With an Open Heart

Fifteen young women from Ave Maria University, Florida (United States) went to Ecuador to participate in the missionary and evangelization work that the Missionary Groups of the Home of the Mother are carrying out there. Their stay in Ecuador lasted two weeks, during the school break for Holy Week and Easter.

  The trip began with the first Holy Week Encounter of the Home of the Mother in Playa Prieta, Ecuador, where the Servant Sisters have a community. There the extraordinary landscape is full of life, exhuberant vegetation as a result of the constant rain, flowers and tropical animals. The girls were also able to enjoy the richness of poverty in its different aspects: the lack of water on some occasions, the heat, the anoyance of the mosquitoes, the lack of space, sleeping on the floor, and many other things. However, in all these circumstances, or maybe even as a result of these circumstances, an adequate spiritual atmosphere was created so that the Holy Spirit could pour out graces abundantely, as simbolized by the occasional torrential rain. God reveals Himself to the humble, to those who seek Him with simplicity, to those who open themselves to His action. In this case, these North American girls did just that and the Lord could work on their open heart.

“The entire trip was such a blessing. I loved everything, the Holy Week Encounter, the actual mission work, or even just being able to be in such a beautiful country with amazing people. I was so blessed to be able to make the consecration to Mary, while I was down there. It was even more special because I was able to live everything with The Home of the Mother while serving her children.”
(Cori Wemhoff)

For all of the girls the Holy Week Encounter was a wake -up call and a preparation for the adventure that was awaiting them in the lands of Ecuador. An unforgettable experience that strengthened their faith, helped them to forget themselves and give to others, taught them how to receive, and gave them a closer union among themselves and a stronger union with God. They received a lesson on the value of poverty and on how to draw out the richness that comes from it, seeing the importance of what is truly important. All of this, taking into account that they came to Ecuador from a society of well-being, consumption, comfort, from a society that tries to avoid suffering at all costs.

“The people in Ecuador taught us a lot about joyfully accepting suffering. We all learned the importance of letting go of worldy comforts and simply living every minute for others. From the moment we arrived in Ecuador, we were greeted with an abundance of love, and I hope that we can all share that same unconditional love with others. It was such a blessing to spend time with members of the Home of the Mother and learn about missionary work! Our world is in need of generous, self-giving souls.”
Catherine Gagnier

"The effort and the difficulties were so small in comparison with the joy that I hardly remember them.
I discovered that I love poverty in all forms as a means to get to God.”
Rose Deffenbaugh

“There was a sentence that a sister had said, that kept repeating in my mind and became more apparent after each day and meeting more and more people, "The less they have, the more they give."  It's amazing!  It is also a lesson for me to see that there are some people that have less than what our "modern" mentality would see as adequate, and yet they possess many of the things that this same modern world seeks and fails to possess: great freedom and great joy.”
Cheryl de la Cruz

“It was really hard on the way back because I felt like I didn’t give anything but I recevied so much. I have never seen so much poverty.”
Caitlin Grant

They have experienced in an existencial way that the universal language which everyone can understand is love.
Everyone I knew there has shown me more love and generosity than I could have ever dreamed of. God really showed me that an open heart is all we need, and He will do the rest. He cannot be outdone in generosity!! There is so much to be done in the world! It’s so beautiful what God does through us if we only let Him. In that sense, I was impressed by how the sisters bring such hope to the people in Ecuador.
Alison Van de Voorde

From the very beginning, in spite of the language barrier, getting to know one another and adapting to new situations, they joined all of the different activities: from cleaning and painting, to visiting soup kitchens and helping feed the children, from going to houses with food baskets for poor families, to cutting grass with a machete, from working with pigs and chickens, to even, as some girls dared, killing chickens to send them to the soup kitchens and the poor families.

One day we went to a soup kitchen, I know God touched many of us there. The little bit of broken Spanish and blonde hair, topped with a smile was all those kids needed to have a memory for a lifetime! It was awesome! A different time, there was a little boy who kept trying to talk to me, as much as I understood I wasn't exactly sure what he was saying, so I said a quick prayer; nothing more than "Jesus, help me understand him, help me bring him joy." A couple minutes later and he came over; he had his hands behind his back and I caught the words, "cuantos dedos" - "how many fingers?" So with another quick prayer I said "Tres!" A smile lit up his face and he said "Si, otra vez!" We played about three rounds back and forth then he ran off. Thank you, Jesus.
Cori Wemhoff

I was really impressed with the people, they were so humble and giving although they didn’t have that much to give.  They didn’t know us and they loved us….As well the Home was such a big family, and the whole time I felt so much at home. 
 Cecilia Boccardo

They also participated in the beautiful and comforting job of accompanying the sisters who took Holy Communion to the elderly and sick in their homes.

I went with a sister to take Communion to three elderly women. I remember looking at them before they receivedthe Communion and they had so much hunger for God’s love.  It just made me think that we were walking
around Chone and that no one know that we had the Lord.  It made me reflect how God has made Himself humble to come in this little piece of bread and to go to the darkest little rooms.
Kira Lum

The atmosphere of generosity and openness made it possible for God to act in their hearts and to give them an unforgettable experience that only He knows where He will lead them.

©HM Magazine No. 142 May/June 2008