Blossoming

My FrancicCorps journey began with my mom bribing me as a child with M&Ms to attend Mass. If it was not for my mother’s quiet, resilient faith (or my love for M&Ms), I would not know Jesus the way I do or have found FrancisCorps. My mom planted a mustard seed of faith in me that was gradually watered through attending faith classes, mission trips, and a strong Catholic community in college—all of which has brought me here!

When I entered college, I had a plan to become a super cool English teacher in Southern Indiana following graduation. As always, God had a better plan. As college progressed, I became more involved in my Franciscan parish at school. It was there that a year of service was introduced to me. Completing a year of service tugged at my heart for two years—not initially committing for fear of losing scholarship money and doing what I was “supposed to do.” However, as a Mother Teresa fan girl, an avid mission tripper, and an Eat, Pray, Love enthusiast, I was yearning to not only go out and see the world, but help it. I finally took the plunge after reading The Shed that Fed a Million Children by Magnus Mcfarian-Barrow, a true story of a man who started a global adolescent hunger prevention nonprofit from his shed. I was very moved by this man’s efforts to change the world; I felt a call to do something too. I also figured if this guy could start an award-winning nonprofit from a shed, I could do a year of service. Thus, my fiat was sent.

Now, here I am in the great state of New York currently serving at Joseph’s House for Women, a home for women and their children who are experiencing homelessness. I have only just begun, and I have never felt so much joy and peace. My dreams of serving like Mother Teresa and traveling the world to soul search like Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love are being fulfilled. Not only that, I am growing closer to Jesus. I left Indiana knowing that my life would be forever changed after this year, and that is what excites me the most. I want my life to be different after my year in Syracuse because I want to grow in ways I have never grown before—I want my mustard seed to blossom.

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