Swell, I'm officially past my half way mark (bien? eh...asi,asi. mostly because I'm behind in the homework side of things). During the past few weeks I've had loads of interviews with mentoring programs (14 to be exact). And it wasn't till Friday that things got, well, interesting. By Friday, I was SO BORED with the interviews. I had to do a phone interview with a very skeptical lady, I had 2 email me their answers to which I had to follow up because they didn't quite give the kind of answer I was looking for, and I was tired of driving around Miami to get to these of offices.
But, it's what I have to do. It's my only research. So, on Friday, I had 2 interviews. The first one was interesting because the lady's organization doesn't have a mentoring program anymore, they do after school tutoring. So, for consistency's sake, I asked the same questions I asked the other groups and then gave tweaked follow up questions to her specific case. The one later was when life got spicy. It was a larger organization I was interviewing, but my email/phone conversations with my contact there was really positive. He was all about this and was very friendly to me.
For those of you who have never tried setting up interviews with a group who does the same thing you do, kindness and trust does not come easily. Especially in the US, and especially in Miami. It was really rare to have a program director be so engaged in my project before the interview. So, you can imagine my excitement to met with someone who I wasn't going to have to sell my product to in order to get full participation.
I went in and he and a woman who was in charge of the mentors themselves greeted me. I started to explain to him who I was and who I worked for and what my work is.
Me:"Well, I'm a senior in college interning for the summer with Family and Children Faith Coal-"
Man:"Ooohhhh. faith based."
Me:"...umm....yes"
Man:"yeah, we're not affiliated with any religious groups."
Me:"..well, that doesn't really matter. You run a mentoring program. That's what I'm looking for"
It took me off guard because no other groups had made a verbal reaction to the organizations name (which, they're thinking about changing because the "Faith" part causes distrust and disinterest with potential partners). If anything, the interviewee would use the phrases like "Praise God!" or "They're a God-send" or "Pray" because of the "faith" part.
We finished the interview, no problem. He gave me 3 booklets of literature from their program and a DVD. I then explained to him the new addition to my research (volunteer booklet) and made the mistake (maybe not "mistake". Part of me wishes I hadn't said it) of mentioning FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) in my list of groups who might be interested in signing up for mentoring.
Man: Yeah, again, we don't do the religion thing because the last thing we want is for a kid to go home and say, "mommy, so and so told me I'm going to hell!"
Me: ...well, yeah! No one wants that! and even with our mentoring program there are boundaries to prevent that kind of thing from happening.
Man: I have 4 evangelical brothers who believe that every moment the have with someone is God telling them to preach to them. That's really the last thing we need on our hands to deal with.
My thoughts:well, I mean, God does put us in certain places. Does he mean outright verbal evangelism? or like, I can show this person kindness and love by helping them carry their stuff to the bus? If we were perfect, wouldn't we do the first? but since we aren't we do the second, right?
Me: well, yeah. I'm a Christian (that's the first time I've had to say that outloud on my internship) but I believe that sometimes the best way to show Christ's love is by actions. that, and you're too afraid most of the time to repeat John 3:16 to the Publix cashier
Man: Right, and that's just the extreme. Any kind of extreme is bad
I continued with the volunteer directory thing. Our conversation continued about the extremes of Christianity. The man told me about how ridiculous he thought Catholicism was (don't ever say that too loudly in Miami) because you do something wrong, tell another human what you did and everything's right with the world. The woman told me about her experience of going to Catholic school. Sorry, ECS, but my high school experience wasn't too far behind hers. Both were pretty legalistic. I told them that those things broke my heart because then there's an unrealistic standard people think Christians have and when they fall short of it, it's a huge deal. They agreed with my view.
Man: Here's the DVD. WATCH IT! It will make you cry and if it doesn't, you're not human, and you're definitely not a Christian. Haha.
Me: Not the first time someone has said that to me before.
I left the office and waited for the elevator, shaking because that was the FIRST time on my entire internship my faith has been brought up outside of church. It was unexpected and at first scary, but it was good to try giving views of real Christianity to 2 people who were obviously sick of religion.
It was a good conversation to have because I'm positive this will be a consistent problem post graduation.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
...Seriamente?!?
WEEK 6 WEEK 6 WEEK 6 WEEK 6! tomorrow will be the half way-half way mark! un-freaking-believable.
Research:
I've gotten to the "love-hate" stage in my relationship with my research.
Love:
- it's simple. It's the same questions every time and only takes about 30 minutes for each interview.
- it's people based. and I like people.
- Some of the stuff I learn is SUPER interesting.
- It's well structured. there's not a lot of room for surprises, which is good because I don't like surprises.
Hate:
- it's the same questions every time.
- Some of the answers are pretty predictable "what are some of your programs needs?" "funding. funding funding funding, and um...funding funding funding funding. Donations would be great, and so would more money. funding funding funding."
- I'm misunderstood (go ahead, make a joke. now I'll explain). Secretaries of the program offices think I'm either 1. signing up to volunteer 2. asking for all the family secrets or 3. want to interview actual mentors. None of which are the case. I honestly had a woman tell me, "well, you don't want to talk with her, you want to talk with one of the actual mentors because they'll get you excited about mentoring and volunteering with us. She can't tell you that. She can only tell you about the structure of the program." no, no.
