Our mission in Brazil began in 1962, when five of our sisters were missioned to the Northeastern State of Maranhao.

That was the year I entered Notre Dame; as a novice, I expressed my desire to serve there, having felt a missionary vocation since childhood. After teaching for 6.5 years, I was missioned to Brazil. Though I loved the students I taught and the communities I lived in, the call I felt so deeply was being realized. You can't imagine how happy I was!

Our charism is to accompany those living in poverty in the most abandoned places. I served in Brazil for 36 years. I ministered to farmers and indigenous peoples in river communities. I worked with them on their land conflicts and human rights issues. I provided pastoral ministry to women, youth, and children -- Bible study and prayer groups. These activities characterize the outreach and dedication of all our sisters in the Brazilian province.

A lasting gift that so many of us treasure is the pedagogy we learned from the people. We help people identify their problems, and we guide them to organize around each other in their own way. The people are so creative, resourceful, welcoming, and open. They become our formators.

What we learn from them is transformative in so many ways. Solidarity and collectivity are almost sacred. Whether it's the struggle to vindicate their rights, tending to the sick, helping families cover their homes with palm leaves for roofs, offering hospitality when traveling, or any other need, they -- the people -- respond to one another.

Years ago, as I was leaving one of the villages we serve, a woman gave me an egg -- a gesture so common among the people. When I walked into the next village, I gave it to the woman who was hosting me for the night. She boiled the egg and cut it up into five pieces for all of us to eat that night with rice.

In so many ways, the formation is something of inestimable value that we receive from people who have so little materially and share so readily with others.

What a privilege it was, for so many years, to receive so much from these unforgettable people! They, and what they taught me, will live in my heart forever! May I attempt to live what they witnessed for me.