The day before I was suppose to return back to Louisiana, Jonathan and I decided to go on an adventure into the mountains surrounding General Cepeda. After morning prayer with the team, we packed a picnic and headed out to visit one of the farthest ranchos called La Casita or “the little house.” We wanted to be outside in God beautiful creation while enjoying each others company and spending some time alone before I headed back to the states.

The road up is narrow, rough and a little scary to say the least, with rocky mountains on one side and a deep cliff on the other. We stopped on long the way to enjoy breakfast at a small crystal clear waterfall that flowed over the road. The unexpected rainfall that General and other parts of northern Mexico had received recently due to hurricane Alex, caused the normally dry, desert river beds to flow with an abundance of cold mountain stream water. Although we didn’t drink the water we did make sure to splash around before continuing on our trip.

Upon arriving to La Casita, I was amazed at the beautiful, green, lush scenery that I beheld. I had never seen this part of Mexico so green before, with real grass, and gorgeous flowers all around the little rancho. We did a bit of hiking and exploring, and discovering the beauties that the Lord had hidden away in this forgotten place. Our discoveries included two boys, trying to coax  two “gringos” into buying a snake that they recently killed, telling us we could make boots out of the skin, although I was skeptical. Following a smoke trail we met an older woman burning her trash outside who graciously invited us into her home. She told us beautiful stories about her life, her family of ten children and little community, as she offered us some cold juice and radical hospitality. Throughout the day we watched as a storm rolled in, and while we sat in the older women’s kitchen it began to drizzle and the wind picked up and she advised us to head back down the mountain before the storm  became too bad.

Once on the road, our decent became harder and harder as the rain turned from a light drizzle, to a heavy downpour, to a raging wind with massive marble sized hail, completely blocking our vision. The road that I was concerned about on the way up, was now my worst nightmare, a muddy stream, and all I could picture was our van plummeting off the side of the cliffside to the valley stories below. And all I could think was, “praise you Jesus!” We arrived at the bottom only to find our lovely breakfast nook, a flash flood. After cautiously crossing the now flooding road, we stopped to have our lunch and watch the water rise.

Within half an hour the water had risen exponentially and the previously clear water was now a river of milk chocolate. Upon continuing on our journey home, we marveled at how much the water had risen and thanked the Lord we had made it across. But to our dismay, we had forgotten that the stream crossed the road at another section and were trapped, forcing the other missionaries to have to unexpectedly lead the prayer meeting without our help  at the rancho just beyond the flooded road. All we could do was wait for the flooded road to become passable again and thankfully we waited for only three hours. It was quite the adventure filled day, full of so many new memories, and made the real the scripture that God makes rivers flow in the desert.

Anyone want to buy a snake?

what the sky looked like as we were getting into the car

the road 10 minutes after we crossed

The same spot we stopped for breakfast, what a change!

In the middle of my visit a small group of seminarians and priests joined us from Maryland.  It was a group like no other, because we were blessed to have several priests on it.  Our week was focused more on evangelization than anything else. Instead of doing work projects that meet the people’s many physical needs, we had “evangelization projects” to meet their more important spiritual needs.  Each day, four groups went to a different rancho for 4 consecutive days and did their own catechism/retreat of their choice. After starting off our week in the rancho with mass and seeing that the vast majority of those who would be attending our retreat would be women, we decided on a retreat focusing on the role of women in the family, society, and the Church, using many of the heroic women in the bible as examples, like Esther, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalen. Since their was also a large group of kids we had a separate vacation bible school type of ministry, and during the entire week Father offered confessions and then on the last day we had a healing mass. Each day was more blessed than the day before as I watched the chapel get fuller by the day as the women became more open to share and discuss with us things they were struggling with. For me it was an opportunity and blessing to form deeper relationships with the people I had met before on my many trips down, and for them it was a chance to learn their faith in a more in-depth way, drawing them ever closer to the fountain of Living water, filling them with the ONLY food that satisfies.

It was an incredibly blessed week and by the end of it I could see His Spirit moving in the lives and hearts of everyone there, but in a special way, in my own heart. The Lord’s way of teaching us is so foriegn to me. In the course of the retreat we were giving, the Lord opened my own eyes and heart revealing some of my flaws and weaknesses, things I had become blind to. He taught me about a different kind of generosity, a generosity that asks for more than just a few dollars to put food on the table, but instead asks for YOU. Your time. Your energy. Your ears. Your heart. Your undivided and unreserved love.

