What a difference a missionary makes! Wherever the Church is new, young, or poor, missionaries are bringing God’s love to communities who have been unable to celebrate their faith for various reasons.

Mill Hill Missionary, Fr Elvost, has been sharing his journey with us since his ordination in 2023. We have just received an update on his first Lent in Kotri, Pakistan, living and serving amongst the Kutchi Kohli community. Here’s what he had to share:

Lent 2025 will be a season to remember always in our Kutchi Kohli Catholic community, here in the mission area in Kotri, Pakistan.

We began our pilgrimage of Lent with the penitential rite of Ash Wednesday in a small new hall in St Joseph’s Mission Centre in Dagi Farm. We are blessed with a new hall through the generosity of Christians from Malaysia.

A new space for the community

As a missionary, it is essential to create an atmosphere for building both faith and the community wherever possible. The new hall provides the Christians a place where people can come to meet and pray together. It enhances their sense of belonging, letting them grow in faith and affirm their Christian identity, individually and as a community.

A year of ‘firsts’ in Kotri

Kotri is one of the most recently established missions for the Kutchi Kohli tribal community in Sindh. So many of the things we are building are the first for the community here.

This year, for the first time, the community has been introduced to the Stations of the Cross which commemorates the events of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, from his condemnation to his burial.

This is a big leap for us in the mission in Kotri. Now, the community is able to come together, to look into the images of the Passion, to dive deeper into the mystery of the Passion, and to pray and to grow abundantly in faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pilgrims of Hope

As we journey through this year’s Pilgrimage of Hope, we are also praying and hoping to have our first Triduum in the mission centre as well. We are praying that the Lord will grant us the graces we need to have a safe and meaningful Triduum.

Aside from that, we continue our mission apostolate here with regular visits to different parts of the community, celebrating Mass in the villages, giving catechesis, giving basic education for the village children, night school for the adults’ literacy, providing medical care for the poor, and attending to the needs where it is possible.

Despite all the ups and downs in the mission, out of love we dare to serve!

Please pray for us here in Kotri. God bless.

Fr Elvost