FINDING GOD ON PARK STREET

Ines-Cyd Oyono ’19: Faith in Diplomacy

• Grace Klise, STM Assistant Chaplain • Season 2 • Episode 4

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When resilience meets unwavering faith, life's unexpected twists and turns can bring occasions of remarkable grace. Our guest, the First Secretary at the Embassy of Cameroon in Washington, D.C., Ines-Cyd Oyono, unveils the path that led her to a life of service and diplomacy anchored in her Catholic faith. Each day, in the sacred quiet of her morning time with the Word of God, Ines recalls the role of her father's devotion in her life and the eternal truths contained in Scripture that continue to serve as beacons for her amidst the bustling halls of the Embassy and the demands of her life as a diplomat.  

 The process of making faith one's own often begins in the face of adversity and, for Ines, it was no different. The loss of her father as a teenager could have shattered her, yet instead it forged a new path bathed in God's grace and steady accompaniment. Whether she was home in Cameroon or living in Paris or studying in New Haven at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs, Ines learned to draw close to the Blessed Mother and to rely more and more on her heavenly Father to guide her. 

 As a student at Yale, Ines drew close to the Saint Thomas More community, too. Studying in the Golden Center, leading events for Grad Council, spending time with the Chaplains, and meeting peers from other schools across the university allowed the Body of Christ to come alive for Ines in a new way. Not just a place to go to Mass, STM became a home that nourished her intellectual, social, and emotional life, too. That foundation of faith and community gave her the strength to surrender her plans to God's Providence, saying yes to whatever the future holds and to wherever she is called to serve. Her story inspires, convicts, and encourages all who listen to this conversation to trust God with their plans, too.

Show Notes:
Psalm 91
Ines’s father, Ferdinand Oyono
Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris
Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes

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Grace Klise:

This is a podcast from Saint Thomas More, Yale's Catholic Chapel and Center. I'm your host, Grace Klise, with my student co-host today, Mary Margaret Schroeder. Thank you for listening to Finding God on Park Street. Our guest today is a global citizen from Cameroon.

Grace Klise:

Ines-Cyd Oyono studied at the American University of Paris before moving to New Haven and completing her Master's in 2019 at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs. Currently, she serves as First Secretary at the Embassy of Cameroon in Washington DC. But there's so much more to Ines than her impressive degrees and titles. A faith-filled Francophile who has a great devotion to our Blessed Mother, Ines is very honest about her reliance on God as a university student grieving her father's death, as a young woman starting over in the US, and finding a home at St Thomas More. As a diplomat who could be sent anywhere in the world for her next assignment, only with faith as her foundation has she been able to overcome hardships and pursue her dream of serving her country, echoing her father's legacy. He would undoubtedly be very proud of her and we, her Catholic community at Yale, share that pride as well. So let's dive in. Ines, can you tell us about a typical day in the life for you now that you are a resident of Washington DC?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

A typical day in my life usually starts with prayer. I wake up and I commit my day to Lord. I read the Bible: usually one, two, three Psalms then I go to the Gospel. Hearing about Jesus is very calming and hearing His words, and then I get ready for work, take the train to work and get my day started, depending on what is on the table, what events I have to attend, if I have to represent the ambassador or go to an event at an embassy, whether it's like a gala party, writing up like notes reports before heading back out. Every day is different, as a diplomat, because it depends on the use of the day, depends on the events, the season, what is a priority at a consulate or even at the embassy? There is like no typical day for a diplomat, actually.