Smile Jesus loves you!!!

Drawing bible story pictures with some of the seminarians

Showing of their artwork

Prayer at one of the Ranchos

Making new friends

Do you see the size of that cactus?!

What a whirlwind of change this past year has been. Another year in missions has come and gone and a new season is here, a season of change, a season of new things. It was a bitter-sweat farewell as we said goodbye to Cordoba at the end of February, something I know that may come as a surprise to you all. At the beginning of each new semester we went on team retreat where we discerned the will of the Spirit for the †mission, and in August we heard the Lord calling us out. Not because the mission was ended, or because we failed, but more so because He wanted to do something greater and as I look back on these past two years of missions in Cordoba and all the ways I saw the Spirit move and change hearts, I am filled with a sense of awe and wonder at His greatness and love for His children.  How can He use a people so small and weak to bring about His kingdom here on earth?

We were so blessed to spend this past Christmas and New Years in Spain, and what a great and joyful holiday season it was.  On Christmas Eve we had an amazing dinner with Padre Gama and his family in his hometown of Montilla and we ended the night with a special midnight Mass at the Youth House with many of our closest friends, followed by a beautiful time of Eucharistic Adoration. What better way to prepare our selves for His birth than coming to Him, worshiping and adoring Him just as the shepherds did in Bethlehem. Then on Christmas day we went with Kate and Marcos (some of our dearest friends) to Cadiz (in the Costa del Sol) to spend a few days with Kate’s family. What a wonderful and incredibly blessed weekend it was, being welcomed into their home and being able to participate in their family traditions as if we were their own children. It was a joy-filled weekend filled with fellowship continuous laughter and delicious food. By new Years we were back in Cordoba where we welcomed in the new year much with one of our closest friends Paz from Villanueva. She came over for the night and we participated in a very old Spanish tradition in the main square in town where you shove 12 grapes in your mouth for the last 12 stroke before the clock strikes midnight and afterward we attended a few hours of all night adoration that was being held in the youth house. Reflecting back now I am reminded of just how great, glorious, and good our Father is, and how unimaginable His love is for us, that He would care so much about us and the littlest desires of our hearts; like being around loving family for the holidays, participating in weird traditions, and just allowing us to enjoy the holiday’s so far from our on families.

At the end of January we traveled to Rome on pilgrimage and to support Marcos as one of his statues was installed in the Vatican. Last year Marcos had the great honor of being commissioned by the Vatican to design a statue of St. Rafaela Maria, a Spanish saint born in the town of Pedro Abad about 30 minutes outside of Cordoba, who was canonized on January 23, 1977, by Pope Paul VI. Marcos is an incredibly talented artist and sculptor (one of the best in our world today) and his deep, new found love for God can been seen in the beautiful statues and images that he hand carves, using his gifts for God’s greater glory, hoping that others might see God’s beauty through his work saying, “art is beauty, and all beauty is intrinsically related to religion; to me, beauty is equal to Truth, and before a beautiful image we can always dialogue with the Truth, which is none other than GOD.” Marcos was the first Spanish artist to have a statue installed in St. Peter’s Basilica. Our stay in Rome was so unbelievably blessed even though I was sick in bed the last few days of our trip, I was still able to see and pray at almost all the major sites, just to name a few, St. Peters, St. Mary Majors, St. Paul Outside the Wall, St. John Lateran, St. Lawrence Outside the Wall, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Vatican Gardens, Scavi tour, and we even took g a day trip to Assis with a priest friend of ours(Padre Pablo from Cordoba who is working in Rome). We attended mass with the Missionaries of Charity on several occasions, visited the convent where St. Rafaela lived and also where her body still remains uncorrupt, and many other places. At the end of the week we had the grand privilege of attending the unveiling of the statue. It was an incredibly blessed event where we came within less than 5 feet of our Holy Father Pope Benedict the XVI. A very very special thanks to all of you who were so generous and made it possible for me to be there, it was a blessing not only for me, but also for Kate and Marcos.

