Week One Intake

Good afternoon all!

I am in Louisiana and have just finished my FIRST WEEK of Intake at Family Missions Company. This week has been stocked full of information, work, and prayer and I cannot wait to begin sharing only SOME of the information with you all. As many of you know, as a first time missionary we are limited to Internet/phone access to 2 hours a week/one day a week. This day will be Sunday.

The first 3 days (Monday-Wednesday) were spend as an opening retreat which included several talks on Prayer, Community Living, Total Commitment, and Perseverance. We were also blessed with the opportunity to have a “Cajun Fun Day.” Cajun Fun day begun with breakfast and morning prayer, then we left to go to Palmetto state park to the splash pad where we got to run around in the fountains and I had the chance to put up my hammock and rest! Once we returned back to Big Woods we had a break then prepared for a delicious dinner of some sort of Alligator Stew type dish (I do not recall the exact name) and a local Cajun band came and performed for us all night while we danced. It was such a joy.

On Monday we had our first talk on Prayer by Eric, who is a long-term missionary with FMC, where we learned the importance of prayer in our lives as missionaries. In prayer we receive God’s love for us, THEN we are able to share Jesus with the nations. It was reiterated that the poor deserve the Love of Jesus, so we must be filled in prayer by HIM, so that we can share It with all. As Pope Francis has said, “The soul of all missionary Activity is Love.” Furthermore, we need prayer to persevere through trials and tribulations, but we must also persevere through our prayer. We must show up and call upon the Holy Spirit! We should strive to be praying constantly! Finally we must have hope and know of the intimate communion found in the heart of prayer.

Following our talk on prayer, we were given the opportunity for a break and personal prayer time prior to our second talk. Our next talk was by Brook and it was about Community Living. In community we are called to Love whole-heartily and know that “things said in private will be brought to the light”. It was also brought to my attention that God himself is community in the Trinity. Brook put together some amazing words to represent community:

C-COMMITMENT

O-OPEN MINDED

M- MINDFUL

M-MERCY

U-UNITY

N-safety NET

I-INSEPARABLE

T-TEAMWORK & TIME

Y-“YES LORD”

            Jumping ahead to Wednesday, our first talk was by Joseph in regards to commitment.

“The chicken and the cow contribute to breakfast, but the Pig has a
TOTAL COMMITENT”

The explanation of this example is that the chicken contributes the eggs and the cow contributes the milk, but the pig totally commits his life to give the bacon. In missions we are called to “BE THE BACON,” to be totally committed to the call.

Joseph spoke to us in regards to the Lord calling us, and that for missions, not only is God calling us away from the bad things (Repenting), but also, the good things (Renouncing). With a total commitment there is ONLY PLAN A. Somebody with a Plan B is not totally committed. With our commitments we are accountable to the church, to FMC leadership, and to our heritage. Total commitment is lived out in fidelity and we must be obedient to Jesus, for it is not MY mission, but JESUS’ mission. As King Theoden from Lord of the Rings says, “I go to the Halls of my Fathers where I will not be ashamed to stand amongst them.” By living out my commitment to the church and to God’s mission I hope to one-day stand among the saints who have gone before me in Heaven.

Moving forward with our Wednesday, we received an amazing talk by Sarah Granger in regards to perseverance. Perseverance is “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” And “Continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory.” These definitions really set the tone for the talk and is key to our commitment that we are making as missionaries of Christ. Perseverance was separated into 3 key factors:

1.     Prayer

2.     Work

§  Home, study, & ministry

3.     Suffering

Prayer must be CONSTANT. We must be committed to personal and community prayer with prayers of praise, thanksgiving and petition. To continue on the Lords mission we require the strength that comes from prayer and our JOYFUL perseverance can only happen if we are rooted in prayer. We must be faithful and trustworthy in our work for it is a gift exhausting yourself for the kingdom of Heaven. God makes our perseverance fruitful. Furthermore, in suffering we can preserver joyfully for the only way to perfect the faith is through trials & to consider it all joy.

            Thursday, Friday, and Saturday many more joyful and learning experiences have happened including a study on Acts of the Apostles and the church document Mission of the Redeemer, praise and worship, service workday, and a pool party hosted by one of our board members. We have had many opportunities to go to confession and have had mass over 3 days this week. So many blessings have come from only 7 days of being at Big Woods, and I am very eager to see the plans that the Lord has in store for me, and all participating in Intake, moving forward in the future months. I haven’t taken many photos yet, but next week I hope to be posting some more! 

            In addition to emailing me, 1tim412missionary@gmail.com, or contacting me on Facebook, www.facebook.com/katharine.mudgett, I can accept mail at the following address:

Family Missions Company
Attn: Kate Mudgett

12636 Everglade Rd.
Abbeville, LA. 70510

I would love to hear from many of you. Thank you for spending your time following my mission story. I am continuing to keep you all in my prayers and ask that you please keep me in yours. God bless and Peace.

Kate Mudgett

www.katemudgett.familymissionscompany.com

“Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12