Sarah Schleis, Stephanie Birk and Eva Pinzon

Sarah Schleis is ministering at Annunciation School in Denver and the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, CO.
My name is Sarah Schleis and I’m in my mid-thirties. I was raised on a beef farm near the village of Denmark, WI, 15 miles from Green Bay, WI, where I was born. I attended a small Catholic college and earned my degree in elementary education. After teaching for a year, I moved to Virginia on an adventure to explore other areas of the U.S. During that time, I met my future husband and decided to attend graduate school at George Washington University in Washington, DC to get a master’s degree in speech/language pathology.

Graduate school was very stressful for me, and I began to have some health problems. Following graduate school, I got married and started working in the public schools as a speech/language pathologist. My health continued to deteriorate and I saw chiropractors and a massage therapist for help, but only got temporary relief. After three years, I quit my job hoping the reduced stress would relieve my symptoms; however, it did not.

My husband and I moved back to Wisconsin, and I began to volunteer at a church that I attended. The experience was very rewarding. I met people there who had purpose in their lives and lived for God. The women who worked in the office had a prayer time every morning before work, and I witnessed God working through them. This experience helped me grow in my faith.

My mother, who had breast cancer, had been working with a homeopath to help her body heal. She shared information about homeopathy with me and I started on a long path of healing my body that I never thought possible. I have learned a great deal about proper nutrition and natural healing along the way. In retrospect, I am very grateful to God for what I went through with my health problems. I now feel empathy for others who are experiencing similar problems and want to share my story of how God can help us heal.

After seven years of marriage, I divorced in 2004. I worked the past four years with children at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Wisconsin, helping them with feeding issues and developing speech/language skills. I loved my job, since I enjoy working with children. But now God is leading me down a new path and I am excited to see what he has in store for me at the Mother Cabrini Shrine and Annunciation School in Colorado.

Stephanie Birk will serve at St. Elizabeth School in New York City for the rest of this year and be missioned to Baguio City, Philippines in early 2006.
Hello, I’m Stephanie Birk. I was born in Northlake, Illinois, just outside Chicago, and grew up in Crystal Lake, a northwest suburb of the city. I grew up a tomboy and loved the outdoors, bugs, and sports. I still love to be the active, curious, adventure-seeker I always was. I’ve vowed to never let go of my inner child, and treasure being excited for life! Above all, I define my life in relationship with others, and firmly believe love is what life is all about.

To share that love, I’ve been involved in many service projects, including mission trips to Native American reservations in South Dakota and Minnesota, as well as low-income communities in New Orleans and Toronto, Canada. I worked as a behavioral therapist for two and a half years, and as a camp counselor for children with disabilities. I served as a spirituality and service program director, counselor and all-around support to the students in a residence hall at St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI through the “ALIVE” program. I’m proud to have been part of the college’s Justice House - a community based on the principles of simplicity, service, community, and faith.

I enjoy music and spent years involved in a youth band at my home parish. Although my major in college was elementary education, I’m looking into pursuing psychology and counseling in graduate school. Further down the path of life after I’ve learned more and have more life experiences, I may seek to teach.

I’ve just come back from studying in Ireland, and traveled throughout Europe while I was there. I can’t get enough traveling – seeing news things, meeting new people, and broadening my horizons. I look forward to working as a missionary, first in New York City and then in the Philippines, hopefully learning a lot and giving back to the world out of the love God has given to me.

Eva Pinzon is doing youth ministry at St. Teresa Church and assisting immigrants at Cabrini Immigrant Services in New York City.
My name is Eva Mercedes Pinzón Gonzalez. I was born in 1977, on the south coast of Guatemala, the second daughter in a family composed of my mom, dad, three sisters and nephew. My mom is my heroine and my strength. She has been both a mother and father to me my whole life. My family is very close, and there is a lot of care and love among us, because we just have each other--which is all we need.

I spent most of my life in Villa Nueva, close to the capital, where I finished high school and graduated as a teacher in the Normal School of Home Teacher’s Education in 1996. In college, I studied international relations, which included courses in Portuguese, English and Italian. Starting in 1998, I volunteered for three years in the Guatemalan Congress working in social and policy areas. I also studied legislative management in an indigenous organization called CECMA, which works for the political, civic and human rights of this population. After graduating from college in 2003, I went to work for a non-governmental organization as a political monitor. Last year, I did the same work as a consultant for the World Bank.

I always have been a social activist, concerned about policies, human rights and the indigent. I always have had religious inclinations and have wanted to be a missionary since I was a child. I prayed and Christ brought the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cabrini Sisters) into my life. They told me about their work and missions and said if I wanted be a missionary, I could serve in New York City.

I wasn’t sure about coming to the U.S. because I would have to leave my family and friends, my life in my own country and start a new life. But I decided to come because since applying to Cabrini Mission Corps, I could see the hand of Jesus. When the day to leave my home and family came, it was so painful, but I had to do it because God is first and my family knows that my heart is with them. I’m homesick sometimes, but God is my strength and my comfort. He understands my sadness right now. I want to serve him where there are those who need me, and I’m trying to do the best I can to give him good work in my ministries at Cabrini Immigrant Services and St. Teresa’s Church. I’m here for God, and he is my boss.