- Some organizations want me to interview 2 different people. which is dumb because the answers are still the same.
but, the Lord is teaching me patience with every day. And, Mary added a side project of creating a directory for volunteer organizations. That way volunteers can find a mentoring program that suits their needs.
Miami:
Ok, so the beautiful thing about Miami is how progressive it is. It changes with it's populations needs and the economy. This is good because if it sticked to some of the "old Florida" ways, it wouldn't be home to the diverse community that's here. Along those lines, I'm a huge fan of the compassion that's shown to the different people groups here. I say compassion and not tolerance because tolerance sounds like you're obligated to deal with it. Here, there's a concern for the well being of others regardless of ethnicity, economic status, religion or sexuality. For example, there are a lot of illegal immigrants here who run their own businesses. NO ONE goes to a flower stand and asks to see their papers before making a purchase. They pick up a bouquet of beautiful sunflowers and buy them. I love that very few people sit stewing about border protections, calling illegal immigrants "problems" like they're not human beings, like they only want to come to the US to screw all American citizens.
The problem is that because of it's progressiveness, there's a lot of grey area. Example, in July, there's a HUGE weekend event called "Aqua Girl" which is a GLBT event to raise money for breast cancer awareness and cures. I support the cause of breast cancer, but not the GLBT lifestyle, but at the same time the members of the GLBT community have hearts and it's not a sin for them to care for others. Another example of this is Hip Hop weekend (memorial day weekend) it brings unity to the African American community (especially the young adults and youth), but the crap that happens on that weekend is by no means healthy.
I got to talk with some of the women in my small group about Miami and it was interesting to hear about their struggles with loving the city. I remember certain friends and family members reaction to me going to Miami and it was instant concern about my well-being. A lot of people called me brave for coming here, but the main thing I'm afraid of is the way that satan has used the brokenness in the city to discourage and scare away God's bride.
I'm staying in Homestead (just south of Miami) for 2 weeks house/dog sitting. So my commute is longer, but it's nice living in a "family" house and not a house that no one is consistently living in. Plus, the dog is really sweet and keeps me company.
And for you other interns who find yourself with a lot of time alone, here is my list of suggestions:
- put on music and dance. I've been reading through the Psalms, and the whole dancing to praise the Lord thing amazes me. Put on some jams and busta move.
- Write someone a letter.
- I'm fortunate to have a piano in my house, so I sit down and play it when no one is around.
- Read a book out loud. A book you're reading for fun, not a depressing historical book (jessica) I suggest Lemony Snickett' Series of Unfortunate Events (no, it's not that depressing).
- Sit outside by the front door. I don't like doing this with other people around because it's kinda strange, but it's fun to people watch and just enjoy the weather.
oh, right and pray:
- patience. patience. patience. I'm at the point where I don't even think I have the patience to wait for patience.
- Joy in my interviews and write ups.
- Miami and the brothers and sisters in Christ who are called to work and live here.
Research:
I've gotten to the "love-hate" stage in my relationship with my research.
Love:
- it's simple. It's the same questions every time and only takes about 30 minutes for each interview.
- it's people based. and I like people.
- Some of the stuff I learn is SUPER interesting.
- It's well structured. there's not a lot of room for surprises, which is good because I don't like surprises.
Hate:
- it's the same questions every time.
- Some of the answers are pretty predictable "what are some of your programs needs?" "funding. funding funding funding, and um...funding funding funding funding. Donations would be great, and so would more money. funding funding funding."
- I'm misunderstood (go ahead, make a joke. now I'll explain). Secretaries of the program offices think I'm either 1. signing up to volunteer 2. asking for all the family secrets or 3. want to interview actual mentors. None of which are the case. I honestly had a woman tell me, "well, you don't want to talk with her, you want to talk with one of the actual mentors because they'll get you excited about mentoring and volunteering with us. She can't tell you that. She can only tell you about the structure of the program." no, no.
- Some organizations want me to interview 2 different people. which is dumb because the answers are still the same.
but, the Lord is teaching me patience with every day. And, Mary added a side project of creating a directory for volunteer organizations. That way volunteers can find a mentoring program that suits their needs.
Miami:
Ok, so the beautiful thing about Miami is how progressive it is. It changes with it's populations needs and the economy. This is good because if it sticked to some of the "old Florida" ways, it wouldn't be home to the diverse community that's here. Along those lines, I'm a huge fan of the compassion that's shown to the different people groups here. I say compassion and not tolerance because tolerance sounds like you're obligated to deal with it. Here, there's a concern for the well being of others regardless of ethnicity, economic status, religion or sexuality. For example, there are a lot of illegal immigrants here who run their own businesses. NO ONE goes to a flower stand and asks to see their papers before making a purchase. They pick up a bouquet of beautiful sunflowers and buy them. I love that very few people sit stewing about border protections, calling illegal immigrants "problems" like they're not human beings, like they only want to come to the US to screw all American citizens.
The problem is that because of it's progressiveness, there's a lot of grey area. Example, in July, there's a HUGE weekend event called "Aqua Girl" which is a GLBT event to raise money for breast cancer awareness and cures. I support the cause of breast cancer, but not the GLBT lifestyle, but at the same time the members of the GLBT community have hearts and it's not a sin for them to care for others. Another example of this is Hip Hop weekend (memorial day weekend) it brings unity to the African American community (especially the young adults and youth), but the crap that happens on that weekend is by no means healthy.
