Ellie remembers… Upon arriving in Maine in March of 2005 I sought out a church where I could be comfortable and also be a contributing member. I chose St. Mary Church in Wells. When signing up I asked the secretary if there were someone with whom I could speak to see how the gifts I brought from Rochester, NY, could be of use in my new parish. I was introduced to Nancy Kellar, the Pastoral Associate at St. Mary’s. On the day I met with Nancy I brought with me a letter of introduction from Sr. Jody Kearney, Director of the Mercy Prayer Center, in Rochester. She explained that I had been a prayer guide in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 19th Annotation, for 25 years. When Nancy finished reading the letter, she had tears in her eyes and said that I was the answer to her prayers. When I asked how that could be since she had just met me, she explained that for two years she had been praying that God would send her a collaborator to help in putting on the Exercises at St. Mary’s. It was my turn to have tears as I realized it had been two years since my husband and I had begun to contemplate a move to Maine. Confirmation of the decision to move to Maine was revealed! I was stunned and overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement at the possibilities. Nancy and I met again in June and made preliminary plans to start the Spiritual Exercises in September. I called the Mercy Prayer Center and asked for everything they had that we might need to get started. They were thrilled to know what we were planning and sent us pages of prayer sheets, briefing notes, supervision information, and application forms. They supplied us with the calendar we could follow for the year, ordered the Fleming books, and Orientations, by Fr. John Veltrie S.J., and sent for Fr. Veltrie’s 30 volume set of tapes, “For the Journey”, as well as sample tapes of each talk. They also were our biggest cheerleaders encouraging us every step of the way and answering any questions we had which were many. I met Maureen Fulford in July (on her birthday!) and was immediately won over by her warm smile and enthusiasm. Maureen had just completed the Exercises in anticipation of sharing them with others by helping us bring them to Southern Maine. So, in the summer of 2005 we three began this wonderful journey—a new spirituality ministry was born. In September, our as yet un-named ministry started the retreat with nine directees. We met in the AM at my house and in the PM in Nancy’s. We were not sure what we were doing but we knew we could count on God and count on Him we did! And, as always, God’s generosity cannot be outdone.