When you live in a big city, it's easy to find help. If you live in a little town in Nebraska, it helps to meet a Maryknoll Sister. 

Just ask a woman named Norma, who lives in Spalding, Nebraska. Norma’s life changed forever when she invited Sisters Frances Kersjes and Phyllis O’Toole for fresh watermelon on a summer afternoon.

Catch Sister Phyllis’s blog for an update on Norma and her journey.

From big cities to small towns, Sisters Fran and Phyllis are in the middle of a Midwestern road trip that will take them to parishes in seven states. Other Maryknoll Sisters are visiting churches all around the United States.

Have you met Srs. Fran Kersjes (l) and Phyllis O'Toole yet? Visiting U.S. churches is their current project.

We're praying with folks, we're worshipping, and we're connecting. Just click on our events calendar to find out where we'll be near you.

At each stop, we talk about our mission lives and the places mission has brought us. Highest on the agenda are the world needs that still have to be met and how American parishes can help.

Maryknoll Sisters serve in the United States and 26 other countries. In Spalding, Nebraska, Norma will always remember her conversations in Spanish with Sisters Phyllis and Fran. Read about what they talked about in Sister Phyllis’s blog.

“Norma told us that she is the only woman in town who can’t speak English,” Sister Phyllis said. “Only her sister-in-law speaks Spanish, but she is so busy, she can’t talk with Norma.”

Fortunately, Sisters Phyllis and Fran eased Norma’s isolation by speaking Spanish they learned from their days serving in Bolivia. When the missioners came to town this month to attend Mass at St. Michael Church, Norma finally had someone to talk to about her concerns and experiences as an immigrant from Mexico.

Norma and her husband Fabian first settled in Omaha, Nebraska’s largest city. Three years ago, they and their three children moved to Spalding.

Norma’s life will never be the same since the day two Maryknoll Sisters came by.