Follow the Franciscan Sisters in Yuma, AZ

by Sister Julie Ann on January 1, 2010

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Twitter is one way to share and discover what is happening right now. In this posting the Franciscan Sisters of Christian 100_3953.jpgCharity invite you to continue to ferret out the ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) happenings in the lives of our Franciscan Sisters. This month picture yourself in Yuma, AZ with Sister Charleen Acker, OSF, Sister Alexandra Bettinardi, OSF, Sister Ann Mary Hart, OSF, Sister Charles Ann Champeau, OSF, Sister Elizabeth Benvie, OSF, Sister Jan Villemure, OSF, and Sister Patrice Walsh, OSF. Follow them by reading their comments, enjoying their photos and learning about the wonderful people they serve.

  • Sister Sharon Paul

    WELCOME SRS. Charleen, Alex, Ann Mary, Charles Ann, Elizabeth, Jan and Patrice from your sunny AZ to mountains of SNOW in Nebraska! A blessed 2010 to you as we are entering in this blessed graces & surprises the Lord has in store for us. I will be interested in hearing you individual Sisters comment on your ministries and life from your abode!

  • http://www.fscc-calledtobe.org Sister Julie Ann

    I second Sister Sharon’s comments. Happy Birthday, Sister Elizabeth! How did you spend your birthday?

  • http://www.raphael.org Sister Anne Marie Lom

    I would love to know what you are cooking and what you are celebrating in some of the pictures. I’d like to hear more!

  • Sister Marie Bernadette

    Oh,Sister Anne Marie, it’s all good food with Sister Charlene at the fryer! Today is a very rainy day in Hawaii,so no frying out for us. Presently at 8:21, it is 77 degrees. Blessings for you in 2010!

  • Sister Jan Villemure

    Hello from Yuma.
    I just got my first peek at the pictures of us in the southwest. I was in Michigan and Wisconsin for part of the Christmas break… Never was so happy to return to the Yuma sunshine! It shines almost every single day. And it shines in the smiles of the children and the people who live here. Many of our students are Hispanic. Some use a green card to come across the border daily to attend our schools: Immaculate Conception grade school and Yuma Catholic High School. Working with those in the southwest has enriched us so much. It is a blessing to experience such a loving, family-centered, respectful-of-elders culture. Some of these values are being lost other places in our world. Here people know how to slow down and smell the roses.
    Sister Anne Marie, the picture is Velia Figueroa and myself working at the IC carnival in the Indian Fry bread booth. Bobbi Firebush has done her fry bread for many many years. Sr. Patrice, Velia and I are the helpers. We dish out the beans, cheese and salsa on some or the powdered sugar and honey on others. Ummmmmm Good.
    God bless,
    Sister Jan

  • http://www.raphael.org Sister Anne Marie Lom

    Thanks, Sr. Jan, for a response to my questions. We just had another snowstorm so soak up all the rays of sunshine you can and enjoy the warmth. I do love WI but slippery roads are a real minus point.

  • Sister Rosangela

    How good to see all of your smiling faces and know you enjoy doing God’s work in the Southwest. Sister Jan, it was good having you with us at Chiara even though for a short time. Enjoy all the sunshine and think of us trudging through the snow. Actually our maintenance men do a wonderful job plowing, etc. God bless all of you.

  • Sister Ann Mary

    Hello from Yuma! Just testing.

  • Sister Ann Mary

    Hi, greetings from Yuma!
    Sorry I’m so late in blogging. Yuma is a great place to work. I work at IC School with a great diversity of cultures – Mexican, Phillipinos, blacks, and caucasian. Caucasian is really in the minority. I teach math to the 6th, 7th and 8th grade students as well as help the principal with various projcts. We have 4 Sisters in IC; Sister Elizabeth teaches music, Sister Charles Ann, 4th grade, Sister Charleen does all the copying for the teachers as well as being general helper in the office and I’m jack of all trades. We have lemon, orange and grapefruit trees that are full of fruit right now. I just picked a lemon off the tree to make a lemon pie for dinner. Sister Jan and Sister Alexandra work at Yuma Catholic while Sister Patrice visits the sick and elderly. She has about 100 that she visits over a 2 week period. Right now she is Wisconsin for a knee replacement.
    Our weather is beautiful right now with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. About April it will begin to climb into the 80s and 90s. Oh well, we can’t have it perfect all the time.
    God bless you all,
    Sister Ann Mary

