LITLLE SISTERS OF ASSUMPTION IN MISSION OUTREACH TO MEXICO
Two years ago as Yolanda was leaving on one of her trips to Mexico, we joked that Nina and myself would go too! It was just an idea then, and now two years later, that idea is a reality! Yolanda is convinced that our spirituality and charism is valid for all those who wish to open their hearts and become aware of the situation of how impoverished people live and experience life today. Two years ago Yolanda spoke to her family and her community in her small town about the Little Sisters Family in Mission.
Nina, a volunteer at our LSA Family Health Service Parent Child Development Program in East Harlem, will join us. Nina is a tiny woman with a heart bigger than her, very approachable and simple responding to families, always willing to collaborate with and encourage the parents. She is also very generous supporting some of our activities. And she has a ten year history of being a faithful volunteer in Parent Child Development where Yolanda and I are part of the staff.
We began to plan our trip for August this past March. Sr. Susanne encouraged me in this planning to make it real! I spoke with Sr. Annette who confirmed my planning, advising me that this was a positive, small mission effort to make known the Congregation and Charism and the way in which we live together as LSA Family in Mission in our U.S. Territory. This effort to reach out will hopefully leave the mark of our spirituality and love of LSA in Santa Ana, Puebla, Mexico, for the future in God’s plan which can be very exciting!
OVERALL OBJECTIVE:
To awaken and develop in people the Spirit of God who lives in each one of them and who is of justice, solidarity and equality to build an open community willing to freely exchange support between them and the most disadvantaged.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
Introduce who we are as LSA Family in Mission.
Share the six core values that sustain our life, and which are valid today.
COMMITMENT: We are one family, bonded together and sent to change conditions that breed poverty, injustice, discrimination and marginalization.
CARE: We care for one another. Caring gives birth to covenant relationships ―empathy, friendship, tenderness, compassion, mercy, unconditional love and deep respect.
MUTUALITY: The power of growth is in relationship where in every encounter we are both giver and receiver. We value ‘power with’ vs ‘power over’
HOPE: Belief in the capacity to rise beyond one’s struggles.
TRANSFORMATION: Our Spirituality leads to personal transformation and transformation of the world.
BELIEVE: We live what we believe that we are sent to those who have neither voice nor influence in this world. How to live in a battered world and create a Common Home and Family.
When we arrived, we were greeted with flowers and hugs. On the second day, we walked around the city visiting people at home and sharing delicious fruit from trees and fresh “tortillas”. In the evening, after a frenetic hour of trying to get the projector running, we watched and discussed the LSA presentation.
The next day, we went to Matamoros, the city where the people of Santa Ana go for treatment and shopping,
That evening, we shared the core values of the LSA by dividing into small groups and filling in word puzzles describing these values.
Each evening, 20 to 25 women and 30 to 35 children attended the discussions. While one or two of us worked with the mothers, one of us spent time with the children.
It was a wonderful experience for us and for the families we contacted.
Deysi -Little Sister of the Assumption
OBJECTIFS SPÉCIFIQUES:
