Final Four in Fotos

My Final Four Days at Maryknoll in Fotos

Including: Birthday Celebrations, Covenant Mass, Sending Ceremony, and Two Splendid Days in NYC

A Photo Ode to Sisters is also included...

 

Meet the Leens (aka Michael and Ashley).  This was their normal working space in the Walsh Building (home to Maryknoll Lay Missioners).  I always sat in the general direction from which this photo was taken and asked them questions.  Thus, to ease my transition, I will be posting this to my left so it is just like they are actually there and not in Tanzania :)

 

I turned 27 last week and was met with this Birthday gauntlet when I got up in the morning.  Good thing I sleep like a rock. I somehow missed this being put up. 

The view from the hallway.  There was a fair trade chocolate bar taped to the wall for my enjoyment, as well as birthday beads, I was required to wear for everyone else's enjoyment.  A classmate also specifically came to breakfast to tell the sisters it was my birthday.   This led to happy birthday being sung by 50+ Sisters.  Check that off my bucket list.

 

Hang, my future roommate, made an amazing dinner of curried lentils, peanut sauce veggies, mango lassies, and saffron rice.  Melissa, another group mate and mother to those two cute kids, made chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes.  I think I ate five in two days.

 

Batman aka my favorite seven year old brought the cupcakes and supervised reading the card.  He and his sister also joined me in wearing the birthday beads.  Sadly, I think this is one of my only photos with Eli, as cupcakes were the only thing that slowed him down long enough to be photographed.

 

This is Consu, one of the contemplative Sisters.  Two of my groupmates made this awesome altar cloth as our class gift to the staff.  The Contemplative Sisters blessed it for us.  This was the best place to visit, as they all greet you with hugs and tell you how much they will be praying for you and how loved you are.

 

This is Sister Grace.  I believe she has been a contemplative sister for 58 years (or something equally as impressive).  She is renowned for her deep spirituality by all on the Maryknoll Campus.  She is also one of the most peace-filled folks I have ever encountered.

 

Our group with the altar cloth (including Sisters).  Some of these ladies were in a contemplative community in Sudan.  They had to build their own bomb shelter and changed the design of these shelters because otherwise snakes got inside - thus, folks ran in to get away from the bombs and were killed by venomous snakes. They also fled invasion, on foot, along with thousands of other refugees.

On a more up-beat note, this altar cloth was inspired by the quote:

You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” – Miriam Adeney

We each selected a piece of fabric (and one for the holy spirit).  Thanks to Laura Whiston for introducing me to this quote.  Can you guess which fabric I picked?

 

Processing into our Covenant Mass.  We sign both a legal contract and a covenant (commitment of faith) when becoming Lay Missioners.

 

Sr. Lori was my witness for the covenant.  Thus, if I fail as a missioner she is held responsible (Just Kidding).  Sr. Lori and I worked together briefly in El Paso, TX.  I took over in her position working with survivors of domestic violence and crime when she moved back to NY.  It was super fun to reconnect with her and I am so grateful to her for being my witness.

 

This is Sr. Terry (gray vest)- fondly nicknamed Grandma after she told me once that she could be my Grandma.  She took the Enneagram class with our group and is always a bundle of laughter.  Sr. Lori  (red coat) is on the other side and such an amazing lady.  They were classmates back in 1946 entering Maryknoll with a class of 120 sisters.

 

Gettin' my kid fix.  Apparently, everyone else seemed busy but since I was writing Thank You Notes, I had an empty lap.

 

On the day of our Sending Ceremony, winter weather - snow and ice - struck the area.  It made for a gorgeous view of campus.  Unfortunately, many folks could not make it to the ceremony - for fear of bad roads or slipping and breaking a hip.  It sure was beautiful though!

 

Processing into our Sending Ceremony, everyone looking classy!

 

Sr. Regina, at the podium, called Hang and I in Khmer.  I understood the name of the country and our names...  I have a lot to learn.  Sr. Regina served for 17 years in Cambodia and is in NY serving as the treasurer for the order.  She will hopefully be back with us in Cambodia the month before I leave in 2017.

 

As a part of our sending, we each received a missioner cross.  Mine had a bit of trouble getting over my big head...

 

We also recited our commitment as a group.  From the left are the missioners going to: Bolivia, Cambodia, El Salvador, and Tanzania.  All official.

 

Joe, group mate heading to El Salvador, had the distinct pleasure of walking down the aisle with me. Boldly going where only one man has had to go before (when forced to do so by my sister at her wedding).  I made sure to point out to him the honor this was for him.  As you can tell, he is enthused.

 

Class of 2013  - Ready or not, here we come!

