Simon Zamani

My name is Simon Zamani originally from Kaduna State, Nigeria. I am the youngest of nine siblings. Four brothers and four sisters. My first go-to hobby is playing and watching soccer. I support Manchester United and most of the time, I spend a lot of time watching their games and listening to their podcasts. I also love socializing and making friends, going on retreats, specifically silent retreats, learning the guitar, singing, especially in the choir, hiking, cooking,  engaging in conversations about my faith, and working out at the gym.
My encounter with the Lord has been a glimpse here and there, but coming to the seminary has probably been my biggest encounter with the Lord. But before that, I first encountered the Lord at a very young age at church when I use to serve as an altar servant. Serving mass was one of my favorite things to do while growing up. During the masses, I always felt a sense of peace and joy. I started going to Mass every day and very early to get an opportunity to serve when some servers did not show up. It was a very exciting thing for me to do. From that, it developed to watching the priest celebrate the mass, and on a certain day, while serving mass, I heard God asking me the question of if I will like to do what the priest does. Obviously, it was a scary question but as I continued to ponder on that question, the thought of priesthood also continued to attract and intrigue me. However, I did not decide to join the seminary until when I came for my exchange year in America. I lived in the countryside in Western Iowa. Before my coming to America, I thought everywhere was a city but my thoughts were wrong. I lived with an American host family who were methodists and my host dad was also a pastor. We shared different views about our faith and then I also continued to evangelize a little bit in my school. My Bible was always with me and I read it during study hours and so some of my friends picked interest. Sharing the gospel with them exposed me to how naive they were about the gospel, considering that they were Christians. After a while, I felt the need for more evangelism but my exchange year was also coming to an end. So, I prayed to God on how to go about it and the first thing that came to my mind was the priesthood. Luckily I was friends with Bishop Pates, and to cut the story short, I happened to come back here to hopefully accomplished what I started if it is God's will. Thank you!