Elizabeth Turley and Vallery Maravi
7 mins ago
CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) — On Sunday, June 23, the congregation at Holy Apostles Church celebrated a group of parishioners who had just arrived back in Rhode Island, thanking God for their safe return from a weeklong mission trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Just over a week later, they’re asking people to pray for those they met as Hurricane Beryl batters the island nation.
“The director had said to myself and others, ‘Pray for us. We are concerned about the hurricanes.’ And just a few days later, all of a sudden, Beryl comes out of nowhere,” Rev. William Ledoux told 12 News, referring to the director of Blessed Assurance, the residential program where Holy Apostles’ missionaries volunteered.
According to the organization’s website, Blessed Assurance houses more than 30 children and adults with disabilities ranging from schizophrenia to cerebral palsy. It’s part of a nonprofit called Mustard Seed Communities, which conducts community outreach in Jamaica, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Missionaries from Holy Apostles Church in Cranston with their friends at Blessed Assurance in Montego Bay, Jamaica. (Photo provided by Holy Apostles Church)
“Just a smile from the kids who are not able to speak or a wave from the kids who are bound by wheelchairs, that changes your life,” said Destinee Delbonis, a volunteer who went on the trip to Montego Bay.
“We sang with them, we prayed with them, we fed them,” Ledoux said. “And you think to yourself, ‘I hope nothing happens to any of them.’”
As Jamaicans seek shelter from the Category Four storm, the residents at Blessed Assurance — many of whom are physically handicapped — are in need of extra prayers.
HURRICANE TRACKER: Track Beryl as the storm moves through the Caribbean
“Their safety is primary,” added Michael Santilli, the parish’s director of Religious Education and Youth Ministry.
The church said they’re continuing to pray for their friends in Montego Bay and the people of Jamaica every day, and invites the community to join them this weekend.