I got to talk with some of the women in my small group about Miami and it was interesting to hear about their struggles with loving the city. I remember certain friends and family members reaction to me going to Miami and it was instant concern about my well-being. A lot of people called me brave for coming here, but the main thing I'm afraid of is the way that satan has used the brokenness in the city to discourage and scare away God's bride.
I'm staying in Homestead (just south of Miami) for 2 weeks house/dog sitting. So my commute is longer, but it's nice living in a "family" house and not a house that no one is consistently living in. Plus, the dog is really sweet and keeps me company.
And for you other interns who find yourself with a lot of time alone, here is my list of suggestions:
- put on music and dance. I've been reading through the Psalms, and the whole dancing to praise the Lord thing amazes me. Put on some jams and busta move.
- Write someone a letter.
- I'm fortunate to have a piano in my house, so I sit down and play it when no one is around.
- Read a book out loud. A book you're reading for fun, not a depressing historical book (jessica) I suggest Lemony Snickett' Series of Unfortunate Events (no, it's not that depressing).
- Sit outside by the front door. I don't like doing this with other people around because it's kinda strange, but it's fun to people watch and just enjoy the weather.
oh, right and pray:
- patience. patience. patience. I'm at the point where I don't even think I have the patience to wait for patience.
- Joy in my interviews and write ups.
- Miami and the brothers and sisters in Christ who are called to work and live here.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Interviews, Jails, and postpartum depression
So, I've successfully conducted 3 interviews! I have another one today, and (buckle up!) SIX next week! I know a lot of the other interns have done like 50 interviews in one week, but that's a HUGE deal because I'm meeting with program directors, presidents and CEOs of these mentoring programs and a lot of them have summer programs they're starting, so it's pretty amazing that I have that many interviews in one week. I've got 2 scheduled for July, and a few more that I have to call later to schedule interviews with.
On Wednesday, I got to go on the Children of Inmates bus trip to the Everglades Correctional Institution. The bus trip is for the families of inmates there. COI brings a bunch of games, toys and food for lunch so it's not like a normal Saturday visit. This was a smaller group (about 14 kids) who went. Travis (the COI program director) had warned me to prepare myself to deal with my emotions in a professional way. So, I basically decided to keep my self busy setting stuff up and cleaning up after an activity so I wouldn't be able to focus on what was going on.
I want to tell you a little bit of what I saw. There was a little girl there who was in first grade. She walked in with one of the staff and looked at all of the inmates. The inmates were pretty quick to recognize their own kids, but none of them got up when this little girl came in. She looked at them curiously; we asked her, "Do you know which one is your dad?" She shook her head. We waited for her older brother to come in who saw his dad, and instantly gave him a huge hug. The little girl watched and slowly walked up to her brother's side. The brother introduced his little sister to their dad for the first time. The dad was so excited to meet her and was amazed by everything his daughter said and did. She never once called him "dad" but endearingly called him "him". I saw a man giving his 2 teenage daughters a serious talk about making decisions in life. I saw a man welcome his three sons by grabbing each of them and spinning them around in a tight embrace.
I can tell you these were heart wrenching scenes, but I didn't want to cry during any of them. Instead, I was glad to witness a bit of redemption in these horribly broken relationships. In my occupation, I'm surrounded by brokenness, and it's inevitably depressing. Seeing small acts of restoration (like a child who is forever affected by their father's decisions welcoming their dads with the words "I love you") makes the job oh so worthwhile.
On another plain, Jessica Chen (another Com. Dev. intern) and I had an interesting conversation about our negative feelings towards our internships. We basically came to a conclusion via analogy. The 12 interns have spent 9 months preparing for this summer. Preparing: meetings, physicals, emotional evaluations, applications, interviews, phone calls, emails, support letters, dealing with switches in locations and research designs, reading, and writing a huge research design paper (the process of which I described like giving birth to quadruplets, the only pain medication they're giving you is a flinstone vitamin, everyone around you yelling "they're coming!" but it's your fifth day in labor).
9 months of prayer requests and praises. "Pray that my visa comes!" a few days later, "My visa came!" and many others like this. We were all excited and curious about our summers, eagerly awaiting the day we departed. "I just want to be there!" was a common phrase said in the library during late night paper writing sessions by those of us who were sick of reading and writing about our internships and just wanted to be doing it.
And now, we're all on internships. The day came weeks ago, the 9 months of prep work all came down to this. But now, some of us (myself DEFINITELY included), don't want this anymore. "It's like postpartum depression!" Jessica said. I couldn't agree more, except we don't get arrested for child abuse or neglect. We get into this funk of homesickness, loneliness, cultural anxiety, etc. and end up calling what we used to call a blessing during those 9 months a curse. Ok, maybe not a curse per say, but definitely NOT a blessing.
So, fellow interns, I pray that God will give you the strength to wake up at 2am to comfort your screaming child of a summer. (in other words, May you have the eyes to see this summer as the original blessing we used to call it, no matter how freaking hard it gets).
Oh, right and pray for:
- interviews. That I can schedule the rest.
- wisdom. I don't know really what to put in my final report, but I have to have something.
- focus and love for my summer. and for the city of Miami.
- time to prepare for my position as RA in the fall. I'm still working on the balance of being focused on my work here in Miami, but I can NOT neglect preparing myself for a student leadership position.
Vaya con Dios!
