Mexico has praised a 98-year-old Mexican missionary’s 40 years of outstanding service in Taiwan by naming her a recipient of the country’s 'Reconocimiento Othli' (good deeds) award.

The Institute for Mexicans Abroad presents the annual award to outstanding Mexican citizens overseas.

Sister Vega of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz (MMB) was lauded for her work with orphans and physically and mentally handicapped children, or her 'babies,' as she likes to call them.

Sister Vega’s good deeds have shown 'love without borders as well as her love and recognition to the soil of Taiwan,' said Javier Hou Ching-shan, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Sister Tecla Yue, a long-time working companion of Sister Vega, said the award-winner loves Taiwan with all her heart. She was once seriously ill in Mexico but told me that she wants to die in Taiwan.