{"id":11909,"date":"2026-10-06T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=11909"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:33:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:33:20","slug":"vocation-story-fr-peter-how-i-found-my-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/06\/vocation-story-fr-peter-how-i-found-my-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocation Story. Fr. Peter: How I Found My Calling?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Vietnamese Comboni missionary, Fr. Peter Nguyen, began his vocational journey quietly in the pews of his parish, nurtured by the love of family and service to his community. His path was marked by doubt and discernment, culminating in a courageous \u201cyes\u201d to God\u2019s call. He tells us. <\/em><\/p>\n

If you asked me, \u201cWhen did you first know you had a calling from God?\u201d or \u201cHow did your vocation begin?\u201d To be honest, I don\u2019t have a clear and perfect explanation of how or when God first called me. But when I look back on my childhood, some beautiful memories always come to mind.<\/p>\n

I remember being a little boy, sitting in the church pews and looking at priests celebrate the Holy Mass. I thought to myself that I wanted to become like them. I was just an innocent child, so full of this desire that I would go home and repeat some formulas of the Mass with murmuring words by myself.<\/p>\n

God placed me in a family that warmly nourished my vocation from the very beginning. At home, watching my parents and siblings who made sacrifices for one another, I learned the true meaning of love and patience.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I was blessed to grow up in a wonderfully devout parish community, where for several years I served in the Church as a choir member. Serving my community in those quiet and humble ways watered the tiny seed of my vocation.<\/p>\n

However, as years went by, I started university, which was the most difficult period of my life. Suddenly, the world felt so loud that I found myself in a dilemma. I asked God: Should I choose to live the religious life or get married?<\/p>\n

I desperately wanted a clear sign. I wanted God to give me an immediate answer so I could feel safe, but the answer didn\u2019t come that way. However, as graduation day approached, I realized I couldn\u2019t keep questioning it forever, so I had to make a choice.<\/p>\n

Even though I was still full of doubts and wasn\u2019t entirely convinced of God\u2019s plan for me, I stopped trying to push an answer and simply listened to my heart. Deep down, my heart preferred a religious life to other options. So, with a trembling but hopeful heart, I chose this way of life.<\/p>\n

When I reflect on those difficult days of decision-making, an image suddenly comes to mind: the thick fog of a cold winter morning. When we stand in heavy fog, we cannot see the road ahead clearly. The only way to get through it is to be brave, trusting our feet and eyes, and taking one step forward into the unknown. It is only after we take that step that the next part of the path reveals itself, little by little.<\/p>\n

My vocation journey has been exactly like that path in the midst of winter fog. God has never shown me my whole future at once. Instead, He only asks me to trust Him for the step I am on right now.<\/p>\n

And every time I have been brave enough to say Yes to Him, He has opened up beautiful and wide horizons that I never could have dreamed of on my own. So, the longer I walk on this path, the less I worry about the question, \u201cWhat is my calling?\u201d Instead, my heart cares much more about a question: \u201cAm I following God today?\u201d<\/p>\n

As the first Vietnamese Comboni missionary, I\u2019m told, \u201cYou have to be an example for others.\u201d Hearing that makes me feel very humble, and I am so grateful to God for letting me be the first one. Being the first Vietnamese Comboni Missionary does not, however, carry much pride because, at the end of the day, being a Comboni missionary isn\u2019t about being \u201cthe first\u201d or well-known.<\/p>\n

It is simply about having a servant\u2019s heart and bringing the wonderful love and Good News of God to people. With around 12 years in the formative stages, one year of preparation for my Perpetual Vows, and three months as a priest, when I look back on my vocation journey, my eyes fill with tears of gratitude.<\/p>\n

They are pure gifts of God\u2019s grace. Indeed, God didn\u2019t call me to this path so I could achieve my own goals. He called me so that I could live my life safely inside His love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Vietnamese Comboni missionary, Fr. Peter Nguyen, began his vocational journey quietly in the pews of his parish, nurtured by the love of family and service to his community. His path was marked by doubt and discernment, culminating in a courageous \u201cyes\u201d to God\u2019s call. He tells us. If you asked me, \u201cWhen did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11911,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11909\/revisions\/11911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}