Surrey: An End to a Salesian Summer

By Fr. John Louis Mariapragasam, SDB

(Surrey, BC – September 18) – Although we are the Salesian work situated farthest from the center of the SUE Province, we always do Salesian work. This summer, we had five different weeklong camps. We started at the beginning of August with an arts camp, followed by a Bible camp, and three co-ed different sports camps that varied in age.

After the camps ended, we decided to do two single-day events during the last week-and-a-half of summer before school started again. We did this to get our teens excited about our upcoming oratory program that will go on throughout the year.

One of these events was a single day of service called “Gospel Trails” (a tiny version of Gospel Roads), which took place on Thursday, August 22. It was amazing, just like any activity that involves doing anything in God's name and showing love to our neighbors, especially those in society who have been forgotten and neglected. We went out on the streets of Surrey and visited some homeless people, as well as some of the elderly at a nearby nursing home. I became inspired as I watched our youths interact with this group of people. I heard the same from the teens who went. To hear how much it meant to them brings me great hope for youth ministry here, as well as the youths in general. It may not seem obvious, but our youth are watching and want to do something.

Our last event for the summer was on Wednesday, August 28. We did our last hurrah that we called “Tidal Splashdown.” It was a fun yet indeed wet day as summer came to a close. Getting wet at summer camp might help those of us in this part of the world to prepare for the wet, overcast, rainy weather that will soon be upon us this winter.

Goodbye, brother sun. We hope to see you next year!