Arrived in Calcutta

We have arrived in the city, where our work begins: Calcutta, or Kolkata as the city is actually called now. This city of fifteen-plus million people is an attack on your senses. Everywhere you look and every breath you take fill you with Calcutta. It is a crowded, turbulent, and noisy city. The streets are the homes of thousands of people, who beg in order to survive, people who dig through rubbish piles in search of food, and sleep on filthy sidewalks. Life and death collide at every corner. It’s impossible to be in the midst of all this and not be changed. This city does not only attack your senses; it first and foremost attacks your heart. Let me make it short: Calcutta is overwhelming.

People back home have asked me how I’m doing and how I’m surviving India. It’s a good question and I understand everyone’s concern, however this trip is not about what’s comfortable or convenient for us. We have come here with open hearts and hands willing to serve, not to live a life in luxury. We want to give, not take. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive Calcutta, but I know I will. I’m hoping and praying that God toughens me up a little. I admit there have been some “interesting moments” along the way, but I’m hanging in. Trusting God’s promises, that’s how I’m surviving India and that’s how I’m going to survive Calcutta also. Also I owe thanks to the people back home who are encouraging and supporting me. I couldn’t do it without you, so from the bottom of my heart: thank you.

It is definitely hard here, and I admit it is harder than I thought, it would be. You can’t possible prepare yourself for this, but it’s all about God, and about His plans and purposes in all things. When God leads, He doesn’t always choose the path we would normally take ourselves, and I trust that He has chosen this path for a reason. St. Augustine tells us that God never asks us to do anything without giving us the grace to do it. “Ask and you will receive”, that’s also what Jesus tells us. I’ll survive, don’t you worry :) With God, all things are possible. Remember that Peter walked the waves. I am just excited to see, what God has planned for us here and where it will lead us. God has placed us in the midst of the poorest of the poor and is giving us the chance to be a light to the people living in darkness. We have the chance to be something beautiful for God. Yes - the unknown scares me, and yes - I miss a lot of things and yes – I am afraid, but I have come here to learn and to trust and to find out who I am in Christ.

In spite of all the intensity, we are living, I am glad to be here, and I desire to be here. Calcutta has been a dream of mine for years and the fact that I have been able to travel here I consider to be a blessing. I arrived! This is it! I am here! I am in city, where Mother Teresa began the work of the Missionaries of Charity, a religious order which today consists of more than 4.500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. This remarkable little woman is a huge inspiration for me. She is without doubt a sign for this generation, a sign of God’s Love. A modern hero – that’s what she is. She walked the talk, she truly lived the Gospel, and people from all over the world and from different walks of life, myself included, are drawn to Calcutta because of her mission of proclaiming God’s thirsting love for humanity. It was a “call within a call” that led to the foundation of her religious order, a call that was based on Jesus plea: “Come be my light”. She was and still is something beautiful for God.

Later today we have our orientation at the Mother House, and hopefully we will begin working tomorrow. I’ll keep you updated. Miss you all dearly, and I love you.

Trusting God,
Mette