Wendover's Catholic community is filled with faith

Intermountain Catholic

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Araceli Guerrero prays in San Felipe Parish in Wendover. IC photo/Laura Vallejo

WENDOVER — Troubled marriages saved, people returning to the Catholic Church, parishioners becoming more committed, couples getting married after 17 years of living together, physical and spiritual healings – San Felipe Parish in Wendover is proof that many miracles can happen when a community gathers in prayer.

The parish, located in a tiny community in western Utah, is surrounded by casinos, so the Catholic community relies on their faith to find the strength and support to deal with the temptations of their environment.

"We have experienced many miracles here," said Araceli Guerrero, a San Felipe parishioner, who has experienced many difficulties throughout the years.

"In your life you suffer wounds because of the negativityand mistreatment and bad experiences," she said. "I was really away from the Church; I felt an emptiness in my heart. … I was about to run away with a married man."

That near occasion of sin was avoided when she started going to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the parish, where she asked God for the strength to not fall for that temptation. One night, Guerrero said, she had a dream in which she saw another man who told her not to go with the married one, and the man in her dream defended her. Months later, she met the man who appeared in her dream; he is now her husband.

"After I prayed and prayed I had that dream and after it I felt like God was giving me an answer, so I ended up meeting my now husband and I started coming more to the parish," said Guerrero.

The Blessed Sacrament has brought about a lot of miracles in the community, Guerrero said; couples who are about to get divorced because of infidelities have forgiven the trespasses and stayed together.

"I have come here and cried, and all the time God fills me with strength and patience to deal with the life here [at the casinos]. Without God I wouldn’t even be here," said Guerrero.

She also shared another occasion that happened with Father German Umaña, the previous parish administrator.

"He was about to put the Blessed Sacrament away. … and I said, ‘God, please give me a sign that you are really here with us.’ … And then the Sacrament got a special light. … I couldn’t believe it, and I started crying and joy filled my heart. … When Father opened the little door to put it away, the light went off. I told Father what just happened and he asked me to share my testimony," said Guerrero.

Even though she thought that people were going to take her for a crazy person, Guerrero told others what she had seen. To her surprise, everyone thanked her and told her that God was really there with them.

Guerrero isn’t the only San Felipe parishioner to experience God’s grace. Around 1996 Jesse Rodriguez suffered from a rare disease that caused his entire body to swell, making walking very difficult for him.

"I couldn’t even go to the parish any more, but one day that the Blessed Sacrament was exposed I came in and asked God to help me. … I was really suffering," said Rodriguez.

He prayed for about an hour and asked God with all his heart to help him.

"Days after that I had to go again to the doctor in Salt Lake City and to my surprise the doctor told me I was getting better and the surgery that we were so afraid of could be postponed," said Rodriguez.

"God has done many healings here physically and spiritually," said Guerrero.