Grace Klise:

Do you have a favorite type of day in terms of your work at the embassy?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I think I really like Fridays because Fridays are quiet. The consulate is closed, so we don't typically receive people. It's the time for me to get my notes in order and I think the atmosphere is more like relaxed and we can focus. I've always loved writing, so everything that has to do with like analysis and SS and learning things is what I love, and I feel like on Fridays I can get my thoughts together and write.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

It sounds like such a peaceful start to your day that you root yourself in prayer and in scripture before you go about all of the many things that you get up to as a diplomat. I'm wondering how this prayer routine kind of started, and can you take us back to when you were growing up? Did you grow up Catholic, and what role did faith play in your life as a child?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I'm a very anxious person. I think it's also because I'm a perfectionist and I realize that when my day starts without opening the Bible, I just have a bad day, everything— I'm not calm. Yes, I grew up as a Catholic. I like to say that I was a born Catholic. My father was a Roman Catholic and my mother was a Presbyterian. My first memory of being Catholic is going to Mass with my cousin. We used to go to the cathedral in Yom Dei in Africa. It's very interesting because all the members of the choir used to wear those pink dresses, the ladies, and singing songs in French and also in our traditional language. I remember being happy just holding my cousin's hands.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

As far as prayer is concerned, my father is the one who introduced me to the Psalms. His favorite was Psalm 91, just knowing that nothing can happen to you, dwelling in God, that He will protect you if you honor His name. He used to pray the Psalms every morning and teach me about the history and the kings of the Bible. I think when I was 11 years old, my grandma bought me this Bible, kids' Bible version. Reading the book, the history, the story of King Solomon, I remember saying God, give me wisdom, because this guy asked and You gave him and he managed to do all of those things. I want to be like him and I think that I made his prayer till I was 14 or something like that.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

So, yes, this was more of my childhood as a Catholic and growing up. Multicultural country— cultural in the sense that you have different ethnic groups and also different religions—y ou see a bit of everything and even though I had the opportunity to attend different kinds of churches, I never really felt tempted to turn to another like religious group. Catholicism was always home and it was very natural to me.

Grace Klise:

Yeah, and I know that you have since traveled and lived in other countries too and it seems like Catholicism has been that anchor for you in finding a home, including here in New Haven, which we'll get to, when STM became a home for you while you were studying here for your Master's. But it's so neat to hear the ways in which still the Psalms and scripture are anchoring your day, just as they did for your dad and then when you were a little girl back home in Cameroon, that continuity between the faith that was given to you and the seeds that were planted when you were really little and the ways in which they continue to anchor you today.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Yes, yes, reminding just like it's, those seeds that made me the Catholic woman I am today, and the importance that there's some sort of ability that we have, whether as godmothers or even like people who are around kids or even individual, to teach from a young age that, hey, you have a Lord and you have a Mother, Mary, and this is the Bible. And life is hard, but you're going to be okay. Things will not work as planned, okay, because His thoughts on your thoughts, but everything will work together for you. Good, and just hanging there.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And it sounds like your dad played a really important role in your faith formation. Can you tell us a bit about the influence that he had on you and then any other faith role models that you had growing up?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Okay. So my dad and I, we were very, very close. We looked the same, we were tall and he was also he was a diplomat, but he was also like a writer, more or less famous writer. He had the Du Bois Medal from Howard University and when I was at Yale I saw that his books were on the syllabus. He was basically denouncing colonization using satire, and I just wanted to be like him. I just wanted to be as smart as Boaz. I like to talk to him.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I think it's also due to the fact that my dad was way older than I was, so I was a late kid, so I came back pretty late and, yeah, I would say that my father was the man of my life, in the sense that most of the decisions that I've taken were based on what he told me and making him proud, and I always say that my husband will be the man of my dreams and he really set a standard for what I aspire to be and what I want to do. And when I see the love that both of my parents had for me, I'm like, wow, so God loves me more than that, because I remember going to church in DC and talking about like my dad and he was like, do you know that God loves you that more than you do? And I was like, oh, I received so much love during my childhood. I felt safe, protected, and this is the standard for the dynamic I want to replicate in my family and I cannot just imagine that there is a God who loves me like more than that and I'm still like stressed and anxious about things. So I was very blessed during my childhood.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

My mother is a very, very strong woman community leader. She was a member of the first batch of women in the Cameroonian employees who reached like the highest rank, and she has a PhD in political science. So she was like a female leader, even a church leader, community leader. When we talk about the radio, that was like her idea, she kind of— I just follow her— and the fact that she was like still praying and I believe that all this had. We go back to the seeds, which were planted because both of my parents grew up in very like Christian homes and the figure of the mother being the one who brought the religion whether it's on my dad's side or even on my mom's side it's very important.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

