As parents of faith, we work to pass on the faith to our children. Jesus says in Luke 8-8 "And some seeds fell on good ground, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold." Parents have the responsibly to sow the seeds of faith for our children. However, the parable really shows us that the place where the seed is planted has the most impact.

Our children have been graced by a church community of people, who are true servants. They are the fertile ground. I have witnessed this and give God credit for having them as nurturers. I recall that when our children were growing and our family was in crisis, it was our youth ministers (Paul and Teresa), and our pastor Fr. Mike, and our community of believers that righted our course and set our family on the right path.

As a parent we pray for God to be in the lives of our children. The old adage: "Be careful of what you pray for, you may get it".

Our third child and only daughter Katie graduated from college with honors. She attained a degree in psychology and a second in Spanish. Katie had studied in Spain for six months and fell in love with the language and culture. During college she worked as an intern with under privileged children and that became a passion.

Upon graduation she informed us that she was looking into going to Spain with an order of the church called Associate Missionaries of the Assumption (AMA). She would have to pay for her insurance and air-fare to get there and back, and they would provide a small stipend and living quarters. She would contribute one year of service. After she agreed to this the order had problems with whether they could afford to keep the order in Spain going, so they offered Bolivia as an alternate.

She asked and received funds from the Knights of Columbus for the air-fare there, and they promised they would pay half and help her get back.

As parents, we immediately became aware that this was a country where, unlike Spain, there is constant turmoil between the haves and have-nots in their society and the majority have very little. Unlike the political system in the USA where we execute our politicians at the ballot box, their culture since she arrived has used strikes and riots to overthrow the government. Needless to say Mom and Dad got what we prayed for, a young girl that sets her sights on God's work and lets nothing slow her in pursuit of that goal.

Remember, "Be careful what you pray for." We got it.

In August of 2003 she flew to Miami where she was to get on a connecting flight to Bolivia. Things started off on the wrong footing and her flight was cancelled and she and several other passengers were stranded in Miami for 38 hours. Told to remain in their hotel rooms. Upon arrival in Cochabamba she was stressed from the trip and along with the altitude of 11,400 feet, Katie suffered a bad case of altitude sickness.

For the next few months she started enjoying all the wonders of South America. She had dysentery, amoeba's, intestinal infection, and lice (4 times).

Not to limit her experience only to the local illnesses, Katie and the other missionaries were asked to stay in their rooms for a week while the workers were rioting against their elected president. The country has two export items of value: one is natural gas that the president wanted to sell to the USA and Chile, and the other is Coca leaves which cocaine made from. The workers wanted the natural gas to stay there for the poor.

The president was forced from office and was accepted in the USA. This did not encourage Bolivians to like us.

Katie settled down to work as she adapted to the surroundings. She was working with girls in the women's shelter. They were there for assorted reasons: drugs, parents who could not afford them, health, homelessness, abused. These were young girls with issues. They would attend classes during the morning and Katie would tutor them in the afternoon and befriend them.

We started hearing stories of how some of the girls left to go back out onto the streets to be with a boy or become a prostitute. Katie would call to just air out the issues with me and instead of just listening I would get in my Dad mode and remind her that she should have empathy not sympathy. Katie knew this from all her training. She just needed to have someone to listen so she could vent. From our perspective here, it was my concern that she was in love with each of her girls and that could mean she could not maintain her objectivity.

Katie said one of the girls named Sylvia needed to have heart surgery, and because there is only one doctor that performs transplants, it had been delayed twice.

My wife Norma and I planned to go visit in February or March 2004.

We had no trouble with our flight arrangements and we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia at 7 AM. As we exited off the plane and onto the tarmac, there were armed military on both sides of us as we walked to the terminal.

The altitude was very difficult and we needed to get thought customs and on to our next flight to Cochabamba. After lifting one bag I nearly passed out. A porter helped us and we went directly to a coffee stand and asked for Coca Tea. This speeds the heart up so it can get blood to your brain and reduces the effects of the altitude.

We boarded our flight again with military supervision. After arriving at the Airport in Cochabamba the plane went to the end of the runway and taxied back on the same runway. Again military supervision and we saw our Katie waving at us from the second level of the airport. A tall Irish girl does stand out.

We gathered our bags. Here I need to explain. We had 4 full sized suitcases and 2 carry-on bags. Katie requested that we bring down some warmer clothes, as they will be going into their winter, although it seldom gets below 40 degrees F.

