May the Peace of Jesus Christ and the love of his Blessed Mother be with you and those you love throughout this New Year.

Mike and I are in the midst of making a 54-Day Rosary Novena. On Tuesday, January 12th, we finished our prayers and I sat down at the computer to write to you. Things were looking pretty grim and, short of a miracle, neither Mike nor I could imagine how we could possibly keep this ministry alive.

I sat there staring at the screen for a long time. Nothing would come to me so I turned off the computer and turned on the television. What I saw was horrific. There had been an earthquake in Haiti.

As I watched scene after scene, tears began streaming down my face. My heart was aching for the people of Haiti. At the same time, I was remembering scenes from the Medjugorje area that looked just like what I was seeing on our television screen: crumbled buildings, people searching for lost family members, bodies lined up on the hospital floor, children with blown off limbs, surgeries being done with no anesthesia,'dead bodies dropped in the park, blood everywhere. No matter where we looked back then, we saw people crying, or staring off into space as if their faces had been turned to stone. One that comes to mind daily is the face of a woman who, after seeing her husband blasted by an AK47, was tied to a chair and forced to watch while savage barbarians dropped her tiny infant daughter into a boiling soup pot and left her to die.

This wasn't an earthquake, an act of nature or a natural catastrophe. This was one of the most diabolical wars in history; but the world heard relatively little about it.

As, day after day, we have observed the devastation in Haiti, I have continued to return to my computer, only to walk away from it later with nothing but a blank screen. How could I possibly ask for your help to continue this ministry when the needs of the Haitian people are so great and so urgent?

On Friday, the 22nd, after Mike and I finished our Rosary Novena Prayer, I sat down at the computer, put my head in my hands and said, "Lord, what are we to do? The people we care for have no one else to help them. But how can we continue to beg for them at a time like this?"

What happened next is difficult to describe. Over the years, it has happened to me a few times. I've second-guessed it, talked to spiritual directors about it and, for the most part, pretty much kept it between Mike and me. For one thing, I've always tended to shy away from people who preface a statement with "The Lord told me..." or "Our Lady wants me..." I tend to be a real skeptic.

However, after discerning this experience with Mike and our spiritual advisers, I have come to believe that I must share it with you, not just for obvious reasons, but also for purposes that we can't begin to know or understand. Having said this, I'll do my best to describe the experience and leave the rest up to you.

I sat at the computer and, after asking the Lord where we go from here, I felt compelled to place my hands on the keyboard. Then, in a quiet voice, I heard words in my heart that I found myself typing on the computer. There were only a few words at a time. Sometimes, it was a complete sentence. After I typed it, I read it and it was like I never saw or heard it before. Then, for a long while, there would be nothing. I would try to pray but, more often than not, my mind would turn to skepticism and doubt. When that happened, I would start to get up but then another phrase or sentence would come. This kept happening over and over, from around 10:00 o'clock in the morning until almost 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon. I never left the computer. When the experience ended, I was surprised to see what time it was. It seemed like no more than an hour. This is what I read:

People who are drawn to a place of prayer and conversion, either physically or simply in their hearts, are given a great grace. When many souls are united in prayer, they have a distinct opportunity to come in closer union with Me. In that closer union, they discover My Perfect Love. The greater their understanding of My Perfect Love, the more earnest is their desire to love.

To understand My Perfect Love, one must know that love is far greater than just a feeling. It is an action - an action that is required by my Father in Heaven, be it directed toward a member of one's family or a perfect stranger. When you stand before My Father, He will ask you only one question: "How well did you love?"

You must not abandon the people across the sea that have been entrusted to your care. Providing comfort to others, at the expense of these, will give little solace to others while leaving those who depend on you in pain and hopelessness. A mother who starves her own child to feed another does not better humanity.

In the same manner, you must continue to make the needs of these people known to those with whom you are associated. This is My work, not yours, and I have put you in communication with one another for a purpose. Each of you is a unique human piece of this life-giving mosaic. If even a single piece is missing, the mosaic is incomplete and its value is diminished.