But I think I grew up surrounded by Christian like role models, who told me, being in Africa, you know the importance of like community, because individualism, if we go back to our tradition, does not exist, especially in the Bantu culture. Your identity is tied to the one of the community. So you can be happy on your home, you need to make sure that the people around you are also happy and you have to give back, because even in our tradition there's this idea that by giving you will receive. You cannot receive if you not give. Fun fact is that usually when you become a servile servant or when you get a first job, the tradition in my family, in many families, is that you must not keep like your whole salary to yourself. You actually must not use any of it. You have to share it to make sure that you will keep receiving money.

Grace Klise:

Yeah, that's definitely not the standard with a lot of American families, and I'm thinking of me and my babysitting money in high school. I definitely wasn't turning it over to my parents or to my siblings.

Grace Klise:

But it's so beautiful and it so naturally connects with our faith and everything that we believe about what it means to live as children of God. And just so beautiful and as the way in which your home growing up really was this domestic church where you were able to first get a glimpse of God's love and believe in it, because you had experienced that love from your mom and dad. You mentioned earlier that life is hard, but we have God with us and we have Mother Mary with us. I know that before you left for university from Cameroon, you went through a hard experience in your family with your dad's passing. Are you able to share a little bit more about what that was like for you as a family and then also for your faith life?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Yes, sure. So it was brutal in the sense that it was in the first day of my like, it was the first day of my final baccalaureate examination, my high school exam, and basically I said goodbye to my dad in the morning, "You'll be fine, because I was very anxious, and then I'll see you when you get back. And then when I go back my dad is not there. He was a sudden there like cardiac arrest, and what is very peculiar is that in Africa death is not the thing of a family's community. So you go back from school, you go back home and you see all those people in your house and suddenly this happy house became a house like mourning, people crying and then you have like prayers will come and I see that my mother was very, very strong woman, like leading, and I see that my mom was, she was destroyed because they were attending like a ceremony. She was with him, she rode with him in a car and she had to come back home alone and that was very, very traumatizing and I think one of the reasons why I didn't like I did more, but seeing my mother like that was like you know, you have to regret, you have to do this thing and I had to basically help organize my dad's funeral and in the same time, you have to keep in mind that I still had to write my exam, because they happened in the course of several days.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Some members of the school call me and say hey, you know, there is the September session. We know that this is a trauma that is unexpected. You can take your exam later. And I said no, and in the morning of June the 10th, I say good bye to my dad. He knew that I was going to school to pass my exams. This is what I'm going to do. And I stopped studying because you can't. And I said you know what, God, I hope You just get me through this. I need to pass my exam and I think it was the first time I really asked the Holy Spirit to help me.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Because, this is the pass-or- fail exam. And at the end of the exam we're still planning the funerals. And then someone tells me the results are in, and I call my friend from Benin. I say I cannot leave the house. Just tell me if I pass, because the results I published. And then my friend, she didn't call me and I text her. "Did I fail? No, Ines, actually you got the highest honors in the class and this is amazing, you and Mary, because I had another like best friend, catholic friend. Her name was Mary and she was like "you guys pass. It's amazing. And I was like, wow, I had stopped studying. I was very, very traumatized, but God took me through this and said yes, and I was in my head. So, Ines, if you managed to pass your exam in this environment, just know that God is with you. And during the funerals I fell at peace. I felt some sort of comfort. I felt that someone was hugging me and I remember saying during my speech at the burial that now God is your duty to take care of us and my education, like I give it to you.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I got into the American University of Paris and my mom came— and so I lost my dad in June, school started in August and then my mom had to leave and then I had to begin in Paris alone. That's hard, yeah, that was hard. That was hard, and I think I just started over- studying in order to forget. I got myself into books, books. But it works up to a certain point, because you cannot just spend your life studying to forget.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

