25 Years of Witnessing to the Word in Thailand 231 him because of the variety of ministries involved. “I saw that as something new that I would really like to pursue,” he said. “I think brothers and brotherhood candidates need to have a real openness to follow what God is asking of us and what our superiors are asking us to do,” he said. “We may have our own idea of what we want to do, but in the end, that may change and we need to be open to that. We need to be open to the Spirit.” After deciding to change his course and pursue life as a religious brother, the young seminarian had to share the news. “My family really wasn’t very happy with that, because my mother especially had dreamed about me being a diocesan priest,” he said. “My aunt was very supportive of me becoming a brother, and that was because she had experience with brothers who taught at a local Catholic school. She understood what a brother was, whereas my mother had never met a brother. In time, she became much more accepting.” Early missionary years From 1991 to 2002, Bro. Ron worked in Australia. When he arrived, there were only two SVD Brothers in Australia, and the provincial was hoping to revitalize the brother vocation there. At one point, the numbers increased to 12 men in formation, but the numbers have dipped drastically again since then. For two of the years that Bro. Ron was in Australia, he served as the formation director for clerical students. Serving in a foreign country is a common aspect of missionary work but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
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