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I am Marytell, 21 years old, and I grew up in Mexico City. I am currently an Associate to the Mission of the Assumption (AMA) in Muisne, a small island in Ecuador. AMA is a volunteer program by the Religious of the Assumption that allows young people to live the spirituality of the congregation through a service experience. I graduated from the Assumption in 2021, after attending the school my whole life. Since 2007, when I was just three years old, I started to know Jesus and Mary through the light of Saint Mary Eugenia, a light that has always accompanied me. From those early moments, when we took flowers to the Virgin with Mother Conso, or three years ago when I gave the speech of light during my generation's Coronation, to this past August 15, when I made the Assumption cake with the sisters here in Ecuador, her spirituality has been essential in my missionary vocation.
In high school, I already knew I wanted to study Economics and where I wanted to do it. That’s why, during the university fair, I took the liberty of visiting the AMA booth. Since I found out what the project was about during my second year of high school, joining it was an easy, almost instinctive decision: I started my formation to be a volunteer for a year before starting university. Although I was excited about the idea, I saw it as something distant, without a concrete shape, neither materially nor in my heart. However, when the pandemic hit, we had to cancel everything.
Without thinking too much, in August 2021, I entered the Panamerican University and focused on my future as an economist. There, I was able to surround myself with a totally different charism and discover facets of God that I had never explored. For two years, I deepened my faith, moving from practicing a religion to building a true, personal relationship with Christ, thanks to the people He put on my path. During those years, I developed a more mature inner life, although I had neglected the missionary faith I had once known. As an economist and as a Catholic, I have always been passionate about understanding and solving the world’s problems, but during these two years, I did not incarnate myself into them.
That concern grew until I decided to contact Mother Carmen, who had guided me during my first attempt to be a volunteer and had always been a role model in my faith journey. With her, I was able to harmonize this new, deep faith with the worldview I had once learned from Saint Mary Eugenia of Jesus. It was then that the Spirit called me more strongly to resume my missionary vocation, and I began my process to become an AMA again. I know this calling doesn’t come just from me, as it filled my heart in such a natural and clear way that everything fell into place for me to live this experience.
Here in Muisne, the sisters dedicate themselves to accompanying every heart they encounter, and during these months, I have been able to contribute to that mission. Material poverty is very evident, but the greatest poverty here is spiritual. Recently, I told a five-year-old boy, “I love you so much, Thiago,” and his response broke my heart: “But why?” At that moment, I felt that the deepest need of the mission was revealed to me: the people here do not feel loved. The elderly are abandoned, the children arrive at school with bruises, and marriages last only a few years. If the people of Muisne don’t feel loved in their own families, they will have a hard time feeling loved by the creator of all the desires of their hearts: Jesus.
Mother Mayi describes the mission in Muisne as built on sand: sometimes it feels like a wave washes everything away, but something always remains. Maybe it’s a child who learned to throw his trash in the right place, an elderly person who smiles when receiving a visit, or a young person who approaches me to tell me that he also wants to be a missionary one day. That’s why the sisters and I feel Saint Mary Eugenia reminding us every day that none of our efforts should be the last, and that this island, too, is a place of glory for God.
I confess that I miss my life in Mexico a lot, and when I arrived here, I feared that nothing would be the same when I return. Today, I see that those fears have been fulfilled, but, even though it makes me uncomfortable, I know it is for the best. The experiences here have taught me that I must not go back to being the same as before, and it is normal for my world not to be the same either. Even though my mission in Ecuador will end, the calling to extend the Kingdom remains. I must make sure that my life in Mexico aligns with that, and Jesus knew He had to bring me here for me to understand this. Although the future makes me nervous, one thing is clear: everything comes from Jesus Christ, everything is for Jesus Christ, and everything is to Jesus Christ, including my life.
Author: Marytell Arciniega Castellanos (Class of 2021, Instituto Asunción de México, Águilas)Original: SpanishThe translation was made with AI. If any lexical or grammatical errors are found, please let us know.