As a young person I never imagined the breadth of where my choices in life would lead me. I joined the Wheaton Franciscans in l959, certainly influenced by our Sisters who taught me in school and who staffed our local Catholic hospital. My life and values were also shaped by my family and by the influence of growing up on a farm in Iowa, in a rural and small town environment.
I remember that while I was in grade school I thought about becoming a missionary Sister. Perhaps there was a sense of "adventure" in that dream. However, this particular dream never materialized in the way I had dreamt of it as a young girl. After entering the community I studied nursing, and later on I did graduate studies in Pastoral Counseling. My career in nursing was short-lived, as I was called by the community to provide service for our elder Sisters, followed by the call to serve in the area of Formation-accompanying new members in their early formative years in the community. I later spent some years as a Pastoral Counselor in a hospital. In the course of time, the Province called me to serve on our Provincial Leadership Team in Wheaton. In all of these experiences, I must say that my professional training has been put into practice in ways I would not have anticipated. But I have also learned along the way that no life experience is lost. One experience builds on another, and because of this these same experiences built a "treasury" of transferable skills!
You may now be wondering whatever happened to my youthful dream of becoming a missionary. When I joined the Wheaton Franciscans, we had no foreign mission, and yet I felt called to this community. However, when I was a novice, our Sisters opened a mission in Brazil. I thought then, "Here's my chance!" I volunteered, but nothing ever came of it. My life moved on in other directions and services, and as the years went by I didn't think much more about being a missionary.
But the story doesn't end there! God's plan and timing continued to unfold in my life, beyond my imaginings. Forty years after I entered the community, I was elected to the General Council (the Leadership Team for our international congregation), located in Rome. I have been in Rome for 10 years now, and in these years I have had lots of "missionary" experiences, though not in ways I had imagined! As a member of the General Council I have traveled to the mission areas of our congregation, and in God's timing, I finally got to our mission in Brazil! And to fill out the story... in addition to my service as a General Councilor, I was also appointed 7 years ago as the Regional Leader for our Sisters in Brazil. In this role I travel to Brazil twice a year, for 3 weeks with each visit. Yes, life is indeed a journey, often with surprises... and as I've learned, God brings us to where we are meant to be!
As I've lived out my Franciscan call with the Wheaton Franciscans, my services have been diverse, with involvements on various levels within the community and beyond, on the national and international levels. But through all of it, reflecting on my initial training as a nurse, the thread of healing has always been there-whether providing nursing care, counseling, spiritual direction, or services to my own Sisters. I feel truly blessed by God and my heart is filled with gratitude for the richness of my Franciscan vocation.
