Con-solatio attended the SEEK conferences, organized by FOCUS in January, in Fort Worth, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio, which gathers thousands of university students for five days of prayer, talks, and mission testimonies. Here are some words from our returning missionaries who gave their time and hearts to share about the beauty of our mission with...
On November 27th, our Con-solatio family celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving Day together with 85 friends in Brooklyn. Preparations had begun several days earlier...
My orientation with Con-solatio got me fired up to go on mission. Of course, I had already committed to leaving for Romania this fall: I had begun my fundraising, been learning Romanian, and had a decent sense of the beauty and purpose of this mission...
During my orientation time I learned that Con-solatio offers a Re-entry weekend after a volunteer comes back from his/her time serving in another country. At that point I thought “what a logical thing to offer; I am sure it is so helpful.” I was not prepared for the reality of the gift of this weekend....
Home. Just the word conjures up an ache in my heart. I lived in one home my entire childhood and it was a blessed place. I was homesick in varying degrees during my entire mission in Honduras, so I was grieved to find, when I finally returned home, that my homesickness immediately switched to being...
After working for many years in a professional field in NYC, I spent over a year in the Ukraine doing work for a humanitarian NGO. Having returned from a conflicted country, I was feeling out of place and having difficulty adjusting back to our affluent society....
At the close of our Saturday dinner, which was also the evening our newest member, Liliana, arrived with her friend to join us, something special happened. As Liliana’s friend prepared to leave, he stood, paused, and quietly looked around at each of us in our beautiful Brooklyn home. With a heart clearly moved, he said,...
It had been a long time since we gathered together. Thus, on Pentecost Sunday, we reunited for a BBQ. Most of the ladies who joined us live in our neighborhood. We have gotten to know them over the past years: we pay them regular visits, and they also come to our home from time to time....
Earlier this month I was in Brooklyn for my two-ish week orientation. Before heading to NY, I was busy visiting family I knew I wouldn’t see in a long while, and working on things for fundraising and my visa. I was making so many tangible strides toward leaving for the mission that I felt ready...
It has been a bit more than 2 years since I first met Elaine. She is one of the faithful friends who come to our gathering every Saturday afternoon at the women's shelter. I often heard different ladies at the shelter saying that living at the shelter is stressful. Sometimes, violence happens. You get along...