MY EXPERIENCE IN MY FIRST MALDONADO

The community where I completed my mission experience in the novitiate is named after Father Ramón Zubieta. It is a small, fraternal, welcoming, and close-knit community where we all feel loved by one another.

I am happy with my experience of continuing the work begun by our founders.

Father Ramón Zubieta called me to undertake my experience of community life and mission in the Mapunda jungle, to collaborate in the education of children by teaching them rules of good behavior and values; in the arts and in the empowerment of women, sharing crafts with them that will help them become self-sufficient; and sharing my faith with the parishioners of Saint Francis of Assisi.

He challenges me to see how the story told during the four years of formation in the Postulancy and Novitiate can be realized in my life.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s not very difficult either. It’s enough to trust in Divine Providence, strive in prayer and work, and everything will fall into place. Frey Ramón Zubieta made his promise to always accompany us in spirit.

When the sisters told me I would be going on my practicum, I was consumed by doubt, but upon arriving at the Mission community, I found answers to my questions.

I echo the words of Mother Ascensión Nicol: “I have never felt God’s presence as I feel it now here in the Mapunda jungle, in every glance of a brother or sister, whether young, child, or adult from this village, in everything around me, through the ups and downs, rocks, or railroad crossings, waiting for the train to pass so we can cross and go to church. I have truly felt the divine presence.”

Through my experience in community life and the mission at the school, in the weekly celebrations and Sunday Masses, in the meetings with the groups on Saturdays at the parish, and by observing what our charism states, I feel that my project of following Christ, in service to God and my brothers and sisters, is becoming a reality.

Lubango, Huila province, located in southern Angola. This is where I was fortunate enough to complete my three-month internship as an MDR novice.

Novice Maria