On Saturday, even though some
of the young were ready to pack
and leave to the missions, we
encouraged them to start with
baby steps, doing service in their
community. Two of my fellow
CYMs and I were assigned ten
wonderful young people who
worked for three hours non-stop on
cleaning the yard of a St. Mary’s
parishioner who is elderly and
can’t do the yard work herself. She
was very demanding, but the kids
never hesitated to accomplished
the task at hand. When we were all
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that a little bit of effort and team
work can really make a difference
in someone’s life.
There were many assignments
during the day, but the goal was
only one: to witness the Gospel
through action and service. At the
end of this new experience, the
young people that I serve, realized
that the work of Don Bosco didn’t
end when he died but was just
getting started. So they made the
commitment to share their talents
and help build the kingdom of God
in our community and hopefully
by the time they turn eighteen, they
will be ready to take a bigger step,
which is to leave everything behind
and follow Jesus wherever this
might be.
A Day in the Life
of a Salesian
Missionary
By Carlos Sousa
I volunteer for the Salesian Boys
& Girls Club during the week and
seeing a hundred young people
there serving in the weekend
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was amazing. Watching the teens
cleaning the streets of Boyle
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or washing the walls of the Salesian
Family Youth Center was truly
inspiring. The kids that went to
Eva’s house across the street from
St. Mary’s said, “I never worked so
hard in my life.” Eva is the nicest
lady that did countless things for
the parish in the past. Now she is
just too old to even do mundane
things around her house. The teens
helped Eva out by picking fruit
from her trees, picking weeds from
her garden, and mowing Eva’s
lawn. The young people learned
a lot about how good service is,
no matter how small or mundane
the work. We ended with oratory,
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Eucharist. Mass was exceptional
with Father Tom giving the good
night. Now we look forward to
seeing these same young adults in
our communities being “everyday
missionaries.”
End Quotes
Every task the group undertook was
to be treated as a personal service
to Jesus Christ. Those who tended
to the garden at the 4th street Boys
and Girls Club were tending God’s
garden, those who bagged trash
in the local streets were cleaning
God’s streets and those who played
with the club regulars were acting
as shepherds to God’s children.
- Sean Roche
We surpassed the common
misconception about teenagers’ as
mischievous, lazy, or irresponsible.
In a sense, we became an example
for other youth to want to partake
in service for their community,
especially the children at the Boys
and Girls Club.
- Jesus Morales
I would do this again, there’s no
doubt. Just knowing the fact that I
made people’s day’s is amazing!
- Amy Paredes
“I just want to change someone’s
life, someone’s way of seeing
things, for the better, like these
volunteers have changed mine.”
- Andres Ortiz
One of the girls from that
neighborhood voiced that she was
so proud to see us clean up and
spend time with each other. As
tears came down she deeply said,
“Thank you.”
- Melissa Barron
“This is love through service. This
is our future. This is reality. This is
changing the world, one small step
at a time, one life at a time.”
- Taaj Lewis
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Salesians of St. John Bosco
1100 Franklin Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: (626) 280-8 622 #35
E- m ail: intouch@salesiansc.org
Weekly publications will be
distributed on Wednesdays. Please
submit news for publication by
Friday of each week.
Send contributions to:
intouch@salesiansc.org.
InTouch 8 10.12.2011