Delor Adams taught the disabled, deaf, brain damaged and autistic in the public schools of Joliet, Illinois, until she recently retired. But the 60-year-old woman's love for special education students never stopped.

She's made three trips by herself to South Africa to see first-hand how children with different needs were being taken care of, especially in the nation's vast rural areas. And what the veteran educator discovered shocked her. These youths with special needs received little or no attention at all.

Adams was so moved by a 15-year-old boy she met who was "walking around on all fours like an animal" that she brought him back to Illinois, where he received physical therapy and other treatments at a Shriner's children's hospital before returning home seven months later. And Mfana Mthembu can not only walk, but he attends school and has learned to read and write.

Today, the former special ed teacher is driven by one desire --- to continue her "vocation" to Africa as a full-time volunteer.

"There's always been a stirring in my heart," she told The Tidings. "I can't explain it, but it's there. And it's been there. When I went to Africa in 2001, people could not believe that I had never been to Africa before and I got on an airplane by myself not knowing where I was going to go, who I was going to be with, where I was going to stay. But I went in faith. All I knew was that plane was headed for South Africa. I just trusted in God that it would all work out. And it did."

This fall Adams is trusting in God once again. In late August, she and five others started the four-month live-in formation program of the Lay Mission-Helpers and Mission Doctors Association.

Besides Adams, the other candidates include Christine Suitze, a 22-year-old college graduate who majored in cultural anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, plus two married couples.

Josh and Rachel Knight are from Denver and have a six-month-old baby girl named Mary. The 30-year-old husband is an environmental engineer who has worked for the superfund branch of the Environmental Protection Agency, cleaning up hazardous waste sites. Rachael was an English teacher in the Peace Corps in Zimbabwe after graduating from Colorado State University.

The Walshes came from Chicago. Bill, 61, a retired general surgeon, and Kate, 60, a nurse who recently worked with severely retarded disabled children, have seven grown children of their own.

Discernment and preparation

The 120-day residential program stresses community living, participative learning and prayer. There are weekly classes in mission theology, scripture and adult development as well as two-to-three-day workshops covering mission history, social analysis, communication skills, educational methods, cross-cultural living, intimacy and sexuality overseas, social change and violence, and contemporary moral issues.

Through these classes and workshops, plus reflection groups, daily prayer and community life, candidates go through the final phase of discernment and also prepare for mission life and work as Lay Mission-Helpers and Mission Doctors in Third World countries.

"We try to prepare our candidates before they go overseas, because when you go overseas all your support systems and the way you dealt with everything here is gone," pointed out Janice England, executive director of the Lay Mission-Helpers. "We know they go because they're motivated by their faith, and so we try to strengthen that faith foundation with the formation program."

The lay missionaries in training are also given the tools to handle a cross-cultural experience. In addition, they simply learn about themselves. By becoming more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, hopefully, the better they'll be able to handle difficult situations that arise in the mission fields.

"The four months is also the time to develop community with Lay Mission-Helpers and Mission Doctors," England explained. "Because the way we had it before, candidates lived on their own and came together a few times a week. And then you expect them to go overseas and figure out how to do community. While four months is a short time, it's at least a start on how to form a community."

When Msgr. Anthony Brouwers founded the Lay Mission-Helpers in 1955 and Mission Doctors four years later, he felt so strongly that the neophyte missionaries needed a solid formation that he designed a nonresidential program for candidates that lasted some 16 months. Later, the training regimen was reduced to nine months. And since 2000, when candidates started living together in a former convent in South Los Angeles, the program has been designed for four months.

As a Lay Mission-Helper herself, England served in Sierra Leone, West Africa, from 1989 to 1993. The formation program helped her make up her mind and deepen her faith.

"For me, it really solidified my decision," she recalled. "I mean, I was nervous because I never really considered mission more than a few months before I entered the program --- mainly because I didn't know it was available for lay people. I thought Catholic missionaries were priests and sisters. And I got to know more about Lay Misison-Helpers. Plus, it strengthened my spiritual or faith base."

The director hopes the intense formation does the same for current candidates.

"I hope they're more confirmed in their faith and become more aware of the struggles and the blessings of mission life as well as become better equipped to serve in the missions," England stressed. "You couldn't get this kind of formation anywhere else with such diverse topics and the expertise we have with our faculty. It's not only a reeducation in their faith, but a time to reflect on their own lives. You don't get that chance often."

'A little more sacrificing'

Kate Walsh said serving in the missions had been a dream of her physician husband since he was a medical resident at the University of Missouri 30 years ago. But at the time, the young couple had five young kids and couldn't imagine moving their entire family to Los Angeles for almost a year of training and then abroad for another three years.

Half-smiling, she reported that Bill's "Catholic guilt" never went away. So when all of their eventual seven children were finally out of their house, he brought up the mission idea again. But the mother admits that it was still "very hard" to leave her close-knit Midwest family.

"I realize that the Lord has told us to help other people, to share the gifts that we have," Kate said. "You know, I'm willing to do that. Because when you work, you're sharing your gifts, but you're getting paid, too. So being a Mission Doctor or Lay Mission-Helper is something that you have to do a little more sacrificing."

Her expression changed. And when she spoke again, her tone was more somber.

"Right now I'm wanting people to give me help in this way because I feel like I'm not ready yet emotionally," she said. "But I have confidence that they're going to help me. So I'm glad we have this formation period. I'm very glad."

For information on the Lay Mission-Helpers, call (213) 368-1870.