“Mamá Liz,” as we call her, is a faithful helper of ours here in Ilo-Moquegua, Peru. She is always ready to lend a hand when we need her.

            She told us that before she met us she led a very sad and monotonous life. She is an orphan and was raised by her maternal grandmother and aunts and, as a consequence, never knew the love of parents. At the age of thirteen she left her village of Desaguadero-Puno and came to Ilo-Moquegua because a lady there offered her lodging and a job. Little by little she helped her to take classes during the day and work at night.

            She had her first child when she was twenty. Her daughter was the means that God used to bring her to the Faith and later, into the Church. The girl showed an interest in the things of God as she grew. At school she heard that there was a choir at church that sang only for God and she wanted to join it and for her mother to take her to Mass every day.

            However, back then Liz was very materialistic. She didn’t want to go to church because it didn’t give her anything and she felt it was a waste of time. She frequently scolded her daughter for going but the child kept praying for her mother. One day, reluctantly, she accompanied her daughter to church because her husband said that she couldn’t go by herself so late. Mamá Liz says that she was angry and muttered behind her daughter’s back. When they arrived at church Mass was about to begin. Her daughter went to the choir and Liz sat in the last pew in the church thinking that it would be over soon. She didn’t understand anything about the Mass, why you stood or knelt, why they sang and what the priest said, etc. She did what everyone else did. She was so confused that she didn’t realize that the lights had gone out and she couldn’t see anyone. She was really afraid but, without knowing how, she turned back and saw a tall, handsome, very elegant young man who smiled at her and hugged her shoulders. She felt a great peace and tranquility that she had never experienced before. When the lights came back on she didn’t see the young man anymore. Everything continued as normal and the priest finished Mass. She was so surprised by this event that from then on she wanted to accompany her daughter to church. She still didn’t understand anything and needed someone to explain it to her. Her second daughter, a little three-year-old, was beginning preschool next to the Kindergarten run by the MSP Sisters. Little by little she got to know them. At this same time her older daughter became seriously ill and needed several operations. She was so desperate that the Sisters encouraged her to participate in a retreat by the Catholic Mission Movement founded by the Mexican missionaries in Ilo a long time ago. She went and experienced that peace and tranquility she had experienced at the church for the first time. Without know how, she found herself sobbing. She was taken to the chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament exposed and there and, in the midst of her deep pain, she gave the life of her daughter to God. Her peace returned after making this offering. After all the medical tests on her daughter it was discovered that her illness had miraculously disappeared and she didn’t need the operations.