And I started, of course, to get angry because you start comparing yourself to others. You say, hey God, this guy did that terrible thing, and he still has his dad. Or this person is still alive. Why me? My dad wasn't maybe perfect— we're not— but he wasn't like the worst man in the world. Why did You take him? Take him, and I felt the need.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

A voice in my head said you need to go to a holy site, you need to go to church, you need to get yourself together. And my mom also told me that you're having very terrible thoughts. And I got on Google after class and I said, like holy sites in France? I knew about Lourdes, but it was so far and I was like this is the middle of the week, you cannot leave school to take a train. And I saw that chapel of the miraculous middle and I said, "oh. So Mary appeared in Paris and a friend in my class say, "yeah, everyone knows about it. I said, no, why am I hearing about it now? And it was in the same district as my school, so in the seventh. So I literally got on the bus from the campus lounge to the chapel.

Grace Klise:

Yeah, that was amazing. It's like God knew that you needed that nearby. You're starting this next chapter of your life without your rock, your dad. Yes, they're not in your life anymore in the same way.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yeah, thanks for sharing that story. It was really powerful and just moving to hear how, amid such deep suffering and, like you said, such a traumatic event, that you're able to see the graces that got allowed and the strength that He gave you during that time and that peace, and just thinking about that feeling of a hug like standing there.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I imagine, really comforting during such difficulty. I'm wondering through those years after that, especially how you had to go right away to start university in a new place. You're in Paris alone, your mom isn't there. You're starting to visit holy sites. How did your faith kind of transform? Because I imagine that experience of losing your dad and feeling God's comfort was probably a pretty pivotal moment in your faith experience. How would you characterize those next four years continuing through university? Were you able to travel and see other holy sites or what other ways did your faith change?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I had spent like 18 years of my life like relying on my dad and my dad brought me to God, but after that I had to rely on God alone, like God the Father, and going to Him to get everything and anything and looking for God's peace and resting in His peace. I remember like reading a commentary of the book of Corinthians. He was saying that God takes us from glory to glory and the person was saying even though it's hard, you need to enjoy the glory you are in. And I was, wow, that's true. If you're taken from glory to glory, even in this difficult moment, you need to find delight and know that this is happening for your good, and it's also bigger than you. Right later on, seeing some of the things that were happening in the world, at some point I was like, oh, I'm glad my dad didn't have to like experience COVID right, because I've been like older and more vulnerable and I don't think I would have been able to like mourn when you see the way people were buried in the haste at the beginning of the pandemic.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I know a lot of people were still traumatized by that. We didn't get the chance to say goodbye. I kind of said goodbye the morning going to school and we had like a long conversation in a hug it was, it was a particular goodbye and even not knowing, but I say imagine during COVID not being able to say goodbye. So I kind of accepted it and gave the glory to God.

Grace Klise:

And now we're seeing how God works in mysterious ways and that your faith is not the only legacy of your dad's in your life, also, the career path that you've chosen in choosing to pursue diplomacy and now working at the embassy in DC. How did that decision come about when you were in Paris to pursue this? Was that always something you wanted to do, or was there a certain moment, or maybe just a gradual realization that what my dad was doing is actually what I feel called to do too?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I think it was a gradual realization because we never had a conversation about like me being a diplomat. He never imposed anything. The only thing he used to tell me is, like you know, Ines, you're like a Black woman, and maybe one day, growing up, you will not have financial freedom, which means like you could be poor, you could not have like political freedom, you could be like in jail. But the thing that people will never be able to take away from you is your intelligence and your spirit, and I want you to go as far as you can and be the best at what you want to do. That's the only thing he told me.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

