As you may know, this past January a group of parishioners traveled with Fr. John to our sister parish in the Dominican Republic. Our primary purpose was to assist with the completion of the renovation of St. Joseph Chapel in the outlying impoverished community of La Enea. This trip was most successful indeed as we witnessed the fruits of hard labor from everyone involved. The chapel was beautified beyond belief in testament to the outpouring of support and prayers from St. John’s parish.

It is said that God works in mysterious ways, and certainly the following story illustrates this greatly! On the 4th day of our 8-day stay, a few from our group traveled to the public market to purchase food for the helpful chapel neighbor, Francesca, and for whoever was the poorest person in the community. At that time, we did not know who that was. We purchased rice, beans, spaghetti, sauce, coffee, fish (bakala), eggs, and cooking oil. The next day, after giving food to Francesca and sharing in her smiles and hugs, we inquired as to who the poorest person was. The community members told us of a woman living in the woods with her family. We were told to wait for her to come out to us for the area she lives in is muddy knee-deep from the recent rain. Off in the distance, a person walked closer to where we stood. We were introduced to Nidia Mayi and we presented her with our gifts of food. She was completely overjoyed and emotional and she thanked us many times over. We invited Nidia and her family to attend the celebration Mass in the chapel on Monday and we shared in photos and hugs again!

After a weekend in the capitol visiting the sights, we arrived back to La Enea for the final night of our journey. Upon entering St. Joseph Chapel, Nidia immediately ran over to our parishioner Pat Adam and placed a note in her hand. She repeated gracias several times and it was Pat’s impression that this was a “thank you” note for the food. Later that evening, after arriving to Santiago for our departure in the morning, Pat opened the note which was written in Spanish. Our parishioner Leocadia DeLeon cried big tears as she translated what Nidia wrote:

“When I saw the good and generous things that you did, I would like to ask you some humanitarian help through these words. I need help to build a house. I am unable to do it because I am poor. It’s not because of me but for my children. There are four, three of them girls. When there is too much rain it is not possible for a tranquil moment because the house we are in now is in bad extreme condition. There is no floor. Another thing is that I feel so thankful because of the gift you gave me last Friday. I hope God will bring these words from this paper in your hand to your heart. Thank you.”

Building a home for the Mayi family is our next project in our sister parish community. Bring these words into your heart….please help us help them.

Contact our pastor, Fr. John MacInnis, or Pat Adam (978-532-1083).