While in Rome we met up with 6 amazing missionaries who joined us in Spain for the last month and a half of our time in Cordoba, and what an amazingly blessed time it was, filled with constant laughter and joy. With the addition of the new missionaries came new ministry opportunities, new perspectives, ideas, and look to the Spain mission. Their testimonies and witnesses allowed Spain to have new insights into God’s love and plan of salvation for each of us. Our ministries included giving witness in the seminary, grade schools, colleges, local towns, churches, nursing homes, and Adoremus. We put on a men’s and women’s retreat about human sexuality and then a night of praise and worship, which we called a festival of praise in Villanueva. It was so good to be a part of such an amazing community full of a renewed zeal and passion and to get to know each of the new missionaries in a unique way and being called on by their refreshing fervor. If you would like to have a more in-depth look into all that the Lord did during that last month check out our blogs on the FMC website.

At the end of the month and a half we felt the Lord calling us to leave Spain and the mission there. I was a bitter sweet good bye filled with much sadness at the though of leaving a place we had come to call our home for the past two years, but also a time of joy knowing that the Lord had not only our own interests in mind, but the missions best interests as well. Our last days were so unbelievably wonderful, visiting with friends, saying goodbyes, and being abundantly blessed to hear from friends and people we barely knew share with us beautiful stories of our God’s empowering love. They spoke about all that He had done in the secret and silence of their hearts by our witness, example, words, joy, and the way we had loved. We were overjoyed and surprised by the fruits from the often seemingly barren mission that the Lord allowed us to see. One of the largest blessings though was the word of encouragement and the heartfelt goodbye by Bishop Juan Jose who had welcomed us to Cordoba. He shared his deep desire for missionaries in Family Missions to continue to have a presence in Cordoba and assured us that we were welcome to return at any time to work in the mission.

On our way home from Spain we passed through Dublin, Ireland to spend a few days with the extended family of Maria and to witness and minister in their Catholic community to the beauty of missions. Maria’s family witnessed to us about the incredible call to a lifestyle of radical hospitality, hosting the ten of us in addition to their own family of seven. Upon arriving to the states I almost immediately left for Mexico with three other missionaries for FMC’s mission in General Cepeda where we led a short-term group of students from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.  The week was incredible and joy filled. I was blown away by the student’s constant love and unending laughter. Their willingness to do anything and their humility to stand up and speak from their shaky knowledge of Spanish blessed me so much.  Most of all their openness to give witness in all situations and reveal so much of themselves by their testimonies of God’s love in their lives encouraged me to be a more radical missionary. We returned to the states two weeks later after the short-term group planning to come over Easter canceled. FMC suggested to Jonathan, my boyfriend and fellow FMC missionary that we might like to take the time to visit his family in Ohio during the Easter break. We were not only able to spend quality time visiting his family but also to catch up with many of the students from Steubenville who had come to Mexico and encourage them to pursue and discern a possible missionary vocation in their own lives. After our time in Ohio we helped to staff both a “Come and See” and confirmation retreat at Big Woods mission. After that week we spent some time with my family in Texas, visiting and sharing about the mission, which now brings me to what is happening next. These past three and a half years in missions have been life changing and incredibly blessed. I continue to feel the call to a lifelong vocation as a missionary but I feel that at this time the Lord is doing something new and is calling me to be stateside for a while and in community at Big Woods in Louisiana. My hope is to return to the missions in the coming year but for at least a few months I hope to be working stateside, and building relationships with the other stateside missionaries. Although I will be living stateside I also hope to go on as many short term mission trips as possible, so please remember to keep me in you daily prayers and also monetary support  if you feel the Lord calling you to.

We start the night off with a bit of praise and worship

Several of the “Newbies” share testimony 

Jonathan Weiss

Erika Olson gives testimony as Maria translates

James Franke

John Paul Papuznski

Meet the gang from left to right-John Paul Papuzynski, James Franke, Maria Moran, Sarah-Kate Rabalais, Bridget Kohring, Sheila Agresta, Me, Erika Olson, Teresa Reardon, and Jonathan Weiss

Kissing the ground of the place where the Lord has brought us.

