It all started 24 years ago. In the afternoon my mother said to me: “I feel like going to Mass, come with me”. I answered: “No, because I am dirty and everyone will look at me”. She insisted: “come on, I feel like going” I told her: “OK, but we’ll go last”. And we went to Mass. At the end of the Mass, Father invited the young people to join the Catholic Action group. The following Saturday at 6:00 p.m. I was in the church and the young people received me with great joy. They divided the work areas inside the hall, the president of the youth took the new boys aside and introduced us to the areas: sick, poor (mission), prayer and youth. I chose the mission area. God knew what He had in store for me. From that Saturday, June 11, I never missed Mass. I went to confession and communion frequently. Without realizing it, I began to feel different, I was a different person without intending to be.

One day the parish priest invited a priest and a Sister to give their vocational testimony in front of the young people. Listening to them, I was a little uneasy, because I never asked myself if I could be one. One morning I asked one of the sisters at the school: “How do you know if you have a vocation to religious life?” She answered me: “You see a flower and it speaks to you of God, you see a bird and it speaks to you of God”, since that did not happen to me, I had no vocation. Then, I got engaged to a young man from the same area of work in Catholic Action, we were the same age and had the same ideals, I knew that he was going to a priest because he was considering his priestly vocation. He also knew that I was interested in the consecrated life. In 1996 I entered the Faculty of Humanities in San Miguel de Tucumán, in the career of Education Sciences, I really loved it, but my heart was still restless.

In August of that year, providentially, the Missionaries of Jesus, Word and Victim, came to my parish to talk about their charism. The young man with whom I shared my ideals told me: “Don’t go and ask anything in the talk, otherwise everyone will realize that you are considering religious life”. When I saw them in the hall I was impressed, first with the habit they were wearing, and then with what they were doing, that was what my heart was looking for. At that moment I did not ask any questions. I was embarrassed to write down the phone number they wrote on the blackboard. As I left the room when no one was there, I met Mother Hildelitha and asked her for the phone number. When the day of the day came, I could not attend. My mother got sick and gave me a lot of “buts” to be able to leave. How sad! I thought I would never hear from them again. When one morning, a friend brought me the newspaper “Cristo Hoy”, the MJVVV were on the front page with the title: “Las Monjas Rambo” and they were inviting the young girls to a day and I said to myself “I can’t miss this one”. The day of the meeting I asked my dad: “Can you take me to a youth meeting in front of the school”, and he said “yes”. It was a wonderful day, I went back home ready to leave everything. I spoke with the vicar of the parish, and he gave me his blessing, but… I could not, I lacked the strength, I had so much to leave.

In the month of December we received an invitation from the Mothers to go on a mission to a town in Tucumán. We were 6 girls from Catholic Action and I was able to see more closely the work of a VMYVM.  When the priest arrived for the Holy Mass, Mother Hildelitha introduced me as a future missionary. I answered: “Who told you that I am going to be one of you”. Then I felt very ashamed and I went to ask forgiveness for my immature attitude, Mother told me: “I know that one day you will be one of us” … At the beginning of March my first detachment arrived, that young man with whom we shared the same ideals, was entering the seminary. My heart was going through opposite feelings, I experienced the joy of his surrender to God and the sadness of separation. I was in my second year of Education Sciences, but not with the same joy, I could not get the Mothers out of my mind. The end of the year came and with it came the last exams and I said to myself: “What am I doing with my life, if this is not what I want? I finished my second year, leaving my second year impeccable.

I spoke to the parish priest, expressing my desire to consecrate my life to God. At the end of a Catholic Action camp. At the end of the Mass, I asked my mother to accompany me to the Tabernacle, because I needed to talk to her. I told her my decision, she said:

– I already knew. At the camp, I thought: my daughter is not for the things of this world. The father had told me: “Betty, get ready because the chinita, at any moment she will leave you” … But… mommy, I thought this was going to happen after you finish your college, not so soon.

