Sunny’s testimony about her
Come & See weekend

Sunny is an American vol­un­teer from Phoenix, AZ. She is going to Brazil for a 14 month-mis­sion in the Fazenda do Natal, one of the two Heart’s Home vil­lages.

“During the Come & See weekend I was taught about the charism of com­pas­sion, but I under­stood more fully what that means through the everyday life of the mis­sion­aries. Immediately upon entering the Heart’s Home I was sur­rounded by love and gentle­ness. Their hos­pi­tality wasn’t only for me as a guest, but spread throughout the com­mu­nity as each person gra­ciously served the others in some way. And even though I was a guest, I didn’t feel like a stranger; I was wel­comed throughout the day in all of their activ­i­ties. The love within the com­mu­nity radi­ated into the neigh­bor­hood as was evi­dent by the friends we vis­ited. Many antic­i­pated our visits, smiled and chatted con­tin­u­ously while we were with them, and didn’t want the time together to end. It was com­pletely nat­ural that after only a couple of days I was already feeling “at home.”

I was struck by the man­i­fes­ta­tion of Jesus’ great com­mand­ment, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” It was tan­gible in every hand­shake, audible in every laugh, deli­cious in every meal. I heard my heart’s echo in this mis­sion to love. During my dis­cern­ment, before the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus said, “Come be with me.” It’s as simple as that. To be with Jesus, serving as He served, loving as He loved—this is my mis­sion with Heart’s Home.”