On the Road: Face-to-Face with Mother Teresa

One afternoon several years ago during our Ambassadors In Mission outreach to Calcutta, India, missionary Huldah Buntain casually mentioned that  we had an appointment to meet with Mother Teresa.

Talk about excitement! We were all pretty anxious when we arrived at her residence not knowing what to expect.

Mother Teresa immediately set us all at ease with her quiet and humble demeanor. She told us about her homes for the destitute and dying and her new out reaches in the USA for terminal AIDs patients. We all remember her saying,

“Calcutta is everywhere”

It is one of the most desperately poor places in the world.

I was so blessed to have the opportunity to talk and share with such a great servant. I remember all the sisters kept saying ‘no pictures’ but when we sat with Mother Teresa just outside her simple room, the Indian Youth Pastor asked if we could have a photo. She said , “Yes, just one.”

I prayed as I set my camera that the lighting, shutter speed and focus were correct. I was so relived to see this great moment captured days later when  the film developed.

Travel Diaries: Throwback Thursdays

There is a definite beauty to Facebook for the ability to reconnect with the many people that I’ve shared National AIM trips with over the years.

This week, Mandy Hiser Groot, from Sandusky, Ohio shared this photo of the letter I sent her after her 1993 AIM trip to El Salvador. This was her very first missions trip.

It’s hard to believe that was 21 years ago when Dick VanHuss and Terry Raburn had their offices at 1445 N. Boonville.

After she and husband Tom graduated from Southeastern (Lakeland, Florida), they returned home to Ohio to become the youth pastors at Faith Memorial Church.

Mandy now serves as the Ohio Girls Ministries Network Director. She has been involved in several church ministries. For over fifteen years, Mandy has led in the areas of youth, Girls Ministries and church administration.

Tom is Ohio Ministries Network Student Ministries director and they are enjoying life together with their three boys—Micah, Levi, and Noah.

Thank you Mandy for sharing this blast from the past. I know I will get to work with a lot of former AIMers serving in my new post at Builder’s International.

GO AIM!