Our Day to Day/Weekly Routine

Our Day to Day/Weekly Routine

by Lisa Nice

Today, I thought I would share a bit of specific information about what our typical week looks like in Abbeville, LA for missionary training.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday begin with breakfast with the community in the community house (aka “Big House”). Breakfast is followed by praise and worship and community prayer. On Fridays, we say an intercessory rosary for community prayer, and on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we say the Liturgy of the Hours morning prayer. After morning prayer, the kids get to go to Kids Ministry where they participate in Sunday school types of activities for the morning and Jeremy and I attend our classes. We have two classes each day including  Si Señor (practical, philosophical, and biblical information for missionaries), Acts study (bible study on the Acts of the Apostles which is the “guidebook” for the Family Missions Company missionary community), Teaching Workshop (learning about how and practicing giving talks), and the Mission of the Redeemer study (the encyclical by St. Pope John Paul II educating the Church on the central importance of evangelization/spreading the Gospel everywhere). Lunch and dinner are also eaten in community on these days. In the afternoon, the men and single women have work projects assigned to them (the moms are given much smaller tasks that are not required daily). 

Community meals at the Big House

Thursdays are the community apostolate day. Our family was assigned to a nursing home and we have enjoyed getting to know the residents through visiting and praying with them. Meals and morning prayer is with our family only on Thursdays.

Fridays after dinner is Praise and Worship night (my favorite night of the week).

Saturdays begin like Thursdays with breakfast in our own house and prayer with our family followed by work time either as a community or in household (this rotates weekly). Lunch is picnic style followed by Desert Day which is extended prayer time in nature. Parents rotate caring for the kids to allow each other to have this prayer time. Then on Saturday evenings, we have the Lord’s Day Meal which consists of a beautiful prayer service followed by a celebratory meal.

An alligator spotting a few miles from Big Woods Mission

Sundays are our days off which we spend going to Mass, doing something fun with our family, and also communicating with our families back home. There are several commitments we have been required to commit to for the first year including limiting personal communication and internet time to two hours on Sundays.

We are also required to spend time daily in personal prayer in the chapel. Even though I have known for a while that spending time with Jesus is critical for my mental and emotional well-being, its amazing how tempting it is to skip it when life gets busy and overwhelming. Being required to form the habit of prioritizing this as it should be is a huge blessing to me.

Jaylyn and Jeremy leading the song before breakfast.

Our Intake class (the group of people here training to become missionaries) is divided into Chore groups with each group responsible for prep before and clean up after three of the community meals each week. Additionally, we are then responsible to lead the song and prayer before each meal. Jaylyn has been thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the song with her beginning ukulele skills a couple of times so far this fall.

The kids have had lots of time to play outside. Lately the weather has been beautiful. The first month and a half, outdoor play meant getting wet and muddy which didn’t bother them at all either. We are basically in “extended summer” as far as any formal school is concerned. School is anticipated to resume for us as we are settling into our new mission post in January/February. I’m grateful to the many veteran homeschool moms who have reassured me that taking time off/starting late in the early school years is in no way detrimental to my kids’ educational future/potential.

Our home here is named St. Lazarus. It is very simple but just enough space for us with two bedrooms, a kitchen/living room and a bathroom.

We begin our next phase of training on Friday this week as we depart for General Cepeda, Mexico. Please keep us in prayer for a safe and uneventful drive and continued growth and formation as missionaries.

May God bless each of you.