Medellín Mission and Discernment Experience | August 11, 2026

By JC Montenegro, PhD, Delegate for Mission Animation

(Medellín, Colombia) – On Day 6 of our Medellín Mission and Discernment Experience, our volunteers encountered community in its many forms: in neighborhoods marked by hardship and resilience, around the altar and table, through service, and in the realization that we become stronger when we walk together.

The morning began with a visit to Derecho a Soñar, a program serving children in one of the hillside communities on the outskirts of Medellín. The neighborhood has endured a difficult history of violence involving guerrillas, paramilitary groups, and government forces. The consequences of this history can still be seen in the poverty and challenges experienced by many families.

Derecho a Soñar provides developmental support and accompaniment to children and operates from Templo Comedor, a church that also serves as a place where children and elderly members of the community receive meals. The ministry is cared for by the Religious Sisters of Santa Teresita. Here, our group celebrated Mass and shared lunch before walking through the surrounding neighborhood and distributing bags of essential supplies to local families.

Walking through the steep hillside community made a particular impression on the volunteers. Narrow paths led between brick homes built into the mountainside, while every turn offered another glimpse into the daily lives of the people who call this neighborhood home. Rather than simply hearing about poverty, violence, and resilience, the volunteers had the opportunity to enter into the community, meet its people, and experience a reality very different from their own.

After lunch, JC Montenegro led the day’s vocational reflection on community and leadership. Drawing from the mission reflection booklet, the volunteers discussed what it means to belong to a community and how authentic leadership must remain focused on the mission rather than on the individual. The conversation invited them to consider not only how they lead, but also how they listen, collaborate, and place their gifts at the service of a greater purpose.

In the afternoon, the group visited Comuna 13, another Medellín community whose history tells a story of transformation. Once known internationally for violence and insecurity, today its streets welcome visitors through art, music, culture, and community life. For the volunteers, the visit offered another perspective on Medellín and demonstrated how a community can transform its history without forgetting it.

The day concluded with our final Salesian Good Night of this short mission experience. Fr. Mel Trinidad, SDB, reflected on the power of community. He reminded the volunteers that although each person arrived in Medellín with different experiences, motivations, and reasons for being here, we have been brought together around a common purpose. Each of us brings our full humanity into community, and when we gather in faith and prayer, we become the living Body of Christ.

Fr. Mel also reflected on the wider community that has accompanied this mission from afar. Through the daily emails and articles, our Salesian confreres, family, and friends have been able to journey with us. Most importantly, through prayer, the mission has extended far beyond the group physically present in Medellín.

As this short mission experience approaches its conclusion, Day 6 reminded us that vocation is never lived alone. Christ calls us into community and sends us on mission together. We grow stronger in faith when we pray together, serve together, listen to one another, and allow the experiences of others to transform us.

In Medellín, we have discovered that community is more than simply being together. It is choosing to walk together toward Christ and toward the young people and communities to whom He sends us.