A Year In Missions
I know by accepting His call to become a missionary, I gave the Lord permission to push and pull and stretch me beyond my deepest imaginings, and there’s no way I could escape from that unscathed. I had to allow myself to recognize my faults, to see where I lacked knowledge and wisdom in things I had never dealt with.
Victor & Karina
On a Saturday afternoon, we received a phone call from our friend Andy, a fellow FMC missionary here in Peru. He’d just been informed of Karina’s biopsy results, which indicated her recently diagnosed and untreated cancer was so advanced that she had only two weeks to live, at best.
The Ultimate Matchmaker
When I joined FMC in 2013, my biggest struggle was the first-year “no dating” commitment. I had just ended a five-year relationship with the man I planned to marry. When the Lord called me to become a missionary, He asked me to abandon what I had planned for myself, to follow His plans. I said yes and let go.
A Filipino American Missionary
I did not know any English, but I knew how to say “work.” They let me help clean the yard, pull weeds, and build them a garden.
Keep On Keeping On!
The missionary life entails renunciation and sufferings. It is a glorious life but not a glamorous one. It can be adventurous and interesting and fun, but it’s not easy. In training new missionaries, Genie tells them, “All it costs is everything!”
My African Heart Transplant
The Ezekiel Chapel
This past July, Jason Healy and I found some extremely cheap tickets to Ecuador, so we decided to go in hopes of meeting the bishop of Tena and seeing if he had any need for missionaries.
Update: Team Peru and the Mudslide
It has been three weeks since the awful disaster of mudslides and flooding that struck Tres Unidos and Shamboyacu. These have been weeks of hard work and more rain has fallen on already beaten down communities.
The first few days following November 2nd were long and exhausting. Taylor left early every morning and returned home after dark each evening. His goal each day was to bring hope to the people who had lost everything. He did this by bringing the love of Christ with him. He took the time to listen teach person’s story and prayed with them. He also brought in things that were desperately needed: water, food, clothes, and even a tent for a family who lost their home.
Avoiding Eye Contact & Other Ways to Kill Your Soul
Are you a good person? Yeah, me too. I’m basically a good person. Aren’t we all? Most people think of themselves as good, their particular sins somewhat excusable and insignificant, while everyone else’s are shocking and reprehensible. But in my walk with Christ, I have learned a life-changing truth…
A Personal Reflection on World Mission Sunday
This past weekend, the Catholic Church celebrated World Mission Sunday. Praise God! Please join me in praying that our family’s simple and humble witness would be enough for the people we serve in rural, Central America. We have been blessed beyond measure by God and by the beautiful people of Costa Rica. Often times, our many shortcomings are on display as well and we pray that through our weaknesses we would be made strong and that we could have the grace and courage to boast in Christ and in Him alone. Below is a brief, honest, and broken reflection on the Church’s mission, the Great Commission.
The Faces of Mission – World Mission Sunday
This Sunday, October 22nd, the worldwide Church celebrates World Mission Sunday. In his message for the day, Pope Francis invites us “to reflect anew on the mission at the heart of the Christian faith.” FMC is engaged in this mission: to bring Christ to all. We’d like to join in the World Mission Sunday reflection and remind you of some faces and stories to help bring it all to life.
Love Is Uncomfortable
Many times when I think of love and what love is in practice, I think of when I was dating my wife and our first kiss, or playing with my kids so hard we collapse in a fit of laughter, or hanging out with my best friend over a glass of whiskey. But love is not always that romantic or…
The Smiling Face of Suffering
Suffering is not something I encountered often in the United States. Emotional suffering I am closely acquainted with, having suffered with depression for most of my adult life, and still continuously fighting that battle. But physical suffering was new to me when we moved to Haiti. I knew that in theory – “out there” – there were people who suffered. I didn’t see them face to face until I moved here though, and even then I didn’t truly see suffering until we had spent more time in the villages that surround us.
Linguistic Train Wrecks in Mexico
Language barriers. They are a real thing. But how badly do we need language school really? It has been decades since my first epic language mistake on that mission trip in college. After mixing up a couple of similar sounding words and topping it off with a false cognate for the win, it can’t get much worse, right?
Success is…
[The Wilde family – Jason, Jessica and their kids Grace, Brecklyn, Alex, and Chi Yu – have joined the Intake class of 2017 and are currently in missionary training with FMC.] Getting a degree Finding a wife Finding a job Buying a house
FMC Classic Post: God and a Neighborhood Cutie Competition
This is a story from my time in the Philippines in 2012. The work of a Catholic missionary is not the same as a social worker. We want to help people in not just temporary ways, but in ways that will last for eternity. We want to introduce them to the One who will stay even when we are gone….
Am I Saving My Life or Losing It?
A slum or a sacred place? An amazing thing occurred in my life yesterday. I decided to run to perhaps Costa Rica’s worst slum, La Carpio. I saw a group of people extremely removed from the rest of the country. After about 3/4 mile of along a worn down and poorly built asphalt road, I found La Carpio, home to…
Jezi Renmen Ou
[Callie Shinkle recently went on a medical mission trip with FMC in Haiti. Her reflections are published here with her permission.] Peering out the window of the plane as it circled over Haiti, I attempted to catch a glimpse of the country that I would call home for the next week. I saw stunning mountain views and luscious pockets of green,…