By Salesian Father Michael Mendl | Special Contributor

Karen Dziekonska, daughter of Elizabeth Dziekonska of St. Hedwig Parish in Trenton, was one of 20 young women and men whom the Salesians of Don Bosco commissioned as lay missionary volunteers Aug. 14.

Formally called Salesian Lay Missioners, they will serve at missions of the Salesians, the Salesian Sisters, or of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, South Sudan and the United States for a year.

Dziekonska, 22, of West Windsor is a member of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in New Brunswick, where she graduated from Rutgers University with a major in environmental science. On Sept. 15 she will travel to Hogar Maria Auxiliadora in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a girls’ orphanage of the Salesian Sisters.

She joined the SLMs “to take part in Don Bosco’s mission of becoming a friend and teacher to the girls” of the orphanage and hopes to show them God’s love through her own presence, as well as “to learn more about myself, my faith, and God’s call for my future.”

Explaining St. Hedwig Parish’s influence on her faith life, she said in an email Sept. 8, “[M]y faith was definitely rooted at St. Hedwig’s. That is where I was baptized, attended CCD and was confirmed. One aspect of St. Hedwig’s that I always loved is the strong cultural and family ties, especially in the Polish community. It’s very encouraging to see families from multiple generations attending Mass together and gathering outside afterwards. This importance of culture and sharing your faith with your loved ones will definitely carry over to my work at the orphanage.”

The commissioning took place at a Mass at the Don Bosco Retreat Center in Haverstraw, N.Y., within a retreat that included the 20 SLMs and about 35 Salesian priests and brothers. The 15 women and five men range in age from 20 to 31 and include a married couple.

The Salesian Lay Missioner program has sent hundreds of young (and sometimes older) volunteers to Africa, Asia, Latin America and U.S.-based missions over the last 30 years. The SLM program is based at Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, N.Y.

Another young adult from the Trenton Diocese, Adam Pizzaia from Jackson, joined the SLMs last year and had been serving with the Salesians in Okinawa, Bolivia, since February. At the beginning of September he was transferred to the Salesian mission in Yapacani, Bolivia. He has been blogging about his experiences at http://adampizzaia.blogspot.com/.

In his blog he wrote that he is “spending the next 1-2 years volunteering in Bolivia ... to give God a big ‘Thank you’ for all the things he has given me.” He said the move to Yapacani was a change that is as different as the Pennsylvania countryside is from the bustling streets of New York.

“My time in Okinawa was time well spent,” he wrote Aug. 31. “I certainly learned valuable lessons here that I will bring over to Yapacani. Some include the following: loving not just kids equally but adults too, being considerate to others, keeping and following through with my words, putting the mission first, reacting positively and not spreading negativity ... and depending on God more...”

Father Michael Mendl serves as coordinator for Province Communications, Salesians of Don Bosco, New Rochelle, N.Y.

David Kilby, correspondent, contributed to this story.