The renewal of the vows of Elaine, Louise and Danijela

Sydney , 25 th November 2006

Dear Verbum Dei Family,

We, Elaine, Louise and Danijela would like to share with you our experience of the renewal of our temporary vows celebrated here in Sydney . For those of you who do not know us, Elaine is from Singapore (community of Taiwan ), Louise is from Australia and Danijela is from Croatia (community of Australia ).

This year our communities of Taiwan and Australia have been doing our one month retreat together. The three of us were looking forward to the day of the renewal of our vows with a lot of excitement. Our retreat has been a renewed experience of the personal love that the Trinity and Mother Mary have for each one of us. We have been experiencing the richness and the power of the Word of God. The words, “I have called you by your name, you are mine” filled us with the security of God's eternal love. We approached the day with the fire of God's love in our hearts, aware of our smallness and relying on God's greatness and faithfulness.

We have renewed our “yes” to Jesus and our commitment to his mission, totally aware of the great plan he has for each of our lives. The support of our respective communities and the entire Verbum Dei family has been fantastic. Without all of you, your faithfulness and prayers we would not be here.

We want to share our joy with you and ask you to pray for us to be able to be faithful to the very end and carry out the mission that He has entrusted to us, so that each of our lives can bear all the fruit that God desires.