How can I be most pleasing to Your Heart, Jesus?

Peace of Christ in abundance. I do hope that this Easter season has been most blessed for each you, as we are reminded of just how much Jesus loves us.

I write to you from dear Minnesota, where the loveliness of springtime is chasing away the snow and cold. It has been an immense few weeks. I arrived in St. Paul on March 13th, started my MCAT class on March 15th, and life has continued at an intense pace. Getting myself on the plane and back to the States was the most difficult thing I have done in my young life, I do believe. Going down the walkway between the terminal and the plane, I stopped in my tracks with tears pouring down my cheeks and asked myself if I could really do this. Can I really leave this place I love so dearly? Well, by the grace of God and His conviction upon my heart, a few painful hours later, I was greeting my father in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

And now? I am a student again. Physics, chemistry, biology, everything. Wow. Enlightening and exciting at times, laughably painful at others. But my objective is clear, and I am pursuing it with all my being. I am in the midst of understanding and managing the details of this pursuit, figuring out just what to anticipate and to prepare for in these months to come.

I am a crazy person, I have decided, with all these moment-to-moment changes. But our Jesus has been reminding me at each step that I belong only to Him. I have stopped asking, "Lord, show me Your Will" and instead I petition, "Let me please Your Heart, Jesus. What can I do to be most pleasing to You? How can I love You better?" And in this way, He will guide me through these days to come. If He says, "Bring your books and go study in Ecuador for the next few months," great! If He asks me to stay where I am, here I will be.

Thank you all for your love and support. Back at the mission base, they are gearing up for the new school year. The USA missionaries who are still down there are in the midst of a few new projects to help the situation of the foundation. To read more and support their important work, please refer to www.missionsantamaria.com and to the latest entry in Maribeth's blog (www.missionarymb.blogspot.com).

Peace and blessings,

m

A new mission...or a continuation...

"...every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."

-John 15-

Peace and blessings to each of you.

I write today what will likely be my last post from Ecuador. The Lord has placed a new call upon my heart, a new mission of love: I am going to pursue medical school.

My time in Ecuador working with Fundacion Santa Maria del Fiat has been extraordinary. I love the outreach, the misioneras, the children, the people, everything. Of course, there have been difficulties along the way, but I have absolutely loved the time the Lord has given me here.

I also love my work as a nurse here and could be very content in this profession always. But a few weeks ago, the Lord placed on my heart that I must reconsider attending medical school, as it has always been in the back of my mind. I prayed and listened for His voice and continued my work here. Then one day in Adoration, He convicted my heart. I opened Scripture to John 15:1-11, and it confirmed what I needed to do. It speaks of bearing fruit for the Lord...being pruned...abiding in His love...doing all things through Him...all that His joy may me in us and that our joy may be complete. And I just knew. I must pursue medical school.

There are medically underserved populations all over the world, and I feel called to bring them the care they deserve. It is a long road from here. But I put all my confidence in the Lord, and He will care for me, His little one. And on my part, I am ready to work to make this a reality.

The most difficult part is that I must now leave this place I love so dearly. I start a MCAT prep class on March 15th, the only class option that finishes before my July test date. Therefore, I have to leave in under two weeks. It is incredibly sad to say goodbye to all my loved ones here, but I know that I must, as Simon and Andrew when Jesus called them from their fishing to be His disciples, leave my nets and follow Jesus...therein lies true joy.

I am in Tena in the Amazon region for a week with the medical mission from Franciscan University. From there, I will head back to the Coast to bid farewell and leave on March 13th.

Please pray for me that I may offer the difficulties of these goodbyes as a consolation to His Most Sacred Heart and that I may always live in abadonment to His most perfect will.

En Cristo,
m

The new loves of my life...

"O Jesus, I promise You to submit myself to all that You permit to happen to me, make me only know Your Will."
-St. Gianna Beretta Molla-

Peace, peace of Christ to one and all in this Lenten season...

How I hope each of you is very well and blessed, in the midst of whichever mission you may be. As far as the mission of this little soul in Ecuador, I must say that life is beautiful.

Maribeth and I journeyed to Quito last week to welcome our new nurse and fellow Franciscan alumna, Sara Ogrodnick. To be back in my old stomping grounds of Quito is always great...I think I was born to live in the mountains! It was great to be with Sara and our Quito host family again, and hopefully, we successfully oriented dear Sara to life in Quito, where she will be in Spanish classes for the next few weeks.

We were also going to take our second planning trip for Franciscan University´s medical mission to the Amazon region of Ecuador, but as things often work out in Ecuador, it ended up that our priest friends there who we need to finish up the plans were in another province for an eight-day retreat. Sometimes you just need to laugh. Ha.

Oh, but all this typing without yet telling of my new loves. We returned to the Santuario, our home away from home, on Saturday morning, and basically headed directly to one of the family houses to be the mothers of the house while the missionary mom needed to be away for a few days. Wow. To be a mother at all I am sure is an immense experience, but to all of a sudden be a mother to thirteen children was indeed an adventure! More than the love and patience needed to be a mum to these very special children, I was impacted by the minimal resources that the houses run on. There is always food, but not always the best food that little children need. There are clothes, but keeping enough clean by hand-washing and hanging on the line in the rainy season while new not-toilet-trained toddlers have arrived is another story. Buying diapers, water, very simple things often is a stretch. This foundation and their mission is so special. We must find a way to back it the best places for these beautiful children.

