Four months into his stay in Guatemala, Fr Patrick Magro walked for more than three days to find a phone and reassure his mother he was safe.

Although the line went dead as soon as he told his mother, Tessie, he was doing fine, hearing the voice of a loved one filled him with more determination to continue his missionary work.

This little adventure in a remote region in Guatemala won him the monthly Premium Content competition in February when subscribers were asked about their most touching gesture.

In another gesture of love, Fr Magro, provincial of the Jesuits in Malta, will not keep the prize of a weekend break for two at the five-star Corinthia Hotel St George’s Bay in a deluxe sea view room on a bed-and-breakfast basis. Instead, he will be passing it on to a couple in need – the parents of three children.

He made the call, only to have the line fall dead as soon as he told his mother he was fine

Fr Magro’s story dates back some 13 years when he was doing missionary work in Guatemala. One day he asked where he could find a phone to call his mother and was told the closest one was in a ‘nearby’ village – a day-and-a-half walk away, which also required crossing a river. Unfortunately, when he got there he was informed the telephone was damaged when a tree fell on it. So he set off to another village, walking for another two days and, finally, made the call, only to have the line fall dead as soon as he told his mother he was fine.

He tried to call again but to no avail and it was only about eight months later, when he returned to Spain to continue his studies, that he could speak to her again.

Fr Magro did not tell his mother about his ordeal to reach a telephone line but, being a daily reader of this newspaper, she found out about it when she read an interview in Times of Malta a few months later.