My curiosity for the words of God increased after becoming a member of the Holy Trinity Community (HTC) cell group.
My name is Jessica Kandoly. A Catholic lay people community is a new thing for me. In Indonesia I had never joined any lay people community before. My family and I only went to mass in the church on Sundays. I only felt the importance of having a community when I started living in a foreign land.
One year in a HTC cell group, I received a lot of benefits. It helped me fulfill my spiritual needs, to gain the understanding about the teaching of the Catholic Church, the teaching of Jesus.
I was just arrived in Melbourne when I first came to the Indonesian Catholic Family Prayer Group (PDKKI). After a few times attending the weekly charismatic prayer meetings, one of the cell group servants invited me to join a HTC cell group meeting. Initially, I wasn’t very interested to join, as I only wanted to focus in the prayer group activities. However, after a few invitations, I finally decided to try it out.
Loving the Words of God
The cell group I came to was a new one. Within that group, there were only a few members who had been in a cell group previously. There was not even a name or a guardian Saint for my cell group, which was only decided a few weeks after: St. Martha’s cell group.
After a few weeks, I began to feel comfortable. My curiosity for the words of God increased. In the cell group I learned how to be a servant of God by giving teaching sessions or to lead the opening or closing of a meeting. Additionally, I began to always give thanks and to seek God’s forgiveness. Previously, I seldom prayed and talked to Jesus.
Sharing a personal experience about God’s love or listening to a similar occurrence from my cell group mates was the thing that touched me the most. From them, I realized that Jesus is always with us, even when our prayers are unanswered. Furthermore, as a student in Melbourne, I could not avoid problems surrounding my education, while my parents and family lived far in Indonesia. Therefore, the support and fellowship that I felt as a member of a cell group was very clear. I can feel the warmth of a family in St. Martha’s cell group.