FIRST TIME AWAY FROM HOME
When you are a girl raised Catholic and think you want to be a missionary; the only outlet you have is the convent.
All Catholic families take it as a matter of pride if one of their children chooses the church as a vocation. It was like they had accomplished their duty as a parent. It may not be like that today but when I was a child it was normal. So when I told my mom that I wanted to be a missionary, she told our priest and he contacted a convent that trained missionaries. I was 14 and we lived in Southern Missouri at the time. The convent was in Fort Smith, Arkansas about a two-hour drive away. Dad thought I was too young to live away from home but mom and our priest convinced him that my education would be geared toward that goal. They would train me to be a nurse and work in a hospital.
Living in a dorm with 39 other girls from all walks of life was an education in itself, but I soon learned to fit in. The convent was a self-sustaining school, meaning we grew all our own food, raised our own meat, and did all our own maintenance. We never left the grounds except to work in the church-run hospital. We went to school from 9 am till 6 pm, and then we served the nuns at table and cleaned up after. On the weekends we worked on the farm in the garden. It didn’t take long to learn to always have a project you were working on in your hands, because if you were caught with nothing to do, you were given a project to accomplish before you could go to bed. Lights were out at 9:30 whether you were done or not. I was good at sewing; so I always kept an embroidery project in my bag.
The brothers from the Little Rock Monastery worked on the farm with us and taught us how to do repairs on the buildings and farm equipment. When we got to the mission field we might have to fix things ourselves. The only time we were allowed to talk was in our free time. The Brothers only spoke to us when they were explaining how something should be done. We were taught what was called blind obedience. We were not to question what was asked of us. That was to teach us that we had given our lives totally to the church and whatever was asked of us we were to do without question. On the mission field, this could be the difference between life and death.
The Arkansas Benedictine convent was started in1879 by four women from the convent in Indiana; they were to teach the children of German settlers in the area. When their numbers grew too large to meet the needs of the area; the sisters moved to Fort Smith. The original building was designed by an Oklahoma Architect in 1924. It looked like the cathedrals and castles in Europe and could be quite creepy when the mist would roll in off the river. The main building was 5 stories with a chapel that would seat 300. I remember having to clean the chapel and wax the floors, it would take a group of us an entire day. The convent consisted of 28 acres on the highest point in Fort Smith and we could set on the roof of our dormitory and watch the tornados coming across the river from Oklahoma. But that only lasted until we were missed and found out. But even in a church-run facility, mischief will find a way.
My dad died my first year there and it made it hard to go back after the funeral but mom convinced me that dad had been so proud of my desire to be a missionary that I should continue. My second-year grandmother died which put more of a strain on my mother; who was trying to run the farm, take care of her parents and my younger siblings.
My grades were suffering because I felt I should be helping at home. Finally Mother Superior said I should go home at the end of the school year to help with the family situation and then continue my studies at a later time.
Sometimes life gets in our way and we have to put our plans on hold. I never went back to the convent; staying home to help raise my siblings. I finished high school and started working for the military. The Lord has a way of seeing ahead and making a way for you to fulfill your destiny. Mom died 10 years after dad. He was 37, mom was 45. If I had been on the mission field I would not have been able to help my siblings when they needed my support the most.
If I had not learned to stand on my own two feet, accept the obstacles life through my way, and carry on despite having to put my choices on hold, I would not be where I am today. I realized that there is a mission field where ever you are if you look for it. Offer to volunteer at your, school, church, senior center, or animal shelter, there are needs on all sides. Fulfill your destiny, whatever that may be.
JOHN 15:16
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