On Wednesday, I got to go on the Children of Inmates bus trip to the Everglades Correctional Institution. The bus trip is for the families of inmates there. COI brings a bunch of games, toys and food for lunch so it's not like a normal Saturday visit. This was a smaller group (about 14 kids) who went. Travis (the COI program director) had warned me to prepare myself to deal with my emotions in a professional way. So, I basically decided to keep my self busy setting stuff up and cleaning up after an activity so I wouldn't be able to focus on what was going on.
I want to tell you a little bit of what I saw. There was a little girl there who was in first grade. She walked in with one of the staff and looked at all of the inmates. The inmates were pretty quick to recognize their own kids, but none of them got up when this little girl came in. She looked at them curiously; we asked her, "Do you know which one is your dad?" She shook her head. We waited for her older brother to come in who saw his dad, and instantly gave him a huge hug. The little girl watched and slowly walked up to her brother's side. The brother introduced his little sister to their dad for the first time. The dad was so excited to meet her and was amazed by everything his daughter said and did. She never once called him "dad" but endearingly called him "him". I saw a man giving his 2 teenage daughters a serious talk about making decisions in life. I saw a man welcome his three sons by grabbing each of them and spinning them around in a tight embrace.
I can tell you these were heart wrenching scenes, but I didn't want to cry during any of them. Instead, I was glad to witness a bit of redemption in these horribly broken relationships. In my occupation, I'm surrounded by brokenness, and it's inevitably depressing. Seeing small acts of restoration (like a child who is forever affected by their father's decisions welcoming their dads with the words "I love you") makes the job oh so worthwhile.
On another plain, Jessica Chen (another Com. Dev. intern) and I had an interesting conversation about our negative feelings towards our internships. We basically came to a conclusion via analogy. The 12 interns have spent 9 months preparing for this summer. Preparing: meetings, physicals, emotional evaluations, applications, interviews, phone calls, emails, support letters, dealing with switches in locations and research designs, reading, and writing a huge research design paper (the process of which I described like giving birth to quadruplets, the only pain medication they're giving you is a flinstone vitamin, everyone around you yelling "they're coming!" but it's your fifth day in labor).
9 months of prayer requests and praises. "Pray that my visa comes!" a few days later, "My visa came!" and many others like this. We were all excited and curious about our summers, eagerly awaiting the day we departed. "I just want to be there!" was a common phrase said in the library during late night paper writing sessions by those of us who were sick of reading and writing about our internships and just wanted to be doing it.
And now, we're all on internships. The day came weeks ago, the 9 months of prep work all came down to this. But now, some of us (myself DEFINITELY included), don't want this anymore. "It's like postpartum depression!" Jessica said. I couldn't agree more, except we don't get arrested for child abuse or neglect. We get into this funk of homesickness, loneliness, cultural anxiety, etc. and end up calling what we used to call a blessing during those 9 months a curse. Ok, maybe not a curse per say, but definitely NOT a blessing.
So, fellow interns, I pray that God will give you the strength to wake up at 2am to comfort your screaming child of a summer. (in other words, May you have the eyes to see this summer as the original blessing we used to call it, no matter how freaking hard it gets).
Oh, right and pray for:
- interviews. That I can schedule the rest.
- wisdom. I don't know really what to put in my final report, but I have to have something.
- focus and love for my summer. and for the city of Miami.
- time to prepare for my position as RA in the fall. I'm still working on the balance of being focused on my work here in Miami, but I can NOT neglect preparing myself for a student leadership position.
Vaya con Dios!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
La Vida Del Verano Interno
Estoy solo en una casa pacifica y estoy escuchando a Glee. Esto trabajara mejor con los puntos cortos.
- A/C IS BACK!!!!!!! It came back on in the afternoon on Wednesday! So, I'm back in the office with the resources I need at hand.
- I'm doing some of the home calls for Children of Inmates (trying to sign up families who have a member in the Everglades Correctional Institution for a bus trip there), but it's really hard to get a hold of these people and I have until MONDAY to get in touch with them AND get their paperwork submitted! It looks like be a caller for Admissions came in handy
- I send an email out about my research plan to the directors of the other mentoring programs and I got a LOT of responses! I mean, some said 'no, we don't mentor', but others said they looked forward to hearing from me! one agreed, but in exchange I have to help them set up a meeting with FCFC.
- one of those emails resulted in MY FIRST INTERVIEW! on MONDAY! with Big Brothers, Big Sisters! so I'm going to do my interview with Amachi mentoring first as practice for BBBS.
- God TOTALLY confirmed my choice of major! FCFC had someone from some corporate office of one of their grants come for 2 days and lead them in some brain storming exercise. The one I was invited to was an Asset Mapping exercise. They had a poster for the five asset categories (individuals, places, associations, institutions, and economic) and for an hour just wrote names down. I contributed a few, but my main job was helping them distinguish between associations and institutions. At one point, the head of COI (Travis), looks at me and goes, "You enjoying this?" and I replied, "oh, yeah!" and he said, "I could tell, you've been smiling this whole time".
- I came to terms with the uniqueness of my internship. I've been comparing myself to the other domestic interns, and started feeling bad when I wasn't as involved in the local community as they are. Then I realized that they have to do that for their research. For my research, I'm completely involved in mentoring programs (including trainings, matching events, grant writing, etc.). Which made me feel a LOT better about me reading an article about why men aren't interested in mentoring instead of sitting and talking with our neighbors (who only speak Spanish).
