The Life of the Little Missionary Mb

The Great Domestic Mission

2010-01-23T15:16:00.003-05:00

So, I can literally say it's been years (well, okay, a year and change) since I lasted blogged. To be honest, it was too hard to describe my experience of re-entering the States and then after I had been here a minute, life was too insane to think about keeping up with a blog. Now, however, I have a Master of Social Work and have trimmed things down from three part-time jobs to one very full-time job as a foster care worker for the great State of Georgia. And I am learning more and more each day that even though I am no longer in Ecuador full-time, I am still very much a missionary every day.

I have also decided that the domestic mission (right here in the good ol' US of A) is by far - by far - the hardest mission I have yet to encounter and I believe so on many levels. For starters, when I was in Ecuador, I often found myself thinking that things would be so much easier if life in the "third world" was only just a little more sophisticated or if we had just a few more resources or the infrastructure of the "first world". But now, back in the illustrious "first world", still serving the poorest of the poor, my bubble has been burst and I am fast becoming quite disenchanted with this great sophistication and organization. On my darkest of days, I am convinced that this structure around me is every bit as corrupt, pitted and fragmented as the cheaply made walls that have recently crumbled in Haiti, exacerbating a natural phenomenon into a national disaster of the greatest magnitude this hemisphere has seen in centuries. Except, the difference between the corruption that riddles Haiti and the corruption that surrounds me today is that this corruption here is hidden behind layers of fancy paint, premium hardware and Armani suits. The difference is that the corruption here is well hidden and well protected by a tightly woven honeycombed government structure that is so well built that it is impossible to bring down from the outside but so closely wound that it is rotting from the inside out from lack of fresh air and light of day. The reality is that we have just as many self-serving, greedy, corrupt and dare I say semi-evil, persons of power as the "third world" countries do. The difference here is that our bad guys just dress better and live longer.

Then there comes the different kind of poverty that lives here in our "first world." Yes, just like many other places, we have hungry people, sick children, places without clean water and a dearth of education - but the places that have this don't have run-down donkeys and chickens running around, just boarded up buildings and cars up on bricks. Instead of muddy ruts and ditches, it is a concrete jungle with a new breed of animal. But even beyond the physical poverty that exists here, a poverty that is more profound and proliferates every class level, is this growing, gnawing darkness of soul, of depravity and baseness that is too horrific to speak about because, well, unless it's your job, you don't need to know about it. What I will say is that every day I see unspeakable crimes committed against children and most of these crimes leave no marks or physical scar. I see children, four five and six years of age, turning quickly from victim to victimizer, sexually abusing their siblings and other children. Or little ones biting, hitting and banging themselves against walls in order to relieve the mature emotional distress that is greater than their little psyches know how to handle. Sure, the whole world has its share of depravity and abusers. But after living immersed on three different continents and becoming intimate with the varying cultures, I have yet to see depravity that matches what we have here in our own United States, our land of freedom and opportunity.

So that is what I mean about the difficulty of serving the domestic mission. I find myself facing things here that I had never fathomed before and therefore, could never have prepared myself to see. I am thankful for my faith even more as I am once again experiencing the feeling of powerlessness and ineffectiveness that I once felt because I couldn't get clean water to the children in my charge. Except now, I feel like I am shouting into the wind as our society is rushing toward the precipice, with our children in the forefront and the closest to the danger of the edge. I feel like I am positioned beneath the crushing wheels of the great auto-bot government beast, designed for efficaciousness and sophistication but now run amuck from years spent masterless and unguided, ever since it became unacceptable for ethics and morals to govern for the greater good - replaced by capitalism without conscience and government by greed.

I find myself longing for the simplicity of my precious "third world" where, even though the internet signal went out more often than the tide and electricity could be taken out for days by a stiff wind, often carrying the water supply with it. Because, even though it was a baser way of life, the earth cannot lie and deceive, the fisherman will still go out at night, lighting the ocean with the lights of their lanterns and they will return at daybreak, with payment for the work of their hands. The waves will crash against the cliffs, shaking the house and rocking me to sleep and in the morning, the greatest variation in how the sunrise pours in my window is if a cow has managed to get in front of it as it grazes outside my room. Yes, there are needs and there often is a solution that lies in technology that we don't have, but at least the needs are straight forward and simple like hunger, parasites and clean water. To cure hunger, you give to eat and solve the problem, at least for that day. This cannot be said for what it takes to cure the poisoned soul of a six year old who has seen things beyond the imaginings of even most adults. A bowl of rice and beans and a glass of juice cannot cure that child.

And so, I look to my Higher Power (therapeutic name for G-o-d), for wisdom, strength and ask Him to take over tending the needs long after my small hands grow weary. And I ask my faithful supporters, who once sent me prayers, power bars and sunscreen, to now redouble the prayers and to take a moment to gain a greater awareness of the needs right outside your doorstep. It took a tragic series of earthquakes for the world to finally turn its eyes on Haiti and serve a country that has been gasping in the throes of death for decades and oppressed by the weight of corruption that pressed against the chests of the majority, long before any buildings came crumbling down. Please God let America wake up long before a tragedy forces us to awake and heed the cries of our brothers and sisters.

¡Hagase Tu Voluntad, Señor!

2008-04-13T21:45:00.002-05:00

Your will be done Lord, that is what I am learning to say with more and more fervor and less fear. Especially now that this past Friday, I officially joined the Asociación de Fieles del Fiat, the lay movement here. ¨Fiat¨ being the ¨yes¨ that Mary gave to the Lord when the angel told her she would concieve the Son of God, we strive to imitate this same profound ¨yes¨ to ¨la voluntad¨, will of God, no matter what it may be. Even if it means leaving this place I love, I strive to give that complete and trusting ¨yes¨ to the Lord. Well, it´s a work in progress :)

I do want to apologize if I came off a bit strong in my last post. Actually, I don´t apologize if it got your attention, I do apologize because it was lacking in hope. You see, for all of the physical needs of this base, these children, I had forgotten our primary mission. Above providing medical care, education and nutrition to these children, we must first be striving to get them to Heaven, meaning, to learn to know and love the Lord. Yes, the Gospel says we must feed the hungry and cloth the naked, but Jesus also said that the primary comandment was to love one another. And so, I have rediscovered what I truly wanted to do here - love these children so profoundly, meaning with that love that Christ brings, that it reaches down into their little hearts and stays. As Pope Benedict XVI says in 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.¨

And that is my mission. I can´t believe that I forgot this simple thing, as it is demonstrated to me by the misioñeras every single day, in every patient reprimand, in every hug, in every look of love that they give these children for whom they care for.

So now, as my days really and truly are numbered, I look to pour out as much love on these children and on these misioñeras as possible so that in ten years, when they might no longer remember me, they will remember that someone loved them with a different type of love and hopefully, for this memory, they will live their lives or even just make one small decision for the better. As Mariya says, let´s not hope they remember us, let´s hope they remember the Jesus in us. That´s the goal and that´s why I´m here. More than this, of course, I will continually seek to provide for them materially as well because action always follows true sentiment, but I have hope once more that maybe I just did do something for them in my short time here and that same something I can continue to do, even if it is from a million miles away.

