By mudir 
BY Father Mina Albeer, MCCJ
In the Gospel of John, when two disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”, His answer: “Come and see”. It was a personal invitation to discover Him by walking with Him. Just as Jesus called His first disciples, so I too, felt called.
The story of my call started in 2008. During a gathering of youth, I heard the testimony of a young man who had participated in a missionary experience in Sudan. I wondered to myself, “Why don’t I try it?”. Since 2002, I have been teaching Christian education on Sunday school.
Then, in 2009, I traveled to Sudan with a group of young people from different churches in Egypt. We were accompanied by Comboni Missionaries, Jesuits, priests from the Coptic Catholic Church, and others.
The experience took place in the city of El Obeid and lasted three weeks. During the second week, I felt a deep desire to stay longer, to discover what God wanted from me. This feeling arose after hearing one of the Comboni brothers speaking about St. Daniel Comboni and his dream of “saving Africa through Africans.”
At that moment, I asked the mission leaders if I could remain in Sudan instead of returning to Cairo, to live a personal experience of discernment. Inside me, was a voice kept saying: “Come and see”.
And so, I stayed in El Obeid and began my journey of discovering my vocation. I participated in pastoral activities in a village in West Darfur. After a year, I returned to Egypt, but the voice within me grew clearer each day, calling me to discover God’s love and presence in others.
In 2010, after my year of service in Sudan, I began a serious spiritual journey to discern my calling. With the guidance of my spiritual director, I sought to understand God’s will for me. Then, in 2011, I joined the Comboni Missionaries as a religious brother.
My initial formation included two years of philosophy studies in Helwan, Egypt. Afterward, I was sent to South Africa, where I lived a two-year missionary experience and learned English.
From 2015 to 2017, I completed my novitiate. There, I deepened my understanding of the spirituality of the Comboni Missionaries, and Istudied its rule of life by the writings of our founder St. Daniel Comboni. At the end of the novitiate by my first religious vows, I was sent to Kenya, where I studied theology for four years.
In 2021, after completing my theological studies, I returned to Egypt, where I made my perpetual vows and was ordained Deacon. Then, I was sent back to Sudan as a missionary.
In 2022, I was ordained Comboni priest, and the motto of my ordination was: “Here I am, Lord, send me”, placing myself in God’s hands so He could send me wherever He willed.
My first assignment as a priest was to El Obeid (a city of North Sudan), the very place where I had first heard God’s voice calling me: “Come and see.” Returning there, I felt like coming back to my first love, where my journey with God had begun.
Through my missionary journey across different cultures, I’ve learned that God calls us first to live our humanity before anything else. He invites us to see Him in the others, in their thoughts, culture, tradition and way of life.
God is present around us in every person. The real question is: How do I recognize Him? How do I discern His voice in others?