When we began preparing for our mission trip to Kolkata a year ago we couldn't have imagined all the ways God would bless us along the way. God has shown us this past year how generous He is, out doing us a hundred fold with His love, mercy and gifts.

God's generousity was made visible through so many of you. Each one of us have been so blessed by your support, financial donations and prayers. Your generousity had overwhelmed us. We are humbled that God choose us to come to Kolkata but we also know that God choose so many of you to journey with us and be apart of this mission. For this we are so grateful.

Thank you for reading our stories. We pray that you experienced Kolkata in your hearts through them. Thank you for your comments and emails. Your words brought us joy and encouragement. Thank you for your prayers. We received an abundance of God's graces because of them. Thank you for your financial donations. We had the priviledge to serve in Kolkata and pass your blessings onto many people.

Your financial generousity surpassed our expectations. As promised we left all the extra money we raised in Kolkata. We would like to share with you how your financial gifts blessed the poorest of the poor.

1. Missionaries of Charity: The majority of the extra finances were left directly with the Missionaries of Charity. The sisters will use the money for a variety of needs in their different homes.

2. Education for a Poor Boy: In mid October we were notified of a young poor boy who had been recently accepted into the college of engineering. Despite the joy of his recent acceptance he was soon notified that unless he paid everything in full he would not be able to continue with his studies. Distrought by what seemed like a dream slipping through his fingers, the boy and his family had no way of coming up with the remaining costs. Through the MCs we were connected with this family and because of the generousity of many we were able to cover his university fees, which were a mere fraction of what one year of university would cost at the U of S. The boy and his mother were brought to tears by what was an anonymous donation, a gift right from the hand of God.

3. Bethlehem Drop: Part of the money will be used to buy hundreds of blankets. Throughout the night of Christmas Eve many volunteers will distribute the blankets to those living in the streets of Kolkata.

4. School Supplies: Janelle, Abby and Shelan volunteered teaching at 2 of the MC homes. All the materials in the schools, from pencils to puzzles, are donated. Some of the money went to providing needed supplies for the children at these schools.

5. Medicine and Clothes: Kerry and Michelene volunteered at one of the MC dispensories. This is a place for those living on the streets and the poor to come for free medicine, dressing changes, care for infections and wounds. Part of the money was used to buy clothes and medicine to distribute at the dispensory.

6. Housing: We were led to two special projects by one of the long term volunteers. He got us in contact with two of the MC homes. One of the projects will be building a simple house for a young lady and her new husband. The young lady's mother died at the MCs home for the sick. Since she had no other family the MC sisters have helped to take care of her. The other project will be repairing 4 houses near another MC home. These 4 homes belong to poor families who can't afford the neccesary work.

7. Care Packages:  On the streets God's people suffer from the lack of so much, even the basics like food, shelter and clothing.  Because of your generosity we were able to make 17 care packages to help provide for some of these needs.  We packed 10 bags for men which included a tarp, a blanket, a deck of cards, a note pad, nuts, candies and some toiletries.  We made special packs for the seven families that lived on the streets just outside our guest house.  These packages included a larger tarp, a blanket, more food items including rice, sugar, flour, and milk.  We purchased colouring books, sketch books and note books.  We included hair clips, nail polish, and bindies for the women and children along with a few canadian souvenirs and games.  Know the joy you brought those individuals and families.  The faces of God's children shone so bright as these gift packages where placed in front of them!

We pray that you are blessed by knowing where your gifts went. We are so thankful for each one of you. Know that your names have been placed at the tomb of Blessed Mother Teresa. You have also been in each one of our prayers along with one of the MC sisters, who has also prayed for you by name.

 "We give thanks to God always for you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly, calling to mind your work of faith and labour of love." 1 Thess 1:2-4

I received a gift from the Lord the other morning at mass walking up to receive Him in the blessed sacrament. As I walked I listened to the prayer in my head. I was saying, "Lord thank you for your love for me beyond what I can fathom and gifts beyond what I could think to ask for". I listened to this prayer and recognized how true it was and the unique way in which God had given it to me. I know it wasn't a prayer from my mind because I had to first listen to what I was saying in order to hear it.

It's true, I didn't recognize how many areas of my life I had so many things to be greatful for and where true thanksgiving should lie. Here in a place where everything is simplified, a life with many layers pealed back, not having as much temptation to seek fading joys in material possessions, career, false identities, here where as volunteers everyone is doing a very similar job, wearing similar basic clothing, staying at similar quality places and eating similar quality food. You find peace in recognizing that God created us all the same. Those we serve and the ones who came to serve, all the same, just a soul serving another of His souls all created by our Lord to love and to be loved. This love, the love you first learn to recognize and receive that is in such abundance, It is God's love for me and all of us that is beyond what I can fathom. I have realized a little more how much we have in utter abundance. I recognize in my life, the abundance of material possessions, the abundance of a good job, and the gift it is to be able to do it, the abundance of his grace, mercy and even the gift of faith, enough to be able to share!

I look around these streets of Kolkata and recognize even the abundance of safety we live in back home. I was in a situation the other day, I gave something simple to a man on the streets. One of his friends with him tried to wake him up and the man sleeping brought his hands to hs face to protect it. The reality of the poor and how they suffer on the streets reaches the heart as we get to know them. It is colder in Kolkata now, we know many families that sleep in the cold on the streets outside of our place. You tuck yourself into bed at night realizing you have satified your own need for warmth but yet so many still sleep without it.  You realize even the simple "gift" of warmth that we have and how even this, even in a cold country like canada, that we have it in sheer abundance. All these things gifts, given to us mostly by the circumstance we were born into, and a free gift from God. Recognizing all these things in life as the gift from God that they all are makes you realize how all things belong to our Lord, and it frees us to share all these gifts with others, and in sharing of all these things with others, giving them back to our Lord in thanksgiving!

God is perfect in all things, great beyond all measure, a place of perfection to place our future hopes and indulge in the present. The Lord offers excess of every perfect gift and I am so greatful to know it!

We have left our wonderful Kolkata now! In our time there we were blessed beyond what I had imagined. We left recognizing that the Lord goes before us always and the relationship you build with Him you take where ever you go!

We are in Puri now and it feels like a little paradise God picked out for us. We all are very much looking forward to sharing alot more with all of you back home. Until then know that we are praying for you and will still take your prayers on the rest of our journey home to you!

God Bless you all in abundace! I mean it!

                        Love Abby

Every morning, after mass, the sisters invite all the volunteers to come to the volunteer room for a banana, a slice of bread and a glass of Chai tea before heading out our separate ways for volunteering. At 7:30am we all pray together the "Prayer before leaving for Apostolate". My favorite line in the prayer is "Lord grant me a true realization….of the privilege that is mine." The longer that I am here, I realize how much a single act of service can be a real privilege and an honor.

Last Sunday a few of the Sisters asked if I would take 4 of the oldest girls from the orphanage for a special day just for them. These girls are between the ages of 8-11. The one sister told me that these girls will not be getting adopted because they are older, but never the less they are happy, happy, happy and they have made the orphanage their home. They go to a local school but other than that and a few seldom outings they rarely leave the complex.

I first brought them to Sunday Mass at the parish where I help with Sunday Catechism, as well as for a visit to a nearby friend of theirs and then finally out for lunch. That day they radiated with so much joy, each dressed in a beautiful pink sari. One thing that really stood out to me from this experience was all the "first times", particularly when we went for lunch. Restaurant of choice: KFC. None of the girls had ever been but I knew how to easily make our way back to the orphanage from there, so I thought it was a wise choice.

Things that I had just assumed everyone knew were being experienced for the first time right before my very eyes. What a privilege to witness how surprised they were to see a flat screen TV on the wall of the restaurant (KFC is quite a modern place and has had the nicest washroom I have seen thus far). The next thing you know the one girl looks at me with frightened eyes as she discovers ice cubes in her cup. Then it came time to use the washroom, something that I had assumed would be a simple task. They had never seen a western flush toilet and the steps to use it had to be explained to them.

After a privileged, blessed day, we made our way back to their home, the orphanage where over 60 children live. It's a beautiful place where they are loved greatly. What a day, a privilege that was all mine. I loved it!

We are all doing well, thank you for your continual prayers. Our days left in Kolkata are coming to an end and it's been such an honor, and a privilege to work side by side with so many wonderful people and sisters.

 p.s Happy American Thanksgiving to all the Americans reading.

Janelle

Every day I am amazed by the Indian people.  You can't walk down the street without being greeted by a smile. Sometimes its from the little street children who are flying their homemade kites amid the  electrical cables overhead.  Sometimes its by the women who are so elegantly dressed and who carry themselves with such dignity.  Sometimes it by the little old person sitting on the edge of the road with their hand outstretched, begging for even just one rupee. Regardless of their  age or social standing, the joy is evident. After 10 weeks in this 'City of Joy', a conversation with a fellow volunteer helped me to begin to shed some light on the reason for the peoples' joy. 

How does someone who lives on the street with no posessions, not even a tarp to shield him from the rain find joy?  How does a man who spends his days pulling a rickshaw transporting wealthy children to school, find joy knowing that he is barely making enough money to feed his small family let alone send his own children to school? How does a woman deformed by leprousy, and rejected by her family find joy? The answer is TRUST.  

When you really think about it, it makes sense.  People here live in trust.  When I offer a man a piece of bread, and he breaks it and gives half to the guy beside him, it offends my mind.  But, he lives in trust that when he needs more bread, it will come.  That is not the way my North American mind was conditioned to work.  We are taught to fend for ourselves, to look out for #1, and if we have some left over, after having our fill, THEN we take care of others.  We spend so much of our time and energy trying to CONTROL our lives, to plan ahead, to save for the future. We have bought into the lie that our lives can be controlled and that our future is in our hands.  The reality is that no matter how hard we work at controlling our lives, there is SO much that is beyond our control. We claim to believe in a God who is in control, yet we refuse to surrender power, and submit to the plan He has for our lives.

The man who makes his home on the street trusts that his needs will be met, one way or another.  He doesn't spend his days worrying about how to get a different place to live, or move up the social ladder.  He trusts that this is where he is supposed to be, and he accepts everything that comes his way as a gift.  The same is true with the rickshaw walla.  If he spent all his time worrying about how he can never afford to send his children to school, he would miss out on all the good things that do exist in his life.  He trusts that even though his life doesn't look like everyone else's, that is where he needs to be right now, and he tries to live it to the fullest.  The woman with leprousy is the same.  No one knows why she was chosen to have this disease.  She trusts that everything she needs will come to her.

There is so much more freedom and joy when you live in trust. There is an ability to live in the moment, and to savor all the goodness that exists in that very moment.  When you're living in control, you're always looking to the future, and missing out on the things that are right there in front of you.  When you're trying to control the situation, you're not accepting the gift of that very moment… that you will never get back.

I still have so much to learn, and I'm thankful for every moment we have here that teaches me something new.  I am learning every day about the joy of trusting, and the freedom that exists within it. Thankfully, I am aware that I have a God who loves me more than I could ever understand, and who is in control of all.  

God bless you!

Kerry 

I'm still trying to come up with something profound to say for the next post.  The girls have done such a good job lately of their posts, the stakes have been raised!  Here are a few pics to buy me a couple more days. I can't figure out how to rotate the images…. sorry!

Kerry 

It's already November! I'm beginning to notice our days in Kolkata disappear and it making me treasure each passing moment. Our experience in Kolkata is teaching us many lessons. One of the most basic yet most profound is thankfulness. My time with the poor has helped me to see all things as a gift. Nothing is taken for granted here. The poor have taught me to keep my eyes on what I have and then it is impossible to see what I don't have. When I begin to complain about the meal I just ate, I remember that my stomach is full. When I dread my pile of laundry that I have to wash by hand I remember that I always have clothes to wear. When the work gets hard and I get tired, I remember that it is a privilege to be here and to be able to serve. A thankful heart is a happy heart! This is the secret to their joy.

As each day passes by I am given yet another opportunity beyond my wildest dreams and I realize even more what a privilege it is to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor. At Kalighat today a woman was brought in with a gaping wound full of worms on her head. As her frail, naked body lay almost lifeless in the shower, the words above her read "Body of Christ." Again I was reminded that it is Christ who suffers and it is Christ who I see and who I touch. Jesus really becomes flesh and blood in the poor. I see Him everyday. I don't understand the suffering I see. But I choose to take each encounter as an invitation to see Christ - and to come to know Him more. 

God is doing so many wonderful things here. I'm practically speechless. I am continually amazed by the thousands of miracles we witness everyday. We are all looking forward sharing more of our experience with all of you when we get home. Thank you for your continued support. 

In Christ,

Micheline 

Kalighat, the House of the Dying, is also known as Mother's First Love. This was the first home Mother Teresa opened when she began her work in Kolkata. It was originally a Hindu temple to Kali, the goddess of terror. But what reigns there is the joy of helping the ill and those who are dying, to die in peace with God.

My first experience of Kalighat was 5 weeks ago when we decided to volunteer one or two afternoons a week. The home is divided into men and women's sections. We are on the women's side where about 55 patients call it home. All they have is a cot to lie on. Some of the women are as young as us to those who are the elderly. We don't know their ailments or diseases all we know is they have no family to take care of them and many will die here. 

Our first afternoon was a struggle and a stretch for me. I wasn't sure what to do or how to interact with the patients. For one thing they don't speak english and then seeing the bloody bandages, open wounds, skinny bodies, crippled limbs and dirty diapers made me uncomfortable. I was thankful they put me to work handing out medicine and food then doing the dishes. I really didn't want to return but I knew God had much to teach me from the women at Kalighat.

It was a couple of weeks ago patient #39 taught me a valuable lesson. I stopped at her bedside to give her medicine. As I sat beside her she grabbed my one hand and placed it on her forehead. Without words she showed me how to massage it. Then she grabbed my other hand and just held it. For 45 minutes I sat beside her rubbing her forehead and holding her hand while she closed her eyes on and off and stroked my arm with her other hand. I don't know what comfort it brought to her but at that moment I realized what Mother Teresa meant when she said, "Every person is Jesus in disguise"; I was touching the Body of Christ. What joy it brought me that I could bring Jesus comfort and show Him love through this women for a short period of time.

I have grown to love Kalighat and feel more at peace each time I go. I see the beauty of being able to serve Jesus in some of the most forgotten and abandoned of His children. I recently read in one of Mother Teresa's books about a man the sisters picked up already half eaten by worms to take to Kalighat. He said, "I have lived in the streets like an animal, but I am going to die like an angel, surrounded by love and care."

May each day we look around in our families, communities and churches to see those who are alone, abandoned, hurting and forgotten. May we have transparent eyes to see Jesus in them and surround them with His love.

You are continually in our prayers!

God Bless, Shelan 

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." Blessed Mother Teresa

Love is a universal language, for this thanks be to our God!  Everynight we look upon our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, see him on the cross with his arms outstreached to show his Love.  Mother Teresa's challenge to us is to hear the Lord say "I thirst" from the cross,  it is this thirst of Christ, His thirst for love and for souls, that we desire to attend to in serving His people every day.   Mother Teresa said it best.  We are created for one purpose…. "to love and to be loved".   

Your first look around this city and you think, this is the place that love has fogotten, but as time goes on you recognize how fully it exists here!

• (List, where I see love) I see love in the classroom from one of our little girls, Shabnam, who shares her joy and her smile even when she has lost her mother, was abandon by her father and left to die on the streets before being picked up by one of the Missionaries of Charity Brothers.
• Love is the husband and wife I see early in the moring cuddling on a cloth on the sidewalk with their three kids still fast asleep on a cloth a few feet away!
• Love is forgetting to think, "what do I want" and thinking first of the service of others.
• Love is bearing burdens with a smile because God is that someting that is bigger than the burden, the reason to smile and the reason that joy exists in your heart!
• Love is seeing the sisters and Volunteers serve the needs they serve with joy!
• Love is the kids to wrap thier little arms around you every moring and smile so big they look like they will burst and make you do the same!
• Love is the woman placed in a home for the dying who touches your chin and kisses her hand to show her affection and makes sure to give you God blessing instead of making sure she receiced it…
• (Janelle) Love is when you discover after many weeks that 2 of the volenteers who spend much time together don't actually speak the same language and have to communicate by mixing bits and peices of Spanish, English, and Italian.  Wow, what patients!
• (Shelan) Love is sacrifice and self-giving. I experienced it at Kalighat, a home for the dying, when a 47 year old patient who is bandaged up, sick, malnurished and has no family, sacrificed her need for love to sing and dance for me.
• (Kerry) Love is being able to tell someone they are valuable, precious and worthy of love just by looking into their eyes, a needed gift when you can't speak the same language.
• (Micheline) Love is a plump little nun with a toothless grin who makes you feel like your the most important person in the world as she clasps your hand and melts your heart.

Love is something I see back home, seeing how mothers and fathers endlessly serve their families, and all those who care for the needs of others before thier own.  Love is so selfless.

On of the sisters also taught me something when we were doing laundry…. We hear the Lord say "I love you," to us in receiving the eucharist everday.  By going out and serving His people where ever we are, this is the way we say "I love you" in return! 

With Love 

Abby

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love. Mother Teresa

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.
Mother Teresa

Greetings from Kolkata. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all the Canadians who are reading this post! We pray that everyone and their families are well.  

Wow what to write, there are just numerous options! As per usual, never a dull moment around hear, however..that which seemed to be noticeable different in the beginning seems to have melted into the beauty of daily life. 

Despite getting used to things around here, I still have to smile, because I just could never picture some of this happening in Canada. For Example: when riding the bus, train, or subway there are specific areas for women to sit and men to sit. On the trains they have cars just for women where as on the bus or subway they have specific benches just for the women. 

They also have metal detectors placed in the most random of places, at the train station and subway stations. If you so choose to walk through them the alarm may or may not go off, and in the event that it does, you just keep walking. There is no one to check your bag, or stop you.