I hope to have one more post from the flipside, I am currently waiting for my mom´s flight to arrive as she is coming just in time to visit me here and meet the people I love. I am so glad to be able to share it with her and am going to try to show her everything I can in the short time she is here. Mostly though, I hope she experiences the love I have received from these people. And I hope to be able to write to you all about it in the week to come. With that said, I´m off and running, but as always, you have my prayers and I hope I may still count on yours, if not for me, for this beloved people.

The Labourers are Few

2008-04-04T14:14:00.003-05:00

Hello all. I hope this finds you all doing well and defrosting up on the northern continent. We ourselves are quite warm, and according to Jim, experiencing the heat of ¨La Niña.¨ As for this little missionary, I´m livin´ it up and loving what I have realized to be the best job in the world (thanks Rya). I have only a week or so left with the people I love so intensely and so I am trying to take advantage of every moment and finish up a thousand little projects that will hopefully help them just a little.

I will admit, I have been a bit frustrated lately with my inability to really help this foundation with what it needs. Even if I stayed, I couldn´t be the experienced and fluent-speaking social worker that they need (or really, need about 5 of), I couldn´t be the psychologist they need, and I can´t be the family that every one of these children so desperately need. I don´t even have enough money to pay for someone to be that for them. All I can do is buy them the occasional clean water and fresh fruit, I can only give them hugs and hope that someday this world might wake up to the reality that my little brothers and sisters suffer every day. And even this little bit is coming to an end as I am being called back to the States, back to a life that I simply don´t want. I don´t want hot showers, I don´t want a comfy bed, I don´t want to pay 3.50 a gallon for gas or buy new clothes so I can look ¨professional¨ for grad school. In fact, the thought of all that money makes me sick. And I just don´t understand.

I was watching Hotel Rwanda the other day, about the massacre of the Tutsi people back in the ´90s in Africa. At one point in the movie, the main character Paul says to a reporter that he is glad he is here because now the world will see what is going on and will come to help. And the reporter replies that no, the world will see what is going on, comment on how sad it is, and keep eating their dinner. And he was right, no one came to help, at least not until it was too late, and over a million people died. I don´t want to be this pessimistic about this world I live in but when I watch this foundation fight day to day to give these children bread, eggs, clean water - and no one comes to help us. I have been writing to you all for six months now and a few of you have made your way to the foundation´s website and made a donation - and I thank you, I really do. But today I am not asking for another donation. In fact, if you are only going to make a donation and then forget about us, please don´t bother. What I seek is a change of heart, I seek for help to wake this sleeping world to the harsh reality that is life for the majority of the 6 billion on this planet, I seek long term change. I myself have decided for this change, I don´t know yet how I will accomplish it but I pray that the Lord might bless my feeble efforts. In Matthew 9 He tells us:

¨Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness. And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers to his harvest.'¨

I rest in this promise that the Lord will send more labourers, that He will not let these people languish like this forever, that He will continue to bless them with a joy that still inspires me daily. But I ask you too - what are you doing to help them? I ask you to think about that the next time you ¨need¨ a new pair of shoes or crank the AC up because 80deg. is just ¨so hot.¨ Please, search your hearts and help me find a way to help my little ones here, help me help the misioneras who have given their lives to working for these children. And not just here, if this mission doesn´t speak to you find one that does. Hundreds of millions of children are starving, are without clean water, are without families. Will no one help them?

Right now, I close so that I can get back to them, give them one more hug and maybe start a tickle fight that will help a few little girls forget for a little bit that their mom can´t take care of them. And as always, I remain faithful in my prayers for you all, until next time with more from the flipside...

Jesús ha resucitado! Aleluya!

2008-03-24T17:13:00.004-05:00

A very happy Easter to all. I hope this finds you all well recovered from all that rejoicing, Easter egg hunts and jelly beans. This monday, life is back to business at El Santuario as we are busyly preparing for the return of more of our children from vacations and the arrival of new ones. Easter and the days leading up to it were lovely here and oh-so-latino, I loved it. I will insert a photo from Palm Sunday where the people of the town put a statue of Jesus on a donkey and then lead a procession before Mass, you know, Jesus ¨entering Jerusalem on a donkey with palm fronds across his path¨, yep, we acted it out, it was amazing. Then we the Masses for Holy Thursday and Good Friday with stations of the cross acted out by some of our older kids and then our really long but pretty cool Easter vigil Mass Saturday night and our Easter day Mass yesterday morning. Lots of Masses, lots of processions, lots of love for the risen Christ - it was unforgettable and my words can never do justice.

Our trip to Cuenca was a mild success, we were impressed with the foundation, met with the director and got to see one of their homes. But, they can´t take Jamil right now. We have hope that in June, when they are supposedly opening a new facility, it is then that they have promised to take him. In the meantime we will continue to look for other options for this precious baby. Please continue your prayers for that.

I have four more weeks to spend in this place that I love so dearly and I am trying to spend them well and get a few projects done. I need your help with one of these. I need to come up with $3,000 in the next few weeks so that some of our kids can stay at home with their newly rehabilitated families. It takes $50 a month to support a family with schooling and groceries. I am looking for 5 kids ($600 per kid) for a year, equaling the $3,000. If you can help, please go to www.missionsantamaria.com where you can pay with credit card or bank transfer and then please send me a message so that I can have that money set aside from the general account. Whatever you can give, whether be 1 time donation of $20 or a promise of monthly support, it would be so very much appreciated.

Off and running to get back to the children and misioñeras that I love. I am so sorry that I cannot better express to you how wonderful a place this is and how much it means to me. Suffice it to say that as I sit and stare into the Pacific ocean and think about being on the other side of the world away from it all, all the love that I have for this place presses against my chest and threatens to explode. The difficult thing is that I know that I am going back to new and exciting things and people I love as well, I just don´t know how I´ll ever say goodbye here. Jesus, I trust in You.

Felices Pascuas from the flipside...

Return from the Jungle/Beginning of Goodbyes

2008-03-17T11:52:00.002-05:00

Hello one and all, as always, I beg pardon for the delay in blogs, I think I´m losing my blogging-steam.

Much new to report from this end of the world. First, the mission to Tena with the FUS students was awesome and grace-filled, thanks to all of you who brought so much zeal and love for missions, it was great to see you all. Second, it´s official, my mission compañera of six months has left. Mariya has returned home to study for the MCAT as she feels called to apply to med school. It was a very sad goodbye and we still miss her very much, I am not looking forward to telling the children (who are now returning from vacations) that their beloved nurse has been lead off by the Lord down another road. Pues, hagase tu voluntad Señor (be it done according to your will Lord).

Next, my news. I have been recently accepted to the grad programs at both Georgia State and Kennesaw State Universities. I am planning on entering the program at KSU and am excited about this new adventure. The sad news is that, while I thought I would be beginning much later, I actually have to be back April 23rd for orientation and then classes May 12th. It is bittersweet. I am excited for grad school but am heartbroken to be leaving this base that has become my home and these misioñeras who have become my family. I am blessed to have at least one more month with them and that time to wrap up some of my projects here. Please pray that I am able to find enough joy to enjoy these last few weeks at the most beautiful place I have yet to encounter on this earth.

