MeganW.
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Why did you decide to serve the mission at Farm of the Child?
I served as a summer volunteer at the Farm of the Child for ten weeks over the summer after my junior year through Notre Dame’s International Summer Service Learning Program. It is out of my love and trust in the Lord that I feel that He is calling me to return to the Farm of the Child to serve as a long term missionary. Upon returning to the States after my summer at the Farm, my heart was fully aflame with a fire for love of the children, community, and mission of the Farm and how Christ was so present to me through it all. In prayer and discernment over the past number of months, that flame has only been fanned and my desire has only grown stronger and more grounded in where I feel the Lord is leading me to serve Him after graduation.
When I think about life at the Farm, I am drawn to the concept of both loving boldly and being loved boldly. I believe that as a missionary, it is imperative not only to focus on the love Christ calls us to give, but also the love He calls us to be open to receive. At the core, life as a missionary is a constant YES to God in the small movements of each day, which ultimately mirror Mary’s Fiat and her trusting decision to say yes to God and to be open to the Spirit’s movements within her and her life. The life of a missionary at the Farm of the Child provides constant opportunities to die to self and to say yes to loving others and God in radical ways. It is both my prayer and my hope that as a missionary at the Farm I am able to live into Mary’s openness to the Lord to the point where each day I am able to wake up and mirror Mary’s prayer: “May it be done to me according to your word” with my very life and gift of self (Luke 1:38).
I served as a summer volunteer at the Farm of the Child for ten weeks over the summer after my junior year through Notre Dame’s International Summer Service Learning Program. It is out of my love and trust in the Lord that I feel that He is calling me to return to the Farm of the Child to serve as a long term missionary. Upon returning to the States after my summer at the Farm, my heart was fully aflame with a fire for love of the children, community, and mission of the Farm and how Christ was so present to me through it all. In prayer and discernment over the past number of months, that flame has only been fanned and my desire has only grown stronger and more grounded in where I feel the Lord is leading me to serve Him after graduation.
When I think about life at the Farm, I am drawn to the concept of both loving boldly and being loved boldly. I believe that as a missionary, it is imperative not only to focus on the love Christ calls us to give, but also the love He calls us to be open to receive. At the core, life as a missionary is a constant YES to God in the small movements of each day, which ultimately mirror Mary’s Fiat and her trusting decision to say yes to God and to be open to the Spirit’s movements within her and her life. The life of a missionary at the Farm of the Child provides constant opportunities to die to self and to say yes to loving others and God in radical ways. It is both my prayer and my hope that as a missionary at the Farm I am able to live into Mary’s openness to the Lord to the point where each day I am able to wake up and mirror Mary’s prayer: “May it be done to me according to your word” with my very life and gift of self (Luke 1:38).
Disclaimer: Blogs are a place for missionaries of Farm of the Child to reflect on their experiences as volunteers serving abroad. The views expressed in these reflections, and all other blogs found on or linked to / from this website, are those of the individual authors and are not those of Farm of the Child / Finca del Niño.
Farm of the Child is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or opinions expressed in blog communications.
Farm of the Child is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or opinions expressed in blog communications.