Hi, Guy Roger! Could you please introduce yourself…
I am Guy Roger Mutombo Mutshi, a Salesian of Don Bosco from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I come from a family of six children, three girls and three boys. I come from the Salesian Vice-Province of Africa Congo Congo (ACC), where I took my first Salesian steps, from being an aspirant to being a postnovice, until presenting my letter of request for the mission ad gentes to the Rector Major. The ACC Vice-Province has helped me and accompanied me in my vocational journey, helping me to mature and understand Salesian life. My current availability for missionary life is the result of the formative support I received within the Salesian Family in ACC; for this I thank God for giving me this beautiful family and that the Lord continues to work in the mission of this beautiful and magnificent Vice-Province.
What inspired you to choose to become a missionary?
First of all, I am the son of a missionary country and I myself have been marked by the lives of the missionaries who have worked in my environment, in particular by the Salesian missionaries. My missionary call or enthusiasm began as a prenovice, through some missionary formation courses organised by the one in charge of the preovitiate, Father Antoine Kabengele, and led by my then Superior, Fr Manolo Jiménez. From the first missionaries sent by Don Bosco himself to the present day, this journey has awakened the missionary desire in me. Leaving one's land, one's culture, one's habitual environment, one's preferences and living away from one's family in the name of the Gospel of Jesus, sharing the culture and living conditions of those to whom one is sent: this is the main characteristic of the missionary life of those who have freely accepted to live as missionaries in my country. This way of living the Salesian life had a very positive impact on me, giving me the courage to lead this kind of life for the Gospel of our Lord.
Are you happy with where you are going? Do you have any fears or concerns about the new place, culture and people?
As for my mission, I am happy to be one with the confreres of Southern Italy so that, through my testimony of life, the young people of this area can strengthen their faith in God. Since human life is made of discoveries and experiences, I have no fear for my mission land. As a man capable of learning and understanding, I am driven by the sole desire to adapt and inculturate myself, conforming to the realities of my mission land.
What are your plans and dreams for your missionary life?
"My plans and dreams for my missionary life are to live in communion of spirit and action with my Salesian brothers in IME for the salvation of poor and abandoned young people, according to the heart of Don Bosco and to the greater glory of God". Like all Salesians, my mission is above all a community one. It is in the community that, together, we will realize our only project, which remains the salvation of young people.
How did your family members, friends and confreres react when you told them about your missionary vocation?
As you well know, in our families, especially in Africa, the only thing about religious life that our relatives know well is life in a convent or seminary. Questions about how to live, what to do and where to stay are not at all understood. The important thing is that my loved ones can live with the awareness of our missionary life, which calls us to be ready to go wherever the mission calls us. This way of making my loved ones understand my choice, especially my family, gave me a lot of support and encouragement; I am happy to be accompanied by them.
Do you have some great missionary role models in mind whose lifestyle you want to follow?
The first missionary, the greatest, the only and only model, is Jesus, sent by the Father to rebuild the unity between God, the Creator, and his creature, the world. And then, every Salesian who has lived the missionary life, a life of sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, is a model in his own right for me today. Following the Gospel, our only style of apostles of Christ is to live a life of simplicity; and as Salesian religious of Don Bosco, our family style is to live our evangelical counsels of obedience, poverty and chastity.
What is your message to young people about missionary choice and vocation?
They must follow the inner voice that speaks to them. Our desire always begins with a fact. May young people be attentive to the vital signs that move their hearts, to make good choices in their lives. The missionary vocation is a desire for love, it is a seed planted in the depths of the heart by God; God is the director of our choices and we ourselves are the actors of choice. Every young person must be aware that he himself is the main actor in the vital episode of his life, and in this way he can leave the role of director to God. Like Don Bosco, our wager is on courage, commitment and, above all, on the determination to take our choices to the end. The only way to do this is the ability to discern our choices.
