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...
For a little while, we were receiving donations of sacks of food items that gave us an excuse to leave the house and deliver them to some of our friends who are in need. Judi and I went one day to deliver a sack to Dona N., who lives in one of the poorest houses...
Last Sunday, after flying paper airplanes with Xadim and his brothers and praying the rosary on the rooftop, we decided to go visit our neighbors in the apartments across the road, to deliver Easter cards and a bit of joy. We put on our masks (which have become mandatory in the streets), I grabbed the guitar and...
Due to the current situation, Con-solatio decided to host a series of “Come and See” encounters this month over Skype, and I was blessed with the opportunity to join them!...
Thien leads me down our soi and we are followed by a rowdy bunch of kids who are eager to accompany us to where we’re going, even if they walk past our destination every day on their own. Reaching the end of our soi, we cross the wide drainage canal by a wooden plank and continue around...
Greetings from Romania, where we have entered into a strict quarantine, in communion with so many of you. Thus, we stopped visiting our friends in their homes, but continued to welcome children into ours....
“You should pick the room we enter… I choose every single week.” “…but I'm nervous! I will next time, but can you pick just one more time?” “Nope! You can this time." “Ahhh fine… let's enter this one!”...
Like many of you, I felt a great shock followed by a great disappointment with the announcement that all churches would be closed indefinitely. As I was still trying to process how I could continue to live this holy season of Lent and Easter without the normal support of my local church, I received a...