Dear friends,

I guess you all know how it feels to suddenly leave home and not see your loved ones for several years. If it were not for email, IM, Skype, international telephone cards, Facebook, Friendster, Twitter and other electronic ways to connect to our loved ones, it can get very lonely, painful and difficult.

In the Philippines, one out of every 10 Filipinos has chosen to work abroad because of the worsening economic situation in the Philippines. It is very common nowadays to have one member of the family working abroad to support the entire family. Many stories have been told about the sacrifices and loneliness that migrant workers have to endure. Often, they are left to their means to face these challenges.

It is in this spirit that we invite you to join us on a special outing on June 26, 2011. We will visit the Redemptorist church in Wittem, Maastricht where we will pray a novena to the Mother of Perpetual Help, not only for our personal intentions, but also for Filipino migrant community's intentions. On the way to Wittem, we will stop for lunch at the scenic Kasteeltuinen van Arcen (a beautiful castle garden with a small zoo).

For several years now, we have been responding to appeals for support for migrant Filipino workers who have fallen victims of neglect, discrimination, illnesses and injustice. We have raised funds, written letters and organized community actions. We also pray for them, but now, we want to include the fervor of communities of devotees to the Mother of Perpetual Help --- praying a special novena together --- for migrant workers and their loved ones. We will pray this special novena during our trip. Enclosed is a novena guide that you can put in your Bible or anywhere else where you will see it at least once a day. This special novena is a community prayer composed of nine dedications for migrant workers and their loved ones. While most novenas are done in nine consecutive days, this special novena can be done in one day. But we do hope that you will bring your family and friends to pray this novena with us to generate the strong fervor of a community of the faithful praying together.

A special bus will be available for those who wish to join the outing. The bus will leave the Amstel station at 7:30 am and pick up people at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht at 8:30 am. We expect to be at the Kasteeeltuinen van Arcen at 10:30 am where we can enjoy lunch and some sightseeing. At 1:30 pm, we leave the Kasteeltuinen and proceed to Wittem for the Perpetual Help novena where we can pray for all migrant workers, their loved ones and for our own personal intentions. At 6:00 pm, we get back on our bus and go back to Utrecht and Amsterdam. The whole trip will cost 40 euros per person including the entrance fee to the Kasteeltuinen van Arcen. Pack lunch and bring something to share with others. Only a limited number of passengers can be accommodated by the bus, so please call me to reserve a place for you.  

We hope that you can join us on this important trip. What better way to spend a day than being with friends (and new acquaintances), sightseeing and praying as a community?

In Christ,

Mitchy Mallorca-Saturay
Tel: 0613108029