Prayer will help you avoid discouragement and have greater faith and trust in Me. Through prayer, My Mother will continue to lead you. Though the path by which She has brought you to this point has been strewn with thorns, not one step that you have taken in My Name has been taken in vain. The thorns have been there to remind you of those that were pressed into My flesh. One must feel them to begin to understand My Perfect Love. But with some thorns come roses. When you've seen them, held and cherished them, hasn't their beauty been worth the pain?

My child, I know that the burden of this ministry is heavy and that you are no longer young; but if you will persevere, I will see you through this and bring it to a conclusion that will enable you to pass it on to another and move into your later years with gentle grace. All I ask of you now is that you continue to give me your "Yes", that you share this message with others and, through prayer, expect a miracle! I will touch the hearts of those who will listen to My call and are capable of lifting your burdens. Do not delay!

You are full of fear and reluctant to share My message with anyone but your spouse. Your thoughts are, 'How can I be sure it's truly You who is speaking to my heart? Why would you speak to me when I am such a sinner? What will people think of me if I share this message?'

I say to you that this message is not intended just for you; it is also for everyone with whom you share it. Do not allow your pride or fear of rejection to prohibit them from receiving it. I am calling upon all of you to be Lamplighters in this world of darkness.

These words speak to Mike and me. We never intended to be doing this work. I don't even like to fly. My plan was to be a wife, a mother and a grandmother and to live comfortably enough so as to be able to spend all of my time with my family. That was my plan. God granted me the first part, and Jesus, through His Blessed Mother, gave us this ministry, part and parcel, joys, blessings, struggles and stress. All of it was His plan.

Within these words, there is also an answer to my question: "How can we continue this work when the Haitian people are in such great need?"

What may or may not be contained in this message for you is unknown to us; but we humbly share it with you in the hope that, in some form, Jesus will use it to speak to your heart, as well.

I initially sat down to write to you because we cannot keep going without more help. For the past two years, I've written to you around this time of the year for exactly the same reason. Many of you responded with promises of prayers; some of you also made sacrifices and sent in financial contributions. Because of your response, we've made it through another year.

But what, exactly, does that mean?

Among other things, it means that many children in the region we serve, who need medicine just to survive; children with diabetes, epilepsy, severe kidney problems, Down Syndrome and even paralysis are alive! It means that people who have had to go without food for as much as a week at a time have had food on a relatively consistent basis; little girls who were so poor that they had to stay home from school every month (because they had nothing with which to absorb their menstrual flow) are able to go to school; people who had no shoes are tying their laces today, and families that had no heat have wood stoves. It means that some families who live in a city dump, where rats chewed on the feet of their sleeping children, are up off the ground in container houses.

Two precious children, Fadila and Denis, are alive today because they came to Florida and had life-saving surgery. But that's only a partial list of what PPC, through your prayers and generosity, has accomplished this past year.

Making it through another year has also meant that our debt has continued to climb. Now well in excess of $225,000, it is far greater than we are able to manage. The reasons why this debt must be eliminated are obvious - interest payments being the biggest one.

So here we are, with a lengthy list of needs, which we will enumerate in the upcoming Peaceletter, and a huge debt that needs to be wiped out yesterday.

Last year, we asked for "Partners in Joyful Hope", people who would contribute $100 a month or $1200 for the year or more. Thankfully, some of you were able to respond to that appeal. Without our Partners, we couldn't have made it. We need even more Partners this year.

Some of you are Apostles of Love. Without your consistent support, we would have had to shut down this ministry long ago.

We are sincerely grateful to all of you - for your prayers and your contributions, from the smallest donation (57 cents) to the largest - and so are the people we serve. On behalf of all of us, our most heart-felt thank you.

What we need now is someone who can donate $225,000 or 225 people who can donate $1,000 each, or some combination thereof -  that's over and above our Partners, Apostles of Love and those who contribute to projects where 100 percent of their contributions go directly to specific individuals. This is the only way we can continue.

We need a miracle.      Sandy