We are off tomorrow to Cuenca to investigate a foundation that can potentially care for one of our babies, Jamil, who has cerebral palsy. It is a foundation that specializes in children like Jamil and can provide the therapy and education that he deserves. I am also in the middle of the investigatory phase for a new program for local young widows with small children. Mamita Isabel has seen a great need in this regard in the area, as once the husband dies they are often left with no income and few skills/opportunities, and so we are hoping to educate them and provide them with some skills to learn how to support themselves and their families. So, the next few weeks will be busy ones and hopefully blessed.

That is about all that I have for now, not feeling all that inspirational or deep at the moment. Perhaps after this last week of spiritual ¨dying¨ my blogging motivation will be resurrected with the Lord, haha. A prayerful holy week to all and a very blessed Easter, more later, as always, from the flipside.

The Dengue Diaries

2008-02-24T20:24:00.004-05:00

Well, it´s official. I am a true foreign missionary. I have contracted my first tropical disease - dengue fever. Sounds impressive, doesn´t it? Now don´t worry, I´m not dying and we don´t think I have the hemorrahgic type which is a good thing. And I have a good nurse, la señorita Mariya, taking good care of me.

In other news, before I got sick, Mariya and I played mom for 13 of the kids that live in Casas Familias while the house mom was on a weekend vacation. Let´s just say, taking care of 13 small children in Ecuador is way different than taking care of them in the States. You don´t realize how great things like plenty of diapers and paper towels are or washing machines to help with the piles of underwear that result from pottytraining. It was a beautiful if not trying experience and I am thankful to now know more first-hand what that part of the work here is like. I also now have an even greater appreciation for the consecrated women who serve as these house moms, or ¨educadoras¨. We were supposed to continue with caring for the children this week but due to other pending work and my subsequent illness, we did not.

A part of our time with the children included the welcoming and acclimating of three new babies, Stiven (es-tea-ven) de 4 años and twin 2 year old girls, Ximena (he-meh-nah) and Sara. The first few days were rough as Stiven was very sick and Ximena cried the majority of the time as she tried to make sense of her new surroundings. However, by the end of the second day, they began to smile and oh - how precious and hard-won those smiles were. Stiven was placed quickly in a foster family but Ximena and Sara stayed with us and have now completely stolen our hearts. In fact, I have created a new album on shutterfly dedicated to them and the rose farm, babies and roses, two of my favorite things. Mariya is talking about bringing them back with her but I intend on putting up a fight to bring them to Atlanta. Oh, they are adorable and are very special to us.

Ximena Smiles...

Currently, I am hanging out in my room, in my bed and working on being better. I am so thankful that they let me borrow the base´s one computer with internet so that I could reach out to the outside world, thanks Fatima. Prayers for a speedy recovery so that I can go on the medical mission with the kids from Franciscan Univ. next week (we´re goin´ to the jungle) would be much appreciated. As always, if any of y´all have prayer intentions, post a comment or email me and let me know, I would love to know how to pray for the folks back home.

Much love to you all, hope to have an exciting post next time, recounting my adventures in the jungle :) Check www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com for more pics!

¡Perdoname! (forgive me)

2008-02-18T18:10:00.003-05:00

Please accept my apologies, I was shocked when I finally logged in and it showed that my last post was Jan. 22. Wow. So much for the New Year´s resolution for better communication!

Well, the best excuse for my long absence is that we have been quite busy and on the move. There was much to do organizing after the kids left for vacaction, endless visits to see how the ones who were with their families were doing and then plenty of time to practice my spanish writing skills as I faithfully documented the updates and visits that we had done (My professor Dr. Gilham would be proud that one of my biggest roles here is enforcing documentation, haha). All of this was crammed in the last weeks of January because Feb. 6th we departed for Quito to welcome our newest missionary, Sara Ogrodnick, RN. We then spent a week with her in Quito, getting her settled and we were going to go back to Tena to do the final planning for the March mission but plans fell through and so we had a few more days with Sara and the wonderful Arroyo family. In fact, on Valentines day, we went to the Arroyo´s rose farm, an amazing experience and of course, we came home with roses. It was a wonderful suprise/treat as we didn´t think we would be there to do it - even far from home and without boyfriends, the Lord found a way to romance our hearts on the day of lovers.

I am afraid I don´t have much time this evening to share anything more of the little blessings and funny stories of the last few weeks, I really just wanted to let everyone know that I was still alive. I cannot make a promise of more frequent updates in the next few weeks as starting Wednesday, Mariya and I will become ¨moms¨ to the remaining children so that the house moms can go on vacation. We will be with the little ones for a week and then it´s off to the jungle with the March medical mission from FUS. I hope that in between it all I will be able to post again but if not, I promise a big exciting post for when we get back.

I do have new pictures up on the shutterfly website, www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com check them out, hope you enjoy.

As always, I send my love and I pray that everyone enjoys a blessed Lent.

Painting Poverty

2008-01-22T18:40:00.000-05:00

What a week! First, we are blessed to have Mariya´s mom and sister here visiting which has added some fun to the gringo house. Next, in honor of the family visit, Mariya, myself and the family went to Cuenca (middle part of the sierra) for the weekend. While there, we mixed business with pleasure by taking a jaunt out to investigate a foundation for disabled children in the hopes of placing one of our precious babies, 8 year old Jamil with cerebral palsy, with them so that he might receive the therapy and attention that we can´t provide for him here. We also went to a symphony (free presentation), had a literary conversation with an American owner of a bookstore in Cuenca and meandered through seemingly endless knick-nacks and works of art. But as I was wandering through paintings, clay figures and such, I kept thinking to myself, ¨this isn´t my Ecuador.¨ It may have partially been because we were in the Sierra and they have their own traditional clothing and such. But more than that, even the Sierra doesn´t always look like that. Well, it got me thinking...

Why doesn´t anyone paint poverty? Why can I only find palm trees and toucans from the Galapagos, women in colorful shaws and felt hats sitting with baskets from the Sierra and sunsets over the beach from the coast? Where are my barrios, my houses made of cane and cement blocks, my little boys selling juices in plastic baggies, my old men mending their fishing nets before the next tide, my women poking sticks into open fires roasting corn and plantains, where is my Ecuador? All of these things are so beautiful to me that if I had any artistic talent, I would paint them in the bold colors of salsa dancing and the softer ones of the ocean outside my window. I would paint them with the humor of Norman Rockwell and the tranquility of Thomas Kinkade. But I can´t paint (unless there are numbers) so I can´t capture this beauty that I find hiding in the often times horrible reality of life. I can only hold it in my heart, to guard the memories there as I learn to love it even more, despite the abrasive smells, the mud, the chickens and dogs. Maybe no one can paint my Ecuador or maybe no one has tried.

I challenge anyone out there with artistic talent to try to capture this life around me. But capture it in a way that isn´t dreary and sad, doesn´t hide the reality of what it, but shows the joy, the life, the beauty amidst the garbage and dirt floors that I see everyday.

