Last week, St Teresa´s, our centre in London, received a very special guest. Agnes Staskauskaite shares one week with the Sisters, experiencing their daily routine. She tells us about her experience in this interview.
📌How was the experience with the Sisters?
The experience was so great, I expected the atmosphere to be colder and after a week I feel at home. I lived in this country years ago but it never felt like home, but now I can feel it.
I had a lot of experience in life before. I studied law, worked in economics and now I am a construction manager in my country, Lithuania. Those were difficult experiences, but I always had the feeling that I was missing something. Now I feel that I have found the piece of the puzzle I have always been looking for. I feel like never before, completely at peace. It is God’s call. I can’t wait to start the new chapter of my life as a Sister.
📌When did you feel that call from God that you mentioned before?
Since I was a child, I have always felt inside me that I would like to be a Sister, but a few years ago, my mother was ill and I was taking care of her. At that moment, I realised that I wanted to do this with more people. This increased my desire to want to help the most vulnerable.
📌How did you discover the Hospitaller Sisters?
It was because of my desire to help people I mentioned before. The Sisters Hospitallers congregation helps the most needy, people who suffer from mental health problems, and this proposal is very important to me. In my country mental health is very stigmatised so this work is very significant and necessary.
📌What has surprised you most about your week with the Sisters?
Honestly, I have always been a very critical person, but here, in Santa Teresa, there is nothing I don’t like. The Sisters are very genuine, you can see the vocation and hospitality even in their eyes.
But what has impressed me the most is that my faith is stronger than before (something that seemed impossible a week ago).