I am the second of five sisters, two of whom are already married. After high school I went to teachers' training college. I qualified and spent the next three years working as a teacher at a private school. Unfortunately, the salary I was receiving was very poor so I looked for another job and found one, much better paid, on the production line in a clothing factory! This job lasted for three years until I stumbled across the Comboni Missionaries.

Through the Comboni Missionaries magazine in Brazil, Sem Fronteiras. I became a subscriber because I was very much impressed by what it had to say. It opened my eyes to many things, especially other people, their countries, customs, problems, and their joy in the gospel. I learnt much that otherwise would have remained hidden from me.

 

Then one day I saw a meeting for Christian youth advertised in the magazine so I wrote off and asked to go along. This meeting, which took place in Vitoria in the Espirito Santo province of Brazil, made me ask myself many questions. It changed my life.

Yes! After the meeting (in 1986) I kept in contact with the Comboni Sisters by letter. My first intention had been to join a congregation of Brazilian sisters - at least then I would have been able to be near to my family and people but reading Sem Fronteiras made me change my mind. I felt called to share the joy of Christ, a joy that I lived at home, with people outside Brazil. The needs of people who are less fortunate than we are drew me to consider leaving my own people and my own country.

Sem Fronteiras helped me understand that it is Christ who crosses all frontiers bringing the joy of life. The life of Christ I had shared with my people in Brazil, the faith and the joy that I'd been given, were not just for me and my community, they are for everyone, and especially for those who have never had the chance to hear of Christ.

I left my home and my community and joined the Sisters in Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. Here I stayed for five years doing my postulancy (3 years) and novitiate (2 years). Then I took my first vows.

After profession I spent a full year living in a Basic Christian Community in rural Brazil. I will be in Glasgow for a year to learn English in preparation for a mission assignment some-
where in Africa.

They thought I was mad! They knew I was very happy in our own community and they know that in Brazil there is more than enough work that still remains to be done to spread the joy of the gospel. Together we all discussed and prayed. We read - also from Sem Fronteiras - in order to understand what it might mean to become a missionary. This took two years of reflection and prayer and the community sent me to the Sisters with their blessing.