 

Team Cambodia-sporting our crosses

 

Sr. Janice served throughout Africa - including Zimbabwe, I believe while it was transitioning from Rhodesia.  That may be where her gorgeous dress comes from

 

This is Sr. Katherine.  She was in Hong Kong for... 37 years, I believe.  She exudes joy from every pore in her body.  She was one of my favorite meal buddies, as we seemed to eat around the same time and she always had such great stories and insights.  

 

Sr. Ann was at the Mother House waiting for her visa paperwork to go through, so we were lucky enough to cross paths.  She is from Kenya.  She did a brief mission in Tanzania and is heading to Peru in January.  

 

 

This is Sr. Maggie.  She is an amazingly creative person.  She served in Bolivia and Nicaragua.  We met when she shared some Yucca with us missioners that she had brought back from a nearby restaurant.  She is most well-known for her amazing paper airplanes and origami frogs.  You can probably guess which of our group mates gained the most joy from these creations.

 

On the left is Caitlin - my group mate heading to Bolivia, running buddy, and person with whom I think I shared half of a brain.  On my right is Sr. Mary Ellen.  She served in Bolivia for many years as a nurse.  She was immensely helpful whenever our lay missioner group had any questions and also facilitated our workshop on prayer.

 

This is Sr. Sue.  She served in Tanzania and speaks beautiful Swahili.  She also spent a breakfast telling me about her nephew, who she thinks would be a perfect match for me.  This seems to be based on our similar age and that she thinks we are both good people.  It was a hilarious breakfast that included talk of how she had given someone else a fertility bracelet from Africa that apparently worked.  Needless to say, I was skeptical of the bracelet she gave me.  Though, was reassured it was just a decorative bracelet.  Should I return in 3.5 years with children, I will expect her to help raise them ;)

 

And, Michael and Ashley looking all Tanzanian'ed up!

 

This is Fr. Jack.  He has been to every mission location multiple times through his position of working with Missioners around the world.   He has more than one million miles flown in his life time and was possibly the most impressive priest I met.  He was very humble, pastoral, and a huge supporter of lay people in mission.

 

Hey, that is my new flag!  Go Cambodia!

 

Sr. Janet served in the Marshall Islands.  No part of the Marshalls falls above five feet above sea level.  She told amazing stories of walking on the coral bridges between islands.  Often you couldn't see the bridge under the water and had to depend on a local to lead the way.  She also told us about the time a shark swam between her and the other sister - who instructed her to not look back and keep walking.  If you don't know about the Marshalls, google them.  Really makes you think about rising sea level.  If it rises over five feet, this entire community will be forced to move or will be destroyed.

 

This is Sr. Agnes Christine.  She served in Hong Kong and also in Chinatown in NYC.  She always had great stories over meals and was one of my favorites to sit with and just glean wisdom.

 

Me with the Altman family (Peter, Melissa, Eli, and Evey).  Their house was my favorite place to hang out in free time.  I regularly showed up for homework time, dinner time, computer time, story time, and any other time I could imagine.  Hard to believe the next time I will see those cute kids will be when they are as big as I am :)

 

This is Sr. Maddie.  She served in El Salvador with the martyred sisters and marched from Selma to Montgomery with MLK Jr.  She also worked in the first integrated hospital in the USA.  She and I had a routine every morning, as I ran in late to breakfast, of her saying hello and me asking if she saved me any food.  Typically, the response was, "we only left you a little bit so you better hurry" - my favorite was when she added that the sisters that just walked in looked really hungry so I better be quick.

 

With Kristle, my fellow-west coaster.  She will be heading to Tanzania with Ashley and Michael.  She instructed us all in dance on a number of occasions.

 

This is Sr. Liz.  She collects the apples from the Maryknoll tree and also took the Enneagram class with us.  She was also never seen without a smile on her face.

 

This is Alma - the new recruitment person for MKLM.  She started about a month ago and helped with music for our covenant mass.  If you want to be a missioner, I will connect you to Alma!

  

These are my wonderful, magnificent, amazing guests that came to support me at the Sending Ceremony.  My former-roommate Amanda is on the left, my sister Sarah is next to me, her husband Albert is rocking the purple shirt, and my friend Michael is on the far right.  They all trekked north to snowy Ossining, stayed in the cloister, and participated in this awesome day!  Don't they look classy! Many of these photos were taken by them...

 

That summarizes how I feel about the Maryknoll Sisters. 

Note my awesome boots.  My former roommate Emily gave me her old boots at Thanksgiving.  Even though one was missing half the side thanks to our dog Coco, they were splendid and kept my feet so warm.  My group mates laughed at me because I rocked those things for weeks, even though they were 2.5 sizes too big :)

 

View from the Brooklyn Bridge in NY.  

 

Sarah and Albert sealed their love forever through the tradition of placing a lock on the Brooklyn Bridge.  More powerful seal than that whole wedding thing :)

 

On the Brooklyn Bridge! Still rockin' the boots :)

 

Bridge at Sunset, looking at the city.