But I guess, growing up around diplomats and you're being around like many, many books and history and the news you develop some sort of like natural skills and I've always loved history and when I was in college I took a political science class. The goal was to go to law school. So I say, okay, I'm going to get a BA, maybe in political science, because my university was not offering like a bachelor's law. The closest degree was political science. And then, yeah, then I'm going to go to law school and then I take one class and I love it. I think it was the politics of global warming, I remember very interesting. Then I take another one and I realized that I'm going through like the core course and I learned about transnational threats, about the UN and me, being a Christian and an African woman, I know that collective problems require collective solutions and I'm really interesting in having an impact not just in my country but also in the world. So this is the path I took and the plan was and is still, one day maybe to work for the United Nations.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

And I had a conversation with someone who told me you know, it's nice to work for your government so that your government can maybe support you or you can bring that experience to the international level. It's international level. It's always good to start at home. So then during my last semester, there was the competitive exam to join the diplomatic careers and back at home, because to be a diplomat you need to go to try an exam, go to school, be trained for two years, receive your Master's and work at the, then you can work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for the government.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

So that was the plan and I also wanted to study in America. So as I was making my five year plan. I said, okay, I'm going to go there, but then I'm going to do another Master's and be more specialized in America at a top school and I'm going to bring that work experience because I saw that the most competitive programs in public policy required us like two to three years of experience and I also had one of my friends would tell me, "f you want to study in America, you will have better chances to get a scholarship if you go to grad school. And I said, okay, so keep that in mind and follow the five year plan and you worked out.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And that led you to the Jackson School. Can you tell us a bit about your experience at Jackson, the types of things you were learning, things you loved about it, maybe things that were challenging, and what it might have been like to live out your faith now in a totally new context, in the US, at Yale?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Okay, so the way to Jackson. I think my first choice was Columbia, because to me Yale was like oh, it's too big, maybe I'll probably won't make it, and I also wanted to be in New York. So I received my letter on my home and I see I got into Yale and I got a full scholarship and I was like wow. And I remember calling my mom and then I took a train to the chapel of the Miraculous Medal and say thank you, Mary, because I've been praying so hard for it and I get into New Haven on August 20th 2017. And well, I didn't know. New Heaven was a small town, first of all, much smaller than New York City.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Yes, I being in the US, I actually thought it would be like a big city with big malls and stuff like that.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

And I get into New Heaven. The Jackson Institute was wonderful, instead of like— welcoming us, and created also a sense of community with the cohort and creating events. But one thing I had said before getting into Yale is I want to be part of a church, of a community, because I've been going to church listening to sermons, but I had never been a member of a church community per se. So during orientation I see Allan and another member of the STM community, I think there was a sort of fair and they were heading like go to the Catholic church and you should come and see. And the Sunday there was a Mass with Father Bob, God bless his soul, and at the end of the Mass, they all call us all to the altar and like receive the blessing. And it was amazing. It felt like home.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I had never been so many Catholics young people, I think together because growing up Catholic I think you must know it that some people think you're weird okay, so it's nice seeing so many weird people, which is like you and it was just worship the Lord and there was Sister Jenn and I started to attend Mass and I liked it.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I really like the sermons, I like the events, the fact that I could meet people from different schools, that it was also another community, a community of faith, a community where I could serve doing baskets, distributing like foods to the most impoverished communities, and organizing events at any meetings or just watching the Super Bowl, things like that.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

STM was really the gave me the moral support that I needed as a Christian but also as an international student, because we don't have the chance to go back home as much as we can, as much as we want, because we live so far away and not everyone gets invited to, like your friend's house, for Thanksgiving dinner. But STM had those events and for Thanksgiving I say, okay, I can go there. For these holidays, I can go there. On Sundays I can go there and there is a library, I can study there. And I remember that every Sunday after Mass I used to study there with my friend from the business school and from the School of Public Health and you see the same faces and you see the same people and it was just amazing. It kind of set a high standard for what I expecting a church community.

Grace Klise:

Praise God for the ways in which He provided when you moved here to New Haven from overseas and not knowing anyone and finding this community where not only you could worship on Sundays but also could meet friends and could nourish your faith in other ways too, throughout the week and could have a home and I think you said it was right around the corner from your old apartment.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Yes, like two-minute walk.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Wow.

