Sam Nasada, OFM was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. He moved to the United States to get his degrees in Industrial Engineering, and went on to work in the manufacturing industries in southern California for a few years. After becoming more active with the local Church and the Indonesian Catholic young adult group in Los Angeles, Fr. Sam started discerning a call to priesthood and religious life. He joined the Franciscans in 2010, professed solemn vows in 2016, and obtained his Master of Divinity degree from the Franciscan School of Theology in 2017. When the socio-political climate of the country seemed to be increasingly anti-immigrant, he decided to help establish a new Franciscan community in Elfrida, near the border town of Douglas, AZ. From 2018 to 2020 he served at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, first as a deacon, and then as a priest. Since July 2020, he ministers as Associate Pastor at Mission San Luis Rey Parish in Oceanside, one of the historical California missions.