Because of the service and mission of being in the Youth Ministry – Vocational in Bolivia, I realized that, as Daughters of Jesus, we arrived in the city of Oruro on October 18, 1956. As they no longer required our presence, he went to the City of Sucre to start the mission together with the Jesuits. After a few years he went to Cochabamba. The sisters arrived, new desires and dreams of apostolic mission were being born, this desire of Mother Candida to attend to those most in need.
After 8 years in Bolivia, the seed sown in Sucre sprouts, bearing a small fruit with the entry of the first Bolivian. After other years, three more fruits sprout, then one, and so God continues to bless the Congregation throughout these years.
I look at history and I remember gratefully for the first six Daughters of Jesus who came and gave themselves in these Bolivian lands. I had the grace and opportunity to meet one of them, a woman of true testimony of Hija de Jesús, Liberia Romero; who also helped in the process of accepting my vocation with my family. She knew how to receive-welcome-listen and accompany, from home, all who came to her, from the simplicity and openness. I am grateful to each Daughter of Jesus who are testimony and example of Daughter and sister.
Today I bring the words of Father Herranz:
“They are few in number and much less in quality, but the work is not yours, but God’s”
And so it is, the work is God’s, and I trust that he will give us the grace that new Bolivian vocations may arise to continue the work begun 149 years ago.
THANK YOU, GOD FATHER AND MOTHER, SO WELL RECEIVED IN THESE YEARS OF PRESENCE IN BOLIVIA!
Hna. Rommy Villarroel FI
Cochabamba – Bolivia