Sister Anastasia (Yunju) Lee
Current Ministry Location: Brazil
Sister Anastasia was born July 21st, 1972 in Seoul, Korea to Jungia Kim Lee and Giljin Lee. She had 1 brother. She graduated from Sang Myung Girls High School, Seoul, Korea in 1991. Sister Anastasia also attended Kiikmin University in Seoul where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Pedagogy in 1996.
Sister Anastasia became a Catholic in 1999 and, because she had always been attracted to mission, she she lived with some Maryknoll Sisters in Korea to see how they lived and worked, she saw that they had special skills in medicine and teaching, and that they saw local needs as important to respond to. She was impressed, noticed that the Sisters were different, and wanted to be part of their community.
After spending ten years as an English teacher in Korea, Sister Anastasia entered the Congregation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY on August 14th, 2005. Then, she spent two years in the Sisters Orientation house in Chicago, IL participating in courses at the Catholic Theological Union as well as other preparatory studies regarding mission and religious life. She had already worked with street people in Korea. In Chicago, she worked in a soup kitchen for street people. She served the food and ate at the same table as the street people.
Sister Anastasia pronounced First Vows on August 12th, 2007 and Final Vows September 28th, 2014, both at the Sisters Center.
Sister Anastasia’s first assignment was to Kenya, East Africa in 2008. She studied Swahili in Tanzania before joining the Maryknoll Sisters Peacebuilding team based in Kenya. After giving service in several offices at the Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY, Sister Anastasia was assigned to Bolivia, effective June 1st, 2010 and to Brazil in 2015.