And my loves. Well, we arrived back to the Santuario to the news that three new children had arrived: four-year-old Steven and his two-year-old twin sisters, Sarita and Ximena. I have yet to learn their complete story -- we may never know all the details -- but their family lives in the streets, searching through garbages for the necessities of life. Steven is four, but he only speaks a few words. He arrived very ill. The beautiful news is that an amazing and loving family has already taken Steven into their home with arms wide open. His little sisters...oh, my. How I wish I could offer them a home! The first day we spent at their house, they were crying off and on all day; I did not see a single smile. The next day, by afternoon, they were dancing with us and playing tag, with smiles that consumed their entire little faces and laughter that could lift the saddest of spirits...being the precious little girls that they were born to be. Sarita and Ximena. They soon will be leaving to stay with a foster family, but these precious babies will be so very special to me always, always. If I had the means, I would keep them forever. Alas.

And so my life continues in this little corner of the world. The missionaries have a week of vacations soon, so Maribeth and I will return to the maternal life, caring for the eight children who will not be living with families for vacation time. Lots of prayers to St. Gianna for us please!

I love you all. I have finalized my plans for a trip home from March 28th-April 14th, first in Minnesota than a few days in Steubenville. Hope to see many of you!

Peace and blessings,
m

PS: Poll of the week...should I go to medical school? :)

The harvest is abundant...

¨After this the Lord appointed seventy others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.' ¨

-Luke 10:1-9

My dear ones...

Peace of Christ to each of you in abundance. I pray that all is well and blessed for each of you...and I congratulate my Minnesotan counterparts in successfully coming out of the deep freeze! ;) Believe or not, although the oceanside in this sunny weather is marvelous, I do miss the Minnesota winter. I am a crazy girl.

Well, I write with a week delay because there has been much excitement on my side of the equator lately. First of all, many goodbyes with the majority of the children leaving for a month or so of vacations, and second of all, my sister and mum came to visit! It was lovely to share my little Ecuadorian life with them, and they are great travel pals. We hugged children, visited the beautiful city of Cuenca in the Sierra, and spent some time of the beach...it was great. I hope to have pictures up of their time here soon. It was such a gift just to see them after four months of being here but also a great joy to share firsthand with them just exactly what their Mariya is doing down here. :)

With the absence of most the children, my work at the base has drastically slowed down. I am taking a few days to recollect, perhaps have a little self-retreat, and make a plan for this month. I plan to travel to the areas where this foundation has mini-extensions of their work (for example, locations where two or three missionaries live working in parishes in outlying communities). Also, we will be returning to the Amazon to complete the planning for Franciscan University´s medical mission in March. Soon, on February 7th, we will celebrate the arrival of Miss Sara Ogrodnick to our growing gringo population. Much to look forward to in the days to come.

I promise some better stories of the children here in the posts to come...I think the Ecuadorian sun is getting to my storytelling abilities today! :)

Much love and blessings,
m

Anti-lice campaign! And more! :)

"His love is brought to perfection in us..."
1 John 4:12

Hello dear ones, from afar...

Peace of Christ to all. All is well. I might as well begin by saying that if any of you have heard the news about the volcanic activity in Ecuador, we are not affected by it. A difficult situation for the people there, but to calm any concerns, I am nowhere near it. No worries, Mum and Dad.

Besides the excitement of volcanos, life is so beautiful here. The last few weeks, other than the day-to-day tending to the sick ones, I have been working on the paper work for the Ecuadorian National Institute for Children and Family who we collaborate with in caring for the children of our foundation. As tedious as re-examining each child's file can be, it is great to see that the children have been well-attended and are growing as children should. In other medical news, we have been waging a war on head lice the past few days. Apart from our boys' and girls' homes at the main base, we have 30 children who live together with their siblings and misionera mothers in a cluster of homes in a local pueblo. With head lice abounding, we did a full treatment on all the children plus misioneras...shampoo, laundered bed clothes, you name it. What excitement!

The elementary and high school are wrapping up their classes for summer vacations, which means that many of our kids will be leaving for about a month...either to their homes or foster homes. My, goodness, I love these kids immensely...it will be so different without them here! So I am hugging them a bit longer these days in anticipation of not seeing them for awhile. :) Let's take advantage of every moment we have with the ones with love, eh?

Speaking of which, I am thrilled to announce that my mom and sister will be arriving in Ecuador next Tuesday! What a gift! It will be amazing to have the joy of their company and to share this life with them.

It is time for this missionary nurse to sign off...that each of you may be exceptionally blessed...

En Cristo,

m

***A reminder...www.missionsantamaria.com for anyone interested in supporting this work. It is truly incredible what they are doing for the families of Ecuador. Truly amazing.