Who? What? When? Where? and Why?

Who

I will be spending the next two years serving as a volunteer missionary in Chimbote, Peru with the Incarnate Word Missionaries program (IWM).

Click here to explore : ) http://www.iwmissions.org/00Home.htm

Incarnate Word Missionaries (IWM) promotes “the formation of laity through Christian communities, sharing in a simple lifestyle and deepening commitments to social justice.”

IWM was founded in 1987 in response to the request and aspirations of six enthusiastic lay men and women who wanted to go into the world and serve as missionaries. Since 1987, Incarnate Word Missionaries has helped lay men and women discern their call to serve God in the presence of the poor and marginalized, and to prepare for this unique and transforming experience of service.

Volunteers of Incarnate Word Missionaries are ministering in Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, the U.S., and Zambia.

(If you would like to know more of the history, it is quoted at the end of this page.)

What

I am a lay missionary choosing to live in solidarity with the poor and marginalized people of Peru. I hope to help bring justice to their lives while promoting the dignity of all persons.  As I meet the people of Chimbote, and all others along the way, I hope to transform and grow in unity.

“Our mission as Incarnate Word Missionaries is to provide relief for the pressing and emerging needs within the world today as we work alongside the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.”

I will be serving in a medical clinic in a hospice center in Chimbote!

When

I will leave on July 22nd, 2013 for a two and a half week orientation in Mexico City, Mexico. Then, I will return to San Antonio Texas for a commissioning mass and to await my leave for Peru in August. I will be returning to the States in two years- August 2015.

Where

 I will be serving in the coastal city of Chimbote, Peru.

Look on the coast a little bit above Lima and you will spot Chimbote.

I have the address to my volunteer house in Chimbote, Peru, please contact my immediate family or email me if you would like it.

I would love to be pen pals with anybody while I am there. I hear that letters are precious while volunteering : )

Why

Well where do I even start explaining this? I find it extremely difficult to summarize and capture all of my reasons for wanting to devote the next two years of my life doing this. My hope is that this blog will help each one of you to understand my mission by being part of it with me. The title of my blog best encompasses my mission. I first read the phrase “disquiet heart” while reading Blood Brothers– a book about the Israeli- Palestinian  conflict (which I highly recommend.) It has stuck with me everyday since and thus one of my life aspirations is to always embrace my disquiet heart.

Embrace my disquiet heart to serve the people that are treated unjustly in our world, both in and out of the states.

Embrace my disquiet heart to love and promote dignity for any and every person I meet along my path of life regardless of their skin color, economic status, appearance, first impression, attitude, or anything else. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.

Embrace my disquiet heart to live with the poor and marginalized people of our world and not just work for them.

Embrace my disquiet heart to always step outside of my comfort zone and not be afraid to diverge from the norm.

I have such a passion for people and helping others- I think it is the reason that I have been given this gift of life. I think that relationships and our interdependence is the most beautiful thing that we can experience. I am so excited to be able to live out this passion in this way for the next two years!!

More history as promised:

The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word came to the United States from France in 1869 in answer to this call from Bishop Claude Dubuis.

Their first ministry was Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, a ministry that has evolved over the past 140+ years to become CHRISTUS Health.  After their arrival in the U.S., the Sisters quickly found themselves called on to serve in many other capacities. They established schools and orphanages, homes for the elderly, a training school for nurses, specialty hospitals dedicated to pediatric and psychiatric patients, and continually sought to bring Christ’s love into the world by striving every day to answer Bishop Dubuis’ call.

Just 15 years after arriving in this country, the Sisters began to establish schools in Mexico, a ministry they continue in many different parts of the country today. They opened their first hospital in 1930 and a School of Nursing in 1940.

In 1964 the Sisters extended their ministry into Peru, providing both health care and pastoral care to people living in extreme poverty and often experiencing political oppression.

In 2006 the Sisters established their first ministry in Africa by starting a clinic Mongu, Zambia for mothers and babies at risk from the burgeoning HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Today the Sisters are involved in many different ministries all over the world, in places where there is overwhelming need. They maintain their devotion to their Founding Call, to “be a presence of healing love in the world.”