Sharing my Story
". . . I followed the process and requested to join the Foyer, which is the best way to enter religious life!"

Aniz Nhenta Vaz

I am from the Mandjak ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau and moved to Mauritania and then to Senegal. I have been living here for two years. A few months after my arrival, I strongly longed to join religious life, but did not know how to fulfill that dream. I did not know many people so did not feel very motivated. Fortunately I had a friend who lived in Guédiawaye (near Dakar). She had joined the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement and she kept encouraging me to join, saying that this experience would greatly change my life.

After moving to Parcelles Assainies, I joined the Friends of St. Joseph Association on Unit 21, where I came to know many young Christians. Through them I was introduced to the Life of Jesus Community, an association of Mary Immaculate Parish. I also joined them.

I was not going regularly to Mass and was only occasionally reading the Bible. It was then I became aware of how bad my relationship with God had become. I began to feel how much God actually loves me and understood that although we often distance ourselves from God, He never forsakes us.

All this fed into my aspiration to religious life. I thought how this way of living would bring me nearer to my Savior. I shared my feelings with a friend, who introduced me to Sister Anne Claire Kabore. I spoke with Sister and she told me about the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, the Vocational Team and the Foyer. I was invited to participate in the Sisters' vocational encounters. After that I followed the process and requested to join the Foyer, which is the best way to enter religious life!

I joined our Foyer on January 18 and am very happy with the way I was welcomed to begin living in community. Here I have found again the taste for prayer and for the word of God, which I had lost. I pray to God to lead me all the way to the end of this journey that I have chosen, and I trust the support of my dear Sisters' prayers.

Words of Life
"I thank the Lord for having freed our hearts, allowing us to live in harmony."

Sophie Ndiaye

I am so thankful to all the Sisters in my community, Agape San Damiano, in Keur Mbaye Fall, Senegal and all the other young women with whom I live. I feel warmly welcomed by all the Sisters. They have done their best to make me feel at home.

I have changed a great deal throughout these last four months of discernment. Initially I was frequently bothered by sadness because of problems which affected our interrelating. God's grace, however, has by now united us. I thank the Lord for having freed our hearts, allowing us to live in harmony. Oh, dear Sisters Marvi and Anne Claire, thanks for the teaching that I have received. During the Wednesday afternoon lessons those words of life that were shared were so helpful in the changes I went through!

I was moved by your openness and generosity toward all my needs. When talking with you, I feel you always put me at ease. Your availability to teach me good habits gives me courage. Regarding the activities program, I have come to the conclusion that all works are well organized. That helps me organize my work, encouraging me to do everything well.

I love going to school, meeting my classmates and chatting with them. The teachers are also very gracious. I am truly happy, I am eating well and I pray often. I am very thankful to Sister Anne Claire for her openness toward me. The private tutoring we receive at home has been very helpful to us, since the explanations we receive in class do not always suffice.

Throughout these last four months I have learned and discerned about so much. Thank you for your patience.

Each Day is Like a New Page
"I would compare the Foyer experience as something akin to the words of Christ to his disciples: 'Come and see'!"

Hélène Agnès Diène

I am 19 years of age and attend Middle School. I arrived at Casa Alleluia in Parcelles Assainies on October 1, 2009, and interested in discerning about the possibility of embracing religious life. I wanted to be more certain if I really was being called to this way of life, which I had always loved and admired. After my arrival, I became acquainted with many people with whom I am sharing the same life style at the Foyer in Keur Mbaye Fall. The other women and the Sisters of the community are lovely.

Each day is like a new page that opens a chapter in my life story. . . . allowing me to learn, discern, seek to love my neighbors more deeply, recognizing in them all things I see in myself as well. I also strive to remain attentive to hear the Lord and to listen to the others.

Any beginning is always difficult. I had a deep longing and missed my family, my friends and personal activities as well as my duties in the Parish. Day after day I grew accustomed to my new way of life.

Thanks to our community prayer and my own personal prayer, I have succeeded in turning around some sinful ways and am overcoming other obstacles that had distanced me from God. Praying always gives me courage and hope, allowing me to persist in my discernment.

All trials pose their own challenges. However, even if I should fall, I will bounce back and continue on my journey, bearing my cross. Each day I ask the Lord the same question: "What do you want me to I do, Lord, or become, in order to serve you?" And I ask God to open my heart to welcome the response, humbly, yet with courage.

I would compare the Foyer experience as something akin to the words of Christ to his disciples: "Come and see!" And so I have come and am seeing. I am very grateful to my instructor and to my companions. Know, Sisters, that I count on your prayers so that my life experience will be full throughout this time.

A Circle of Real Love
"The wind of the Spirit blows wherever it pleases . . . touching the hearts of those attentive to Him." (cf. John 3:8)

Jacqueline Compaore

That is how the Spirit's voice has resounded within my heart, leading me to the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor -- to learn from them how to let me be loved by God, through the experience of the Foyer.

I arrived here in October of 2009. I am very satisfied and grateful for all that the Congregation is doing to help me bloom both humanly and spiritually. During these months I have been living at the Foyer, I have realized that my aspiration to religious life remains and that it consists of a double action: to take in from Jesus my own strength to be able to actually follow Him concretely. Active life and contemplation are complementary to each other; together they are a circle of real love.

Touched by our Sisters' living witness to Christ incarnated in the poor, I feel growing within me a desire to act like the good Samaritan throughout the days of my life.

What truly counts for me is to be available for others without asking anything in return and to act with motivation so that Christ's work is fulfilled within me -- because a pure heart and conduct are more important than the justification of one's opinions.

May Christ, who took the risk to love me the way I am, spread out his joy abundantly within me so as to make his will always mine. And thank you, Sisters, thank you to my supervisor. I trust myself again and always to your prayers.