Introducing Intake 2023
We are pleased to introduce you to the missionaries of Intake 2023. They are currently in training at our home base in Louisiana and we are so excited to have them. We’ve asked them to share some things about themselves so that you can get to know them a little. Please keep these new missionaries in your prayers.
Madeleine Hackmann
From St. Louis, Missouri
Her story
I went on the short-term trip to Mexico last November and witnessed so much love and faith among the missionaries and the people of General Cepeda. After returning home I felt God was calling me at this time to be a full-time missionary.
What excites you most about missions?
Being able to share God’s love and grow in relationship with people from all over the world.
Is there a particular message you cannot wait to share with those you will serve?
God who created the universe also created them, and His love is never ending.
How has a relationship with Jesus and the Church radically changed your life?
A relationship with Jesus has brought peace into my life and has allowed me to see Jesus in those I meet.
Is there a missionary who has had a particular impact on your life? What about them inspired you?
I had been blessed very early into my discernment with a beautiful conversation with a missionary who told me, “If something comes from God it will bring you peace.”
Motto to live by
Mind over matter.
Is there a book, podcast, or hobby that you’ve been excited about recently?
Painting
Before being a missionary with FMC, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
I worked at an emergency vet clinic.
Favorite saint(s)?
St. Mary Magdalene
Read more about Madeleine on her bio page.
Luciana Diaz
From Kennesaw, Georgia
Her story
Mission trips throughout high school planted a seed for serving the poor that really sprouted in college, where I would find myself “wasting time” with the homeless, and loving being with them. After my reversion to Christ, being so loved in my own brokenness, I felt a call to give my life totally to Him as a missionary and especially to the poor.
What excites you most about being a missionary?
Living my life alongside and in closer communion with the local community where I’m sent, and getting to spend myself encountering and hopefully being a vessel of Christ’s Love to the poor and suffering.
Is there a particular message you cannot wait to share with those you will serve?
“Neither do I condemn you.” Christ does not come to condemn us, but to set us free by His love and mercy into abundant life.
Is there a missionary who has had a particular impact on your life? What about them inspired you?
Honestly, encountering the Martin family when they visited my college campus and seeing their joy, zeal for the poor, and all their kids, made me realize how much I wanted to live that life, even if it seemed daunting with having a whole family.
How has a relationship with Jesus and/or the Church radically changed your life?
His loving gaze pierced through the life of chaos, use, and emptiness I was living and called me higher to my dignity as a beloved daughter. I have been forever changed by Christ’s restoration of my own dignity and still growing in living my belovedness ever since.
Your personal motto to live by
The Lord provides
Is there a book, podcast, or hobby that you’ve been excited about recently?
Been loving listening to Catholic Stuff You Should Know, whose priests were some of mine in Denver, so I laugh a lot, feel at home, and am deeply moved by their conversations. I’ve recently also been trying to better learn the cuatro, a 4-stringed Venezuelan instrument.
Before being a missionary with FMC, what was the most unusual or interesting job you ever had?
I sold knives for a summer and a few holiday seasons and absolutely loved it haha.
Do you have a favorite saint?
Mary Magdalene…redeemed by Jesus and always at His feet!
Read more about Luciana on her bio page.
The Daigle Family
We are Zach and Layni and we have two children – Eleanor and James-Francis. We are from small towns Oberlin and Kinder, Louisiana and have been married four and a half years.
Their story
We both feel like God placed in our hearts a love for serving in missions and the poor after participating in several short-term mission trips. We talked about our desires to be missionaries even before dating and really felt God placing Family Missions Company on our hearts at the beginning of our marriage. We put that desire on the back burner to start a family and dive into our careers, but over a four-year span, the call never left. After praying a 54-Day Rosary Novena with the intention of asking God to give us clarity in how He wants us to serve Him next in our lives, we heard in prayer again this call to become missionaries with FMC.
What excites you most about being a missionary?
The thing that excites us the most about this missionary vocation is the privilege we have to serve the poor and get to know them, all while living simply among them.
Is there a particular message you cannot wait to share with those you will serve?
We can’t wait to share about Jesus’s love and mercy – that despite all of our sins, where we may come from, what we’ve done, or how we look, we have a merciful Father who longs to be in relationship with us and loves us unconditionally.
Is there a missionary who has had a particular impact on your life? What about them inspired you?
When we went on a short-term mission trip to Mexico City through FOCUS, we left there inspired by Scott Watts who is a missionary and Craig Johring who is the founder of Hope of the Poor. The joy they possessed in radically giving up a comfortable life in order to serve the poor and help them off the streets was so incredibly powerful to witness.
How has a relationship with Jesus and/or the Church radically changed your life?
Our relationship with Jesus Christ changed everything. We have found so much freedom in living a life with Jesus, and we want the whole world to experience that same freedom and to know of His great love.
Your family motto to live by
A quote that really resonates with our family is Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati’s “Verso L’Alto,” which translates “To the Heights.” This is a reminder for us that everything that we do should always point us towards Heaven, our ultimate goal.
Is there a book, podcast, or hobby that you’ve been excited about recently?
Our family is really into reading books lately. We also love exercising, and Zach likes learning history by listening to The Explorers Podcast.
Before being a missionary with FMC, what was the most unusual or interesting job you ever had?
Back in high school, Layni was a lifeguard at an outdoor waterpark, which was definitely a unique experience. Zach says his most interesting job was working the summers with his brother as a crop consultant, where they worked 12-hour days checking sugarcane fields for bugs and disease.
Do you have a favorite saint?
Layni’s favorite saint is St. John Paul II for many reasons, but especially because of his teachings on the theology of the body. Zach’s favorite saint is St. Francis of Assisi because of his radical yes to God and disciplined lifestyle.
Read more about The Daigle Family on their bio page.
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