Fesoasoani Mai ia Matou…

 

I Faʻatoa foʻi mai lava mai Louisiana ma Misisipi, ma le mea moni, na faʻaalia le alofa tunoa o Keriso ia i matou. O le a le galo ia te aʻu le ata na ou vaʻaia ina ua pupula oʻu mata i le afiafi mulimuli i le matou taimi tapunia o le Faʻamanuiaga. E toʻatele tagata mai le ekalesia na toeitiiti lava a tumu, na latou faʻataʻamilomiloina le fatafaitaulaga, e toʻatele na fetagisi, aʻo latou sioa atu i le Eucharistic foliga o Keriso i le le mautonu. Na latou potopoto faʻataʻamilo ia Iesu pei o ni mamoe o loʻo moʻomia se leoleo mamoe ina ia latou saogalemu ma saogalemu i Lona afioaga.

Mo laʻu vaega, ua ou lagona na foaʻi mai e le Alii ia te aʻu a Eseese ituaiga lototetele i nei aso. O le fualaʻau, i le tele o itu, oo tatou taimi ua oʻo mai i le sili atu taulaʻi. Na ausia se taua faaleagaga i le tusiaina o le O le Sili Culling. Faatasi ai ma lena, ua mafai ai ona tatou faitau i totonu faaupuga tonu o le a le "iʻuga taimi" foliga mai: o le "aganuʻu o le olaga" faʻatusatusa i le "aganuʻu o le oti".

O lenei tauiviga e tutusa lelei ma le taua apocalyptic o loʻo faamatalaina i le (Rev 11: 19-12: 1-6, 10 i le taua i le va o le "fafine ua ofu i le la" ma le "tarako"]. Taua faʻafuaseʻi ma le Ola: o le “aganuʻu o le oti” e taumafai e faʻamalosia o tatou manaʻoga e ola ai, ma ola ai i le atoaga… E tele vaega o le lalolagi e le mautonu e uiga i le mea saʻo ma le mea e sese, ma e i ai le alofa tunoa o i latou le malosiʻaga e "fausia" manatu ma tuʻuina atu i luga o isi.  —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Cherry Creek State Park Homily, Denver, Colorado,

O le mafuaaga lena, a o ou talaʻi i totonu o ekalesia eseese ma ou sii maia upu a John Paul II o loo tatou "feagai ma le finauga mulimuli i le va o le Ekalesia ma le tetee i le lotu, le Talalelei ma le tetee i le Talalelei…", ou te faaopoopoina i taimi uma upu , "… O le fafine ua ofu i le la e faafeagai ma le tarako, le aganuu o le olaga faafeagai ma le aganuu o le oti, Keriso faʻasaga i le Anetikeriso."O lena, ma e i ai le mautinoa mautinoa i le faanatinati oo tatou taimi. O ai, e le o tatalo ma "mataala ma tatalo," e le mafai ona iloa o le mautu o le lalolagi ua faʻatautau nei e le filo?

 

URGENCY

Which is why I must turn to you once again, in another rare appeal, to help this apostolate continue our work of teaching, encouragement, and strengthening while there is still time to do so. It will come as no surprise to you that, in this stormy economic time, our donations, which we greatly depend upon, have dropped tele this year. So much so, that we have had to remortgage the farm just to finance our ministry and keep food on the table. So be it. Lea and I are also ready to lose everything for Christ if that’s what will glorify Him most.

But I’ve also had readers tell me recently that, because we rarely ask for donations, they simply don’t grasp the needs of this ministry. Perhaps that is so. I don’t ask often because—right or wrong—I never want to leave the impression that this ministry has a “catch”; or that it’s “all about the money.” And so I let the bleeding continue until we need a transfusion.

 

WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU SUPPORTING?

This is a full-time ministry for my wife and I, and has been for 12 years now. My wife, Lea, is truly the backbone, handling bookings, website design, album cover and book artwork, and other asundries. On the ministry tools side, our only employee, Colette, handles online orders, retailers, inventory, and other duties. She is a blessing from God that has enabled Lea and I to have a family life with our eight children. For my part, my focus is on transmitting the “word of God” according to the teachings of our Catholic Faith through word and song. This involves travel for missions, retreats, conferences, concerts, and occasionally schools. My time at home is then focused upon writing, my webcasts, and producing whatever special projects, such as my upcoming album, that is on the burner. This year, between my travels to the studio and missions, it has been very difficult to focus on the web-content. However, my hope this Fall is to find a bit more routine that will allow me to focus on the larger readership that has amassed these past seven years. With proper financial support, I’ll be able to better do that.

Below are specific needs that we have. Please pray about how you can become a direct partner in helping us continue this apostolate. I can tell you that the fruit is remarkable, and for that we give God thanks. I have met many souls in my travels who tell me this website is their maea faaola in these times; and then others who were in the clutches of sin, and have found a new freedom in Christ through these teachings; and yet others who have had some dramatic conversions, including entering the Catholic Church. To all these, we bow in awe toward the mystery of Christ working among us.

 

MANATU

This year, our ministry and family has had a terrible string of vehicle breakdowns. We estimate around $18,000 in costs so far, and our vehicles are scheduled for more repairs yet. Needless to say, what family of ten has that kind of money sitting around!

Tour Bus

Many of my travels involve the use of a motorhome that has taken us over a hundred thousand miles across North America. But it is getting old requiring more frequent major repairs. The mileage is too high, the value too little for us to sell, as hard as we’ve tried. This coming Fall, we are in need of new tires and a serious alignment ($4000). Moreover, we simply need help sustaining the ongoing monthly payments, which are a mortgage in themselves:

$ 750 / masina

Balance owing: $81,000

potu

Our ministry studio (for studio post-production and webcasts) has been damaged in two wind storms recently. We need to replace the shingles fairly urgently. Our cost is estimated at $5-6000.

totogi

In order to cover our staff costs, we need to raise $2500 monthly. This only covers our employee.

Tupe Faʻaleleia

The blog subscription service, website fees, shopsite fees, phone, utilities and such are approximately $1000 each month.

Album Costs

My new albums coming out this Fall are sounding beautiful. But they’ve also incurred some unexpected costs. We are approximately $15,000 over our initial budget.

 

HELPING OUT…

There are three ways you can support our ministry. All that information is available by clicking the Support button below. You can use PayPal, a credit card, or cheque. There is also the option to make a monthly or one-time donation. (And for those who donate over $75, they will receive 50% off on all my books, CD’s and artwork in the store!) A gentleman in the United States has also agreed to match our donations up to $7500. So your generous donation will be doubled!

Lastly, we are grateful for all your support, prayer or otherwise. Some of our biggest donors this year, believe it or not, have been priests! Others have been donating the “widow’s mite”, giving out of their need. Too all of you who have been so generous to this point, we are deeply grateful, and pray that God will give back to you a hundredfold in spiritual and material blessings to meet your own needs.

Other than the Support button you will see at the bottom of my writings, I will not be making another appeal like this for awhile, God willing. Each of you remains in my heart and prayers.

 

SALA I am writing this to you in our vehicle as we make the long journey to Lea’s mom who has seemingly entered her last hours now (with brain cancer) in this final season of her life. Please continue to remember her in your prayers as she lives out her own Passion, and of course, for the family. Your sufferings and petitions remain in our prayers as well.