By Nguyen Viet Duc and Pham Van Thong
Our last two missionaries from EAO this year are from Vietnam. Cl John Baptist Nguyen Viet Duc, from Krong Ana, Dak Lak, is 29 years old. He graduated in electronic communications Engineering. It was the biography of St John Bosco and the films presented by the missionaries that stirred up his desire to be a missionary himself. He is sent as a missionary to Romania. “I am happy to be a missionary in Romania. Until it was proposed to me as my destination, I knew nothing of Romania. But I am happy to be a missionary there. Of course, I have my own fears: the difficulty of mastering a new language and understanding the Romanian people and their culture. But I will do my best to integrate into my new culture and become a citizen of my new country. I also hope that people will accept me and consider me part of their lives”!
Fr. Joseph Pham Van Thong from Nam Dinh is 33 years old. Before joining the Salesians, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management. He was ordained only 4 months ago, on the 26th of May, 2023. “I have longed to be a missionary. When I was a novice, I already had a great desire to be a missionary. I am happy that the Rector Major accepted my missionary application and assigned me to the Vice Province of South Africa. I know I still need to make a great effort to learn English well. This is my main duty now because language is the key that opens doors to my new Vice Province (composed of Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa), to new cultures and to new peoples.”