- I had a lovely dinner with the Mannuels! The Mannuels used to be at my church in Cape Coral years ago and they've been pastoring here in Miami. They gave me a lot of good information about the churches in Miami and the kind of work they tend to do.
- I had my first conversation in Spanish! it was with the store clerk at CVS.
"Hola, Como estas?"
"Bien, y tu?"
"No mal. Tienes un tarjeta de CVS?"
"Si, Aqui"
(silence as I pay by debit card)
me: "Grasias!"
"De nada!"
I know, it's out of like a 2nd graders text book, but I actually SAID those words! It was a major break through!
Ruegue:
- For friendships at the church I'm going to and the small group
- responses to the emails
- the bus trip to the jail is on Wednesday, 1-I'm going. 2- I need to get in touch with this families so they can come, too.
- Focus on the school work side of this internship. I've got papers and notes to type out and send but they're not nearly as exciting as interviewing or reading up on mentoring (or even studying Spanish, for that matter)
Vaya con Dios!
- A/C IS BACK!!!!!!! It came back on in the afternoon on Wednesday! So, I'm back in the office with the resources I need at hand.
- I'm doing some of the home calls for Children of Inmates (trying to sign up families who have a member in the Everglades Correctional Institution for a bus trip there), but it's really hard to get a hold of these people and I have until MONDAY to get in touch with them AND get their paperwork submitted! It looks like be a caller for Admissions came in handy
- I send an email out about my research plan to the directors of the other mentoring programs and I got a LOT of responses! I mean, some said 'no, we don't mentor', but others said they looked forward to hearing from me! one agreed, but in exchange I have to help them set up a meeting with FCFC.
- one of those emails resulted in MY FIRST INTERVIEW! on MONDAY! with Big Brothers, Big Sisters! so I'm going to do my interview with Amachi mentoring first as practice for BBBS.
- God TOTALLY confirmed my choice of major! FCFC had someone from some corporate office of one of their grants come for 2 days and lead them in some brain storming exercise. The one I was invited to was an Asset Mapping exercise. They had a poster for the five asset categories (individuals, places, associations, institutions, and economic) and for an hour just wrote names down. I contributed a few, but my main job was helping them distinguish between associations and institutions. At one point, the head of COI (Travis), looks at me and goes, "You enjoying this?" and I replied, "oh, yeah!" and he said, "I could tell, you've been smiling this whole time".
- I came to terms with the uniqueness of my internship. I've been comparing myself to the other domestic interns, and started feeling bad when I wasn't as involved in the local community as they are. Then I realized that they have to do that for their research. For my research, I'm completely involved in mentoring programs (including trainings, matching events, grant writing, etc.). Which made me feel a LOT better about me reading an article about why men aren't interested in mentoring instead of sitting and talking with our neighbors (who only speak Spanish).
- I had a lovely dinner with the Mannuels! The Mannuels used to be at my church in Cape Coral years ago and they've been pastoring here in Miami. They gave me a lot of good information about the churches in Miami and the kind of work they tend to do.
- I had my first conversation in Spanish! it was with the store clerk at CVS.
"Hola, Como estas?"
"Bien, y tu?"
"No mal. Tienes un tarjeta de CVS?"
"Si, Aqui"
(silence as I pay by debit card)
me: "Grasias!"
"De nada!"
I know, it's out of like a 2nd graders text book, but I actually SAID those words! It was a major break through!
Ruegue:
- For friendships at the church I'm going to and the small group
- responses to the emails
- the bus trip to the jail is on Wednesday, 1-I'm going. 2- I need to get in touch with this families so they can come, too.
- Focus on the school work side of this internship. I've got papers and notes to type out and send but they're not nearly as exciting as interviewing or reading up on mentoring (or even studying Spanish, for that matter)
Vaya con Dios!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sentada,Espera, que Deseen
It's been over a week and the office is still closed due to no a/c. I wanted to tell everyone that people in other countries can function in 92 degree weather with no air, but I don't think I have that much power in the office. We're trying to make due by keeping up via email, phone calls, starbucks meetings, but it's really difficult to do. My supervisor suggested that I email my professor and tell him about this delay and the potential delay that the hurricane season could bring. It's suppose to by a high active hurricane season. My initial response to hearing that? KA-RAP!
God is teaching me a lot on this internship and everytime I learn something I ask, "But did you REALLY have to go about it this way? couldn't it have been easier?" guess not.
There's honestly only one lesson God is teaching me here but it has SO many dynamics that almost every situation I've been in for the past month falls back on me learning.....
TO TRUST GOD!
Really, it's that basic! but I'm obviously not getting it! It's like I'm building my house on, well, not sand, cause I KNOW that's no good, but instead of the rock, I'm going for wooden pillars that hoist my house above the rock, so I'm not really touching the rock, but it's somewhere underneath me (just go with it for a second).
So these wooden pillars are things like, friends, kids, constant internet access, daily work to be done, and the idea that I need a husband to survive post college (thanks college).
God looked at the husband thing first, and sent me to a CCDA women's retreat/conference session with ELIZABETH PERKINS! Yep, that's John Perkins' daughter and I got to shake her hand! ***Note: None CDV folks- John Perkins is called the Father of Community Development. He is freakin' AMAZING!***
The session was called "Saved, Satisfied, and Single" and we talked about being single in ministry. It was so good to hear these women who are older than me talk about their experiences. the lesson learned was basically that Christ is MY first husband and I will (well, should) ALWAYS seek to serve him and please him first. Because I have this wonderful relationship with Christ, marriage is just the cherry on the cake, and that cherry has a pit and stem, but the cake is so rich. One wooden pillar burned.