 

Amanda Faye looking lovely on the bridge!

 

Holiday Windows!  It was a little cold.

 

Rockefeller Christmas Tree.  It is a Norwegian Spruce, I believe is what the guy said. 

Thanks for checkin' out the photos!  Have a Merry Christmas!

Experiencing Advent

As a Catholic, we are currently deep in the Advent season.  It is a season all about waiting, the anticipation of Christ being born, Mary's anxiety/excitement/fear/happiness.  For some reason, that stream of emotions truly resounds with me this year.  I was realizing, today, it was approximately nine months ago that I was just initiating this journey, with accepting this offer, the dream was conceived,  and now I am ready to birth my new life.  I am yet unsure of what that will be like.  People can talk until they are blue in the face about what is coming.  I can read books, research, observe but in the end whatever new life is midwifed from the process will be nothing like I expected.  This next week will be saying goodbyes to people, this time to the community I have been so intentionally building with my fellow lay missioners for the last ten weeks.  There may be screams and wailing, we are a no epidural sorta crowd, but in the end, the result will no doubt be beautiful.

I will not draw this birthing analogy out any further.  To begin with, it was weak and I don't want to traumatize the faint of heart by the analogy of my new life being birthed.  :)

The next few weeks will be filled with goodbyes, so blogs may be sparse.  So, I will leave you with some pictures of my recent adventures.

 

In my string of goodbyes, I went to Philadelphia to visit Becca and then we drove to State College to see Drew and Clair.  Becca is most likely my cousin, as her maiden name is my grandmother's maiden name.  She, Clair, and I were all Border Servant Corps volunteers (we allowed Drew to marry in to the group).

 

This was our mini-birthday celebration for Debbie, our orientation leader.  We made her a candy card and had cupcakes.

 

This is my Emily - aka the best thing I have ever found on craigslist aka my former roommate who adopted me over Thanksgiving.  At this point on the Hudson, they stretched a chain across during the Revolutionary war to prevent British boats from passing.

 

This is the battle of Saratoga Monument in Saratoga Springs, NY.  I am the puffy red figure in the middle with the two Koella men (Emily's dad and brother).

 

Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT.

 

With Emily in snowy Randolph, VT.  Those coats were like half a sleeping bag... Especially, because mine was her dad's :)

 

There is a Buddhist monastery in Carmel, NY (30 minutes North of where I am staying).  I figured, I should get the Buddha's blessing before heading to a Buddhist Country.  That is one big Buddha.

 

For our most recent community dinner, I made croissant rolls.  My favorite three year old helped.  Unfortunately, my favorite six year old was doing his homework when we took the pictures but both kids did a great job (fine bakers in the making).

Baaaah! This is real!

Baaaah!  This is real!

Those were my thoughts as I bought a plane ticket earlier this week to fly to Bangkok (my first week in mission is at the annual SE Asia Retreat/Conference for Maryknollers held in Thailand).  This life plan has been in the works for a while.  I have been in orientation for eight weeks.  But, somehow buying that ticket made me realize how many days I have left in the states, start thinking about what needs to be bought/packed, and start reflecting on being away for 3.5 years.  Insert minor panic attack here :)  Next week, we sign contracts and the following we sign covenants and have our sending ceremony. A couple days ago we received word that our apartment has been set up (it will thankfully be furnished and ready for us to just move in, best way to relocate in my opinion).  So many long awaited unknowns are falling into place.  So, as all rational human beings, insert another panic attack here :)

With just over a month to launch, people keep asking me how I am feeling and excited, terrified, enthusiastic, happy, sad, alive - so many emotions - rush up.  I jokingly told one of the nuns that I am going to write on my mirror in Cambodia, "you wanted a challenge."  Since that is what I was looking for, I can't complain when the going gets tough :)  At the end of the day, after all the AHHHH! going on in my head, I am ready for this next step.

As I have mentioned before, broken record time, I so appreciate being able to take so many of you on this journey with me and wanted to make two more offers of ways for you to come along!

Maryknoll Lay Missioners has a bi-annual mailing called Voices of Compassion that they put out, if anyone in interested in learning more about the work of Maryknoll Lay Missioners, in general.  If you are interested in being added to their mailing list - receiving this publication, as well as their various appeals- please email me your mailing address ASAP (bortvedt09@gmail.com).  I believe it is about six mailings per year.

My other pitch is for those who have talked about coming to visit Cambodia.  Maryknoll Lay Missioners runs a program called Friends Across Borders.  It leads multi-week immersion programs to all the countries where MKLM works - including Cambodia!  There is, of course, a fee associated with the trips but that includes all your in-country expenses - only additional cost is international airfare.  So, for those that are thinking of coming, it is an option worth considering.  The 2014 and 2015 dates are already set :)

I hope you all have a marvelous Thanksgiving weekend and know how thankful I am to have you in my life!

