Good Shepherd Church Setapak invited the migrants to co-animate the mass on Migrant Sunday this
year. Lydia, 12 years old, from Myanmar did the first reading followed by Emmanuel from Nigeria
who happens to be one of our regular lector as well. Lydia who was a bundle of nerves prior to mass,
read in flawless English and was praised by the liturgical seniors in the parish. She has been invited
to be part of the parish liturgy team once she completes her exams this year.
During Offertory, six couples from the Myanmar migrant community dressed in their traditional
costumes from the different tribes in Kachin state walked up to offer their personal gifts as an act of
thanksgiving for the many blessings and graces they have received during their journey here in
Malaysia. James Seng Naw, a community leader, hope to see a bigger group of migrants from many
different countries coming together for offertory next year.
The celebration was saw the coming together of various ministries in the parish to co-celebrate this
day with our migrant brothers and sisters. The Evergreens gave away 100 cupcakes to the migrant
families as a loving gesture in celebration of the International Day of Older persons who also happen
to fall on the same day as Migrant Sunday this year.
The Catechism children gave away personalised teddy bears to every migrant child who were
present as part of the mission year Teddy Bear project. This was a very meaningful gesture that was
heartwarming and a joy to watch even in the eyes of our Myanmar community leaders.
A video was shown which gave a short account of the history of Myanmar and the complexities
around the different minority groups and the political situation then and now. Many found the video
informative and enlightening.
During the Praise & Worship session, the Malaysians were told to find a migrant partner and spend 5
minutes getting to know one another. Many came up to share what they know about their new
found migrant friends. This provided a beautiful avenue for people of different races to talk and
encounter one another as part of getting to know about a person. Mariam Thomas from GSC,
received a hug from Martha from Myanmar after this short encounter. She thinks that the Praise &
Worship session provide a very good avenue for the migrants to get to know more people in the
parish. She wished to see the migrants fully integrated into parish life and this could be done
through this simple activity of Praise & Worship together.
Songs, praying for peace, rendered by our brothers and sisters from Myanmar joyfully speaks of
their inner desire for peace in their homeland, changing guns into plowshares, for many are missing
their moms and dads back home. Our migrant brothers and sisters sang with their hearts
enthusiastically and enjoyed the Praise & Worship session together with the parishioners of Good
Shepherd very much.
James Seng Naw was pleasantly surprised to see how vibrant the praise and worship session can be
in a catholic church in Kuala Lumpur. Back home, this is not in existence and worship is still very
conservative and traditional.
Julia Thing Chyu was very appreciative of the warm hospitality and kindness shown by the
parishioners of Good Shepherd. She enjoyed the personal chat of getting to know each other with
Nicholas Doshi from the Family Life Ministry. She said that her children liked Malaysia very much and
do not look forward to going home to Myanmar.

The Praise & Worship team extended an open invitation and look forward to meeting our migrant
brothers and sisters again.