All of Nora Pfeiffer's 25 years seem to have been building toward this moment.

She’s spiritually-formed, well-educated and familiar with community-type living. She’s worked hard, talked with trusted friends and prayed. And, as a result, she leaves Jan. 5 to dedicate the next three years of her life to working with the poor in Bolivia.

Though Pfeiffer is anxious about the experience that will keep her from her Fairfax home for two Christmases, she’s ready to dive in.

One of her favorite quotes, she said in a recent interview, is from Mother Teresa: “We forget that we belong to each other.”

“If we belong to each other, we should probably get to know each other,” said Pfeiffer, a parishioner of St. Mary of Sorrows Parish in Fairfax. “I’m going to live as a member of this one Body of Christ. It’s not just my work, but the work of the whole Church.”

According to its Web site, the Franciscan Mission Service “provides Catholic lay women and men the opportunity to serve and partner with poor and oppressed communities around the world.”

To do this, Pfeiffer will travel from BWI Airport in Baltimore, Md., to Cochabamba, in central Bolivia. For the first five months she'll attend Spanish language school, then she’ll begin her “ministry of presence” in the poor community.

Communities have played a large role in Pfeiffer’s life, starting with a family group program at St. Mary. At the University of Richmond, where she graduated from in 2006 with a double major in sociology and German, she was active in campus ministry and was affected by the community-focused Encounter with Christ retreat.

During annual alternative spring break programs, Pfeiffer first experienced the “ministry of presence.” “The staff would say, ‘it’s important to (fix) the roof, but put your hammer down and go inside and talk with the people. That’s more important,’” she said. “As I continued to go, I began to recognize that immense gift of spending time with someone.”

After an “incredibly formative” year volunteering with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, during which she lived a life of simplicity in community, Pfeiffer came back to the Washington area to work for the Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place in downtown D.C. There she worked with near-homeless adults with serious mental illness and learned that it takes time to build relationships and trust — knowledge that helped pave the way for her experience in Bolivia.

Still feeling like she was looking for more out of life, one morning, while praying at adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament, Pfeiffer felt God asking her: “How will you honor Me?”

Challenged to continue discerning God’s will for her, Pfeiffer participated in the JustFaith program in 2007-08, another small community that challenged her to live life “through the lens of the Gospel.” She prayed and talked to those whom she trusted. She attended the young adult discernment conference Catholics on Call at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in June, asking, “What I should do with this life that I’ve been given?”

Her answer, for now, is to go to Bolivia. To do this, she needs $20,000 — one-third of the total cost of the three-year program. She currently has $15,000 to go to meet her goal. The money goes toward housing, food, health insurance and training.

The St. Mary community has been overwhelmingly supportive, Pfeiffer said, and she feels like it’s an adventure they are embarking on together. “This is not just me going,” she said. “I feel like I am a part of St. Mary’s, and a part of this community in Virginia, and I go as an extension of them. It’s not just my journey, but it’s theirs as well. I hope that people will continue to support me throughout this time in Bolivia and know that we’re in this together.”

To help her stay connected to her family and friends back home, Pfeiffer will keep a blog chronicling her time in Bolivia. But before she leaves, Pfeiffer will spend one more Advent and Christmas with her family — an appropriate time of year for her to reflect on her upcoming mission.

“Advent is great because it’s reminding us of how open (Mary) was to accepting (her) call,” Pfeiffer said. “There’s a call for each of us. I’m hoping we can encourage each other in saying ‘yes.’ If we all say ‘yes,’ this world will really change in a good way.”

On the Web

To support Pfeiffer, go to franciscanmissionservice.org. Keep tabs on her work by visiting her blog at norainbolivia.blogspot.com.