The next one God took down was daily work. It has been ONE WEEK since I've been aloud back in the office to work because our freaking A/C still doesn't work! I've got cabin fever now and I'm trying to work past not being in the office with the staff who I need to talk to. The folks at FCFC are really my only relationships in Miami, so I'm missing my daily dose of socializing.
Pillar number 2, come on down!
oh, yeah, friends, kids and constant internet connection kind of boil down into my need to interact and socialize with people. If I'm a new person to you, I'm an extreme extrovert and need other people to survive. Well, I don't have internet at the house, I don't have friends in Miami (except folks in the office), and I'm going through child withdrawal. I was SO lonely on Sunday and Monday. Sunday night I went to bed at 9:30am because there was nothing better for me to do. I woke up in the morning and called my mom crying about how alone I am. She told me she was in the same place when she went into the army. She reminded me that I'm never alone and God is at my right hand and this is just His way of drawing my attention to that. "It's going to hurt!" she said. And it does, but pillar number 3,4,and 5, DOWN FOR THE COUNT!
So now my house has COLLAPSED onto the rock, and yeah, it HURT! but I've found so much peace and comfort here. God even gave me the gift of a young adults small group to attend on Tuesday nights at a local church! It was SO great! they're studying a Tim Keller book and a couple of the girls there are doing community development in Miami, another girl is my age and goes to FSU and will be a House Assitant (the same thing as an RA in Covenant terms). Oh, and My parents sent me a baby Orchid as a reminder of how loved I am. I named it Adler (and all the com. dev. majors laugh).
Things I've learned:
- She comes from a family of 7, went into the army, has survived raising 3 children, has worked in a maternity ward, nursing home, and elementary and middle school, how come I didn't realize how AWESOME my mom is until I turned 21?
- I will be the most aggressive driver in all of Chattanooga because of this summer. It's really interesting because people aren't angry drivers, they let you cut them off, and push your way into the lane.
Prayer Requests
- 2 words: AIR CONDITIONING!
- 2 more words: HURRICANE SEASON! it's suppose to be SUPER active this summer! pray them away!
- Good friendships through this small group.
Vaya con Dios!
God is teaching me a lot on this internship and everytime I learn something I ask, "But did you REALLY have to go about it this way? couldn't it have been easier?" guess not.
There's honestly only one lesson God is teaching me here but it has SO many dynamics that almost every situation I've been in for the past month falls back on me learning.....
TO TRUST GOD!
Really, it's that basic! but I'm obviously not getting it! It's like I'm building my house on, well, not sand, cause I KNOW that's no good, but instead of the rock, I'm going for wooden pillars that hoist my house above the rock, so I'm not really touching the rock, but it's somewhere underneath me (just go with it for a second).
So these wooden pillars are things like, friends, kids, constant internet access, daily work to be done, and the idea that I need a husband to survive post college (thanks college).
God looked at the husband thing first, and sent me to a CCDA women's retreat/conference session with ELIZABETH PERKINS! Yep, that's John Perkins' daughter and I got to shake her hand! ***Note: None CDV folks- John Perkins is called the Father of Community Development. He is freakin' AMAZING!***
The session was called "Saved, Satisfied, and Single" and we talked about being single in ministry. It was so good to hear these women who are older than me talk about their experiences. the lesson learned was basically that Christ is MY first husband and I will (well, should) ALWAYS seek to serve him and please him first. Because I have this wonderful relationship with Christ, marriage is just the cherry on the cake, and that cherry has a pit and stem, but the cake is so rich. One wooden pillar burned.
The next one God took down was daily work. It has been ONE WEEK since I've been aloud back in the office to work because our freaking A/C still doesn't work! I've got cabin fever now and I'm trying to work past not being in the office with the staff who I need to talk to. The folks at FCFC are really my only relationships in Miami, so I'm missing my daily dose of socializing.
Pillar number 2, come on down!
oh, yeah, friends, kids and constant internet connection kind of boil down into my need to interact and socialize with people. If I'm a new person to you, I'm an extreme extrovert and need other people to survive. Well, I don't have internet at the house, I don't have friends in Miami (except folks in the office), and I'm going through child withdrawal. I was SO lonely on Sunday and Monday. Sunday night I went to bed at 9:30am because there was nothing better for me to do. I woke up in the morning and called my mom crying about how alone I am. She told me she was in the same place when she went into the army. She reminded me that I'm never alone and God is at my right hand and this is just His way of drawing my attention to that. "It's going to hurt!" she said. And it does, but pillar number 3,4,and 5, DOWN FOR THE COUNT!
So now my house has COLLAPSED onto the rock, and yeah, it HURT! but I've found so much peace and comfort here. God even gave me the gift of a young adults small group to attend on Tuesday nights at a local church! It was SO great! they're studying a Tim Keller book and a couple of the girls there are doing community development in Miami, another girl is my age and goes to FSU and will be a House Assitant (the same thing as an RA in Covenant terms). Oh, and My parents sent me a baby Orchid as a reminder of how loved I am. I named it Adler (and all the com. dev. majors laugh).
Things I've learned:
- She comes from a family of 7, went into the army, has survived raising 3 children, has worked in a maternity ward, nursing home, and elementary and middle school, how come I didn't realize how AWESOME my mom is until I turned 21?
