Some people have good days and bad days.My wife, Kathy has good years and bad years.1990 was one of her bad years.It wasn't as bad as1984,but it wasn't about to win any prizes either.

Nineteen eighty-four was the year a doctor determined that the best way to cure my wife's recurrant breast tumors was to remove both breasts and replace them with two bags of chemicals.He promised that they would not hurt her.He promised us that they would last a lifetime.

Nineteen ninety was the year that we found out that those silicone gel implants were ruining my wife's health as they were leaking poison into her system.Another doctor said that Kathy was developing an immune problem that made her prone to pick up any germ that wandered her way,so she could get really sick or even die.

Ninteen ninety was also the year that I insisted we pack up our bags and spend a week in Mexico.We arrived at Cancun airport on a bright afternoon, laden with suitcases,suntan lotion and two cases of bottled water.We did all the normal touristy things including visiting romantic Isla Mujeres,the Island of Women,eight miles offshore from Cancun.The island is a fishing village with cobblestone streets,open air shops and rooftop restaurants.It is also a community with incredible poverty.Seeing a place where there is no medical care for even the most basic ailments helped us put our own problems into perspective.

We didn't know it then but a visit to gift shop on Isla Mujeres was about to change our lives.The owner of that shop was a lady named Judy Fernandez.She was more than a shopkeeper,she was the bright flame of the first candle.Judy was trying to begin a bilingual preschool for the poorest children on the island.She had no acess to the simplest things that school children need.When Judy told us her story she lit Kathy's candle.

Kathy was determined to help Judy any way she could.The Mission of Love was born in that little shop on that little island that afternoon.

When Kathy and I returned home she began to organize relief supplies to be sent to Isla Mujeres for Judy's school.Friends from around town pitched in and made donations, and their candles were lit.Kathy's health was getting worse,but the thought of those little children was better to her than vitamins.

In the beginning Kathy delivered whatever she could get her hands on,food,clothing,medical supplies in person.She made many trips lugging whatever she could carry onto commercial airliners.

One day a friend introduced Kathy to an Air Force Colonel who explained that the United States Air Force will fly humanitarian aid to third world countries (via the Denton Program) if there is enough to fill a cargo plane.That was all Kathy needed to hear.She started making calls to friends and candles were lit all over the country.

That is how it started.Kathy sold her old business and dedicated herself to her new one, the Mission Of Love Foundation.She found relief from her own ailments by helping others.It all began with a simple conversation between two extraordinary women who met by chance (or was it ordained?) on a small island in the Caribbean.

I would like you to think for a moment about a single person,standing alone in a very cold,very dark place.A flame sputters and the first candle is lit.It is still dark in this place and it is still cold but that one small flame is the hope that things can be better.Now imagine that another person touches their candle to the first.Now there are two.The dark is diminished a little more.Then those two reach out to two more,and the process continues until there are multitudes of candles and the cold dark place is filled light and warmth.

As you sit at holiday meal with your family this year,light a candle,both on your table and in your heart.If we all do this we can illuminate and warm the world.we must do it together,but it all starts with a solitary flame,a single effort.It can be yours.One person can make a difference.

Tonight there are children who have clothes,medicine,and education simply because one person touched another who touched another who touched yet another.There is a favorite Christmas carol that begins,"Let there be peace on Earth,and let it begin with me."

On behalf of the Mission of Love Foundation,Kathy and I wish you that peace.Pass it on.