Where does the time go?

Sometimes when our long-term mission doctors are preparing to return home, I have to ask myself, “Is that really three years?” 

I know for them, the three years of sacrifice, hard work and greater than these, missing family and friends has at times seemed to last forever.  Yet as they prepare to return home too, they are often struck with how quickly the time seems to have gone.

My husband and I in Thailand

I remember getting off the plane in Los Angeles in 1981 after our three years with Tom and our three children and looking around to see the faces of my sister and her family, I was so excited!  I would meet my niece Shannon for the first time, and my sister would get to meet a nephew and niece born in Thailand, and see just how much our oldest had grown in three years.  She met me with a box of Cheerios in hand - I told her it was the food I had missed the most!  For my husband, there couldn’t be enough chocolate to compensate for three years without it - I think he is still making up for it today!

Hakes on their first day in Cameroon in 2010

This summer we see one couple, the Hakes, return home from Cameroon and a family, the Burket-Thoene complete three years in Guatemala and take their place in Cameroon.  Tim Cavanagh is ‘spanning the gap’ having served there twice before.

Someone once said the days can be long but the years go quickly - this seems very true about mission work, perhaps about everything.  There can be days that the amount of work that needs to be accomplished can seem like an insurmountable hill - yet, as we look back - “has it really been a year, two years, ten….”  Let us strive to use what little time we have in service to others, always grateful for the gifts we have ever mindful that our lives are a gift and we can share this gift with others!

Sharing the Mission

One of the things that I get to do as the Executive Director of Mission Doctors is speak in parishes that are assigned to us by the Mission Office of Los Angeles, as part of the Mission Cooperative.  

This year I spoke at the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin in Pasadena In June.  Last week I was in Long Beach at St. Barnabas, and this weekend I will be at Holy Redeemer in Montrose.  

Once I’ve overcome my initial nerves of speaking at all the Masses; I have to be honest now, I really enjoy this.  I enjoy meeting so many people, being in a new parish, enjoying new choirs, and of course having the opportunity to tell the story of Mission Doctors Association.  

I tell people about this amazing legacy of Msgr. Brouwers, that began right here in Los Angeles – more than 50 years ago. I tell them about the work that is being done today in Africa and Latin America.

And, I share a story or two from the doctors – I always like to share this one from Dr. Cavanagh, from their long-term assignment in Zimbabwe. A patient asked if the photo on his desk were his daughters.  To which he replied (no doubt with the pride I’ve heard him speak of his family) ‘Yes these are our daughters.’  The patient’s next question…, ‘Then why are you here?”   Tim’s response was so perfect and sums it up completely…. "We are here, because there are people in the United States who sent us to be here with you.”

As we redid our web site this past year we added something new. 
A Mission of Healing.  A Partnership of Hope.

I always stress when I am speaking at the Masses that the doctors and their families do not do this alone, we are the ones who make it possible, we are all the partners in hope for this mission of healing.

Dr. Tim Cavanagh is just finishing up two months in Cameroon – I invite you to read his post on The Full Chapel, thoughtful as always – this one made me cry.