Dear Friends, Dear Family

“If you can’t be the pen that writes happiness,
be the eraser that rubs out sadness…” – Jean d’Ormesson

With a wisp of audacity, I would like to add:

“ and if you could be a pencil-eraser,
then your happiness would be double.”

The Community of the Missionaries of Mary (MOM),
The ACAY Board of Trustees in France and in the Philippines,
The staff and volunteers of the ACAY Mission,
The youth of our programs,
The parents,
The village of Santa Cruz of Tacloban,

All join with me to thank you for your friendship that has so often accompanied us like a … pencil-eraser!
For all the new smiles of hope on the faces of the youth,
For the peace that returned to the hearts of the youth having been through traumatic experiences,

For the unimaginable reunions of the families of four of the girls from SOL after more than 10 years of separation,
For the successes in their studies and the girls who have become independent,
For the youth who have graduated from the MVP Second Chance Program,
For the thousands of youth touched in schools and detentions centres in France,
For the new house of the School of Life,
For the letters from sponsors that brought a huge smile to the faces of the youth,
For the faithfulness of the donations received that have relieved my heart in view of the immensity of the task,

For the ACAY babies born this year,
For the 5 weddings of the youth of the MVP Second Chance Program,
For the trials that have helped us to fine tune our pedagogical approaches,
For the 10th Anniversary of MOM
And the 20th Anniversary of ACAY

We offer you this armful of thank you’s and with it we wish you a New Year full of daily miracles, invisible victories that mysteriously offer a new light the world : HOPE!

Sister Sophie of Jesus