  • Sister Sharon Paul

    Hi, SR. Ann Mary. THANK you for sharing what the different Srs. do. So, you teach Math and a Jack of all trades. Good for YOU! SO, that delicious fruit that you can go out and pluck off the tree. We are enjoying grapefruit sent to Sr. Doris from a friend in CA. YUM! Wow that lemon pie I can just TASTE! Your warm weather is typical and today most schools were closed due to an ice storm. Everything was coated with a layer of ice. Health Care Srs. went to work as usual. Take care and keep up your great ministries!

  • http://www.fscc-calledtobe.org Sister Julie Ann

    My, looks like a lot of water!

  • Sister Jan Villemure

    Hello rest of the country,
    We have had record amounts of rain in Yuma!!!! Our two schools were closed due to the rain. This is unheard of here in Yuma. Of course the students were happy…..teachers too. The ones who were not happy were the growers. Yuma produces 95% of the lettuce in the country at this time of the year. All the fields are irrigated on timers. I spoke to one grower yesterday. He said this rain has ruined whole fields. This will raise the price of lettuce.
    Finally the rain has stopped. The earth is drying up. Each year we celebrate lettuce days here. Sister Charleen and I were downtown in Old Yuma yesterday, enjoying the activity. Tons of winter visitors, craft booths, and food stands. We only saw two people we knew in the two hours we walked through crowds of people. You can see lettuce and winter visitors support our economy here. Today is a beautiful sunny Yuma day. Come to visit us. It is a great place to live and work. We are having Eucharistic Adoration in our convent home today. We do this once a month on a Sunday AM. All of you bloggers are in our prayers.

  • Sister Marie Bernadette

    Yes, we in Kekaha,HI look for rain too but not as much as experienced by you. One year it rained for 42 straight days in dry Kekaha. Naturally we had floods and too much of a good thing. I do wonder how God views all our requests.

  • http://www.fscc-calledtobe.org Sister Julie Ann

    Thanks so much for sharing the moments of your day. Each one is important in understanding our lives as Franciscan Sisters. Peace and all good.

  • http://FranciscanizedWorld Sister Elizabeth

    Greetings from beautiful Yuma, Arizona!
    Thanks a million for your Birthday greetings.
    Someone asked how I celebrated my gift of life day. I was home in Hatch, New Mexico with my family on January 2nd to celebrate my birthday. We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner that day and I spent time visiting with my parents, grandparents, and other family members.
    My Sisters in Yuma celebrated my belated birthday with me by providing my favorite meal and an array of presents.
    Today our faculty and staff celebrated January birthdays. Another teacher and I were the lucky celebrants. We enjoyed german chocolate cake, yellow cake and ice cream. Both of us received lovely gifts.
    Life is a wonderful gift that God has so lovingly given each of us. I thank God for my gift of life!

  • http://FranciscanizedWorld Sister Elizabeth

    On January 21st rain walloped the Yuma area and caused many school closings, including Immaculate Conception School. Did you know we received three inches of rain from this storm?
    You can see from the pictures that we had lots of standing water everywhere. Now everything looks more lush and fresh after the rain.
    This was a most unusual storm for the desert southwest.

  • Sister Sharon Paul

    WELCOME SRS. Charleen, Alex, Ann Mary, Charles Ann, Elizabeth, Jan and Patrice from your sunny AZ to mountains of SNOW in Nebraska! A blessed 2010 to you as we are entering in this blessed graces & surprises the Lord has in store for us. I will be interested in hearing you individual Sisters comment on your ministries and life from your abode!

  • Mel49ers

    Nice to find some thing about the order on here with a Dear friend in the picture.

  • Chelsea

    Sr Charleen was my 5th Grade teacher! :) I actually just sent her an email! Tell her hi for me :)

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