In the mid 1990’s I was spending a lot of time at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia just outside of Atlanta. I first visited the Monastery in February 1988 while on a Cursillo Retreat. I always visited every few months, but this time I was taking a break from “the real world” praying about my next direction in life.

The Monastery is home to a group of about 50 monks that belong to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. They are also known as Trappists. They first came to Georgia in 1944 to build a Monastery and continue a tradition and way of life started by St. Benedict of Nursia over 1500 years ago when he left Rome and withdrew to the desert to seek God.

I too was searching and spent 2 to 4 days a week at the Monastery. It was a beautiful time in my life filled with many fond memories. Because I was at the Monastery so much, I was lucky enough to get to know many of the monks personally in the Cloister. I volunteered cooking in the Cloister and the Guest House, worked in the Gift Store, worked in the Garden, the Bonsai area, helped the monks with computers and did many other jobs. It was a wonderful time and God was preparing me for the next phase in my life.

As I mentioned, I was cooking in the Cloister kitchen. At that time I was also bringing in and making some more special food for some monks with dietary and/or immune system concerns. In early 1998 one of the monks, Brother Pablo Maria was led by the Holy Spirit to Colostrum at a local health food store. When he mentioned it to me I decided to buy it for him and a number of other infirmed monks. The product was Symbiotics New Life Colostrum. The Colostrum was from hormone and pesticide free cows as it still is today.

Colostrum is an immune enhancer and the monks who took it felt better and had more energy. They started telling the guests at the Monastery about how they felt. The guests of course would ask where they got it and they would tell them from Michael. He buys it and gives it to us. Well the guests started asking me for Colostrum. I wasn't in the business; I was just supplying it for the monks. Well they insisted and I started buying a few more cases at a time and putting it the trunk of my car for my 2-4 day weekend trips to the monastery. I sold it for $1 more than it cost to pay for shipping.Br. Pablo Maria, Fr. Anthony, Fr. Tom and a few other monks suggested I really start to "sell" Colostrum. So I put up a website for New Life Foods and New Life Products in 1998 and began to sell online. With the monks praying, the business did very well and within a year we leased office space near Atlanta. As the business continued to grow we moved several times and now operate near Orlando Florida.

The same monk, Br. Pablo Maria told me about Global Health Trax Oxygen Elements about a year later. We started to sell that product and ThreeLac Candida Defense when that was introduced to the market. Many other products have been added through the years; some because of suggestions of the monks.

Br. Pablo Maria now has a full time ministry and through his organization New Corinthians we help feed about 800 children a day in Colombia and Nicaragua.

Through the years we have continued to support the monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, the Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels (EWTN) and other charitable organizations. You can be assured that we will continue to give back to the world.

May the Lord Bless you,

Michael