Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters

SSpS Mission Summer 2010

IN THIS ISSUE:

Vacation Bible Schools:

Antigua

Fort Wayne, IN

Indianola, MS

Greenville, MS

News Notes

Called by the Spirit ~ Embracing the World

Finding the good seeds and planting them in many young hearts during

Vacation Bible Schools!

SSpS Mission Magazine Page 2

Dear Children and Volunteers,

It was nice to be with you through the week. I hope to see all of you at

the next Vacation Bible School!

Sr. Alexis Tjahjani

From July 5 to 9, 2010, the

Moravian Church in Antigua, West

Indies, organized Vacation Bible

School of which I was a part. There

were about 135 children who came

each day of the week to be a part of

this new for them adventure. The

theme for the week was: God’s Fam-

ily. During the week all of us came

together as one family of God where

there is plenty more room for every-

one to come and join in. Throughout

the week we truly experienced the

one united family of God with plenty

of love and plenty of food to share

with others.

I taught arts and crafts that

related to their theme of the day. For

example, the first day we made a cir-

cle puzzle with pictures of children

throughout the world and the second

day we made flowers with a heart

inside to symbolize our growing love.

Each day I worked with 18 children

ages 7 and 8. The children were very

enthusiastic and were hoping that

such a program will be organized

next year. It was nice to be a part of

this one great family of God in which

we are all sisters and brothers.

At the end, of our Vacation Bible School the results were beyond our own expectations. We are very grate-ful for this experience. It was a great opportunity to share our faith with people of that region and to learn about their culture and history. This mission was a wonderful mo-ment to experience once more how

all of us, with our diver-sity in age (from 6 years old to 60), ethnic and national backgrounds, are called to form com-munity. The children showed us the way to sim-plicity but deep under-standing of Christian faith. We were their offi-cial teachers; however, those kids, with their ideas and creativity, their honesty and sponta-neity, were the real teachers during the week.

SSpS Mission Magazine Page 3

Vacation Bible School

Greenville, Indianola, MS

June 4-14, 2010,

and

Fort Wayne, IN

July 25-30

Sr. Aprilia Untarto with a group of children during music class

Sr. Elwira Dziuk with a group of first

graders

Sr. Stela Maris Martins and

Eva Weisser wrote:

Thank you to all who supported

our Vacation Bible School endeav-

ors with prayers. We hope that

those days spent with so many

young and open hearts will bear

fruit in their lives. In many cases

those days were also for us mo-

ments of learning…….

SSpS Mission Magazine Page 4

In March of

2010, Rev. Tom Mullally,

SVD, contacted our Pro-

vincial Leader, Sr. Carol

Welp inviting some of

our sisters to conduct a

summer vacation bible

school in Greenville and

Indianola, MS. Indianola

is a about a 40 minute

drive east of Greenville in

a more rural area. It was

also that time when Rev.

Tom Ascheman, SVD who

ministers in St. Patrick

parish in Fort Wayne, IN

invited our sisters to con-

duct some activities for

children during summer.

Reflecting on the Parable of The Good Samaritan

Sr. Kristina Lajar working with children during one of their classes

During the weeks of

planning and preparing, we were

in frequent contact with Mrs.

Ann Littleton in Greenville, Mrs.

Rosemary Miller in Indianola

and Ms. Anna Ponce in Fort

Wayne who were excellent re-

source persons as we tried to

focus on the people’s needs.

Knowing the people there they

were able to get volunteers, both

adult and teen-agers, to assist

wherever needed and to do pre-

Jesus taught His follow-

ers in parables which he pre-

sented in an easy way to touch

and open their hearts.

The following persons responded to de-

sign and teach the program: Eva Weisser

(volunteer lay missionary from Germany,

living with our sisters in Waukegan, IL),

Sisters Dinah Marie Aguirre, Kristina Lajar,

Stela Maris Martins, Aprilia Untarto,

Elwira Dziuk, Betty Tranel and Salud

Osornio, our novice and two lay ladies

who wanted to experience working and

living with our sisters for a short period of

time. Sister Marie Angela who had taught

in Greenville for a number of

years joined the group that went

to Mississippi with a desire to

visit the home-bound and many

friends she had known there.

SSpS Mission Magazine Page 5

Sr. Betty Tranel and some lay volunteers pray

Arts and crafts with Sr. Stela Maris Martins

With the information given

us by our contact persons,

we decided to use the par-

ables as our theme for the

week. Specifically, we chose

the following parables:

The Parable of

the Sower (Mt 13:1-9; 18-

23), through which we

wanted to emphasize the im-

portance of good actions in

Christian life,

The Parable of

the Lost Son (Lk 15:11-

32), through which we fo-

cused on making choices in

our life, based on love and

forgiveness,

The Parable of the Hidden

Treasure (Mt 13:14), through which we

wanted to show that God as revealed to

us in the person of Jesus is our most im-

portant treasure in life,

The Parable of the Good Sa-

maritan (Lk 10:30-37), through which And:‘You are

the Light of the

World’ (Mt 5:14-16).

Yes, indeed we all are

called to be witnesses to

others, we all are to be

light for those who are

still in darkness. This is

our vocation as baptized

Christians!

we attempted to show

that a little kindness and

helping others in their

needs is very important

in developing good rela-

tionships and strength-

ening our love,

SSpS Mission Magazine Page 6

Sr. Dinah Marie Aguirre practicing songs with

children

Prayer chain prepared under the direction of Sr. Salud

Osornio

Each day we fo-

cused on one parable that

was presented through five

different methods such as:

storytelling, prayer, music,

arts & crafts and role play-

ing/drama.

The students, kin-

dergarten through 8th

grade in Mississippi and

kindergarten through 6th

grade in Indiana, were di-

vided into four groups with

each adult leader having a

homeroom group. During

the day each group of stu-

dents moved from one as-

pect of the program to the

other taking active role in

their faith learning. We had

a great number of wonder-

ful parishioners, who as-

sisted each day as the num-

bers of students attending

rose each day. The children

who attended each day

were an example of interracial harmony: African-

American, Mexican and Anglos.

Each day classes were held from 8:00 a.m. to 12

noon with some snacks in between and time to relax

in the good company of friends. The group of adult

catechists spent their afternoons preparing for the

next day. Every day we also participated in Holy

Eucharist

that concluded with

fellowship around a

dinner table. We also

took time to share our

experience of the day

and our growing in

faith during this time

of meeting young peo-

ple and prayer.

The programs

ended on Sundays

with Eucharist and

distribution of certifi-

cates. Everyone ex-

pressed much joy

and fulfillment of a

week of shared faith

and community

building. We are

grateful for this ex-

perience and for the

gifts each person

brought to the stu-

dents and to each

member of the team.

Summer Bible School Team

SSpS Mission Magazine

News Notes

In July, the SVD priests and brothers and

SSpS sisters celebrated jubilee anniversaries

with a liturgy and dinner at the Convent in

Techny. The Provincials from each community

presented the Jubilarians with colorful crosses

from El Salvador in honor of the occasion.

“Precious is the life given for mission” was

printed on the back of the crosses. This spring, during the annual Province

Days assembly, Fr. Michael Crosby, a Capuchin

Franciscan priest from Milwaukee, gave a key-

note presentation addressing the topic of rela-

tionships. This year’s theme was: The Way of

Compassion in Community and Mission.

Page 7

SSpS Mission Magazine is published quarterly by the

Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters Our web site: www.ssps-usa.org Our phone: (847) 441-0126

Editor: Sr. Elwira Dziuk, SSpS

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