– Mom, I can’t wait any longer, I really want to know if God wants me as His Wife or not. Let me go, ok mommy?

– And your daddy?

– Please tell him when I am at the camp with the young people.

When I came back from the second camp, my mother had fulfilled her task well, but I did not expect to find my family in that situation: my house looked like a wake, everybody was crying, they almost did not even look at me for not telling me anything, that Sunday it was raining a lot. On Monday no one wanted to have lunch, everyone was sad and I said to myself: “What am I doing, am I right or am I wrong? In the evening when my dad came home from work, he retired to rest; I went after him, I lay down next to him, hugged him and told him my decision. He said to me:

– Is someone forcing this on you?

– No, Dad.

– And why so far away, you can still serve God here.

– Dad, please let me try. Otherwise, I will never know whether God wanted me as a SISTER or not.

– Does this make you happy?

– Yes, Dad.

And my father in the midst of the pain of giving his little daughter to God said to me:

– Then it makes me happy too, go on, you have my permission.

What joy my heart experienced! I had my parents’ permission. On Tuesday and Wednesday the wake continued at my house, but on Wednesday evening, when my father came home from work, he shouted from the door: “Fatso! (referring to my mother), Rat! (that’s what he always called me) I don’t know what it is about the convent, but I told all the people who came to the notary’s office that my daughter wanted to go to the convent, and they all congratulated me: your daughter could not have chosen anything better”.

– When does Mommy want to go, she asked me.

– After Easter

– What do you need? I have to go to the doctor to see if I am in good health and to buy some things.

– Tomorrow we are going, my dear father answered me.

Every day my dad would bring me something for the convent: socks, T-shirts, the bag for the trip…even the people from the parish helped us. Besides, I had been a Family Catechesis animator for some time and they helped me a lot. At first I was going to travel only with my mother, because of the cost of the ticket, but God was not spared in generosity, so the three of us were able to leave. On the eve of my trip all the young people gathered at my house to see me off, it was a very pleasant surprise. At the bus terminal everyone was there: my relatives, the young people, the children and their parents from the catechesis, my schoolmates, it was a world of people. With my heart flooded with joy, I got on the bus and from the door I shouted: PRAISE JESUS CHRIST! And a single shout was heard, FOREVER BE PRAISED!

El día de mi partida a esa nueva vida a la cual Dios me llamaba, fue un jueves 23 de abril de 1998. Hoy soy Misionera de Jesús Verbo y Víctima de Votos Perpetuos, pronta a cumplir bodas de plata. Actualmente sirvo al Señor en tierras paraguayas. Soy feliz, muy feliz y puedo

The day of my departure to that new life to which God was calling me was Thursday, April 23, 1998. Today I am a Missionary of Jesus the Word and a Victim of Perpetual Vows, about to celebrate my silver jubilee. At present I serve the Lord in Paraguay. I am happy, very happy and I can assure that my parents and siblings are equally happy with my vocation.

In a letter I received from my brother, when I was a novice, he told me: I am proud of what you are undertaking in your life. My father, now retired, never stops talking about his religious daughter. He has pictures of me in his portfolio, so I am very famous. My mom and sister are assured that their daughter and sister prays for them and intercedes for their family. Last year I went to visit my parents and God allowed my daddy to get sick while I was at home. When my dad was very sick, I asked him at his bedside:

– Dad, is something bothering you? What is it that is making you sick?

– Mommy, how much I would like my children and grandchildren to live by my side.

– Do I make you suffer, daddy?

– No, my love, you are here every day of my life (pointing to his heart) you have given God an OK and you have to go on.

Once again, the Lord was showing me, which is the life He wants for me. Today I give infinite thanks to the Lord for the priceless gift of vocation. I know very well what I have given up in life, what I have left behind to follow his call and I do not regret having done so. If I had to choose again, I would choose to be a Missionary of Jesus, Word and Victim, to serve him among the most distant, abandoned and poor who lack the presence of a priest.

Mother María Yolanda MJVV, Argentina.