The third installment of the Boston Globe's Ma Siss's Place series hits our hearts on Christmas. It tells the tale of a charming drug addict, Dora, the only daughter of Ma Siss, leaving us with hope; although, judging by her hitherto behavior, she might end up on the streets again. Nonetheless, she admits her relapses to the tightly knit congregation of Ma Siss's Place, an evangelical church based out of a garage on Quincy Street in Dorchester. She admits that she let her family down: "How can I tell people about the church, and that I love the church, I don't set a good example."

Meet Dora Vaughn, but make sure to take notice of this stellar, vivid description of her: "A sullen face under a straw hat, cheeks moistened from the hot stove, poked around the partition."

After her latest series of undulations with sobriety, Vaughn came back home to her mother -- and to Jesus. Her fellow Quincy Street parishioners accept her with open arms:

"Ann approached Dora, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Cathi, cradling her son Levi in her arms, went over to lay her hands on, too. And Aaron joined in, placing his hands on Dora's shoulders. Tears were streaming down his face.

"'Father, God, we thank you for our sister, Dora,' he began. 'We thank you for bringing her back home today.'

"And then he launched, singsong, into an impromptu litany of praise.

"'You're a God of second chances,' he said. 'You're a God of third and fourth and fifth chances, God. And Lord, we just pray, God, that you would be with her, Lord, so that you would just protect her, God, protect her from the evil one, Lord, help us, Lord, to encourage her, God, and to play our part, God.'"

Wow! That's some great, real action and dialogue. That type of stuff can only come from immersion, which is key to literary non-fiction.

Vaughn could not escape her past. A police officer pulled her over for an expired registration and then arrested her on four warrants.

Around Christmas time last year, as hope for Vaughn's human revolution seemed to be in peril, crises were prevalent for the low-key, neighborhood place of prayer. Vaughn makes a New Year's resolution to avoid doing "things at the spur of the moment," to just "think it out carefully," to avoid getting "into a lot of trouble." But money was running out (some of the community members, according writer Michael Paulson, speculated the cash was stolen by Vaughn). The Saturday masses began to dwindle in attendance. Aaron and Amy, the two enthusiastic missionaries from the South, became absent much of the time because of graduate school. Violence, crime and poverty continued to wreak havoc on members of the family and neighborhood. Even a natural disaster had its way with garage-based church. All of this sure makes for a good story, adding tension and suspense.

Let's see what the future looks like for Ma Siss's place tomorrow in the final segment in this four-part series. As always, we make sure to check out the lovely video and photo gallery.

In the video, Dora sings, "Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Victory, today, is mine."