In the meantime, I will remain your little missionary, still learning Spanish, still learning Ecuador and still learning how to love in the way I am meant to. May you all have a great next week, hope all enjoyed the MLK weekend, many prayers to those at the March for Life in DC, and as always, more to come next week from life on the flipside...

Los Sueños de Gaby

2008-01-12T19:53:00.000-05:00

Hello again to one and all, please forgive the extended absence from my blog, to all those concerned, I am not currently buried under lava from the currently active volcano and am in fact about 9 hours away from it. No worries, Olón is not about to be the next Pompei :)

This week has brought a return to work in force. We are currently planning for the new year and also for the summer vacations (remember, it´s backwards here since it´s the southern hemisphere) for our little ones. This is an interesting task, as we are currently short staffed but the Lord is blessing it. Just when I have had enough, having spent 7 hours in a meeting (yep, serious) or the whole day reviewing files in the office, the Lord blesses me with a reminder of why I am doing what I am doing. Let me tell you a story about los sueños de Gaby (Gaby´s dreams)...

Gaby is a 9 year old little girl who has lived on base now for almost three years with her two brothers. She is an incredibly smart and special little girl, one of those 9-going-on-35 kind of kids. Yesterday Gaby, who is usually bubbly and smiling, was having a rough day. So we went for a walk, (was taking a break from files anyway) stopped at the little store on base for some juice and crackers and went and sat on the cliff overlooking to ocean.

While there, she was telling me about how she was sad because her mom hadn´t come to take her for Christmas like she promised and she didn´t think she was going to see her mom this vacation either (probably true). We were talking about how this is a hard thing but how our faith can help us, how when we feel really small it´s okay because we have a God who´s really big, bigger than the ocean and everything, and He knows what we want in our hearts and He won´t let us down. As soon as I started to talk about the Lord, her little face lit up and she really started to pay attention. After a few minutes of quiet, she bashfully told me that she had seen ¨Papito Dios¨ (affectionate name for God) in her dreams. That sometimes in her dreams, Papito Dios comes and takes her and they visit all the families in the pueblo that don´t have a lot and that they give them things from a backpack full of toys and food that Gaby has. Papito Dios carries her in his arms and they go around the pueblo and then sometimes to the Santuario, our church. As she was telling me all this, she became a different kid, for a few moments, she became a happy kid again.

And I was reminded of something. That even though I feel frustrated sometimes because I don´t have the words to console these precious babies in the way I want and sometimes there aren´t words, that it´s okay. That the Lord indeed has a special protection for these little ones, that He is speaking to their heart when no one else can and He is consoling them. Thank you Papito Dios, for reminding me that even though I am small, that You are big and You are taking care of these niños too.

Love to you all, may you too share the sueños de Gaby...

Christmas Vacation

2007-12-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” - CS Lewis

Yeah, so I have a thing for CS Lewis. Perhaps it is because it is so easy to remember his words. Perhaps because he was a genius. It speaks to me now as I have been struggling with yet another round of illness and the Lord has indeed been shouting to me. He has also whispering in the fact that I saw my first sunset here the other day and the stars were out last night (both a result of the fact that the perpetual clouds are finally leaving). In any case, try not to hold my love of good old Jack against me :)

Christmas eve was wonderful here at the Santuario, complete with 10pm Mass and sleeping babies, a beautiful hand made nativity scene from the misioñeras and dancing in Padre´s house until 2am. For Christmas day we had Mass again and then time to recuperate for the gringo Christmas celebration that we had ourselves with a bonfire, s´mores (yes, we found marshmellows), wine and Christmas caroles, quite literally sung by the fire. After all of this, we went for an impromtu swim in the ocean at 1am, having to scale the wall since we neglected to bring our keys. Yep, it was a different kind of Christmas but nonetheless memorable.

These last few days we have had a few different events, including a Mass for all the elderly in the surrounding communities, but for the most part we have enjoyed a few days of vacation, with later wake up times and afternoons at the beach with the kids that are still here. One of our precious little ones, Angelica, who is 6 years old, about 3.5 feet tall and 40lbs soaking wet, absolutely loves the waves and will nearly drown herself trying to get out to where I am so that she can swim with me and hold onto my arms as the waves crash into her. I have never seen a kid smile so big with a face full of salt water but she absolutely loves it and her absolute trust in me is humbling. So, even when my arms are going to fall off from holding her up in the waves for the 1,000th time, just one look at her face and I keep going. In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to go right now...

Tomorrow we have a great big party, probably the second biggest of the year here, not only for New Year´s but also for the eve of the solemnity, Mary Mother of God. It´s pretty exciting as all the misioñeras who don´t live here on base will come in for the celebration and we have lots of visitors from Quito and Guayaquil who have come down as well. I have been put on the decoration committee and we are charged with decorating the boat aka the church which should be fun. I suppose it is about time to begin my reflections on the old year and my resolutions for the next, however I think my first resolution would be to keep my resolutions for more than two weeks, haha.

I hope that all my family and friends back home are enjoying a peaceful weekend and are prepared to ring in the new year. May the Lord bring blessings anew to us all and may 2008 bring more positive change to this world in which we live.

O Come O Come Emmanuel...

2007-12-23T16:22:00.000-05:00

¨God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.¨ - CS Lewis

¡Feliz Navidad! Well, almost. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so far it feels like it will pass just like any other day here, but I hope not. The week has indeed been filled with fun things for the children as many benefactors come out of the woodwork for the holidays. So far a few groups have come and distributed toys which is very exciting for them as they generally have very few. However, the children at Casas Familias were equally excited when Jim presented every child with new underwear and towels...try giving that to a child in the states for Christmas and you´re an idiot. But no, here these sweet babies were jumping up and down and carrying on, just to have something new of their very own, even if it was underwear and a towel with their name on it in sharpie. What a totally new perspective there is to be had, being so seperated from the Christmas rush. Granted, we have been supremely busy because many of the children were leaving for vacations and because of all of these toy giving events, but it is still different.

One of the cooler things this week was that a family from Guayaquil paid for 140 of our kids to participate in a day at a water park in Salinas, a huge tourist city about two hours away. All of our kids, the small to the big, got to go in bus to the water park, spend the afternoon there, eat a lunch of hamburgers (really cool thing here), and receive ice cream, cake and a bag of treats. It was great. For our kids, who pretty much never get to leave base, to be able to experience something as novel as a water park, wow. For a few hours that afternoon, I was with 140 totally different kids, their joy was so immense. Sometimes just to be a kid in a water park is such a necessary experience and I am thankful for that family´s generosity.

But again, all of these experiences, in the light of being with children who have so little material wise, has helped me seek further the root of Christmas, the babe in the crib, come to save the world in the humilty of flesh. Because here we don´t have the malls decorated for Christmas (at least not in this part of the peninsula), we don´t have the usual smells, sounds and lights of the time of year that usually help me ¨get in the spirit¨ and therefore I have had to seek that somewhere else. I am thankful for this experience, it has been difficult to be away from home but I am thankful for it nonetheless. I hope I can always remember the excitement those children had to receive the underwear and towels, things we don´t even consider as gifts but rather are givens in life, and always be able to receive everything in my life with that same joy and gratitude. I hope that I can accept the humble offering of a naked child in a barn, born without pretense or glitter, born to be my Savior but waiting in humility to be received, with the same joy as those children who have nothing because at the end of the day, I have nothing other than this gift of love.

