We were home from England about a year and one of our parish priests was holding an ecumenical region-wide conference for clergy on the Charismatic Renewal. I was asked to help at the book tables. I had agreed and was going to the Shrine of the Little Flower hall with Joan Sipes and Nancy Kurek. Nan was driving and I was waiting on the front porch for her to pick Joan and me up.
As I waited, the mailman came by with a letter that was addressed to me. It was from a friend in England, Delores Omand. Delores had been in the Christian Family group I belonged to in Harrogate. She was also Mary's Pre-K teacher. Ron, Delores's husband, was in the RAF and was assigned to the post where Larry worked. We became good friends. She and Ron left Harrogate about the same time we left for the States. Ron was reassigned to another posting and Delores went home to Newcastle to spend time with her family until housing became available for her at Ron's new base.
She and I corresponded. She had written several months ago that she had been to a Charismatic prayer meeting at her former parish church in Newcastle and had been nourished spiritually and was looking forward to going on a regular basis while she was at home. At the same time I too was going to a prayer group at All Saints parish and was experiencing the Lord in a personal way so we had much to share with each other.
On the way up to Little Flower I read Delores' letter. She wrote that she was now living in an apartment in the south of England in a town called Taunton.
Ron's base was close by and she liked her apartment but she sure missed the prayer group and the support she had received from the people there. She said she had contacted the Catholic churches in Taunton to see if there were any prayer meetings in the parishes and there were none. She was very disappointed. She asked me to pray that she find a group somewhere. I put the letter into my pocket and went in to help with the books.
Ron's base was close by and she liked her apartment but she sure missed the prayer group and the support she had received from the people there. She said she had contacted the Catholic churches in Taunton to see if there were any prayer meetings in the parishes and there were none. She was very disappointed. She asked me to pray that she find a group somewhere. I put the letter into my pocket and went in to help with the books.
When the conference was over I was helping a minister from the area find a particular book he was interested in. He spoke to another clergyman who was with him and when that pastor answered him I realized he had a British accent. I asked if he was from England and local minister introduced him to me as Pastor Smith who had a very large ecumenical prayer group in England. I told Pastor Smith that I had lived in Yorkshire and asked where his church was. Taunton, England was the answer! Wow! I pulled out the letter from Delores and let him read it He was flying back to England that evening and since her address was on the letter he would contact her the next day. What a God of faithfulness have we!
The Pastor did contact Delores the following day and she went to the prayer group in his church for as long as Ron was stationed there. The Pastor told her about meeting me after I had just received her letter. All of us were just amazed at the Holy Spirit's work.
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