- I will be the most aggressive driver in all of Chattanooga because of this summer. It's really interesting because people aren't angry drivers, they let you cut them off, and push your way into the lane.
Prayer Requests
- 2 words: AIR CONDITIONING!
- 2 more words: HURRICANE SEASON! it's suppose to be SUPER active this summer! pray them away!
- Good friendships through this small group.
Vaya con Dios!
Friday, June 4, 2010
and then things started getting weird
So, This week, I've spend less than 1/3 of my time in the offices because
1. I volunteered at the CCDA women's RE conference (my host was the one who suggested it)
2. I moved into the Door house
3. we still have no air conditioning, so they've been closing super early
the women's conference was great! I made some connections with Urban Youth Workers Initiative. The coolest part was meeting Amber, the photographer. She's working with Guatamalan immigrants in West Palm. She was so cool! and she asked for my advice about how to get college students to intern with her organization.
yes, I made the move. I'm living with 2 males (an older brazilian man, and a recent college grad) and 2 other girls are moving in tomorrow. I'm not going to lie, it's awkward. I'm sure God will get me through it, and the house is well divided, so I do have a lot of privacy. It's much closer to my offices (I might consider biking there), and we're a few blocks West of Little Havana.
Yeah, no air conditioning. The office got to be 92 degrees yesterday, so we all went home around 1pm. They cancelled work today (which was great because I was supposed to be at the conference). Hopefully, by Tuesday it will be fixed.
Observations:
- There aren't any cameras on the stoplights. I couldn't figure out why, until I started noticing what the yellow light means. Slow down? no, no. keep going at your normal pace and pull out as far as you can if you have to turn so you're blocking the traffic that has the green light.
- Everyone speaks Spanish to me first, even though I'm white. Have I replied in Spanish? no. I probably should try this to get some rapport going.
- McDonalds in Miami have "Cafe Con Leche" on their menus.
- I still don't know what kind of music to listen to because there's the meriachi band style, the spanish celine dion style, and the spanish rap.
Good Stuff:
- Once we get back into air conditioning, I'm meeting with Mary and Yvonne to get a check on my formula for interviews and will start calling to set them up.
- One of my REALLY good friends called me yesterday. She mentioned John 15 about Christ being the vines, and we are his branches. She encouraged me to be in Christ everyday.
- One of my housemates is writing a book on being anti-college. He asked me to estimate how much information I've learned at Covenant I could have learned by reading books or from the internet. I said 30%. He didn't believe me. I completely disagree with his views because I thought about the things that I will forever take with me that I got from Covenant, and the majority of them weren't quotes from text books or found over the internet. They were from my professors desires to encourage, challenge, and relate to me. I thought about the one thing that I will always remember from 210:
We were discussing why there's poverty in the world. In short, we said that because of the fall, man's 4 fundamental relationships (man's relationship with God, with himself, with creation, and with others) broke. One of the effects that those 4 broken relationships have is poverty.
We then defined developmental work. Developmental work is helping others reconcile those relationships. But the key to understanding this definition is that all of us need repair to those relationships, and we as humans cannot fix those relationships, only God can.
So, the class saw the obvious problem, If we can't reconcile those relationships, what are we supposed to do?
Dr. Fikkert then proceeded to write in large bold letters "GOD HAS TO WORK!!!!" He then told us that as community development majors we were signing up for a job that we can't and never will accomplish. We're getting a degree in NOTHING. The only way our careers can work out is if we drop to our knees everyday and PRAY for a MIRACLE to happen.
Those words have stuck with me all 3 years of my college career. I couldn't have gotten that same message from a text book, definitely not in the intensity it needs to be said.
So, now I'm longing to be back learning at Covenant, but I know I'm learning a lot here.
Oh, and I've started praying for miracles.
PRAY:
- for my relationships with my housemates, that God will show me how to love my brothers and sisters in Christ during the next 2 months.
- that we can go back to the office ASAP and I can get going on these interviews!
- Contentment and joy, no matter what the day brings.
1. I volunteered at the CCDA women's RE conference (my host was the one who suggested it)
2. I moved into the Door house
3. we still have no air conditioning, so they've been closing super early
the women's conference was great! I made some connections with Urban Youth Workers Initiative. The coolest part was meeting Amber, the photographer. She's working with Guatamalan immigrants in West Palm. She was so cool! and she asked for my advice about how to get college students to intern with her organization.
yes, I made the move. I'm living with 2 males (an older brazilian man, and a recent college grad) and 2 other girls are moving in tomorrow. I'm not going to lie, it's awkward. I'm sure God will get me through it, and the house is well divided, so I do have a lot of privacy. It's much closer to my offices (I might consider biking there), and we're a few blocks West of Little Havana.
Yeah, no air conditioning. The office got to be 92 degrees yesterday, so we all went home around 1pm. They cancelled work today (which was great because I was supposed to be at the conference). Hopefully, by Tuesday it will be fixed.
Observations:
- There aren't any cameras on the stoplights. I couldn't figure out why, until I started noticing what the yellow light means. Slow down? no, no. keep going at your normal pace and pull out as far as you can if you have to turn so you're blocking the traffic that has the green light.
- Everyone speaks Spanish to me first, even though I'm white. Have I replied in Spanish? no. I probably should try this to get some rapport going.
- McDonalds in Miami have "Cafe Con Leche" on their menus.
