Sharing this post from Sr. Krista’s blog. View the original post here.
VOCATION APPRECIATION WEEK November 1-7, 2020 Countdown 25 days to go…I am going to start with my own vocation story. I grew up in Sherman County in Oregon (North Central) the second smallest county in Oregon next to Wheeler! I remember having a very serious religious experience as a very young person where I realized how short life is and how important it is to make the most of it. This inspiration hit me at my grandfathers funeral, it was also the first funeral I remember. About two years later I went to my first “CCD summer classes” taught by Sisters of the Holy Names in Grass Valley. I knew at that moment (third grade) that I would be doing that some day. Still amazed by that insight. I liked what they were doing and I was inspired to want to do it too. The thought lay on my mind the rest of my youth and through college. Though I dated in college, I knew I did not want to get married because I wanted to enter religious life. I had not yet found the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. That happened my junior year when I met Sister Maureen Kalsch. We were taking a class together and met one day as we were checking our grades. I invited her to come to my sorority (Sigma Kappa) for dinner and she accepted. Later she invited me to make a retreat in Sublimity (near OSU) where I did go and meet several SSMO’s (Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon) Finally I was invited to make a trip to the Motherhouse in Beaverton and made another retreat. I loved it! When I finished college my Senior year, I had a job offer with Boeing which I had planned to accept in order to pay off my college debt ($2,000). I went to the convent and met with Sr. John Therese to tell her I was going to Seattle and accept the job with Boeing. Before I left the convent that day, I was going to enter the convent in February! A neighbor farmer, and close family friend, John Schadewitz, who was Baptist I might add, handed me a check for $2,000 to pay off my debt and the rest is history. I entered the convent February 3, 1980 with the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon
