We are happy to inform you that Fr. Sergio Hernandez Ochomogo, pastor of Our Lady Of Mercy, our Sister Parish in Granada, Nicaragua, and Augusto Sandino the director of Corpus Christi Foundation are coming to visit our parish September 14 to the 22. Fr. Sergio has been a priest for 26 years and a brother for La Salle prior to priesthood. He is an active member of the world wide brotherhood of the Fraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The purpose of this trip is for us to get to know each other and to strengthen our relationship as Sister Parishes. Fr. Sergio wants to thank you personally for your support, the time and effort that you have given to assist him with the great needs of his parish.

Fr. Sergio is a humble loving priest whose only purpose in life is to serve others especially the poor and needy. Please keep Fr. Sergio and Augusto in your prayers that they may have a safe journey and let us welcome them with the love of Christ.

Activities for the Fr. Sergio’s visit include:

Wednesday, September 16, 7PM--a reception in the cafeteria;

Thursday, September 17, 7PM--Father Sergio will celebrate Mass in Spanish with a healing service following and refreshments in the library;

Friday, September 18--talk in Spanish about the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus;

Saturday, September 19--Father will lead a healing service after the vigil masses;

Sunday, September 20--Father will lead a healing service after the 11:30AM, 2PM and the 7PM Masses. We hope that you will take time to talk with Fr. Sergio and learn more about the work he is doing at Our Lady of Mercy in Granada.

Take this opportunity to get to know Fr. Sergio and ask him questions about our Sister Parish or visit with him after each Mass the weekend of September 19 and 20. God bless you and thanks again for your prayers and support.

This past June, Tim and Lorena Mainhart, Enedino Aquino, Marcos Lopez and Salvador Ornelas visited Our Sister Parish, Our Lady of Mercy in Granada, Nicaragua. The following is a message from Enedino Aquino:

Blessings from God and your servant Enedino Aquino. I am the coordinator of the Hispanic Ministry of Our Lady of Grace. My intention of this letter is to let you know of the experience that I lived in the community of Our Sister Parish, Our Lady of Mercy during my visit this last June. During the week of our visit to Our Lady of Mercy we had the opportunity of experiencing God's love as we witnessed how these young people were able to feel God's presence and live with hope thanks to the generosity of many. I'm referring to YOU the community of Our Lady of Grace that gave the economic help without personal interest and with a charitable heart. YES I'm referring to you who are reading these lines and know how to share your treasures, talents and time so others can have a promising future. I want to say that you are making a difference for these young people. I'm telling you that I was able to feel it and to live it personally. You can be satisfied that the help you sent to Nicaragua is being used for the ones that needed the most. I visited grateful families with these words in their lips: "Tell everyone that helped us that we say thank you for giving our children an opportunity". They said it with tears in their eyes and trembling lips with emotions and I felt their gratitude through their hugs. I am a living testimony that between our communities the one that helped and the one that received was an action of God.
I want only to add that you are in my prayers and I ask God to pour all of His love on you and yours.
Continue with this great labor remembering the words of the Sacred Scripture: In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

In the middle of June Enedino Aquino who serves the Hispanic Community of Our Lady of Grace and two companions from the Hispanic Ministry, are going to be traveling to Granada, Nicaragua to visit our Sister Parish. The purpose of this trip is to learn more about Fr. Sergio's ministry and to work with the youth of the Corpus Christi Foundation. Enedino will also give a retreat for the youth and assist Fr. Sergio in the different ministries of our Sister Parish with the hope that we can become more involved with this ministry as a parish and to learn from each other. The men are going to finance their own expenses including airfare and meals. Tim and Lorena are also going to Nicaragua around the same time and will be able to introduce Enedino and his companions to our brothers and sister of Our Lady of Mercy. We ask you to keep us on your prayers that we may have a productive and safe trip.

Testimony of the conversion of Elias Israel Jimenez Gonzales
Youth member of Corpus Cristi Foundation
Our Lady of Mercy, Granada, Nicaragua

Hi, I want you to know how the Almighty God has worked in me. The Lord bless you and keep you.

