A few years ago, our beloved Sr. Mary Handmaid of Jesus was struck by a truck while she was walking on the road. She was injured badly and required a large amount of convalescent care. When she was released from the hospital, we brought her to the convent, in order for her to continue healing at home.
At that time, we came to realize that our place was not designed to meet her needs. We had no ramps for wheelchairs and the rooms were too small to comfortably care for someone who was injured or sick. We were limited in our movements and our ability to care for her.
As sisters in a community, it is our responsibility to take good care of our sick, injured and elderly missionaries. Our eyes were opened to the challenge before us, which was to provide a home where we can care for those sisters in need. We decided to commit to building a home for that purpose. With that realization and subsequent decision, we began to fundraise, to ask for help from those who were willing and able to help us, and to source out work to complete our project.
Because of the Providence of God, we are currently building the first phase of our project. Phase one includes the first floor, with four spacious rooms, all with individual bathrooms. We are planning to add more rooms on the second floor and we pray that God will help us complete the project in time.
We dream of a home where our older missionaries can rest and retire and where our sick members can find healing and peace. We work with the goal to build a place where sacrifices and prayers will continue to be a manifestation of the sisters’ missionary lives, even though they are afflicted by sickness or old age. We hope to give them a home where they can live out their vocation, so that their espousal with Christ remains steadfast. We hope that this will be a place where the sisters’ gifts continuously flourish and their community life is nourished.
Our new convent will be located at the SOLT Regionalate Center in Putiao, Sorsogon. This future home is perfectly conducive to cultivate the vulnerable sisters’ creative energies for arts, music, writing, gardening, spiritual activities, mentoring the other missionaries, or even writing books or memoirs. This is where the oil of the lamp is kept burning until the dawn when the bridegroom will take his spouse for the final homecoming.
We are grateful to all of our benefactors around the world, and we humbly ask for your prayers as this project continues to grow. God bless you.