CALLED TO SERVE

MARK KOBER

Mark Kober (left of pump)
entered the formation program
of the Comboni Missionaries this fall.

Last summer, I had the opportunity to serve in the mission of S. Sudan with the Comboni Missionaries as part of my vocational discernment. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and, I know it is often said, but it was a life changing experience! I feel I have been given much in my life through family and friends ... my faith. I have studied engineering, and as part of my service project, I had the chance to help bring clean water to a village through a new well.

The church’s mission is all about service, and I quickly found that service is very much a “shared” activity; it is giving and receiving. I was there not only to help, but also to learn, and I grew in my appreciation for the simple things that friendship brings.

Service to me becomes encountering Christ when you enter into this sharing. Service, especially with the poor, has helped keep me grounded in reality and helped me grow, not only as a missionary, but as a person.

Experiencing the hospitality of the Sudanese people was also a lesson; they have so little, but were eager to share and gave me the best they had to offer.
The vocations of the church are many coming from our baptism. What is important, I believe, is to think about life seriously. There are truths you will not learn from books. We discover them deep within ourselves: the meaning of life, values, our vocation. We can only become aware of them with times of humble silence, illumined by the Word of God and prayer. Jesus sent the disciples “to go out and baptize all nations.” I believe we are all sent out, not for what we want, but for what we believe and, above all, for what we love! There are brothers and sisters who we have not yet met; they are waiting for us.