114 1 People Serving like mother TERESA "I wanted to volunteer at Missionaries of Charity because I feel as though Mother Teresa followed the example of Christ in such a powerful yet humble way, and I wanted to personally experience how to do that," senior Caitlyn Greek said. Many students traveled abroad, but few did it with nothing more than two good friends, a plane ticket and a passion to serve the Lord. That is all senior Caitlyn Greek needed to make her dream of doing mission work in India a reality. In the summer of 2011, Greek and her friends, alumnae Monica McCormick and Jenna Skinness, spent four weeks in India, three of those in Calcutta, India, serving at Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa in 1950. The goal of the charity, as stated on the website for Mother Teresa's Cause, was "to satiate God's thirst for love by personal holiness and by working for the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor." When Greek, McCormick and Skinness made the decision that God was calling them to serve in India, they asked churches, family and friends for support. The three used the money they received to buy plane tickets to Mumbai. "[Caitlyn] had been talking and dreaming of going to India for over a year, so I was very excited for her when everything worked out for her to be able to go," senior Heather Gould said. According to Greek, there were missionaries in Mumbai, one of whom was a Harding alumna, and they welcomed the three students and taught them what they would need to know to get around India on their own. They stayed there for several days before they flew to Calcutta. "To know that there are people in Mumbai, India who worship the same creator God as I do is a very special and humbling feeling," Greek said. After arriving at the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, Greek said all they had to do was tell the directors of the mission how long they wanted to stay, and the missionaries told them which house they would begin working in the next day. "I have never seen such poverty than in Calcutta; it is crazy," Greek said. "You just kind of learn what to do by watching. There are a lot of language barriers. I did not know any Hindi, like three words, so they would just point." Greek said one of her most memorable experiences in Calcutta was sitting in a circle with children from one of the orphanages, singing songs to them and telling them they were wonderful. She said it was so moving to know the Indian workers cared so much for the children and wanted them to know how loved they were. "She spent her summer learning not only about serving and loving everyone, but also about meditation and sacrifice," Gould said. "Just recently we talked about how we worship in comfort, and we go out of our way to reduce distractions, but that the people she was in contact with there were giving up large portions of every day to just praise God. The people she saw did not have the comforts that we have in America, but she noticed how much more meaningful worship was for them and how it was a time of reverence ." Greek said she thought everyone should take the time to go on a mission trip because it would change their life and would help them see people as beautiful beings created by God. "God is so amazing," Greek said. "He showed himself to me through the least of these. He gave me glimpses into his very heart-the same heart that was seen when he became flesh and dwelt among people like the ones I saw there every day." Jordan Honeycutt
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