By Meriam R. Jordan

Hesitation
The parish priest had asked her to follow up those taken both the Basic Bible Seminar (BBS) and the Bible Facilitators Seminar (BFS). Not knowing anything about the apostolate then, she was not keen on taking it. “I was hesitant because I did not know what this was all,” she recalled. But having seen the interest of the parishioners, and how alive the word of God was for them, affecting their lives, she agreed.

Immersion
During the three months before she left Hong Kong, Sr. Tomasa spent her time and energy in BBS, and BFS, weekly Bible sharing, Bible study, Scriptural Rosary, and in helping out in evaluation of the BA.
Then it was time to live. Immersions in the people and in the ministry did not allow her much thought about her new assignment. She fell though, a real experience of faith- in the presence of Christ in her life.

Anxieties
She was well aware, from her formation as a missionary, of the great demands a new people and a culture would asked of her. She knew little Chinese as a people, of Hong Kong as a metropolitan city, and, more so, of the language.

Language and Word
Again, as in Labrador, she taught in school. Her exuberant personality soon won for her friends beyond the campus. Again, and soon, the Bible Apostolate found her. Two years of full-time language study in a University did not give her the confidence she needed in the ministry. Yet, she responded. “For the whole month, I felt it was not mere desire but a call. I am to respond, reach out to the people of God not through the Chinese language but through the Word it self,” she explained.
Since then, Sr. Tomasa and her team facilitate Basic Bible and Basic Facilitator Seminars both in English and Chinese language. Aside from her involvement with Chinese communities, she also ministers to some of the 30,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong. Again, through the Word of God

She knew of the Chinese as a people, of Hong Kong as a metropolitan city and more so, of the language. Yet she responded.