Leaving

Welcome to my blog.  I have resisted writing on this blog since July, when it was first set up. The intention was to begin blogging while I was at Orientation in New York.  Obviously, that did not happen for various reasons, the main reason being that Orientation turned into another discernment tool.  I did not feel it was the best time to begin the blog, so here I am, approximately 13 hours away from leaving writing the first blog post.  The shuttle is coming for me at 3 a.m. PST to pick me up from Vacaville.  "This" is really happening, except this time I am going into the mission with a more mature mindset.  It is not about accomplishing anything specific, other than loving people. That I can do, and I can do that well, some days better than others.

When I signed up to go to Honduras, my biggest motivator was not teaching Honduran children.  Maybe that sounds strange, but my impetus for going to Honduras was to learn about another culture while serving God's people outside of my comfort zone, way outside my comfort zone.  Because my main motivation was not teaching, I had a different experience that I had originally anticipated.  The kids knew I cared about them, something important to me.  My lessons could have been more creative and outside-the-box, but my heart was not into teaching all day and then going home to work on lesson plans for the rest of the evening.  My heart was with the community, participating in church events, learning Spanish with my neighbors, and immersing myself into local custom.  I knew if I went out on a mission again, I needed to do something different.

Instead of working in a formal classroom setting, I will be living and working at the Hogar San Francisco, an orphanage for girls aged 5-23.  Right now, there are 70 girls at the orphanage, with capacity for 30 more.  Only 10% of these girls are true orphans.  The rest of the girls live there because the orphanage can provide them a better life with more security than the parents.  That is a difficult concept to grasp, that some parents literally give their child away because they cannot afford to raise them.  Thankfully, there is the Hogar San Francisco.

How did I get to this point in my life?  Not by accident, that is for sure.  Somewhere between two trips to Europe, a pilgrimage to Turkey, World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, 30 weeks of Just Faith, Religious Education Congresses, and the countless number of domestic and international volunteers I have known, the desire to volunteer never went away.  Honduras gave me a taste as to what a mission experience could be like, but the Salesians are more in line with my vision of mission. The orphanage is a better fit for me, personally, emotionally, spiritually.  I can already say that without having stepped foot inside of the Hogar San Francisco.  I am grateful for what I learned in Honduras, which was plenty.  Those experiences are in my back pocket, ready to be utilized at the appropriate time.  I will deal with the "hard stuff" differently, knowing that I am not a failure when something does not go as planned.  When you are living for Christ, failure is not part of the equation. Those girls will be loved and well taken care of on a daily basis.  They will know they are valued.

Leaving CA is hard, as this is my home.  I will miss my state, but I have been called away for the next year.  My little cousins may not remember me, but they will get to know me again a year form now.  Please pray for me because that is what will sustain me while I am in Bolivia.  If you want to send peanut butter too, that is fine=)  

Entonces, me voy.  Hasta Cochabamba.

La Paz de Cristo Siempre,

Angela Marie