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.
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?
FMC Classic Post: God and a Neighborhood Cutie Competition
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…
Wendy
“In Christ Jesus you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” – Ephesians 2:22 I’m a huge fan of the show Fixer Upper: the sweetness of the Gaines couple, the beauty of the re-creations they make, and the immediate gratification when all their work is easily summed up in 45 simple minutes! So,…
Foster Care: A Megaphone for the Gospel
When my husband Rich embraced Jesus’ invitation to serve as FMC’s Director of Development, we knew that would inevitably result in our being stationed stateside at Big Woods Mission. What we didn’t know were the particular ways in which God would draw us deeper as missionaries here on home turf, or should I say, within our very own home itself?
Forgiveness in Prison
Every year during Benedictine College’s mission trip to the Philippines, FMC hosts a medical clinic for inmates at the Malaybalay City Jail. On Benedictine’s most recent trip, we were separated into teams: checking vitals, diagnosing, giving medicine, and praying over the inmates. I was on the prayer team.
Wan Fu Maliya
“Wan fu Maliya…” I tried my best to follow along with the rosary, but the prayers in this foreign Asian language were twisting and tangling in my mouth. Moving the beads in my hands, I looked at the faces of the people following us with their eyes. Our group was not something seen in this big Asian city every day: priests,…
