My family emigrated to South Africa when I was seven years old. As a teenager I attended a government secondary school, but then went to catechism on each Saturday morning at a local convent school.

When I was sixteen, and still attending the government school, I noticed a group one lunchtime entering my biology classroom. As I watched I recognised several of the students who I thought were among the happiest and friendliest I knew, including my biology teacher. This piqued my interest, so I decided to investigate and discovered they were attending a lunchtime Scripture Union meeting. I decided to go along. After attending for several weeks one of the teachers who helped run the gathering asked a question at the end. He said “how many of you have ever experienced Jesus?” I had never heard such a question, and, in fact, hadn’t thought it possible to do so as a Catholic. So upon enquiring, I went home, knelt down and invited Jesus to come into my life. So simple yet so beautiful! After that I really experienced a deepening relationship with God and my faith.

In my final year of secondary school several International Christian organisations got together and were travelling around the country highlighting the plight of persecuted Christians behind the Iron Curtain as well challenging young people into missions in these as other countries. A good friend invited me to the gathering and at the end I took home several pieces of literature, not thinking too seriously about going anywhere as I was still at school. However, the following day I felt the Lord speak very clearly to me in prayer about one of the organisations, Youth with A Mission. I felt I was to join for an extended period of time. My parents were not too enthusiastic initially and insisted I attend college after school then work for a while which I did.

When I was nearly twenty I attended a Youth with a Mission (YWAM) programme in Switzerland, during which we were all encouraged to attend our own churches which was a great testimony to the unity in the Body of Christ. I served in YWAM for many years with Discipleship Training, outreach etc. I am deeply appreciative to the Lord for that time. The depth of input, the breadth of relationships and the joy of sharing the gospel.

Tim and I met in Dublin at the YWAM base and have been married 35 years. After we were married, we were invited to take a team out to Uganda to work with a White Father, Fr Ernst,to run a Catholic discipleship programme. Thirty young Catholics came from around Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana. Fr Ernst also worked closely with Sr Miriam Duggan who ran the Nsambya Hospital in Kampala and an emphasis was teaching the students about Aids which was a pandemic at the time in Uganda.   Back in Ireland we lead a retreat team, running school retreats and parish missions.

After working with YWAM together and having three children, we left after ten years, in order to provide for our children growing up. They are now adults and two are married. Right after Tim retired, three years ago, we felt like reconnecting with YWAM friends working in Spain on the Portuguese Spiritual Variant of the Camino. In a nearby village the residents had built a Catholic chapel in order to bless and minister to the many pilgrims who pass by. It has been our absolute delight to join our friends for four to six weeks each spring for the past three years and see hundreds of pilgrims touched, prayed with and ministered to. This ministry opened the doors for us to come alongside a team of Catholic young people based now in Avila who we met three years ago as students. The ministry is called Kerygma. They are leading teams and a discipleship school and reaching thousands in schools and parishes around Spain and beyond. 

The will of God truly is good, acceptable and perfect! 

Kathy Nichols and her husband Tim, live in the west of Ireland

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