I am Sister Sara Huillcahua Palomino. I have ten siblings and was born in Ccoya, a little village in the mountains of Abancay, Apurimac. Back then there were only six families in my village living in stone farmhouses. There was no road and we only spoke Quechua. Every day we walked two hours to school. When we returned, we had to go for the animals in the hills above the village, another two hours walk.

My mother used to say, “I am going to pray the rosary and to Holy Mass.” I always wanted to go to find out what the rosary was (I imagined it was many roses) and as we only spoke Quechua, I thought the word “Mass” referred simply to a table. However, my mother didn’t take me to those meetings because of the distance. I always wanted to know about God.

When I finished elementary school I went to live in the city. The day I left my village I had a feeling that I would never return. I didn’t know what would become of me, but God was always with me though I didn’t realize it.

When I arrived in the city I had to work to support myself so I worked during the day and studied at night for three years. It was difficult since I was the youngest in the classroom. I was a twelve-years-old among mostly adults.

The second year of living in this situation my older brother introduced me to the “dining room” for girls directed by the Missionary Servants of the Poor married couples. I attended it for a year and after a year I heard them talking about the Missionary Servants of the Poor Sisters. On the patio I saw some sick children that were being cared for by some teenage girls and I wondered how I could become one of these girls who were happy taking care of children and fervently praying in the chapel. However, I didn’t dare to ask anyone since I was very shy. When I was invited on a retreat, I felt called to enter the community. The Mother Superior accepted me and I entered as an aspirant on January 6, 2002.