Grace Klise:

So really a home away from home and a home base for you during those two years while you were a student here.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Mm-hmm.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Can you tell us a little bit more about what it was like within the graduate school at Jackson? Being a Catholic? Was it easy to live out your faith in that realm? I know at STM obviously you had a very vibrant community that you could draw into and get that nourishment and talk about faith topics. But were you able to do that at all within graduate school, or what role did your faith play in the day- to- day as a student at Jackson?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

At Jackson, no, because people were not— I didn't find people were like open to or even believed in God. You know, I think there were some Christians but the other Christians were going to their own communities and they were not necessarily talking about faith. So the way I lived my faith was in the way I was treating people, or even my summer research topic because at the end of the first year I went back home to work on the radicalization of female war cult, war in suicide belts. So former members of Bocquera, I went to jail those teenagers and to interview them and maybe explore the ways we could de radicalize them while they were in prison, because they were in jail but they still had those radical thoughts and opinion and working around that.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Yeah, my Jackson mentor was a Catholic and he was also a member of the graduate council. So we used to walk to church together and talk about God. So I really liked that. But I think that when you're in a public policy school it's not really made for you to talk about your faith. People do talk about service and serving the community, but not necessarily in a religious way. In Africa it's different because you have more people who are open to talk about their faith and their religion.

Grace Klise:

Ines-Cyd Oyono: So at work I have no problem talking about Jesus or the Bible or religion, or discussing these and that's the decision of the Catholic church, or even with people who come but that Jackson no. Grace Klise: Yeah, that must have been hard in new ways, just in that new environment and the different cultural norms as to what we can talk about and discuss and how easily we can do it.

Grace Klise:

And it just emphasizes for me the importance of a place like St Thomas More, especially for our graduate students and international students coming far from home, to have a place where they can meet peers and be supported in their faith journeys in ways that they're maybe not supported in their academic pursuits in the schools that they're studying at. So we're so grateful that you ran into Allan at that fair and that not only you received and were nourished by the sacraments and by the word, but also the ways in which you gave, and it to me makes perfect sense that then you're dedicating your life to this work of diplomacy, which also is giving and serving in another way, and it's amazing too to think about. In your line of work I know you had a five-year plan that you followed and that miraculously worked out,

Grace Klise:

doesn't usually work out like that. But now you really have to surrender. Yes, because you could be placed anywhere around the world. You were in Cameroon after Yale and then received this assignment that brought you to the United States, but you don't know for how long you'll be here or where you'll be going next, so how does your personal faith ground you and make you confident and peaceful as you look ahead to the rest of this career, in this work that you've been called to?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I think that my experience prepared me to surrender because the five-year plan worked perfectly into graduation, you know. Then I made several other plans and none of these plans worked, and I think it's also during the COVID era I had to sit down and say, "Okay, Ines, your plans worked, not because you were super intelligent, but because maybe they matched God's plans. And now you're just at a time of your life where you have to stop telling God okay, God, this is a plan that I have and you need to work according to my plan, because this one is very good and it's going to take me there. See God," because his ways aren't your way. So, after facing so many like closed door, I started to pray, maybe more silently, like, hey, God, this is what I want, but Thy will be done. I trust you.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

"The Bible said, the book of Isaiah said that "I know the plans that I have for you. I know you want my happiness. I know that I Want this, but even if it doesn't work out, first give me the peace to accept it and just Close the doors that need to be closed. Open the doors. I need to be open and I just want to follow you. So right now I do have wishes to have desires and hopes, but I have this kind of certainty that I'll be good.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

But I came to that understanding, remember, after facing many many doors and making other many five year plans that did not work. So, yes, I tried to rest in like God's peace. I tried to beg for it. That's why the beginning of my day is so important, because at the end of that I can say I did my best and I committed the day to the Lord. So what happened was His will and not mine.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I love that. I think it's such an important lesson, particularly for Yale grads who are, you know, thinking for me as a senior going out into the world after this, I wish that that's a message that, like every single student, could hear from you, just it'll be okay, just trust God's plan and having that peace, it seems like you've been able to attain such peace from that surrender, even when, like Grace said, that you don't know where you're gonna be every, every time you could have like a totally different spot.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

