their time to scream out "Habemus Papam" on their blog I want to take my moment to say how excited I am about Pope Francis.  I don't think we even knows what is going to hit us.  Our Church and our world is about to be rocked by Pope who preaches the Truth with passion and charity.  I also love how much you can already see how the past two popes and Pope Francis have built on each other.  It is almost as if there is some Divine providence involved in it :)

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The way secular media has covered Pope Benedict stepping down, the conclave, and the new Pope  really saddens me about the secular world.   As I read articles before my trip and sat at airport gates watching the news, my heart wept.  The world can't understand something that is led by the Holy Spirit and isn't about power or control.  Americans think that we need a Pope that will "catch up with the times" and just can't comprehend the fact that the Church is, always has, and always will preach the Truth that hasn't and will never change.  No matter how many people disagree with the it, the Church will always stand by the dignity of sexuality, the sanctity of life and the honoring of women.  This whole thing has reminded me how much we need to pray for our Church, our culture, and our world.  

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One of my best friends from high school is coming to visit this weekend and I am sups excited.  We always talk about seeing each other during the school year but with both of us having busy nursing student schedules it just never really happens.  Since this is her last semester we decided to make sure it happened.

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I still have more posts planned about my trip to Haiti so please subscribe and come to see more of God's goodness. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Haiti 2013: Part 3

I am continuing my posts about my recent mission trip to Haiti over spring break. If you haven't already check out my post generally about the trip and about the work project we did.

The children, oh the children.  The main mission of this mission trip is to love on the children at the orphanage.  They have 22 children, 4 of which have special needs and one of these girls actually arrived during our week there.  I would talk about how much joy these kids have, or how absolutely beautiful they are or how great it is to play with them but I think I should just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Told you that I really didn't need to say anything.  Don't they say a picture says a thousand words.

Wordless Wednesday

Live joy.

Haiti 2013: Part 2

Read Part 1 for our trip down and first day in Haiti.

The main mission of the trip is to love on the kids.  The orphanage was started on the principle that it was a home and not an institution.  The kids thrive on this love.  The kids go to school during the day so while they were at school we were able to do other work projects.

On the first two mornings we moved rocks.  Sounds glamorous right?  In reality it was an incredible blessing.  The mission has begun on their next project  building a clinic for the area.  The rocks we collected from a dried up river bed will be transported to the property and used as a foundation for the building.  How awesome it was to play a concrete part in the beginning of this new project.

Crossing the river to get to the site of our rock piling 

Day 1 of rock piling.  

Coconut breaks were a must.

What we thought we looked like. 

What it probably looked more like. 

The group

More posts to come....

Haiti 2013: Part 1

This week was too blessed to be put in only one post so multiple posts it will be.

The Lord is so so good. Last year the Lord called me to go to Haiti for a mission trip over spring break.  I left knowing that He was calling me back the following year to lead the trip and He kept affirming this over and over again through prayer.

Since August I had been praying for the team the Lord desired to come together and I had this awesome moment one of the first nights when I stood there praising with the team and I realized here was the team I had been praying for.  The team was 7 girls and 4 boys of multiple majors and a variety of grade levels.  They had all learned about the mission in different ways through different people.  The one thing that we all had in common is that we had all said our Fiat to the Lord and we were exactly where He wanted us to be.

We started out flying out of Pitt to Chicago, the flight was delayed one hour at the gate and one hour on the tar mat, I never heard even a murmur of complaint.  For one of the guys this was his first ever flight and we all clapped for him when we landed in Chicago.  We then slept in the airport over night and early the next morning flew to Miami and then Port-Au-Prince.  The five hour drive from the airport to the orphanage ends up being such an immersion part of the trip as we move through the post earthquake Port-Au-Prince we see on TV through to the country side and finally make it to the orphanage.

Pitt airport

On the truck riding out to the orphanage

We bathed in the river that evening to rinse off the dust and grim from the truck ride.  The team began to get to know the kids.  My heart sang as I got to see the kids and all they had grown from the previous year.  I would say we got to bed at a decent time that night but the thing is I really have no idea.  Time is a loose notion in Haiti and everything pretty much runs on "Haitian time".  Either way we cuddled into our bunks and feel asleep and awoke to the sound of farm animals.

The next post will be about the work we did there and another will be about the kids.  Please comment with any questions you have and I would love to write about it.

What I Wore Sunday (Vol. 15)

It is early in the morning and I am back in 'Merica. The trip to Haiti was incredibly blessed and I am excited to post pictures from it. It was such a joy to see God radically working this week. I know it will take weeks to unpack the trip (figuratively.....well possibly literally too.....but probably only figuratively because if you know what a bag of clothes from a mission trip to Haiti smells like you know it can be compared to toxic waste) Without further ado I show you a picture of me waiting for my flight in Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. After this only one more flight!!

And don't worry we will be going to an evening Mass somewhere once we get back to the 'ville.

Sweatshirt: household sweatshirt passed down along my lineage and worn by my sisters all over the world
yoga capris: Gabriel Brothers before this trip last year.
Unseen: MWTS: Mission Haiti green t-shirt and Chacos dirty with Haitian dust

What I Wore Sunday (Vol. 14)

So I did have a really cute outfit on this morning for Mass- a grey long sleeve shirt, with a orangy-mustard skirt from goodwill and an adorable belt.  However that outfit came off quickly because I needed to finish packing and shower because we are leaving for HAITI!!!!

I feel mildly bad just posting the unepic outfit of missionary travel but we need all the prayers we can get so I am still linking with What I Wore Sunday asking for prayers from all you lovely ladies (and gentlemen) as we leave to spend a week in Haiti serving the Lord.

If you want more information about the place we are going you can check it out at the MWTS: Mission Haiti website.  And please come back in a week to see pictures and hear stories from what I am confident will be a very blessed trip.   Until then, prayers are appreciated!

7QT: I'm Going to Haiti! (Vol. 10)

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Breathe.  I am leaving for Haiti on Sunday!!  I have been planning on this for so long and now it is actually almost here. 

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I am so excited that I will be here. 

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And be hanging out with these kids.








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We are bringing down all these donations plus some more that are still streaming in. 

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I have been wearing my Chacos around the house so I don't forget what my feet look like. 

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This is going to be my view for the next week.  Pinch me now. 





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You will just have to come around this part of the blogsphere again to see pictures and hear stories about this trip.  

P.S. Sorry about the funky font and weird spaces but I don't how to fix it and I am making dinner for my mission team so I need to get cracking!





For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

{p,h,f,r}

{pretty}

The gift I gave to my goddaughter on her Baptism.  So beautiful!!

{happy}

This color combo made me so happy!!

We had a bake sale to raise money for our Haiti mission trip.  It made me so happy how much money we made and seeing the team interact.

{funny}

Only at Franciscan do you find a miraculous medal hidden among a bunch of change aquired at above bake sale

{real}

When I was home for the baptism I worked for my mom one day sending out 1500 letters to parishioners who gave money during 2012.  I came out victorious with only one paper cut!!

These lab values are going to get the best of me. 

If you are a visitor from Like Mother, Like Daughter I hope you will follow me and come back for more posts about nursing school, Our Lady, and Haiti just to name a few!!