Gisella - How I got here

JVC is something I have been looking forward to for quite a while. Growing up in Peru I was used to volunteering here and there but I had never heard about people taking a year off to volunteer, especially in the United States of America where stereotypically everyone one is supposed to care only about themselves. So when I heard about my friends from Loyola Marymount University joining a volunteer program to intentionally serve the population I have always longed to serve, to grow in faith and community with each other and to be challenged to grow, I knew it was for me.

I specifically decided to apply to the Midwest because no one in my school applied there. Whenever I told anyone that I wanted to go to the Midwest, they would look at me weird and say “ . . .But why?” That’s when I knew that it was the place for me. I wanted to go where not many people want to go, I wanted to go to a place that would challenge me to experience different things, a place that will challenge me to grow into the person I long to be – a servant for and with others. What can be more different from Lima, Peru and Los Angeles, California than THE MIDWEST!!!

I didn’t take my application process for granted, I had a systematically organized system of what I needed to do and when. The application was so long but it helped me understand more and more why I wanted to do JVC and what I wanted to do. I waited anxiously for the interview and I cried when I was finally accepted. I was actually taking an Ignatian Spirituality class during the time I decided to apply to JVC so I used Ignatian Spirituality throughout the process. As I got interviewed and heard all the amazing opportunities I would have to experience with JVC I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt what the Jesuits call a sense of “consolation” or God present in my life every time I thought about being a JV. I had so many people encouraging me and helping me read my application and giving me honest feedback, like my spiritual director Brendan and my “advisor in JV life” Tom, both who are former JV’s. I also had my little English angel Maria who helped me correct my application so I would use the best words possible to describe my feelings. In writing my application and throughout the whole process I grew much stronger in friendships and faith, knowing that through the process God was there letting me know that what I was committing myself to was his will for me. At the end of the process I felt that I was following God’s call for me, I knew I was called to be “Ruined for Life,” THE JVC WAY.

Learn more about Gisella here.