Headed back...once again.

Thanks to all who have so generously supported this work, I will be returning to Ecuador on Wednesday the 28th of January!!!!!! I will post an update as soon as I can, and in the meantime, please continue to pray.

May you be blessed!

Peace,

m

The long-awaited update...

Sunday, January 11th, 2009
Baptism of the Lord

Peace of Christ! I hope and pray that this Christmas season has been a blessed time of peace and joy for you and yours. The following is a copy of the letter I will be sending out to friends and family, summarizing my time in missions and explaining the next adventures of this little soul.

As you probably know, my life in missions really began during my time as a nursing student at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Throughout my university years, I became increasingly involved with medical and catechetical mission work in the country of Ecuador. I had always thought my future would be in Africa, amidst the poor there, but after my first visit to South America, my heart was captured by the Ecuadorian people and the ministry to be completed in their country.

I graduated with my Bachelors Degree in Nursing in May of 2007. Thus, after four years of study interspersed with five mission trips ranging from ten days to three months in length, I graduated from university and moved to my beloved mission territory. Teaming with Fundacion Santa Maria del Fiat, a beautiful Catholic foundation on the coast of Ecuador, I was privileged to be the nurse for approximately two hundred resident children with backgrounds of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. The work was difficult and immense, but I treasured each moment. After six months with this foundation, I felt the Lord’s conviction upon my heart to return to the States to pursue medical school. I want to be a physician in service to those who are ignored, those who are forgotten, those for whom no one else cares. My departure from Ecuador in March of 2008 was incredibly trying, as I loved the work I was doing. But Jesus was offering me an invitation to drop my nets and follow Him. So I did. Now, ten months later, I have been offered a place in my top choice medical school, University of Minnesota, Duluth, a school committed to training family practice doctors for rural communities. The Lord is so faithful to His little ones.

In these past months, I have been quite busy with prerequisite courses, MCAT preparation, and medical school applications. Nonetheless, in many ways, my heart remains in Ecuador. In order to have everything arranged to enter medical school this coming fall, I had to leave my mission much sooner than I had anticipated or desired. I have been back to the foundation for two quick visits since I left in March, and there is still much work to be done. The foundation is actually experiencing a bit of turbulence as new and unexpected challenges face the work they have done for forty years. Since I have already been accepted to medical school, there is a window of time available for me to return to Ecuador and continue in the work I have already begun. Having this unexpected gift of time is an amazing opportunity.

An important lesson that I have learned during my time in missions is that one of the best gifts we are able to give to our fellow man is the gift of a loving presence. Sometimes in mission, it was easy for me to be overwhelmed by the needs of the people around me. If only I could better equip the doctor’s office that these children could receive the best that healthcare has to offer. If only I could build a latrine for this community to prevent the spread of disease. If only I could provide clean drinking water to decrease the incidence of intestinal infections. And of course, that was what my work as a healthcare provider was all about. But I had to constantly come back to the root of it all. More than any of the above, which are indeed important issues to address, the children, the people I worked with had a greater desire, a more ardent hunger for my unconditional love. Moreover, the unconditional love and mercy of their Heavenly Father. Pope Benedict XVI stated this so aptly in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est: “Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.”

This is my hope in these next few months of mission. I do hope to continue working as their nurse, especially with a new project the foundation is developing to provide home care to the sick of the surrounding villages. But also, especially as the foundation is experiencing such hardship at this time, I hope to be a presence of love for my fellow workers, the children, and all those I am blessed to encounter. Now all that remains is the resources to make this mission possible, as I am ready to leave as soon as possible (hopefully by the end of January or beginning of February). I have been a student and missionary for long enough that my personal resources are meager. And I know that the economy is in a difficult place right now. Nonetheless, I feel that I must again give my Fiat, my yes to the Lord and trust that He will continue to provide for His little worker.

I am just that. Little. A little drop in the ocean. But as Blessed Mother Teresa would assert, the ocean would be less without that drop. I trust in His plan for me, I trust in His Providence. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please pray for me. Please help my little miracle to be realized, if you can.

St. Joseph, St. Gianna, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Faustina, Blessed Teresa, pray for us.

Peace and Blessings,
m

PS: Please contact me at mehachey@yahoo.com for a mailing address for donations. Thank you!

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? :)