Thanksgiving is an American holiday, but Luke and I brought it to South Sudan today. We spent the afternoon in the kitchen preparing our version of Thanksgiving dinner. We made mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a small chicken that we pretended was a turkey. Every Thursday our community gets together for Mass and dinner in the evening, so we brought our “Thanksgiving Feast” over for everyone to enjoy. During dinner I shared my family's tradition of going around the table and saying something you are thankful for. I led saying a few words, and after I thought about all the blessings in my life and all that I have to be thankful for. Here is what I came up with.

I’m thankful for…

• my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He died so that we may have eternal life. Remember, in the sacrament and sacrifice of the Eucharist (which means thanksgiving), Jesus becomes truly present in our lives. There is nothing to be more thankful for.
  
• my family. They have shown me so much love and support throughout life. I would not be who I am today without my parents, brothers, and sisters.
• my Salesian family here in South Sudan. Especially after hearing everyone tonight, I realized how lucky I am to celebrate thanksgiving such great people.
• my relatives and friends. They share updates and laughs despite being 7000 miles away. Though I love it here, know that I miss and love y’all.
• the people of South Sudan. They welcomed me with open arms and have changed my life.
• the Salesian Lay Missioners program. Without SLM I would not be in South Sudan and would not be on this amazing journey.
• being an American. Tonight Fr. Francis, a native South Sudanese, mentioned he was thankful for America for helping bring freedom to his country. Too often we take our country and freedom for granted.
• anyone who reads this blog. I hope you get something out of it, and enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. I thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year around this time when I decided I wanted to volunteer for a year, I began looking into many different programs. I was going on my eighth year of Jesuit education, so naturally I looked into the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. However, since I was going to be a free agent again, I also explored the market of religious volunteer programs through the Catholic Volunteer Network. In addition to JVC, I looked into programs with the Vincentians, Franciscans, and the Salesians among others, and after a great deal of prayer and mutual discernment, I signed with the Salesian Lay Missioners in South Sudan.  My Jesuit friends, though very supportive of the program, jokingly wondered why I did not decide to continue with them. While on orientation back in July/August, whenever my past with the Jesuits was brought up, I would get heckled quite a bit by the Salesian priests (all in good fun). Being the second largest religious order behind the Jesuits, I think the SDBs have the little brother mentality. Anyway, while the Jesuits we mad about “losing” me, and the Salesians were giving me trouble about my previous coaching, I thought I was going to get away from the drama while in South Sudan. Not so fast.

Last week, we received word that a Jesuit priest was coming and staying with us for a year. Fr. Francis SJ arrived and is helping out as an administrator at the Don Bosco Senior Secondary School. Like many of the Jesuits I have encountered over the years, Fr. Francis and I hit it off. However, after talking about my past with the Jesuits, but now being with the Salesians, he lightheartedly said, “You betrayed us!” Not again I thought J.

Though I seem to be in the middle of a heated rivalry, I feel like the luckiest guy on earth. Not many people get to form such close relationships with these two great orders. While they love to joke about one another, the more I spend time with the Salesians, the more I see how similar they are to the Jesuits, and vise versa. At their cores, both focus on educating the youth and being missionaries of Christ. Seeing the two orders work together here shows me they are first and foremost Catholics serving the Lord, and that trumps any affiliation they have to their order. They both want to spread Christ love and bring people closer to him, and they rely on each other’s strengths for help. Think about it… with Jesuits’ strength in education and the Salesians’ forte in youth formation, the kids here with have no choice but to be amazing students and followers of Christ. Plus, now we all have both St. Ignatius and St. John Bosco watching over us.

Sunday was a packed day. It began with a trip to Mori (one of our satellite parishes along the banks of the Nile) after breakfast around 9:00am. I was asked to assist Fr. David with the baptism of about 20 children. About halfway into the journey, we picked up a few about 20 kids who were heading to the Mass.  We had 28 people in the car for 15 minutes as we traveled through the bush, following the dirt road over massive bumps and mud pits. We were no more than 200 meters away from the church, when suddenly one of the mud pits was too big and too deep for our Land Cruiser; we were stuck! After trying to push and pull for a few minutes, we decided to wait until after the Mass to worry about it.

The celebration began at St. Dominic Savio Parish around 10:00am in the brick and mud church. Upon taking my seat, Sister Antoineta asked if I could be the lector for the second reading, so I quickly looked over the Letter to the Hebrews.  Young dancers led the procession and the choir sang beautiful songs in the tribal language of Bari. It was similar to the feast we had at St. Vincent de Paul a several weeks back. These people take their celebrations seriously! The Mass was said in a combination of English, Arabic, and Bari, and though I didn’t understand much (seems to be a theme), there is something to be said about being in the presence of the Lord in such a unique situation. After the readings, gospel, and homily, I helped Father with the baptisms. After each child was baptized, the congregation broke out into song, complete with drums, claps, and Africa yells. It was quite an experience to be a part of the celebration.

After Mass, with the assistance of several parishioners, we were able to push the car out of the mud. We piled back into car and headed to Gumbo. Upon arriving home, I grabbed a quick lunch and took a nap so I would be well rested for our big soccer match. Our Salesian community decided to challenge my Don Bosco Senior team. I played with the Salesians for fear that I wouldn’t have a place to eat and sleep if I went against them. To be honest, I was worried about our Salesian team getting humiliated/injured, as many of our players had not stepped on the pitch in years.  Fr. Mathew thought we would lose “no less than 0-6.”  Our team was a ragtag bunch, consisting of two priests, one brother, five prenovices, three volunteers, one evaluator, and one solar technician, and we represented six nations- USA, South Sudan, India, Nigeria, Kenya, and Spain. We were outplayed in the first half and luckily only down 0-1, but at halftime we made a few adjustments and took the field determined to make a comeback. With the crowd on our side, we fought hard and scored three unanswered goals in the second half, and came away with a 3-1 victory. It was an amazing atmosphere to have all the sisters and villagers rallying around the underdog. I just hope I’m not kicked off of the Senior team for being a traitor. We celebrated the win with a feast in the evening.  For a nightcap, Luke and I played Gin and chatted about life over a cold beer, a rare treat. As you can see, it was truly an awesome day!