Brother Leo of Convento San Francisco. I began with him last time I wrote a litany of thanks, so I will start with him again. He has resolved a couple of plumbing issues in my bathroom. Now my sink has stopped leaking, and, wonder of wonders, I have hot water in my shower! He showed great patience when I was having meltdowns over my chronic insomnia and I was having difficulty communicating my struggles to the fraternity. He is being ordained a deacon on June 13, the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua. Please keep him in your prayers as his path to priesthood unwinds. He has ministered to all my material needs and improved my well-being. (A very honorable mention to Diana, the weekday cook, who keeps me and all of us well-fed; and Eulogia, who works in the laundry room and has mended some of my clothing.)
Fray Itamar, one of the brothers in studies at the convent. Nobody asked him to, but he has taken it upon himself to initiate simple conversations with me every day. He has been as cheerful, good-natured, and well-mannered as any Franciscan I have ever known, and he is one of the youngest friars in this fraternity. His empathy is strong. I think he noticed it, after Fray Jorge left the community, that I lost my best friend in the fraternity and I withdrew from everyone a little more. Thank you, brother, for casting a lifeline.
Profesora Liliana from the language program at Maryknoll. I could acknowledge all eight teachers in the language program for their particular gifts and strengths, and I could write you a thousand words in English or a couple hundred in Spanish for Kitty Schmidt, the coordinator, for helping me find a way back to restful sleep. I will single out Profesora Liliana for the way she makes the values of the Maryknoll mission come to life through her spirit and good humor. Constantly she brings the history of Maryknoll, Bolivia, the Church, and the humble people of God to life with her stories, anecdotes, and cultural references. She shares the joys and sorrows of her life story and weaves it into the history she has lived … and survived. And she invites us, generously, to participate in the unfolding of God’s designs in history today. You begin to get a sense of the importance of who you are and what you are doing in Profesora Liliana’s classes. I get animated thinking about it.
Joshua, my Maryknoll classmate in the language program. I have written more about him than any other acquaintance on this Bolivian journey. For good reason, too: We have been in the crucible together for so many days in the same classrooms. We have been to the top of the world, in Oruro and Tunari. We have celebrated birthdays and resurrection and Carnaval and k’oa and many other feasts. We have defeated everyone at Scrabble; he has defeated me at Scrabble. I wish him excellent adventures for the next two years in Bolivia and hope that God does good and very good things through him.
There are a few other people, who, though not a daily presence in my life, who have made an impact on me during my time here. They make up the supporting cast in the drama God unfolds before me.
Doctora Ferrel and Doctor Siles, who have tended to my personal health, physical and mental, and brought me to better nights of rest than I have had for a couple of months. I will remember them prayerfully in those hinge moments between sleep and wakefulness.
Señora Janneth, the director of Nuestra Casa, who has graciously given me time and space on Wednesdays and Sundays to accompany the girls as they live their way into wholeness and happiness after the trauma of sexual abuse in their families. Though I have fought back waves of sadness and feelings of helplessness and uselessness at times, I have not yet given up. One reason I return is because of Señora Janneth’s steady compassion and steely confidence that everything will work out all right. Nothing unnerves her, because she knows God is in control. Finite as our strength to love, and love well, may be, she knows that God’s compassion is illimitable and invincible.
Father Ken Moody of the Maryknoll community has become my surrogate spiritual director as well as confessor. He appears when I need him, and even when I did not know it was time to receive guidance. It is easy to fall into conversation with him, and it always feels like the bell for class rings far too soon when we get going on some subject.
These are some of the people in my life in Cochabamba who have made the ultimate difference in my experience. They disclose God, the living God, at work around me and in me, calling me to contemplation or bringing me into action; they are filling me, healing me, stretching me, emptying me; and they define for me the face of Jesus whom I seek with all my heart.
Then there are all of you, the people in my life in the United States, and a few in other countries, who have remained with me in a communion of prayer; who write to me regularly or on occasion; who see me and speak with me over Skype video calls. You share the journey with me as much as or even more than some of the people I see in Bolivia. The gifts you bring me are precious; the value of your presence in my soul is inestimable. Thank you, friars; thank you, family; thank you, friends.
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