Br Sam Learns the importance of the joy in ministry
How and why did you end up going to the US?
Myself and one other brother (James) have run a few hiking retreats over the past two years, recognising the power of encountering God through adventures in the wilderness. During this
time I heard about Camp Wojtyla, a Catholic summer camp for high school students in
Colorado whose mission is to bring people to a relationship with Christ through adventures in the wilderness – which is exactly what we were trying to do. I thought going to Camp Wojtyla would be a great learning opportunity for me so that our ‘wilderness adventure ministry’ could reach more people and be more effective in bringing them to the Lord. After praying about it and speaking to the formation team they agreed to let me apply and fundraise if I got accepted.
What did you do there?
We had three weeks of staff training (including a silent retreat) before running four six day
programs and two nine day programs. Each week was either all female or all male campers. During the female camper weeks the male staff were
‘Sherpa’ (and vice versa); cooking, running activities and doing other background work.
During the six day programs I led a group of high schoolers through activities such as rock climbing, fishing, white water rafting, a summit attempt as well as games, times of prayer, fellowship and intentional conversations about our faith. During the nine day programs I led two groups of senior boys on backpacking trips through the Rocky Mountains.
What did you learn from it?
The biggest learning was seeing how the leaders of Camp were very intentional about building a
joyful, Catholic community. In my own conversion story, and many others, experiencing ‘fullness of life’ in a joyful Catholic community is the first step
to opening up to our Lord. Another takeaway was learning how to guide young people to recognise how every aspect of their life is part of their relationship with God.
Intentionally debriefing every activity to hear how God spoke to us through rock climbing or our summit hike or whatever it may have been, was really impactful.
How has this helped your formation?
I experienced great growth in interior freedom and joy whilst I was at Camp. For me the whole
experience of discerning, applying and then being at Camp was affirmation that God wants me to
pursue my passions, use my gifts and enjoy living out my ‘personal charism’ within the MGL charism. It helped me relate to God as one who desires that our “joy may be full” (Jn 15:11). Being on mission for an extended period of time also helped stoke the fire within me to share the Gospel and feel more confident and grounded in my identity as a missionary.
How will others be impacted by what you have
learned?
My main hope is that I can be a vessel of the joy of the Lord to all. More specifically I am even more convinced of how powerful it is to bring young people away from our over stimulating society to play in the slow, quiet beauty of creation in order to encounter our loving Father. I trust and hope that we can do this more often, for more people and more powerfully than we have in the past.
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