A very Merry Christmas to all.

Little miracles and other things

2007-12-17T12:54:00.000-05:00

¨Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ´God is with us´.¨ - Matt. 1:23

Amen, God is with us. The longer I live this mission life, the more I realize this. There are days when you think you just can´t do it anymore, that there is nothing you can do to make a difference in such chaos and need, and then something happens to remind you no, you are not forsaken, the Lord has come and He lives in each and every heart who have given Him a home and moreover, His mark is on every heart, even those who have yet to know Him. With the Lord so very present how can you ever completely lose hope?

Story of the week is this. One of our dear little crazy boys decided last Tuesday night that he was Superman and wanted to try to fly. So he climbed up on the roof of a building but before he could jump, the roof collapsed beneath him and he fell 20 feet onto a flight of cement stairs and rolled down the stairs. And stood up and walked away with only 5 stitches in his head. Mariya, our great nurse, and Jim, resident dad, took him to the city, 2 hours away, for a x-rays and a CAT scan but he has no skull fracture or any other broken bones. After 5 days of being kept resting, he is back in school and back in action. Incredible. The misioneras say that every child here has 10 guardian angels because little miracles like this happen all the time, and while I don´t know the specifics, clearly the Lord is looking after our children in some way because there is no other explaination. Fernando should not have walked away from a fall like that with nothing more than a cut. But the Lord has been blessing the work here for the last 30 years and so an incident like this just joins the ranks of all the other little miracles that these women have seen. Wow.

In other news, I am working on a new project to gather enough information to arrange the legal paperwork we need but we lack. It is tough but exciting and I am learning a lot. In a lot of ways, it is the proper follow up for all the organizing that I have been doing. I am also being called now when new cases present themselves to base and have been doing the intakes on my own. Scary but really cool that the Lord is helping me with my language skills and that I can finally offer some real services to this base that has already given me so much.

Finally, happy Advent. Last week, to surprise Mariya, I decorated our hallway with some Christmas decor and now it feels a lot more like Christmas, even if it is 80 degrees, haha. This is my favorite time of year, a time for family and a time to remember the humble humanity of Christ and the profound gift that His life, not just His death on the cross, is to all of us. May you all be blessed this Advent season with the feeling of love that comes from having all of your loved ones around you and the gift of the Child Jesus, born to us in a humble barn some 2,000 years ago yet ever so present today.

World´s shortest post

2007-12-09T15:27:00.000-05:00

Hi friends. Don´t have it in me to really post today but I wanted to say that all is well here, we had a good time in Tena and got some things arranged for the March mission, went to a bullfight in Quito (crazy but interesting) and made it back in time for the consecration of two new misioneras (incredibly beautiful). I have been sick but am getting better, prayers on that end would be great. While in Quito we did put up more pics, check out the usual link www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com and just click past the old ones to see the newbies.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Advent and I promise more for next time, same time, same place, life on the flip side...

My Heart Will Go On

2007-12-02T14:04:00.000-05:00

So last night, in celebration of the quinceñera, our dear little Gaby, Mariya and I did an impromtu lip sync to Celine Dion´s My Heart Will Go On - Theme from Titanic. And yes, it was hilarious. Our Gaby is such a funny character and few things really make her smile but she really likes this song and so we presented in front of the whole base at her 15th birthday celebration. MOL lipsync has nothing on us and all of my Stella sisters would have been proud, it was a great evening.

The lipsync was a perfect ending to a rather random week. This week was filled with surprises and funny things, where to begin. First, my collegue Narcissa finally returned from Quito and we sat down with my list of questions and I showed her the fruits of my organizing labors. I learned that the social worker who had previously been in charge of the kids on base and had been on home leave is not coming back. The good news is we have permission to hire a new social worker to replace her. Our hope is that we will be able to hire someone to take Narcissa´s case load in the city and she will be able to work on base with me. Please pray that the Lord sends us some capable and joyful hands and soon, as well that all the office politics are worked out. Really, until Narcissa, or Nacho as we call her, can work on base with me, the cases here will remain sorely in need of attention and I will not be able to do much else to help as I as of yet do not know all the cases and cannot do home visits on my own. I did however make my first decision as a social worker on base the other night (Nacho is back in Quito for another conference and so they were stuck with me) and it was a really hard one and I think it was the right one. We´ll see!

Also this week, I resumed working with my group of young people, this time to do an artistic presentation on HIV/AIDS. Needless to say, working with this group is a quick path to sainthood but I was thankful for my LifeTeen/SENT training as I wrote the drama that they presented. The cool part of it was that I was able to convince them that we should promote abstinence and monagamy, especially in the context of healthy families. This is cool because down here they heavily promote condom use as a HIV prevention which is bogus. Condoms have been shown to be INEFFECTIVE as a prevention for HIV transmission due to the small size of the virus and even on the condom boxes it says this. Sure, there is more protection than if you didn´t have anything but I feel it is irresponsible even on a non-moral level to tell people to use condoms to prevent HIV, it makes it sound like it is foolproof and it is so not. Not to mention, this group of young people is representing our Catholic organization. I was excited because, even though they hardly practiced the skit I wrote and it could have been done so much better, we still got the message out of abstinence, monagamy and family in the midst of a festival that was presenting very different ideas. Praise God for the small things. I hope despite our limitations the Lord was able to use the skit to get the message to someone.

This next week we are off to Tena to make contacts and arrangements for FUS March medical mission. I am excited about this as it is on the edge of the Amazon and a part of Ecuador I have yet to see (and I get to wear my boots!). Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and also for the safe return and efficient work of my collegue Narcissa as she travels back from Quito today and I hope to spend some time with her in the office tomorrow. Much love to everyone at home, catch you again next week with news from the flip side...

Living Soundtrack

2007-11-25T14:49:00.000-05:00

In just about any movie set in a third world country there is always some local music playing that sets the mood of ¨ah yes, foreign country¨ Well, in Ecuador, no matter where you are, there is music playing. As I walk up the road to breakfast - music from a misionera´s room. Walking into town - music from one of the houses. Commuting on the bus everyday - really loud music. Hence, I have a living soundtrack and I love it, especially the ¨mi corazooon, mio mio mio, mi corazoooon¨ song that is ALWAYS on in the bus. Still, no one knows who it is. Jaja.

This blog I will, for the sake of time and sanity, present the highlights of my week:

-Had parasites in my intestines and successfully killed them - thanks doctora.

-I offically have my own set of keys to the social work office on base - I feel cool.

-I organized - thought I´d do something new...just kidding...

-The group of young people finished their presentation on alcohol and drugs and I sent them off to Quito - I again give applause to all high school teachers, I don´t know how you do it.

-I lost my faith in Clorox to make anything clean and white again - apparently bleach is no match for how dirty I get.