]]> http://kristenleigha.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/a-new-team/feed/ 0 missionary-kristenleigha singing seminarians several of the "newbies" share tesimonies sem. testimony sem. testimony sem. testimony New Team kissing the ground http://kristenleigha.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/in-rome/ http://kristenleigha.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/in-rome/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:11:14 +0000 missionary-kristenleigha http://kristenleigha.wordpress.com/?p=155 ]]> Our stay in Rome was so unbelievably blessed even though I was sick in bed the last few days of our trip, I was still able to see and pray at almost all the major sites, just to name a few, St. Peters, St. Mary Majors, St. Paul Outside the Wall, St. John Lateran, St. Lawrence Outside the Wall, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Vatican Gardens, Scavi tour we even took g a day trip to Assis with a priest friend of ours(Padre Pablo from Cordoba) who is working in Rome. We attended mass with the Missionaries of Charity on several occasions, visited the convent where St. Rafaela lived and her body still remains uncorrupt, and many other places, and then had the grand privilege of attending to unveiling of the statue. It was an incredibly blessed event where we came within less than 5 feet of our Holy Father Pope Benedict the XVI. A very very special thanks to all of you who were so generous and made it possible for me to be there, it was a blessing not only for me, but also for Kate and Marcos.

Welcome to Rome

A view from the top of St. Peters

Missionaries of Charity Chapel

In Assis with Padre Pablo

Looking at the incorrupt body of St. Rafaela

The incorrupt body of St. Rafaela

Marcos speaks before the unveiling

The Popes arrival

the statue is unveiled as Pope Benedict XVI says the blessing

I write to you today with much joy and excitement at the thought of all the ways in which the Lord plans on blessing our little team in this New Year. In less than 2 weeks 6 new missionaries will be joining us in Spain until March: the guy team that was in Mexico (Jonathan Weiss and John-Paul Papuzynski) and the new missionaries from intake 2009 (Erika Olson, Teresa Reardon, James Frankie, and Sarah-Kate. Our team is so very excited and blessed at the prospect of having so many join us here for a short while. It’s going to be an amazingly blessed experience having them here; I can’t wait to see all that the Lord will do. They will meet us in Rome around the 14^th of January, where we will be supporting our friend Marcos who is having a statue installed in the Vatican on the 20^th .

We are planning on taking a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi a few days before the installment of Marcos’ statue with the other missionaries. We know that it will be a great way to grow closer together as a new community, share in the pilgrimage experience, and also the joy of supporting Marcos in this blessed and important event. Last year Marcos had the great honor of being commissioned by the Vatican to design a statue of St. Rafaela Maria, a Spanish saint born in the town of Pedro Abad about 30 minutes outside of Cordoba, who was canonized on January 23, 1977, by Pope Paul VI.  Marcos is an incredibly talented artist and sculptor (one of the best in our world today) and his deep, new found love for God can been seen in the beautiful statues and images that he hand carves, using his gifts for God’s greater glory, hoping that others might see God’s beauty through his work, saying, “art is beauty, and all beauty is intrinsically related to religion; to me, beauty is equal to Truth, and before a beautiful image we can always dialogue with the Truth, which is none other than GOD.” Marcos will be the first Spanish artist to have a statue installed in St. Peter’s Basilica, which will take place January 20, 2010.  It will be an amazing celebration with Mass and a dedication ceremony celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI, along with a hand-selected group of people with whom Marcos would like to share this honor.  We have had the great pleasure of being among those chosen.

I am so amazed by how great God’s love is for us and how He can use someone as little and weak as me to be His instrument in this crazy world. Thank you for your continued support especially in these very difficult times. I pray that you would dance and rejoice in His all-consuming Love each day and be filled with much joy and happiness. I pray that He will pour out His spirit and graces upon you this day and all through the New Year renewing and strengthening you. I pray that Mary would be a light to you always leading you ever closer to her Son, the One we seek. Please remember to keep me in your prayers, pray that I could be the holiest version of myself, seeking His will in all things and never growing weary of serving Him – the Beloved.

P.S. – To read a little about Marcos or to see some of his works here is a link: http://issuu.com/hcpgroup/docs/rsg51/113

Click on “La Revista de Sotogrande” and when the page opens look to the bottom of the screen you will see a row of little dots, click the 6^th dot and you will find the story about him under the heading “The Lord of the Stones” there are 4 pages dedicated to him 2 in Spanish and 2 in English.

St. Rafaela

Thank you all so much for accompanying me on these 12 days of Christmas. I hope and pray that the word rejoice has found as much new meaning in your as as it has in mine, and remember to always REJOICE!