Photos, Commitment, and Email Request

I wanted to bring a personal touch back to the blog, after two weeks for information.  Here are some photos from my first six weeks of orientation and reflections.

 

We got some snow!  I am trying to soak the cold into my bones to release once living in 100 degree weather... That works, right?

 

This is Team Cambodia!  We are the newest recruits.  Hang is the woman with me and Wallace is the bear.  After much deliberation on whether or not to bring Wallace, it was decided he should come.  Hopefully, he won't become infested with something.  Hang is a Chemical Engineer turned Public Health Professional with a focus in nutrition - hopefully, she doesn't get infested with anything either ;).

 

This was our Dia De Los Muertos altar for prayer on Halloween.  You can take the girl out of the Mexican culture, but you can't take the Mexican Culture out of the girl.  It was a lovely way to share one of my favorite traditions with my community and a great way to reflect as a group on those who have helped to inspire and guide us all to this place.

 

Just as Coco the Dog so enjoys watching life fly by the window, I feel like the last six weeks of training have flown by me.  We have talked a lot about transitioning to a new culture and taking the time to sit back and observe first - a skill I think Coco definitely possesses (Coco will not be coming to Cambodia but will continue to live in her happy home in DC).

 

For those who don't know, these are my former-housemates Sara and Kari.  We lived together in El Paso, 3 year ago.  We lucked out and were both in DC last weekend.  It was a great reminder to me that true friendships can continue despite distance and years of not seeing one another in person.  All of you fabulous folks in my life currently, will soon be in the years-between-hugs-crowd and seeing these two was reassuring that the Universe always brings friends back together.

 

These are my newest friends. AKA Maryknoll Lay Missioner Class of 2013.  From the Left: Joe (El Salvador), Michael and Ashley (Tanzania), Peter and Melissa with their kids Evey and Eli (El Salvador), Hang (Cambodia), Some Crazy lady with bare ankles in the cold (Cambodia), Kristle (Tanzania), and Caitlin (Bolivia).  This has been an amazing group to be trained alongside.  Each comes from such a different background and with such great insights.  I am very excited to follow where their paths lead.

 

We have fun together, too... We all just went through our commitment retreat this week - discernment is officially over and now it is just preparation.  The MKLM folks have verbally said they think we are a good fit for mission and we have agreed we still feel called there.  Ya, Commitment! (I practiced saying I Do for weeks ;))

 

As I proceed down this path in life, unsure where it will lead or what waits at the other side of the bridge, I have a request.  As I get settled, especially through my first year, I know there will be challenging times.  One of my classmates mentioned having a support email group.  If you are willing, to commit to emailing me on a certain date next year.  There is a spread sheet found at this link.  You can either put your name or Taken by the date you will email me.  Knowing how I deal with transitions and the 'honey moon' time, these are times I thought I may need a pick me up so wanted to be pro-active in ensuring I will have that support.  Emails can be about anything, the weather works, just to provide that connection.  Feel free to sign up as often as you like, add dates, or have multiple folks sign up for the same date.  AND, THANK YOU, in advance for your support.

Catholic Church in Cambodia

As a way to further add introductory knowledge, I thought I would talk a bit about the Church in Cambodia – as that is also a recurring question. A Portuguese Dominican was the first person to bring Christianity to Cambodia, way back in 1555. The first Khmer person to be ordained in Cambodia occurred in 1957. Shortly afterwards, when Pol Pot came to power with the Khmer Rouge, all but two of the 121 church buildings in the country were destroyed. As with all religion, the Catholic Church became non-existent in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Many committed religious folks were killed. The Catholic Church officially returned to Cambodia in 1990 – with a decree from the government. The church is significantly smaller with only 20 official Catholic Church buildings.


There are currently around 20,000 Catholics living in Cambodia – depending on who you talk to, this head-count varies. 14,000ish are native Vietnamese and make up the largest percentage of Catholics. 5,000 are Khmer, or native Cambodians. 1,000 are Ex-Patriots – people like me that are living and working in the country.


Maryknoll is specifically responsible for tending to the needs of the English-speaking Catholics by request of the local bishop. Service in Cambodia, however, draws those from many Christian traditions on Sunday, as the ex-patriot community is religiously diverse and not all have churches which they can attend in Cambodia. On any given Sunday, the Catholic Mass will have Catholics but may also have Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and even Mennonites! The current Bishop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia was the third youngest to be appointed to the position at 35 years old, I believe, and is a native of France. Maryknoll was one of the first religious organizations to re-enter the country after the governmental decree in 1990. The community I will be joining consists of two Maryknoll priests, five Maryknoll Sisters, eight lay-people (one of whom is a diocesan priest), and two Filipina Lay Missioners.