Also included were requested items for the girls. We purchased items at the dollar stores, such as calculators, pencils, construction paper, decks of playing cards, pens, pencils, shampoo, soaps, hair clips, baseballs, kites, jewelry and from other stores, candies (lots of candy), sun screen, and the list goes on.

People from church gave us items to take along for the kids, including rosaries from Mary in the office. One man from our church choir, Glenn, made small wooden crosses with a metal heart.

The youth minister Theresa purchased harmonicas and I was to teach them how to play. Angela Chiappone, knitted bracelets for all the girls. Norma and I kept our personal belongings in 2 full cases. The remaining 4 bags were for the kids.

Back to the story: Katie quickly became the parent, as we could not speak the language. She negotiated with taxi drivers, arguing for the cheapest fare. She arranged for our hotel rooms, and ordered our meals. Meals were particularly important, since we could not eat any uncooked vegetables, salads, or fruits, due to the risk of amoebas. The role reversal introduced us to our daughter who was a responsible grown adult.

The little Spanish I knew allowed me to order cerveza (beer). I had one at lunch the first day. Combined with the altitude I became aware that one was more than enough. The beer is quite good lager style, as many German's came over at the time of World War II.

After resting, we went out that evening with two other girls that Katie worked with. One was from Germany, and the other from Calgary, Ontario.

The food is mostly white rice with French fried potatoes, meat -either chicken or beef- with an egg. Quite good, but the meat is pounded flat, called Silpancho. I referred to it as road kill.

We spent the next day being shown the town, being tourists, and becoming more comfortable with the military and armed presence of men in the streets, in front of our hotel, and just about everywhere. When you have no tax base for social programs to help the bottom 2/3 of your society that is poor, the only thing government can do is use military. Sad.

The next day we went to work with Katie. We met the girls, and found that they cling to Katie, they long for her to talk to them and be with them. They crave attention, but I got a sense that they really love Katie as well as the nuns who are permanent staff that care for them. That love was returned 10-fold. I had imagined that the staff would be subdued and somewhat hardened to being to close to the girls' neediness. That was not the case. These women truly love these girls in act and deed. I asked Sister Theresa (director of the house) if the fact that the Bolivian women carry their young on their backs for such a long time creates a close bond. She told me that the good news is that it does, and the bad news is that it does.

The children have trouble developing independence. For example, we must be careful how we correct them in solving math problems, or they will shut down. They do not take being criticized well.

My wife and I had fun showing movies to the girls of where Katie comes from, the family, and our house. The girls were concerned that we did not have a wall around our home. There, they live in compounds of high walls with barbed wire, or broken glass shards on the top. Gates are heavily bared and secured. Once inside they are in their own world or fortress.

Although we spent time stumbling over language, we had a good time with these girls. I played the harmonica for them and they made joy-filled noised with theirs. With a deck of cards I impressed them with some old card tricks I knew. Norma teased them about Katie and how she was as a young girl, although we were not sure how Katie translated it.

With all the fun we had that day I walked away wishing that all kids could have the childhood the children in our country have; these girls miss being a kid. What gives hope is the knowledge of how the church helps in foreign lands, and that the missionaries provide unconditional love for these young people, not knowing if it will be returned, risking rejection and pain, but only giving without expectation. I have the sense that they know that what the Lord said is true, that when you give you receive more in return.

I will have to re-evaluate the empathy-not- sympathy psychology. The closeness that these women have with these girls leaves them open to be hurt when a girl leaves for the streets, but it is that closeness that saves the many that stay.

We have many other stories of this trip, some about the compound where Katie lives, which is the orphanage. The little ones there love her also. Watching 14 little kids in child walkers is like watching bumper cars. As we walk through, they yell "Papa" after me. They want a dad, just like your kids have. They have a clean well-managed facility with people that care for them, but there is no substitute for a Mom and a Dad.

Norma and I feel better about Katie and the risk she is taking. I said to her that I wish she were more cautious, especially on the streets. Her response was that she refuses to have a victim mentality, as those who do become victims.

Truly our daughter has qualities that she developed because of the soil in which she was planted in.

As we left Bolivia we found it a hard yet fascinating country with people that are easy to love and that love our daughter. We fell more comfort in her being there and pride in the work she , and the others have committed themselves to. I know that we cannot earn salvation; that it is only by Jesus' mercy and grace. However, I believe that for some, upon entering heaven, there will be pearls for those that did the Lord's work.

I humbly pray the words of St. Patrick for all missionaries:

May the Lord be above you to inspire you
Beneath you to support you
Behind you to protect you
In front of you to guide you
And always by your side as your companion

Dan O'Neill
Algonquin, Illinois