I'm 18 years old, my name is Elias Israel Jimenez Gonzales. I finished my high school in 2007. I studied at the public school "Dr. Lorenzo Guerrero". I came to the youth movement of Corpus Christi Foundation of Our Lady of Mercy Church at the end of September of 2007 and since then I have actively participated in the  Evangelization Committee and as an altar boy.

I'm in the first year of a Catholic University (Unica) and I'm studying Theology with a scholarship from Corpus Christi Foundation. This means that for me the year 2009 is a vocational year, with the hope to be accepted in the Diocese of Granada to enter in the Seminary of Saint Paul of the Catholic Religion.

I have faith in God that being a priest is my vocation.

I have the pleasure of having the Reverend  Fr Sergio Hernandez Ochomogo,  Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in Granada, Nicaragua and the president of Corpus Christi Foundation as my spiritual guide.

I have a lot to say about my particular case as a young men that is experiencing a radical change  in my life, since I accepted the conversion to Christianity.  I will be brief.

My parents are Manuel Salvador Jimenez y Esbelia Antonia Gonzales Meneses.  I have one sister, Claudia Nohemi Jimenez Gonzales, who also got to know the Lord and converted to Christianity. She was baptized, confirmed and received first communion in April 9 of 2007.

We come from a family of poor economic resources. My mother practices in the  Protestant religion and my father is a pagan. During my childhood, I remember that my sister Claudia and I worshiped in a Temple that my mother used to take us.

Due to diverse family problems occurring between 14 and 16 years of age, I was lost, doubted the existence of God. I didn't believe in anything. I used to ask myself  "why  are there so many churches if there is only one God?, which is the real church? etc."and due to my Protestant background I never believed or tried to know about the Catholic Religion.

I was lost, without direction, not knowing what to do. I was looking for the truth but I didn't know where to find it. One day toward the end of September of 2007, my sister and my cousin who was also Protestant, but was on the way of the truth inspired by the Lord, King of the Christians, invited me to participate in the Youth Movement of Corpus Christi Foundation.

All the young people of that movement, there are more than 70, welcomed me with open arms and started to instruct me on the faith. They started to help me to come out of the dark hole that I was in. Above all, I give thanks to God because He called me, opened His heart to me and has shown me His merciful love.

Several months went by and with the great joy  of my new friends from the Youth Movement of Corpus Christi Foundation and the kindness of Fr Sergio, I decided to confront all the adversities, including the opposition of my family, and I received the Holy Sacraments from the hands of my spiritual guide, Fr Sergio Hernandez.

I was baptized in the Catholic Religion, I received confirmation and Holy communion the 11 of May of 2008, the Day of Pentecost.

Now, I am very happy, I feel peace and tranquility in my soul and I fight to continue ahead by the grace and glory of God. Amen.

Elias Israel Jimenez Gonzales

Elias and his sister, Claudia, and many other students like them are being supported by the Corpus Christi Foundation and the work of Our Lady of Mercy. When you "Adopt-a-Student" and sponsor him or her for a year, you are providing for students like Elias and Claudia.

This past Autumn Our Lady of Grace students collected clothing to send to the poor children of our Sister Parish, Our Lady of Mercy. After sorting the clothing out by size and gender, we loaded it into a rental truck and we (Tim and Lorena) drove off to New Orleans, Louisiana. Fourteen hours later we arrived in New Orleans. On December 16, we loaded the boxes into a container to be shipped to Nicaragua. The container was taken by truck to the dock and shipped by boat through the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. From the Gulf of Mexico, the container continued its journey on the Atlantic Ocean to Puerto Cortez in Honduras. In Honduras, the container was loaded on to a truck and transported to Managua, Nicaragua. In Managua, the container was held by Customs for two weeks until completely inspected by Custom personnel. When the container was released, the boxes were loaded onto a truck and transported it to Granada, Nicaragua (one hour drive). The boxes were delivered to Fr. Sergio on January 13. He received the shipment with open arms and great joy. The total traveling time for the container from New Orleans to Nicaragua was four days. (There were delays in Customs due to the Holy Days.) Thank you Our Lady of Grace students for dressing up the poor and above all for the love of Christ in your hearts. God bless you all...