With Gratitude for Your Generosity and God’s Providence!
We are writing to give you an update on the situation in our novitiate. We shared with you the mold problem that demanded a complete cleansing of the novitiate corridor. The mold remediation has been completed and we will have the mold level tested again to make sure that the area is clear.
The next step that we are facing is how to make sure that the problem does not recur, not only in the novitiate but throughout the monastery. We have had a professional evaluation done and we are awaiting their conclusions and recommendations.
We do not know what this will involve. Obviously, a monastery is not a small building. But the health dangers to the Sisters from mold are serious and we need to take the necessary steps.
We are most grateful to all of you who have generously contributed to help us in this matter! We could not have faced whatever needs to be done without your help and we pray that God will reward you for your kindness to us!
God has providentially provided for us in another aspect of this situation. Carmelite furniture is very simple, and the furnishings of our cells are mostly made of wood. Because of this, nearly all the furniture in the novitiate was contaminated and had to be thrown out! We have seven cells for our novices, and they are all now completely empty of furniture! We were at our wits’ end wondering how we would refurbish the cells for our novices and applicants.
In His providence, God put us in touch with a convent in the area that had recently closed. The Sisters most generously let us take whatever furniture we needed without asking for even a penny! We are tremendously grateful to them for helping us in this way and we give thanks to God for His fatherly care!
We can now look forward in peace to whatever decisions need to be made in the future, and we can again welcome the young women who are interested in joining our Carmel.
All this thanks to God and to you!
Our newly acquired novitiate furniture!