A Thank You Note

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I want to thank you with all of my heart…all of you who attended my retreat last weekend. We all shared wonderful faith experiences, so much joy, tears and laughter together. I also wish to thank all of you who prayed for us and gave us support of any kind from far and near, and all of you who wanted to attend but couldn’t come for one reason or another. I also want to thank all of you who did so much work to care for one another at the retreat beyond what was expected of you. One of us said at the end of the day of Saturday “This is heaven, I don’t want the day to end.” The love and joy was palpable, another commented two days after the retreat, “Those present, literally, got to experience a little bit of Heaven. I will be eternally grateful to Immaculee, Valentine, Kathy, Katie, and the incredible staff of Walsh University for giving me 4 of the best days of my life! God Bless all of you. I wept for joy AGAIN last night as I was going to bed.”

I felt the same, not because of what was said, but because of the love that shone in everyone’s eyes, the willingness we all had to look at one another as a loved sister or brother and to be kind to each other in the smallest ways possible. There were men and women, children and adults, religious and lay people present, and together we prayed and shared reflections on Mary, Our Mother’s messages, on forgiveness, on prayer, on the rosary, and on LOVE…the greatest of all. In the near future, I hope we will have a DVD that will give you a glimpse of what it was like to be there. Sometimes it felt as though we had literally traveled to Rwanda, specifically to Kibeho, through the Rwandan songs we sang and danced, and the videos we watched of the countryside of people who have traveled there with me as pilgrims. One time the Virgin Mary told one visionary in Kibeho that, “Kibeho is not a place where I am, it is everywhere they are sharing my messages.” I believe She was there, and it was wonderful.

A special thank you goes to the Richard Jusseaume, the President of Walsh University, a very nice and funny man, and his lovely wife, Terie, along with his staff who spent the whole three days celebrating with us, as well as helping us. One time, he jokingly said to me, “If you would have asked that the president of Walsh University and his wife would be spending three days at a retreat here, I would have said ‘absolutely not!’ If you would have asked that some of my staff would stay here attending to people’s needs, I would have said that ’you are crazy’, but here we are, and we are happy. We had a great weekend, and everyone willingly did what their hearts suggested them to do to help, and they were here for everyone’s needs. There are simply those little intangible things that you can’t explain.” I want to say thanks again to everyone at Walsh University; there are no words, because without you, it would not have been possible.

So many comments were so uplifting to me and maybe will be encouraging to you as well:

"I was up early in the morning praying the Seven Sorrows Rosary, I was able to pray with love and tears for my church and priests, because I wasn’t drowning in my own pain and sorrow."

"I can’t think of anything that could’ve made this weekend better, except maybe more time…”.

"It was a wonderful experience as I truly needed the words of Immaculee and Valentine; my heart for the first time in long time felt a longing to be closer to my God, and that forgiveness and love are my keys to unlock my heart. I will pledge to pray and to pray often.”

"The retreat was above and beyond any of my expectations! My faith has been uplifted and renewed again. May you all be blessed a thousand-fold for this precious gift God blessed us with.”

I thank God for the weekend, for those great gifts He gave us, those we are aware of and those we are not yet aware of. For sure, I am glad we did it! I encourage you all to continue to grow closer to God through prayer that comes from the heart, prayer that transforms us slowly to look and love like Our Lady and Our Lord; prayer that is willing to look within our hearts each time we pray and see what we can do better in our ways to be more pleasing to God…being more patient, more forgiving, more kind, and prayer that shows through in our deeds and in our behavior. It is the sure way to true peace and firm trust in God.

I also encourage you to join the Apostles of Our Lady of Kibeho Facebook Page if you are interesting in learning more about Kibeho and Our Lady’s messages.

May God bless you,

Immaculee