Mr. E. was a longtime friend of our community. Missionaries have visited him continuously, accompanying him at the side of his bed to which he has been confined for over 20 years as a result of an accident, leaving him paralyzed...
Some time ago as I was looking through some of my pictures with a friend, he remarked “You have them separated into before Perú and after Perú!” He was right. When I returned from my mission to Perú in 2010, it seemed like I was starting a new chapter in my life; so there was...
We call her Yaay, which means grandma, like we do with all the elderly women here as a form of respect, but with Yaay Khay, she really is our grandmother. She has known the missionaries for years. When we go to visit, we never have to worry about catching her at home - she’s been homebound for...
Spending New Year’s Eve with Con-solatio for the past two years feels like Elijah’s experience of searching for and encountering God. The community’s Yule Tide tradition is to spend the hour leading up to midnight in adoration at St. Nicholas parish. Aside from us, the immense church is empty, and all lights are off except...
A little while ago we welcomed Chandramma, the mother of our friend Saravananna, for a one-week stay in the Garden of Mercy, a village of homes where we welcome people who need refuge to live with us....
After returning from mission in Chile - from the visits, the commotion, the noise, the bustle and vibrance of the neighborhood - I am home. I have returned to be once again with my family, girlfriend, and friends, back in the same places doing (almost) the same things...
It was a big gift to spend one week outside the bustle of life in Arafat, in a place where time moves along at the pace of a donkey, not the pace of a motorcycle. I was touched again by how close to the land everyone lives, how much life follows the weather. They are...
Before I came to Ecuador, I pictured the work of a missionary to be nothing like life back at home. In my head, I thought the missionary is constantly doing these grand works of love, similar to what Jesus did in the Gospels. Although it is true that the lifestyle here is different than back...
One of the eldest sons of a family that we visit at least once a week, M., has grown up with the volunteers of Con-solatio. This spring he became the first in his family to graduate from high school. When he went with one of the volunteers to receive his diploma, the director who gave...
During our last month on mission, at just about every friend we visited, Hermine and I were saying goodbye. It was an intense experience to say goodbye and leave the people that I was close to, but I was also struck by the many friendships that were revealed through this painful experience of leaving...