-We got a new sibling group of five beautiful children and I love them.

-I have been asked to be the madrina, godmother, of baby Naomi - I am so excited!

-Mariya and I celebrated the completion of two months in Ecuador with banana pancakes and Chilean wine in our newly discovered and cleaned kitchen.

-In honor of mango season, I have now eaten a bushel of mangos...and they are still giving them to us!

-In honor of the feast of Christ the King, we had a procession in Manglaralto and Pdr. Patricio blessed the town.

-The sun has arrived and the whole world is going to the beach - surfs up!

-Our friend and new compañero, Jim, arrives today to join us in working on the base.

In light of that last one, we are off to welcome Jim (or Jeem as he is called here) to our humble house on the hill. I close as always with hopes that all is well with those whom I love back home, love, prayers and a promise to return next week. ¡Jesùs te cuide!

**Mail works! Packages take two weeks, letters 6 weeks. Can´t receive anything over four pounds, I rec. manila envelopes in lieu of boxes. Mail comes from a man on a motorcycle...it´s cool**

**New pics are up, in the process of adding more. Improved access: www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com. Also, Mariya has more photos than I, check out her blog for the full story!**

Gettin´ it together

2007-11-18T14:09:00.000-05:00

"Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity."
-- Albert Einstein

So are you ready for this - this past week, I, Maribeth Nolan, keeper of the desk no one sees and bedroom of natural disaster - have been organizing all of our files and social work office in general here on base. I know, hard to imagine but true - I am the source of organization here. Maribeth Nolan, LSW is learning to get it together and it is exciting :)

In other even more exciting news is that we finally have a stateside foundation and website for online donation in support of our base/foundation here - Fundaciòn Ecuatoriana Santa Marìa del Fiat. Our dear friend and future mission compañero, Jim Campbell, has done some excellent work and we cannot be more excited. The base is in desperate need of financial support so that it can continue the wonderful work that has been done for the last 35 years. Check it out: www.missionsantamaria.com

The week has been good, I have learned that it is possible that organization can be my greatest gift to the base (Ecuadorians by nature are not organized folk...at all) and I am putting to good use the many times that Dr. Gilham reminded us that paperwork is important - especially when you can find it. Also, Friday night Mariya and I met with the group of young ladies who live here, ages 14-20, to discuss the beauty of life, faith and what it is to be a woman. They are an amazing group of girls and I look forward to meeting with them regularly. Finally, last night Mariya and I travelled to Salinas, one of the closer cities and Ecuador´s answer to Miami beach for a night and day of relaxation, warm showers and getting to know our little country a little better. We even watched half a movie on the little tv in our hotel room last night...joy in the small things :)

Hopefully a few more pictures to be had soon, until then, I hope that all is well back in the land of my birth and please pray for me this week as I continue to stretch myself in organizing our social work outreach here...si yo puedo! (yes i can do it!) Love from the flipside...

¡Viva la cumpleñera!

2007-11-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

¨When we've been here ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise, Than when we've first begun.¨ - John Newton, Amazing Grace

So, it´s my birthday y por eso, all day, as is tradition here, whoever and whenever one of the misioneras sees me, they shout ¨¡viva la cumpleñera!¨ (long live the birthday girl!) I like this tradition...we should do this in the States...it´s so festive! Praise the Lord for another year to serve Him and oh, by the way, thanks mom and dad for letting me be born, ´preciate that one :)

It´s been a week since being back here on base and the life is good. Back on the schedule of traveling to Libertad every day, though this week was a little different as we stayed on base one day to prepare paperwork for our big meeting on Monday with one of the organizations that gives us funding. I have begun to take on more responsibilities at the office which is great, my Spanish still lacks but by the grace of God I have been able to do a few things. I did my first solo intervention with a couple who are getting divorced and their son is therefore acting out. It is by far one of the mildest cases that we work with and we will only meet with them one more time but it was a good place for me to start, in order to use the words that I do have in a lower stress situation. I also started work with a group of young people who are going to Quito in a week to present, on behalf of our foundation, a presentation on alcohol and drug use in the Peninsula de Santa Elena (where we live). This is an interesting task but the kids are great about trying to understand me and I am working hard to keep their attention and focus - high school teachers of the world, ¡aplausa! Jaja.

Overall therefore, life progresses on and I am starting to feel a bit more useful which is great. The misioneras are fantastic and have made my birthday special for me, not to mention all the calls from family and friends, here and in the States, thanks guys. The other thing which is special about this weekend is that tomorrow is the anniversary of the day when our statue of Our Lady of the Mystical Rose wept blood. (Proclaimed an official miracle by the Church, examined by scientists and the whole nine yards...it´s pretty darn cool) The whole weekend is therefore a big celebration and I am happy to share all the excitement with Our Lady :)

An update on the four children that we removed from their home a few weeks ago. Thursday I was able to visit with them, we went to the park and it was beautiful to see how happy and healthy they are. Even the littlest one was belly laughing with me on the swing. And the two older boys were making me ¨coconuts¨ out of sand and serving them to me...a tremendous feat for them psychologically and a really good sign. Once again, as always, the light comes shining through as to why we do what we do here. Four beautiful children, now living a life that is safe, healthy, happy and filled with love. They will receive an education and learn what it is to live in a stable home. And when she can, their gringa amiga will come visit them, love on them and swing on the swings. Praise the Lord.

Thanks to you all who have been keeping in touch, I wouldn´t be able to do any of this without your love, prayers and support. I hope you enjoyed the pics, more to come again soon. Much love as always, please continue to pray for us as we most certainly will do for you.

Las Gringas con Patas Calientes

2007-11-03T19:38:00.000-05:00

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. - CS Lewis

Yes, we are officially the gringas with the hot paws, so to speak. What that really means is that we are on the go all the time and since in about two hours I will leave Quito on a bus to return to Olón once more, it is pretty true. We have had a great week here in Quito doing research, gathering things we needed materially and spending time with our wonderful EcuaFamily, the Arroyos. This family has been unbelievably wonderful to us and we have been more than well cared for this week, we have been truly loved and welcomed.

Just yesterday, in celebration of El Dia de Los Difuntos (All Souls), we were invited over to Papito´s parent`s house, now our newly adopted dear abuelitos (grandparents). We had a wonderful meal, complete with the traditional colada morada and guaguas de pan (bread shaped like babies) and then played Rummykub for hours, laughing harder than I have in quite some time. And today, our papito lindo (Mr. Arroyo) and our abuelitos took us out for my first experience of eating cuye (guinea pig...yes, i´m serious, check out the pics) and then to El Mital del Mundo, where the equator runs through Ecuador (yep, that´s how it got it´s name) and you can stand in two places at once - northern and southern hemispheres. What a life we have lead this past week!

The reflection on it all pertains a bit to one of my favorite quotes from CS Lewis (above). That is, for me, all of this profound love and welcome would not make any sense (considering I can hardly have a proper conversation with the family what with my broken Spanish) outside of the love of Christ that is so absolutely present in the people of Ecuador and especially in this family that we just happened upon and have now adopted us as part of their family, en serio. And yet, the faith that I have been given allows me to understand that the Lord put this family in my life to bring His love to me while I am pouring out His love to the children in Olòn. Things like this ¨coincidence¨ are so much cooler when you can see them as purposefully given gifts.