The traffic here drives on the left side and the driver's seat is on the right, there are no lanes and often no street lights, only traffic officers in little white suits sacrificing their lives every time they walk out into the very noisy and heavy traffic (see picture below).

Due to the increased humidity, table salt liquifies and clothes get moldy. It also seems like one experiences either diarhea or constipation, rarely a happy medium. The volunteer community seems very comfortable speaking about such issues, I don't know if it would be so in the work place back in Canada. Despite the clear differences in culture, traffic "management" and even the standard paper size, I am comforted to know that that which is of greater importance remains the same.

This became clear to me when an Italian priest enlightened me on the topic. He said that regardless to where you are, or who you are with, it is the human heart that is always the same. Like Mother Teresa said "We have been created to love and be loved."  I knew this was true.

Every morning outside the compound walls of where we stay, there are numerous families living on the street. One would think that they would be sad and gloomy because of the state in which they live, however it is quite the contrary. There's a family with 2 little boys maybe 1 and 3 years of age. The father is a rickshaw driver and is always gone by the time we leave for mass at 6am. Each morning it's as though these 2 little boys just wait for us to come around the corner, because when we do….they run out to us with the biggest smiles saying "Hello Auntie" or "Nomasday". It never fails to quicken my heart. (see the picture of the boys in their father's rickshaw below) We'll often see the mom or dad tickling their children, feeding them, or just sleeping, but never have they asked for anything nor greeted us without a smile.

I've been so mind bottled by this whole scene. Day in and day out they are happy, with absolutely nothing. It is obvious that their joy does not rest in posessions or anything of monatary value, they have very little. It must rest in something much greater.

In the same way that it quickens my heart to see these little boys eagerly await to greet us everyday, how much more does our Heavenly father eagerly await me to turn to him. Now that's something to ponder.

 Blessings

Janelle

p.s any questions or prayer requests to be placed at the tomb of Mother Teresa, please e-mail us.

Every morning, we walk up the stairs at Mother House to the chapel.  At the stair landing there is a blackboard with an inspirational message written in very carefully shaped letters and signed 'Mother'.  Every morning I read the quote and it makes me smile. One morning in particular stood out to me.  The quote read "The more you have, the less you will be able to give.  The less you have, the more you will know how to share".  

In so many ways, I"m receiving more from India than I could ever hope to give back.  Just being able to enjoy the simplicity of things here allows me to recognize how I complicate things at home and loose sight of the big picture.  The very act of simplifying my life here has given me the freedom I don't enjoy at home.  For example, my morning routine.  I only have 5 shirts and 3 pants, so I don't toil over what to wear.  I have no appliances to curl or straighten my hair, so that doesn't take long.  Makeup would be a total waste of time because it would just sweat off, so I don't even bother.  Simplifying just my morning means that I can get up and be ready to leave for mass in 15 minutes.  There's an element of freedom to that!

A couple of weeks ago, we were walking home and there was a very cute little boy following us pushing a tire with a stick.  He must have followed us for at least 3 blocks.  It was great to see how much he enjoyed such a simple toy and was proud to show us how long he could keep it going even on the rough sidewalks.  I was also struck this past week when we were walking down the street and I noticed a little girl who had made herself a swing by placing some styrofoam on some electrical wires that were hanging low enough.  I wouldn't say it was the safest toy and I'm sure that no parent in Canada would let their child play on it, but just the idea that she found a way to amuse herself for a few hours with the most basic of tools was remarkable to me. She looked so happy.

Not having a vehicle has forced us to walk everywhere or take public transportation (not that I would dare drive in the crazy traffic here). Believe me, sometimes the things you get to see while you're walking or on the bus are totally worth the extra time.  The social interactions are priceless!  From the guy selling plastic funnels of every color and size to the guy we pass once a week who has about 30 LIVE chickens strapped to his bike. Things are never dull!

Although I sometimes wish I had a washing machine, a microwave oven or an air conditioner; I have to be thankful.  As I sweat over cleaning my dirty clothes, I get to notice the little dirty hand print that the little boy left on my shorts when he hugged me.  I enjoy my meals, and am thrilled when we find a new product in the market that doesn't require any appliances to prepare it.  I've come to enjoy the gentle breeze that the fan brings, it reminds me that things pass quickly and so is our time here!

I pray every day that God would open my eyes more to take in all that He has for us here in Kolkata. I'm beginning to recognize what little I have in so many ways, and that is exciting.  To see beauty and joy and worth in people who have NOTHING but themselves is a true gift!! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you back home! We are all very thankful for you! 

Kerry