Hey! I’m Juan, I’m currently a first-year Computer Science major at the University of Calgary. I live in Calgary, but I was born in Bogota, Colombia! I moved to Canada when I was 8, we were refugees trying to escape from the rising danger in my home country. We never realized that moving to Canada would also bring us closer as a family, my parents used to work long and hard hours in Colombia so I only ever got to see them on the weekends. But when we moved to Canada we had nothing but each other, so now we are a very close and loving family!
I was raised a Catholic, going through the sacraments and going to mass (almost!) every Sunday. The thing is, I never really cared about it too much. All I cared about was doing the bare minimum to get to heaven, in my words, “I believe, go to mass and I’m not a criminal. That’s all I need to get to heaven”. I was wrong, but what I found was much deeper than this superficial view. I first heard about CCO through my sister, thinking it would just be another youth group. But CCO was so much more! It was a place where I actually got to know my faith, a place where it was celebrated, a place where you could see and FEEL the Holy Spirit moving. Through one of its retreats, I made the promise to open the doors to Jesus and have Him at the center of my life. Since then, I’ve been seeing His presence and power everywhere I go. Most importantly, I’ve moved towards living the life he set out for me.
Why do I want to be on Mission?
Since my promise in that powerful and emotional retreat, as well as attending the Student Leaders Gathering in January, my heart has been burning with the desire to serve and strengthen my faith. After being offered the opportunity to share in this desire with other youth at WYD, I was very excited to say yes! I want to say yes to whatever the Lord calls me to, and this mission will be a leap to living the wonderful plan He has for me. I also cannot keep the message that caused such a huge change in my life to myself. I’m ready to let the light, given to me by the Holy Spirit, shine on all those who need it!
