AUGUST 2005: SISTER ANNA IZYDORCZYK “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you. This I command you: Love one another.” John 15:16-17 This was the gospel Sister Anna Izydorczyk, OSF heard when she professed First Vows and it has become a motto for her journey. To her it is a message of hope and encouragement, a reminder of her origin and destination, and an invitation to a life of love, dedication, and trust. Her story begins in Poland “When I was six years old, one of the Hospital Sisters came to our house to give me a shot because I had pneumonia,” Sister Anna said. “I remember her gentle and loving care to this day,” she added. Years later when Sister Anna entered the Community, her mother recalled that visit from Sister Leobona and suspected that the penicillin also included an injection for a religious vocation. Sister Anna’s parents have been examples of good Christian values and through them God nurtured the seed of a religious vocation in her heart. “As I look back it is clear that the example of my mother was and still is the most powerful one,” Sister Anna explained. “She is a woman of strength which flows from her faith while her loving heart is always open to share with others." Ministries in Poland and USA Since entering the Polish Province in 1992 and then continuing her Formation in the American Province in 2003, Sister Anna has had many changes in her religious life. “Meaningful for me is the stronger emphasis on our internationality which opened the door for an exchange of our Sisters in helping us enrich ourselves through the diverse cultural heritages of our Sisters around the world,” Sister Anna explained. Throughout the years she has served in various ministries. For two years she worked in the accounting department of a facility for handicapped children. In 1996 she started nurse’s training and graduated in 1999. Soon after she began work as an ICU nurse in the government hospital in Wroc³aw. “It was not the technology that healed the patients I have encountered, it was the holistic approach to their spirit, mind, and body that were out of balance and needed help in returning to the space of harmony,” Sister Anna said. God’s calling to Haiti In 2000 she was asked by the Provincial Superior in Poland to go to Haiti and serve as a nurse in the American Province’s mission. “I was eager to respond with a generous heart to a need that arose” and so she left Poland and came to Springfield to prepare for the new ministry. A few months later she arrived in Jeremie, Haiti at the Haitian Health Foundation. Sister Anna recalled the scene of the experience in Haiti: “The encounter of the extreme poverty, enormous suffering and pain mixed with the incredible attitude of hope present in the hearts of Haitian people tore my heart. In the silence of the chapel at our mission, my tears were falling and it was almost too much to bear when I recalled the faces of the severely malnourished children I saw everywhere. This experience changed my life forever. A prayer of thanksgiving arose in my heart for every moment of my life filled with love, care and all the things I took for granted. It was my own encounter with poor that I felt transformed like St. Francis after he met a leper and kissed his wounds.” When Bruce and Vicki Compton first met Sister Anna in Haiti, they were drawn to her because she is such a person of joy. “She has such exuberance and zest for life,” Vicki said. “She learned Creole so quickly and became so interested in the culture and life of the Haitian people. Most of all she is interested in and accepting of every person she meets,” Vicki added. Life in the American Province Presently she is a student at Benedictine University Springfield College in Illinois earning credits in pre-nursing program since the nursing education in Poland is so different from that in the United States. Throughout her life, she has been challenged to listen to the voice of God who at many times was trying to speak to her heart. Sister Anna reflected that “He was patiently waiting until I was ready to be still and know that He is God and He loves me for who I am, not for what I do.” “It is a long journey and I feel like a child learning baby steps and first words; nevertheless I am doing it with confidence surrounded by loving presence of my Sisters. There are many tomorrows waiting for me to be discovered and filled with harmony of God’s love, peace, and justice,” she concluded.

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