That is my story for now. We return to base tomorrow morning (bus through the night) and resume work as usual on Monday. Despite the wonderful week here, I have dearly missed our little niños and the missioneras and am looking forward to being with them again. I promise another update next Sunday, in the meantime, I have added even more pics so enjoy those, note the phone number change and know that I am thinking of and praying for you all.

New pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AasmjFi0ZNGEo
(copy paste)

Me & the paws of my cuye (guinea pig)

Mariya and I at the center of the world

Pictures and Phone #

2007-10-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

Quick post to say I have a new phone # and I have put pictures up on Shutterfly.

The new number is: (from the states) 011 593 8 5081 632
*Still the same where it is free for me to receive calls and I can text to the states but you can´t text to me. *

The picture site is:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AasmjFi0ZNGEb
(copy paste it)

¡Disfruta! (enjoy!)

Mil Maravillas

2007-10-30T18:45:00.001-05:00

"The more you are intimately in love with Jesus, the more holy you will become. The more holy you become, the more you will be a channel of His love, compassion, and presence to the poor." - Blessed Mother Teresa

Buenos to one and all. I am writing today, not from a internet cafe but from the comfort of the home of our dear friends, the Arroyos, in Quito. Mariya and I are here for a week to do some research and relax a bit while the kids on base are on vacation. I won´t lie, I´m loving the warm showers :) We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and I can only hope to be as cool as the Ecuadorians one day, with their immense love and hospitality.

But let´s get down to business. This past week was certainly one of many lessons and yes, mil maravillas, a thousand wonders. On Monday, I began again to join the social workers in Libertad, doing home visits and other such things under the auspices of CAIFF, Centro de Attención Integral del la Familia del Fiat. And on this, my second day on the job, came the hardest thing that I have ever done. We received a notice in the afternoon that there was an emergent situation in a barrio of Libertad and that we needed to remove four children from a home due to extreme negligence, maltreatment and violence. After gaining the signature and escourt of the local police, we arrived at a home that was by far one of the worst I have seen in Ecuador. We had a police escourt because we were warned that the father was a very violent and unpredictable man and the mother mentally ill. Fortunately, the father was not home and we were able to remove four precious children and bring them to one of our compounds, the Casas Familiares, with little trouble, other than the extreme sadness of these four sweet babies who didn´t want to leave the only home they have ever known, even if this very home was killing them. During the 1.5 hour drive from Libertad to Manglaralto where the Casas are, I held these children in my lap and tried to convince them that they were safe and that they were going to a better place. Even though I knew that what we were doing was the best thing for these children, this knowledge did little to keep my heart from breaking for them. Thus far I have only heard the horror stories but it is entirely a different thing to see it for yourself. Later that evening, I sat before the Blessed Sacrament and cried because I was so sorry that we had let four precious babies ever live in a situation such as that. I told the Lord how sorry I was that this had ever happened to four of His children.

At the end of it all though, the experience only served to strengthen my belief in the work that is done here and my desire to be a part of it. Through the foundation (there is no govermental protection for children in Ecuador) these children now live in a home all together (Casas Familiares) where a missionary (one of the consecrated women) live and serve as the "mamitas" and the children can experience what a real home life is. As our own little "mamita" Fatima told me at the end of that day, yes, there are many ugly things here in Ecuador but that is why we are here. Within this experience lies many lessons and yet many wonders in that now we have four beautiful, clean, happy and working-on-being-healthy children who will now know the love of a family and of Christ, and I and my collegues will begin to work on finding members of their family to raise them or potentially rehabilitating their own family to the point to where one day they may return and live in safety. Redemption can be found in even the ugliest situations.

Other parts of life are progressing along well, we visited once again our brother Marciano on Friday and look forward to continuing our visits with him. We will also resume our visits to our little pueblo, Rinconada, a week from this Saturday - I can´t think of a better way to spend my birthday. Speaking of which, the mail works for sure and it took just about a week and a half for the package from Mariya´s mom to reach us...therefore, there is just enough time before my birthday, should you feel so compelled...haha.

Off for now to dinner with our dear friends, a post soon with my new cell number and a link to photos. As always, may the Lord bless you all as He has blessed us and our 'least of these'.

La Vida Loca

2007-10-21T13:01:00.000-05:00

Hello friends, family and curious fans of Ricky Martin, this is Maribeth reporting after the first official month in Ecuador. How time flies when you are having fun :)

After my very blogger-ish entry last week, I feel I should give you a better look at what I have been up to in daily life. Let´s see...we arrived at the Santuario here in Olón three weeks ago now and have every day learning more and more about the work that the foundation does and the needs of the surrounding pueblos. We have gone with a missionary a few times to visit the sick in the two pueblos closest to us, on of which we have adopted as our brother in Christ. Dear Marciano is a man in his late seventies who lives alone, has been blind for the last two years and his wife and children died many years ago. Despite his complete physical aloneness, the words of prayer that come forth from this man are unexpressibly beautiful and are enough to bring even a tough bird like myself to tears. We have gone back to visit him on our own and now plan to do so every week. He is no longer alone, for now he has Christ and two gringas for family.

We have also been given a pueblo, located on the coast (quite literally...we walk the beach to get to them) as our own mission pueblo. Little Rinconada is so precious, we have visited them twice, yesterday on our own for the first time, and intend to spend every Saturday with them, Mariya going with a doctor every Thursday as well to bring them medical care. For this weekly hike we have really cool boots (past missionaries to Ecuador, you know of what I speak) and I´ll admit, I like my boots and feel pretty fuerte (strong) in them...joy in the small things :) Also, this last time in Riconada, we met 7 guys from a local university who were doing research out that way. We hiked back with them, ate pie and they came for Mass today. Now we have 7 more brothers and friends...the little gifts of joy are the best.

Finally, I have begun work with some of the social workers in the foundation. The foundation has an office in La Libertad, which is 1.5 to 2 hours from here and to where I will now go there regularly with another missionary social worker Mon. thru Thurs. to do house visits and learn and participate in the work that they do there. So exciting. Soy trabajadora social, oficially! (I´m a social worker).

So yes, that is the obra (work) for now. And in a month, this is some of what we have learned:
* We are learning to rise with the missionaries (and our beloved siren that functions as a ¨bell¨ to tell us when to do things) at 4:30am every weekday morning
*how to wash clothes by hand (really cool actually, gets things cleaner than you´d think) but only when the sun (dryer) is out
*learning all about helpful and not so helpful insects and how fleas can be the huespedes (¨guests¨, as it was explained to us) of both dogs and gringas (us)
*that you want salamanders in your room to eat the bugs
*how to pronounce things in Spanish and how messing up can be really funny
*that rubber boots are cool
*how every moment can be a time to learn something new about yourself, about the people you serve and about the Lord.
*mud is slippery
*to carry toilet paper in your back pocket always
And finally - to speak simply but love immensely with everything you have.

