Ignited and Fueled



Kelly Mihalik '13

I can vividly remember taking the last box from my car and carrying it into my dorm room at Saint Xavier University. As I looked around my room, I saw a space full of hope and opportunities for the next four years. Nerves and excitement flowed through my veins as I began to meet my fellow dorm and classmates that I would grow and learn with while pursuing my nursing degree. I never expected what would follow in those next four years.  

These same feelings have resurfaced as I prepared for my year of service with the Mercy Volunteer Corps. I am about to embark on a foreign adventure; one full of service, spirituality, community, and simple living. I'll be fully immersed with the Navajo culture while volunteering as a Registered Nurse. Not only will I be experiencing a new community, but a new culture on the reservation. Needless to say the anxious feelings accumulated as I thought about the differences I would encounter. But then I realized there is beauty and lessons in differences between cultures, and the nerves began to fall and the excitement grew.  

Orientation this past week has ignited and fueled the light in my heart for service, justice, and mercy. Being surrounded with fellow young adults who share a fellow passion has only exponentially increased my anticipation in embarking on this spiritual journey. Though I am still anxious, my eagerness and hopes for the next year have stifled those feelings. I am hoping to grow in my spiritual life by experiencing various forms of prayer by learning and living with the community in Arizona. But my biggest hope is to be changed and touched by the lives of those I am serving with on the reservation. 

Kelly Mihalik - St Michaels Association for Special Education - St. Michaels, AZ