Hello, friends and family! 

As some of you might know, I spent a transformative month in Mexico City with two groups of religious sisters this summer. I encountered the face of Christ in the sick, poor, disabled, and dying. Just to name a few of the unforgettable people I met:

• Enrique, a severely disabled 10-year-old boy who was abandoned as a baby when his mother was sent to jail, who shook with laughter anytime I played a toy accordion for him.
• Sarita, a half-blind old woman whose condition did not prevent her from making over 20 beds every morning (and stealing my pen when I wasn't looking!).
• Lucita, a woman with disabled legs and arms, who could draw with her feet with incredible precision, and who got around on a small piece of wood with wheels.
• A hungry little girl who had been walking with her family for hundreds of miles from Venezuela, hoping to reach a better life in the U.S. She ate three pieces of bread without stopping and then declared that she was happy with a huge smile on her face!
• Mariel, a nonverbal disabled girl who is dependent on an autoimmune medication that the Missionaries of Charity purchase for her. 
• Sr. Joaquina, an elderly nun dying of cancer, who recounted her stories of saving lives in the Mexican countryside. 
• Sofia, a child who is dependent on her oxygen and feeding tube, but who needs better equipment to sustain her life. 

In Mexico I came face-to-face with the raw material needs of those who help these wonderful people. The Missionaries of Charity need bread to distribute to the hungry families of Venezuelan migrants who sleep in the train station in Mexico City. They need diapers for the disabled children and adults they care for. They need supplies to clean the feeding tubes of several of the children they house that are prone to infection. The Servants of Mary need basic medicine to be transported out to their rural locations (some of which, until recently, were only reachable by mule). They need supplies that are easily obtainable here in the U.S., yet are difficult to obtain and expensive there. 

Over Christmas break, I plan to return to Mexico - specifically, to the Servants of Mary rural clinic in Oaxaca, Mexico and the Missionaries of Charity in Mexico City - and I have offered to bring the sisters the supplies they need. Fortunately, I will not be traveling alone this time — James is also going to volunteer with the sisters as he prepares to apply to medical school. 

In lieu of birthday and Christmas gifts, I'm asking for funds for the above mentioned costs of medical supplies to donate to the sisters as well as to help cover some of our travel costs. 

I will offer the intentions of all of those who donate to this mission to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Basilica in Mexico City. 

In Christ, 

Anna