Parish was key to fulfilling Bellingham student's dream BELLINGHAMBy John WolcottTaylor Stevenson's dream of serving the poor in India began with a book.

Ever since reading “Finding Calcutta” by Mary Poplin four years ago, Stevenson said, she felt a strong desire to go to Calcutta to serve with Blessed Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

That dream became reality last summer when members of Stevenson’s parish, Sacred Heart in Bellingham, offered her their financial support and prayers. “The parish truly sent me to Kolkata,” Stevenson said in an email, using the city’s local name.

After serving at an orphanage for boys during the summer, the Western Washington University senior returned to Bellingham a changed person.

The comforts of home she missed at the beginning of her journey were “things I learned I didn’t need to have,” Stevenson wrote in her blog, Cor ad Cor. “I didn’t worry about making my hair look nice or if my clothes matched,” she wrote. “Without a smart phone to look at every five minutes, I saw small details of life that are often overlooked. India changes you.”

Making it possible

The parish’s involvement began last April, Stevenson said in an email, when she told her pastor, Father Joseph Altenhofen, about her desire to go to India. Father Altenhofen announced her goal after weekend Masses and invited parishioners to help.

After each Mass, Stevenson stood by a statue of Mary with a collection basket, answering any questions people had. “My first weekend alone, I was given over $3,000,” she wrote. More than $1,000 was given the next weekend. Stevenson, who coordinated the parish’s childcare program last year and helped at Western’s Newman Center pancake breakfasts, was astounded by her parish’s generosity.

“We decided to support Taylor’s trip because she is a member of our family,” Father Altenhofen said in an email. “People recognized on their own the value of her desire and stepped in to help, out of love for one another.”

Seeing God in everyone

While in India, Stevenson spent much of her time caring for young boys with disabilities at Daya Dan, an orphanage operated by the Missionaries of Charity. She helped bathe and dress them, sang them songs and played with them.

In an email, Stevenson said she particularly remembers “Bhaskar, a child with Down syndrome, who has a smile that melts my heart; Noel, who loves to be cuddled but isn't able to talk; Joakim, who loves counting things, and Objit, a boy who lives with severe spastic cerebral palsy, deafness and poor eyesight. I would hold him and sing to him.”

India’s high heat and humidity proved a challenge, Stevenson wrote in her blog, as did “crossing streets filled with truly life-threatening traffic, and motorcycle-powered rickshaws that swerved and nearly missed collisions every 30 seconds.”

Besides working at the orphanage, Stevenson said, her favorite memories include starting each day with Mass, attending evening adoration services and “seeing tons of color in clothes, flowers and buildings.”

In September, Stevenson resumed her studies at Western, where she is completing a degree in special and elementary education. Soon after her return, Stevenson told the story of her journey and showed photos at a large parish gathering, thanking everyone for their support.

Stevenson reflected on the spiritual deepening she experienced during her time in India.

“I learned God is truly present in every person,” she said in an email. “I learned about putting my trust in the Lord. It was terrifying at first … but it became freeing as I let God take control.”

For more about Taylor Stevenson's trip to India, visit her blog, taylorstevenson.blogspot.com.

This is a corrected version of the story originally posted on November 19, 2013.