Here's The Plan

Hey everyone!

So Brendan and I are leaving the U.S.A. for 15 months on September 14th. We will fly to Rome, where we will meet up with Sister Pat, who will be supervising our training for East Timor. There we will join the ranks of VOICA, the volunteers who support the Canossian Sisters in their medical, education, and pastoral work all over the world.

The first three months of our trip will be spent in Rome, living in a house with all the other volunteers preparing for service. We will live in the compound of the Sisters, but we're told we'll be cooking and cleaning just with the volunteers - practicing living in community. We'll be doing language training for Tetum, the local language of East Timor, while focusing on growing in our faith! From talking with previous VOICA volunteers, it also sounds like we will often have afternoons free - so we can start our adventure exploring Rome together!

When training is complete, VOICA will pay for us to fly to East Timor (located by Indonesia, north of Australia) where we will spend a full year serving however we are needed. Specifically, I will be trained to work in their hospital and Brendan will work in either the hospital or their school. We will live in a house with other VOICA volunteers near the Canossian Sisters.

Please pray that our bodies will be able to adjust quickly to the tropical island heat, the food, cultural shock, and everything else. Brendan will probably adjust faster because of his experience in Calcutta, India, with the Missionaries of Charity, but I haven't been anywhere like this. But more importantly, please pray that God will use us to show His love to the people of East Timor and allow us to be changed by this experience as well.

We will try to update this blog weekly or as much as we can, so put it on your favorites list and check it often. Write comments on the blog or e-mail us too so we can keep in touch with you during our time away. God bless you all!

~ Rachel and Brendan

P.S. This is a picture of East Timor's coastline. Beautiful!