Mother Teresa often wrote about thirsting for God. This thirst, she explains, is what God possesses. It is our job to quench His thirst. This leads to the obvious question– for what does he thirst?

In one of Mama T’s journals, she wrote “I am touching Christ, I am serving him, I believe that the broken person is he. Faith is love in action, not in feelings.” Mama T had a life that was filled with intentional quenching of God’s thirst. Thirst that is quenched through loving and serving the ones entrusted to us. Each day, she worked to squeeze even just one more drop into the mouth of God. She lived amongst the poorest of the poor. She washed their feet, cleaned their sores, aided them, educated them, prayed with them, and loved them.

At this point in my life, I work in a slum. Each day, I see the same things that Mother Teresa saw. I see poor hygiene, I see open sewage, I smell waste, I see babies who are sick, I see people who are hungry, I see people who are drunk and high, I see people who live in unsafe areas. Do you know what else I see? Opportunity. Growth. Fellowship. Comraderie. Kindness. Hope. Love. Service. I recognize a group of young people rising up out of their circumstances and actively pursuing education, hope, opportunities. How, though, do I see these things? How, in a valley full of darkness do I notice these things? Overwhelmingly, this is what I see– quenchers of Jesus’ thirst working to add a drop of moisture to His tongue. Moisture in the form of service, education, kindness, fellowship, love. And, one drop at a time, Jesus’ thirst is quenched by ordinary people taking responsibility for His thirst to see Love prevail.

Abby

abbywilbur@cmfi.org

Below, I will briefly tell you what I’ve been up to!

I arrived in Nairobi on January 12th, with 3 of my teammates. The two other girls and I stayed in our friends’ guest house for a few days while we were waiting for the final things to be ready in the house we are renting. We got our house (it’s beautiful!!) and began the task of furnishing it. It really is coming together! We are just needing a few things to make it feel like a home! As far as work goes, we have been in orientation since we arrived in Nairobi, which has been great! We’ve had the chance to learn all about the different departments within Missions of Hope International and visit 12 out of its 16 schools. Seeing each of these schools has been a fantastic opportunity to learn culture, geography, and history. It has been a blessing to see how the work of MOHI is expanding and producing fruit. Each afternoon, my teammates and I take Kiswahili lessons for three hours. This has been a blast, but it is also very challenging! Re-wiring my brain is exciting and stressful! Next week, I will begin working full-time with the Child Sponsorship department. Here, I will assist them in preparing letters for the students to write to their sponsors, sorting through gifts and getting them to the appropriate child, and working on a myriad of other tasks within the department. I am ready to get started! So far, we’ve been visiting different churches each week. MOHI has planted 14 churches, so we will try some out and make decisions on where we want to worship. Here’s to week four!!