Back in Kansas: A Tale of Our God’s Great Providence

“Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” Mt 6: 33

 Great news of God’s Providence! We wanted to share this email from the Alvarez family as they return to the States on furlough:

The USA is definitely in need of missionaries as is the rest of the world. As you know the Family Conference was a total success! We definitely had one of the busiest tables. Many who stopped by were amazed that there is a mission company that is Catholic! We had 11 families sign up for more info into mission trips and many more who took brochures and such from the table. We were left with very little on the last day. Praise the Lord!

Right after the Conference, a priest- really, THE priest whose homily led me into mission- came up to us with a specific request. He invited us to speak wherever and whenever we can all over the diocese of Wichita about missions! He was just assigned as Director of the Office of Faith Formation and more importantly for Missions. He said he doesn’t even know where to begin but that our family would be a good example to help in his ministry. Please pray that this works out great! Stacie also has accepted an invitation to give a talk on Faith at Emporia State University on September 7th! This is the school where Thomas (an Intaker this year) and Stacie’s sister, Katie, attend. Please pray for open hearts and blessings for all.

I have accepted a job at Hawker/Beechcraft to again paint private aircraft. It is a 4day 10-hr workweek shift. The difference from years past is that I am going into this job not to see how much money I can make but who I can be a light to. I know Jesus gave us this time to be His hands and feet for Him. This also gives us an opportunity to raise funds and keep our house from being foreclosed.

The Lord has been showering us with tons of blessings this past week. On Tuesday we had our water turned on and found some leaks from burst pipes from the winter. Our good friends, the Stolz family, came over to help change the plumbing. On Wednesday our electricity was turned on free of charge after Stacie called the previous day only to be told that it would cost us $350 to reconnect! FREE, I said! PTL! So, our first night back in our old house was pretty nice. We had only a few backpacks and luggage of clothes and books,etc. Jamie Stolz’s mom works at a furniture store that leases to hotels and offices around Wichita. She talked to the head guy and he asked us to make a wish list. We did. He replied with, “Good news! We have everything you’ve asked for and maybe more!” We were doing him a favor because the warehouse was WAY overstocked! Later that Wednesday, we moved in 2 vans and a trailer, enough furniture to fill the 7 bedroom house. We actually have dressers in each room with beds, an almost exact replica of our old dining table, sofas, end tables, coffee tables, a washer, 2 office desks, lamps, etc! Is God wonderful or what?! Our tiny “yes!” 3 years ago, and He wants to shower us with this! AMAZING! We didn’t even ask for this. We were prepared to sleep on the floor until I made enough to buy some Filipino floor mats 🙂

This is not to say that we are going to get really comfortable and forget everything we’ve been through. We are planning to stay very busy as stateside missionaries as stated earlier. I already volunteered to visit the prison in El Dorado, KS. A friend of ours who is active in this ministry told me how there are so many Mexican prisoners who are Catholic and have no one in their group to minister to them. I am excited about this opportunity!

We have had SO much going on these past few weeks and I was just reminded that we haven’t even been back one month yet in the US and all of this has happened. Looking forward to the next month!

P.S. We have had two couples who have expressed a desire to start community here. After we get settled, we want to start a weekly, rotating Morning Prayer or Mission Formation type gathering. Maybe an FMC branch in the Midwest?

• Odilio Alvarez

“Odilio asked me to write to you on our family’s behalf to inform you of the outcome of the meeting we had yesterday with Fr. Lies, who has recently been named the mission director for the Diocese of Wichita here in Kansas. Father is super excited that we are here. He is adding us to the board of speakers for the diocese with the intention of our family promoting a missionary lifestyle among the parishioners by sharing our mission experiences. He wants us to inspire young and old to a high level of stewardship locally, nationally, and internationally. He would like us to organize and lead short-term trips from within the diocese as well. He is particularly interested in his own parish being a sister parish to a parish overseas (we immediately thought of Fr. Joe’s parish on Camiguin).