May 13th the Barrels Were Opened!

On May 13th, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, the barrels we sent to Uganda were opened by customs officials. 

It seemed a beautiful signal grace that these barrels sent so many months ago, which contained over 13,000 rosaries, were opened on Our Lady's Feast. One barrel had been packed in August 2018 and the other in October 2018. Fr. Richard, a priest from our parish originally from Uganda, had helped to take the two barrels to another location where they stayed for many months while the large shipping container was filled with other items destined for Uganda. When the shipping container was almost filled our barrels were added and then the container was loaded on a sea vessel.
News came this past week through Fr. Richard that the barrels had been opened on May 13th by customs officials. Fr. Richard's sister who was present when the barrels were opened related: "They saw the rosaries as well as the other items. Not sure what tax will be as they insisted to call them jewelry ?" 
The customs people thought they were jewelry. They are not. However, I was not surprised by the officials first impression as I have always thought they looked like jewels and are actually invaluable to the souls who use them. We still do not know if a large tax will be issued to release the barrels. We humbly ask those reading this to say one Hail Mary that the the tax will not be too high and they will release the barrels soon.  In addition to over 13,000 rosaries, the barrels contain more than 1,000 Children's Rosary books. With our trip to Africa now 2 weeks away, we are looking forward to assisting in the distribution of the rosaries and books to the different Children's Rosary groups. We will be visiting 6 Dioceses in Uganda.