Sr. Fidelis Ong PDDM has worked as a missionary in Taiwan for many years. In her first few months inTaiwan, Sr. Fidelis had a difficult time adjusting to the culture and the people, like any missionary. In the university where she studied the Mandarin language, she found the students to be indifferent. “I wanted to make friends with them but they hardly ever smiled,” said Sr. Fidelis.

What she did the next time she went to school was to take extra effort and smiled gently, with a slight bow of her head, to the students. She did this everyday until one day she was surprised to see these students smiling back at her. This was the beginning of their friendship.

“This may seem one very simple experience, but for me, as a missionary, it made my whole world new.”

P.S. Sr.Fidelis is now back in the Philippines, doing liturgical apostolate.