The Hospitaller Order was first officially established in East Timor in my hometown, Laclubar, in 2004, by two missionary Brothers. It was then that I came to know the Brothers of St John of God because they were teaching in the middle school where I was a student. What surprised me about them was thE way of life and the testimony to hospitality of these Brothers of St John of God, through the way they served the people and always devoted their energies to the sick and to other people in need of various things, leaving the comfort of their convent, to go out into the cold and the heat. And this raised questions in my own mind: if these missionaries can serve my people, why shouldn’t I do it, as a Timorese? And so one day, together with one of my classmates (now deceased) I went to the Brothers’ house to ask whether they provided formation for the Timorese, and Bro. Vitor Lameiras accompanied us and briefed us on the Brothers’ life and mission.

At the age of 19 (October 19, 2007) I joined the Hospitaller Order community as an aspirant, with two other friends of mine. In the first few days everything seemed completely new – and also strange – to me, but as time passed every strange new element took on its full significance, enabling me to learn in depth, becoming an opportunity to set out, and make progress, along the path of Hospitality. And since no-one can attain a goal unless they can see it, no one can attain Hospitality unless they respond to God’s call to practise it.

Today I am a third year Scholastic living in the East Timor mission. I am happy to be part of this Hospitality “army” and even more privileged because I am one of the first seeds sown by the Brothers of St John of God in the sacred land “of the rising sun”. Every day, “playing and listening to the music of hospitality” becomes increasingly more pleasurable: and so, altogether, we will put on a “hospitality show” in areas, and in hearts, that do not yet know it.