The New Wine Press vol 25 no 2 October 2016 | Page 7

Vietnam Mission
in the afternoons. He enjoyed teaching non-Catholics
about God.

An expressed an interest in furthering his education to
develop more skills in teaching children in the future.

Another of our candidates went to the same area as
Hao to do his summer ministry. Hoa Vu worked at
Tan Thanh Parish in Bu Dop District under the supervision of Pastor Dominic Minh. Hoa taught English
and piano/keyboard to his students, and was part of a
Marian prayer group that visits patients in the parish with health problems. Visiting these patients who
felt abandoned in their sickness and suffering really
touched Hoa, because part of his spiritual development for the summer was focusing on the Corporal
and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Going on these visited
helped him hear the “Cry of the Blood” and the need
for reconciliation among the abandoned. He did well
to provide loving care for these individuals. Both
Hao and Hoa are pledged candidates in the Vietnam
Mission and someday would like to return to the
Central Highlands to do more ministry. They were
both deeply touched by the poverty in this area of
Vietnam and would like to work among the poor.

Currently, there are eight people living at Xavier
Mission House in Saigon. Fr. Nhan Bui is the formation director living at the formation house. I also live
in the house and teach the students English. We have
three Pledged Candidates—Ky Phung, Hao Pham and
Hoa Vu—living with us. Recently, we had a special
liturgy welcoming three other students into their
respective levels of formation. Diep Vu was accepted
into Special Formation. Dung Nguyen and An Nguyen
were accepted into Initial Formation. That makes eight
of us at our house of formation.

Dung Nguyen provided ministry this summer at
Truong Vinh Ky School, which is run by the Christian
Brothers in Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands.
Whereas Hao and Hoa were about 150 kilometers
from Saigon in their ministries, this school was about
400 kilometers from Saigon. Martin An Nguyen also
worked at this school for the summer. They both
enjoyed the welcome and hospitality of the Christian
Brothers during their time there.
They ministered to 600 students in Grades 1-5 and
92 students in Grades 6-9. Dung taught Physics and
Chemistry to the upper classes. Martin An taught
Math and Computer Science to 6th and 7th graders.
They both struggled with having to spend one night a
week being the dorm monitor in the sleeping quarters
of all the students. Needless to say, they did not get
much sleep. Dung and Martin An especially enjoyed
working with the ethnic minority group called Bana.
Dung remembered two students in the 7th grade who
had a special effect on him—Luyn and A Hoang. They
came from very poor families and it reminded Dung
of the poverty from which he came. It made him grateful for the Precious Blood Community welcoming him
in and giving him this opportunity to serve the poor.
Martin An felt a similar spiritual insight in his work
among the poor and teaching them. He had the opportunity to counsel some children in their grief over
parents going through divorce. He felt privileged to be
invited to visit the ethnic village of the Bana people.

My experience so far in living with these guys is
that each and every one of them so far begins to fit the
Profile of the Missionary of the Precious Blood. They
witness to it by their lifestyles in ministry. I already
feel their intercultural and international sensitivity
towards me. They are willing to educate themselves in
other cultures and languages. I sense an openness to
being mobile, flexible and available to various situations and cultures in the Central Highlands where our
future ministry may take place. I have enjoyed their
hospitality and their showing me the bond of charity.
Above all, I love the communal prayer that we have
been having together three times a day for six days a
week. Chanting the Psalms in Vietnamese has been a
real blessing. Gathering at the Eucharistic table to be
healed and strengthened for mission truly does create communion among us and calls us to places that
would challenge us. W
Candidate Martin An Nguyen at Truong Vinh Ky School

October 2016 • The New Wine Press • 5