So it's nice to know that you've been able to find that, and just thinking about your comments about finding rest in God reminded me of our undergrad retreat. This year we were having a theme of that verse from Matthew about "come to me all you who weary, are weary and carry having heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. And reflecting on on that idea, how do we find resting God? I think silence is a great place to find it. Are there other areas in your life for you're able to find this rest? You have things that you like to do for fun or other ways you connect with your faith outside of your typical prayer routine.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

I love my prayer routine, connect me to my faith is really actually going to Holy site, like Lourdes. I took the decision to go, at least from now on, once a year, and my hope is to go there this summer. But to serve, which means that go with the sick people and help them during the pilgrimage. As a work, I like to—t here's so many, as a diplomat, there are so many events that you can attend, so I do like that. I also like to go to, I like to swim. I used to swim a lot when I was a child. I like to read, I like to go to the movies and I like to hang out with friends, meeting people from around the world. I am an introvert by nature, okay, so I guess being a diplomat and receiving so many invitations allows me to go out and forces me to reach out to people and make new friends.

Grace Klise:

Yes, yeah, lots of opportunities to to practice that extroverted sign of you, which I also am more introverted, so I understands it's a, it's both a blessing and sometimes it could be a cross of another invitation.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

Yeah, I could spend a lot of time at home alone and it's not good. I, I need to to go out. That's why also being member of STM allowed me to meet new people, also at the graduate council. You have to attend meeting, you have to, and it was, it was good I, I needed that, otherwise I would have remained at home.

Grace Klise:

Well, it sounds like there have been lots of opportunities, and there are lots of opportunities in your life for you to encounter the loving presence of our God. But the last question that we ask all podcast guests is where have you been finding God recently Ines?

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

The Sacrament of Reconciliation. Until recently, I never really understood the power of Confession, the fact that you need to be forgiven, and by learning that, I became more patient, more understanding and managed to forgive some people who have like hurt me. And and so I had a very good Confession when I went to the Chapel of Miraculous Medal, because they have like flyers about Confession, how to make a good Confession and they're explaining to you and I learned that when God is does not work like men, which means that if you Confess you sins, you basically forget about it. Right, and I was like, wow, I've lived my life with all those things because I didn't know how to do a proper confession.

Ines-Cyd Oyono:

You know, I think that this is not something that had been emphasized even to me, and now I'm learning the power of Confession and I cannot live without it. You know, going there and say, "God, this is what I did. I'm very sorry. I count on your mercy, because everything that had been given to me it's not because I'm the most intelligent, some the most beautiful, or I'm the most devout Christian is because you are a merciful God and you give me things I do not deserve. Yeah, so yeah.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

So beautiful and a great reminder for us right now during Lent to to make a good Confession and during this season leading up to Easter. Well, thank you Ines for just being with us. You're such a light and sharing your powerful witness to God's mercy and God's love and His glory throughout all stages of life, from growing up and learning about the influences on faith from your parents and seeing that flourish throughout your life, particularly through hard times, and to where you are now in such a fascinating job and seeing where God leads. Yeah I'll be so fascinated to see where that all takes you. So, thank you so much for joining us and just sharing your story. Ines-Cyd Oyono: Thanks for having me.

Grace Klise:

Yeah, we're grateful to have you as part of our community and part of our alumni family, and to all those who tuned in, thank you for listening to Finding God on Park Street. We'll see you next time. If you enjoyed listening today, please share this episode with a friend or relative and leave us a rating and review. The producer of this podcast is Robin McShane, director of communications at STM. Sound mixing and editing are by Ryan McAvoy of Yale Broadcast Studio and Graphics are by Mary Lou Cadwell of Cadwell Art Direction. We hope this podcast encourages you to seek God's presence in your everyday life. Thanks for listening and know of our prayers.

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