John Siyumbu dialed the number to his parents’ home in Kenya. He had big news to share with them. After University, he had decided to pursue his life desire: to be a missionary priest. John recalls, “When my mother answered, I told her I wanted to be a priest and she reminded me that I had told her the same thing when I was a child. I thought she had forgotten. My mother remembering made me feel that God was saying to me, ‘You can do this’ and I heard God saying: ‘Come.’”
John’s campus chaplain was Maryknoll Fr. Lance Nadeau. John says, “Fr. Lance inspired me because he believed in me and trusted me to fulfill my potential. I also want to inspire others and to share my faith and joy. When you have joy you cannot keep it inside. You have to share it. By being a missionary and living with the people, I will know both their joys and their sorrows. This is the life where I can reach my full potential to love and to serve with joy. God has promised that I can do this!”
John is a courageous and joyful missionary disciple who left his home in Africa and is currently serving as a seminarian in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He works in a parish and school, and visits people who are homebound and persons with disabilities.
Read the full article on John Siyumbu in Maryknoll Magazine.
