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The guys are into the experience of summer in Florida. It’s been hot, humid and rainy, pretty much every day with heavy thunderstorms and boiling hot (100 degrees). The guys are feeling the heat! We’ve had a few guys leave, Darren and Lucas, and a couple of guys, Aaron and Cody, did not come back after verifica. It has been painful, also because through experience we know well what has happened to many guys who left early. Many of them are back to the old life! Our prayers are with them!
At OLOH we are working on building the stage for the Festival in October. Then we will set up the tent. We are making some changes on it. We had to wait to set up because of the weather in Florida especially now during hurricane season. In the meantime, we are working hard to start the garden for the winter and are doing a lot of landscaping. The grass is growing like crazy! We also had to finish doing the siding of the house. It looks good, and we will paint the outside now. What we are trying to do is really refresh the house of OLOH for the anniversary of Comunita Cenacolo in America in October and for the arrival of Mother Elvira who has already confirmed her visit in October!
At Mary Immaculate we are very excited because we have all the permits ready for the dormitory. We will are starting working as soon we can line up the needed subcontractors and purchase materials. If anyone wants to help it is greatly appreciated because we need to build this place quickly. It will give us more space that we badly need to be able to accept more guys into Community. It is painful to tell people “no” when they are crying for help. I am sure you remember how you felt. Almost every day I receive desperate phone calls with moms crying and asking for help. Many times we need to say “no” because of space or because we do not have enough old guys in Community. It is sad.
We just celebrated Minh (Vietnamese) exiting Community for good after 5 years. Last night with a great party. It was a lot of fun and also sad to see him go! But it is his time and his desire! He is going home for a visit and then will visit three religious communities. He wants to consecrate his life as a brother to serve. We hope he will find a place that will fit him! For sure he is a “legend” of Comunita Cenacolo.
We went on a quick trip to Birmingham to visit our friend Bishop Baker, who wanted us to see a property that could fit for our Community. He has the great desire to have a Community house in his diocese. We are praying about it, and the guys are doing a Novena to the Blessed Mother for the Feast of the Assumption, asking her to intercede in this important decision. We know that Jesus will give us His answer!
Our guys in Europe are doing ok so far, including the ones who were transferred after the Festival of Life in Italy. In Medjugorje the guys did the show at the youth festival the night before a concert of Andrea Boccelli. I did speak with someone from Medjugorje who told me that it went great. There were about 40,000 people along with Mother Elvira, Fr. Stefano, and Fr. Ivan. After the show the guys worked all night to take everything apart. They ended up working at 11 am, and they also loaded a semi. The Friars that organized the youth festival praised them for the great will and determination that our guys have working. My prayer is that the same will and determination will grow here in the states where our guys many times look for the easy and comfortable way!
I heard from Shawn’s dad who just came back from an experience in Lourdes. He said that our Americans are doing well, and Dan Neja is in the garden. He’s already lost some weight going up and down the hill! Good for him! He is the father of Dan that is in Peru, and he is spending 3 months in Community in Lourdes. We are very proud of him.
We have DVD’s of the show in the spring “ The Passion of Christ,” CD’s that we made for the Congress in Canada, and copies of the book A Hope Reborn, written by Comunita Cenacolo. Many of you got it at the Festival. We highly recommend that you get it. You can order by emailing us at info@hopereborn.org
Ciao
Grazie
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