Sr. Joo Yun Park
Age: 30
Home Parish: St. Paul Chong Ha-sang Roman Catholic Church, Flushing, Queens
Home City/State/Country: Williston Park, NY
Name of Religious Congregation: Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco
Stage of formation: 1st Year Novice, Newton, NJ
Degree(s): BA in Biology, BS in Nursing
Work Experience: Hospital and Adult Day Care Secretary, Registered Nurse
Interests: Art, Music, Computers, Photography

Vocation History

I first discovered that I wanted to work for God for the rest of my life when I started teaching religious education in my parish in 2002. I taught for six years and with each successive year, my love for teaching young people about God grew and I started desiring to make teaching religious education my “career.” I remember thinking, “If I could only do this for the rest of my life I would be the happiest person in the world.” In addition to this desire to serve God through the young, God continued to convert my heart through various life experiences of joys and heartaches and with the help of young adult Charismatic retreats.

Although I had this desire to serve God, I never considered becoming a Religious Sister until 2006, just as I was about to start my new career as a Registered Nurse. I had thought God was calling me to become a nurse so that I could do medical missionary work so this sudden call to religious life came as a surprise to me and left me very confused. I even wondered if this wasn’t a real call and I was just searching for an escape from my very stressful new career. But as the months progressed, my desire to learn more about Religious life grew stronger and more and more I desired to give my life in God’s service. I then started entering into a more formal discernment process with a Spiritual Director and also receiving prayers and wisdom from my friends and family. In March of 2007 I visited with the Salesian Sisters and felt very much at peace. I continued discerning another year and finally entered with the Salesian Sisters in August of 2008.

As I continue on my third year of formation, I wouldn’t change one moment of my past three years. God continues to call me closer to Him and challenges me to become a more authentic Christian as well as the true version of myself He created me to be.