By Sr Cecilia Park Hyunju, FMA
Korean FMA missionary in Canada
Surrey, Vancouver, Canada, 10 December 2020 -- "COVID-19 makes us create many new ways also in the Salesian mission here in Surrey-Vancouver, Canada, where Sr Cecilia, FMA arrived some 15 months ago as a new missionary. She shares on her Facebook pages:
Special Christmas Cards
First hand made Advent Wreath
I prepared this gift with all my heart for some days to illuminate the way of the Lord, and decorated this wreath all day long. At the beginning of the Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, I shed tears of emotion in my heart as I watched the priest bless it. The Lord knows how I gladly prepared and arranged it, and how many sacrifices I made without anyone knowing. If I had not been a missionary, and if I had been in Korea, I would never have had a chance to make it with my own hands. The Lord has given me a new way and opportunity to please Him and serve His people, here in Surrey. I find new ways to love the Lord that I have never imagined in the past, here in Surrey - Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish.
[NB: And the parishioners appreciate with the reply on the FB page]
Our Lady of Good Counsel
This is the name of our parish and our religious community. Unlike other communities in our FMA province of USA-Canada of Saint Joseph, headquarters in Haledon (New Jersey, USA) located in the East, we are a unique community located on the Western Coast. This Salesian parish opened about 60 years ago, and the first three Salesian Sisters were sent to Surrey, Metro Vancouver, just 3 years ago. Our parish is a huge multicultural community made up of many ethnic groups, with a renovated infrastructure, welcoming many old and young, especially migrants who feel here at home.
A new missionary after 15 months
With the best wishes of a Joy-filled journey towards Christmas 2020!
Sr Cecilia Park, FMA is a Korean missionary ad gentes serving in Canada since 2019 (FMA province of Easter USA-Canada)in the Parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Surrey-Vancouver)