Notes from the Field:  My year with Franciscan Mission Service gave me gifts of simplicity. Adding simple prayers to my day strengthened my connection to God, and backing off social media was incredibly freeing.

"Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."

Along Midwestern highways and interstates, with their hundreds of truck stops and rest stops, hubs for sex trafficking thrive. Sisters throughout the region are educating people to recognize the signs of victimization and are helping survivors recover.

Sr. Joan Marie Brandner, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Aberdeen, S.D., has traveled to many places in the world to teach and share the Personality and Human Relationships program, which promotes the well-being and growth of individuals and communities.

Thinking about the experience of sharing my life with immigrant children in detention in the United States deeply touches my heart. My time with them was short, only three years, but very profound. Through them, God gave me so much, changed me so much.

"We will never reach the end of exploring, having figured it all out. It is something like parallel train tracks that appear to meet at a point in the distance, but when you get to that point the tracks have opened up to another distant point."

In a place where frustrations are many, "you really have to change your expectations," says Charity Sr. Dianne Moore. "We are not going to change Haiti or 'fix' Haiti. You just do your best and help Haitians access their own internal resources."

GSR Today - It's that time of year when our New Year's resolutions are being given up on. And if you're like me, you feel guilty about it. Actually, my guilt starts long before — when I'm making the resolutions in the first place, because then I'm reminded of what a failure I've been over the last year.

During my eight years as the NGO representative at the United Nations for the Sisters of Charity Federation, I had the opportunity to travel throughout the world and observe poverty first-hand in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But then I discovered the poverty in my own backyard.