advocate-summer-2013.. - The Mill Hill Missionaries

Mill Hill - TheNext GenerationBy Nzenze Emmanuel Epie-Alobwede[Nzenze Emmanuel, the author of this article, is a Mill Hill studentfrom Cameroon, who is in Formation in Kenya. Here he describes howhe came to join Mill Hill, and explains why the next generation ofmissionaries has a truly international outlook.]From One of TheNext GenerationMY NAME is NzenzeEmmanuel, and I’ma Mill HillMissionary student, nowin India for pastoralexperience. I was bornin 1979 in South WestCameroon in Central Africa. I amthe third child of a very humbleand loving family of six children.My dad, Epie James, is a retiredcivil servant and my mum, LombeLucy, is a Catholic Primary Schoolteacher in Buea.In our world today, people are cravingfor true love, peace and unity. However,there is a lack of a proper understandingof God’s will for the human race, whichis unity of all peoples; this lack gives riseto conflicts and more division.Our goal as missionaries in today’sworld is to promote acts of true love inwhich the holistic wellbeing of the personis central. These acts impress on thehearts of all people a desire to accommodateone another as children of God inlove. This will happen despite all oursocio-cultural, ethnic and religious diversities,bearing in mind that God alwaysprecedes us wherever we are sent.As missionaries we are thereforecalled to lead God’s children everywhereNzenze Emmanuelinto a true conversion of heartso they can all live together inlove, peace and harmony. Sotoday’s missionaries are calledto be channels of God’s willand God’s love to humankind.As a missionary student, Ineed to be open to the kind oftraining that I am receiving. I need toallow myself to be led by God’s hand inall that I am engaged in.I know I am no superman to changethe whole world, but I know I can, in myown little way, through acts of kindnessguided by the Spirit of God, transformthe little world I find myself in, into aworld united by true love and service forone another, as the Mill Hill motto, ‘Tolove and to serve’, instructs us.The training I am receiving will bevery handy in meeting all the challengesthat face us in the world today. First ofall, I have been trained to know myselfbetter and be a more integrated and responsibleperson, to develop a personalspirituality which means I can have apersonal relationship with God ‘in whomwe live and move and have our being’ -from whom we gain our strength.I am also open to diversity because Ilive, work and study in a multi-racial,ethnic, cultural, social and religious setup.Additionally, I am given the opportunityto work with young people, the27