So that is our vida loca. We love it, we laugh a lot (mostly at ourselves) and are excited to learn more. So many times I am still quite lost in translation, but as we have come to say ¨hey, it´s the vida!¨ Please continue to pray for us as we are most certainly praying for you. Also, keep the intentions coming, it livens up the interceding to have specific things :) Much love as always, it is my hope that you are all doing well in your own little ¨missions¨ of life, and I´ll be back again next week to give you further updates on my little vida. (Also, will do pictures next week when we are in Quito and have more internet time). Dios les bendiga, see you on the flip side...

Lost in Translation

2007-10-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

¨Holiness is not the luxury of the few but a simple duty for you and for me. So let us be holy as our Father in Heaven is holy.¨ - Blessed Mother Teresa

Hello to one and all. We are now at the end of our second week in Olòn, the third in Ecuador - how time flies. These last weeks have been much consumed by learning the work of the base, the surrounding pueblos (villages more or less) and oh yes - Spanish.

So funny moment and the reason for the above title - one day last week I was feeling a bit sick and Fatima (our mamita)was asking what was wrong. So, in my broken Spanish I was attempting to say that I wasn´t hungry so I said, ¨sin hombre¨. HOWEVER, I had confused my a for an o so instead of saying ¨Yes, I am sick, I don´t have hunger¨ which should have been (and is at best a little rough anyway) ¨Si, estoy enferma, sin hAmbre¨ I said, ¨yes I am sick, I don´t have a man (hOmbre).¨ Well, Mariya and Fatima thought that was hilarious and it has since been a running joke. But, by the grace of God, and lots of other funny mistakes like mispronoucing ¨jabòn¨ which is soap and instead saying ¨jamòn¨which is pork. Yep, I´m one of those hilarious foreigners, Borak (?) has nothing on me.

In regards to the above quote, it is something that I have been praying with for the last week as I have had a lot of time for prayer (prayer has no language barriers - woohoo!) It seems so simple but for me right now, living out holiness is taking on a whole new meaning. I had always thought in the back of my mind that it was easy for the saints to be good because they were holy. But now I am realizing, becoming holier doesn´t make it easy - it ups the anty. But maybe it does get a bit easier. In the continuation of quote, Mother goes on to explain that holiness is being more intimately in love with Christ and isn´t it easier to do things for someone you really love? I hope that this is so as I am attempting to live out the call that JPII sets in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio for all missionaries to be comtemplatives so that we might proclaim (and live) that which we have already looked upon ourselves.

Please pray for me as I will continue to pray for you. There is a lot of work to be done here and I am working hard to be able to fulfill some of their needs with the work of these two very small hands. Tomorrow is my first day going out with the other social workers to their office in the city, I am excited albeit a bit nervous.
Also, please reference the side bar list of material needs of the base. I will continue to update it and hope to be able to soon post information for the stateside organization that is being constructed to benefit the base (tax deductible and all that). In the meantime, if there is a prayer group/youth group/ambitious family that wants to start raising funds for the base, let us know as there are a few programs that are in danger of closing (like the junior high/high school they run). God has all the money in the world - He just needs your hands to give it :)

Thanks to all who have been sending emails and posts, it is always wonderful to hear from home and to know how your lives are going too. En el amor de Dios...Maribel

PS. If you actually want to know what we are doing, check Mariya´s blog at www.missionarynurse.blogspot.com (you can use the link to the left). She´s much better at play-by-play than I am :)

Mariya y "Mamita" Fatima

Life on the Edge

2007-10-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

No literally, our casita is on the edge of a cliff! Crazy right? But what a view of the ocean...

Life is great here in Olon, we arrived in good order and have been completely spoiled thus far by our "mamita" Fatima. We each have our own room but the wall between them isn´t sealed at the top so we can still converse. There is so much joy here that it is impossible to not partake. The missionary/consecrated women are so beautiful (and often hilarious) and have said that it is an answer to their prayers that a social worker has come to help. What a beautiful confirmation of my little "fiat" to the Lord. I only hope now to learn Spanish well enough to be useful to them.

Internet is about a 30 min walk so we should get out here once a week I think so please keep the emails and posts coming, it is wonderful to hear from home. I also hope that the next time I get out here I will be able to post a few pictures of our casita, the name by the way is Rosa Mistica, after the miraculous statue of Our Lady of the Mystical Rose that is housed in one of the chapels in the ¨boat¨ (our main building with church on top is shaped like a boat...see picture on blog).

Please also check back soon, I hope to add a "wish list" for the base as there are many things that they need. For now we need prayers (and a new vehicle for the base...if you have an extra). Much love (again)...Mb

Off to Olon

2007-09-28T20:53:00.000-05:00

Hi friends. Just wanted to post before we left for the coast (I´m a poet and don´t know it!) Okay, but seriously, we have had a great week and are much indebted to the Arroyo family. I have had 20 hours of intensive language school and still can´t speak Spanish but I am beginning to understand a lot more.

Tomorrow we have a 12 hour bus ride to Olon and then we are home for the next year. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel tomorrow and please do send us your intentions. I will try to post again soon to let you all know that we arrived safely in Olon. Email will be a lot slower now but we won´t be completely out of touch.

I also have a cellphone now and it is free for me to receive calls. My number is 011-593-92916045. Check out the phone card site on this blog, it is the best rate I have found yet. Love you all, Dios te bendiga.

¡Estamos aqui!

2007-09-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

"Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give."

We have arrived safely in Quito - praise Him! Our new family, the Arroyos, were waiting for us when we arrived and have been showing us the best of Ecuadorian hospitality. It is beautiful how well we are being taken care of and how generous they are to us - there are no strangers in the love of Christ. I believe that the hospitality that we will receive this week will set a solid standard for the way we will be called to live our time as missionaries. In a way, the Scripture verse above calls us to ¨pay it forward¨ and I certainly intend to.

Thank you all for continuing to hold us in your thoughts and prayers, I will keep you posted on our adventures in Quito this next week.

Going...going...gone!

2007-09-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

Hello family & friends. Well, this is it. I have my visa and ticket in hand and I am packing my bag, scheduled to leave Atlanta tomorrow afternoon on a 4:30pm flight. I will be meeting up with my mission buddy, dearest Mariya, in Atlanta and we will board a flight together, bound for Quito, Ecuador. We will remain in Quito for a week and then will head off for our final destination of Olòn.

Please continue to check here for more updates, especially for once we set up a phone number. I will be adding a few links for cheaper phone cards, just in case you decide to give us a ring. Also, as soon as we figure out the mail system, I will add information for that as well. Please keep me updated on your lives, my email will still work and I would love to hear about life back in the US. Count on my thoughts and prayers to be with you all and please do let us know how we can pray for you.

As the old Irish blessing goes...May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, the sun shine warm upon your face, the rain fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

~Maribeth

Testing, 1...2...

2007-09-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog! I'm am so hip and cool now, I can hardly stand myself :)

This is how I plan to keep everyone posted on my life in Ecuador, which (hopefully) begins Sept. 22nd. Keep checking back for more info, pics and so on. Dios les bendiga.