Our community in the Philippines began this Extraordinary Missionary Month (October 2019) with a mission day, in a “barangay” (barrio) of Nueva Ecija. It took place on Sunday October 7th in a different province from where we live. There, we have a “School of Evangelizers” with young people. There were 25 young people involved from different areas and 2 missionaries. It was their first experience of this kind of mission.
We visited the families in the morning. We went from house to house sharing the Word of God. It was the youth who led this moment and who shared their faith with the families. They took the passage of Mt 9, “The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest”.
In the afternoon, we had catechesis and games with the children. The young people prepared a catechesis for them. They divided the children in different groups and they explained the Incarnation of Jesus using the first two chapters of the Gospel of Saint Luke: from the Annunciation to the birth of Jesus. They chose this passage because Christmas is approaching. Here in the Philippines they start to celebrate Christmas time from September to December, by putting up the Christmas lights and singing carols.
They enjoyed this experience and would like to repeat it every month in different places. They have discovered the joy of sharing the Word of God, the joy of being missionaries and of giving their lives to others.
It was a great surprise for us to see them like that, taking on the responsibility of being protagonists in the mission. They prepared everything that was needed for the mission beforehand and when we visited the families they really gave the best of themselves. They had to overcome their fears as well as the extremely hot weather, but through it all they felt the joy of being missionaries.
We thank God for the gift of these young people and their enthusiasm. They drive us to continue our mission.
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