- I still don't know what kind of music to listen to because there's the meriachi band style, the spanish celine dion style, and the spanish rap.
Good Stuff:
- Once we get back into air conditioning, I'm meeting with Mary and Yvonne to get a check on my formula for interviews and will start calling to set them up.
- One of my REALLY good friends called me yesterday. She mentioned John 15 about Christ being the vines, and we are his branches. She encouraged me to be in Christ everyday.
- One of my housemates is writing a book on being anti-college. He asked me to estimate how much information I've learned at Covenant I could have learned by reading books or from the internet. I said 30%. He didn't believe me. I completely disagree with his views because I thought about the things that I will forever take with me that I got from Covenant, and the majority of them weren't quotes from text books or found over the internet. They were from my professors desires to encourage, challenge, and relate to me. I thought about the one thing that I will always remember from 210:
We were discussing why there's poverty in the world. In short, we said that because of the fall, man's 4 fundamental relationships (man's relationship with God, with himself, with creation, and with others) broke. One of the effects that those 4 broken relationships have is poverty.
We then defined developmental work. Developmental work is helping others reconcile those relationships. But the key to understanding this definition is that all of us need repair to those relationships, and we as humans cannot fix those relationships, only God can.
So, the class saw the obvious problem, If we can't reconcile those relationships, what are we supposed to do?
Dr. Fikkert then proceeded to write in large bold letters "GOD HAS TO WORK!!!!" He then told us that as community development majors we were signing up for a job that we can't and never will accomplish. We're getting a degree in NOTHING. The only way our careers can work out is if we drop to our knees everyday and PRAY for a MIRACLE to happen.
Those words have stuck with me all 3 years of my college career. I couldn't have gotten that same message from a text book, definitely not in the intensity it needs to be said.
So, now I'm longing to be back learning at Covenant, but I know I'm learning a lot here.
Oh, and I've started praying for miracles.
PRAY:
- for my relationships with my housemates, that God will show me how to love my brothers and sisters in Christ during the next 2 months.
- that we can go back to the office ASAP and I can get going on these interviews!
- Contentment and joy, no matter what the day brings.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Hoy, estoy interno internacional
More like this entire weekend, I've felt like a typical international com. dev. intern. Here's why:
1. I had to go to Starbucks to get internet. Not quite like an internet cafe, but close enough.
2. I had Latino fast food. Which is NOTHING like American fast food. We went to a place called "La Palacia de Jugos" (the fruit palace). The building itself had 2 complete walls, the other two had open archways and windows without glass in them. It was like one of the chinese food places at a mall where you stood in line and pointed at what you wanted. We got Plantains, chicken, and yummy rice with every kind of green vegetable possible in it.
3. I went to a pentecostal church that was predominantly Haitian. The building itself was a LOT like EPC (my church in Cape Coral). but the worship was like New City Fellowship on steroids. We sang songs that I learned at NCF, but they had dancers, trumpets, flags, everything! It wasn't just a culturally diverse congregation, it was culturally diverse worship. It was incredible (and it made me REALLY want to go to Haiti). Oh, and the church was celebrating it's 90 year anniversary. NINETY YEARS!
4. I didn't celebrate Memorial Day. I mean, I had the day off and everything, but we didn't do anything special. It made me kind of homesick (mom, don't cry). Normally, I'd have gone over to my Grandparents house, played a few games of Scum or Skip-bo with my Aunt, Grandparents, and immediate family. My Grandfather would have grilled some form of beef while my Grandmother prepared potatoes, and my Aunt a delicious salad. We would have squeezed around the table, all cooing over 2 year old Ruthee and throwing sarcastic comments to each other here and there (only when things got dull). We would enjoy dessert while my Grandfather read their daily devotions and have said a prayer for all the veterans and their families. Instead, I was kept from any downtown/beach area because of Hip Hop weekend, and I went to Starbucks, and wrote papers.
5. The airconditioning isn't working in the office this week (something with the roof being fixed, I really don't understand). And it's raining outside, so The office is a bit warm and humid. And when I came in today, all the conversations that were being held were in Espanol. Shoot, I don't need to go over seas for a cross-cultural experience!
So, those are the reasons why I don't feel like I'm in America any more. But I love the diversity in Miami. There are people who sell stuff at every stoplight (mostly cold water, fresh fruit or the most beautiful flowers).Yvonne informed me that they're most likely illegal immigrants, I asked her if she ever bought stuff from them. She said that she had on numerous occasion because they sell them for really cheap. She said it just came down to survival. No one asks to see the store clerks papers, they're just going to go to whoever sells it for the cheapest.
It makes me excited about where I'll be living from Thursday on. The house I'm living in is a few blocks West of Little Havana. I've been through it twice or so since being in Miami and it's WONDERFUL! I don't understand it's bad reputation, I mean, yeah, don't go out there at night, but that's no different than MLK blvd in Ft. Myers or Alton Park in Chattanooga.
Anyways, this week I'll be starting to call other mentoring programs (probably not today because it's extremely loud in the office with all the fans going on), I'll be helping with the Women's RE: Conference run by the CCDA (Christian Community Development Association. aka- COOLEST PEOPLE EVER!!!), And I will have completed two out of five of my short paper requirements for the internship class.
sus oraciones son muy apreciadas!
Sus amo muy mucho, amigos y mi familia!
Vaya con Dios
1. I had to go to Starbucks to get internet. Not quite like an internet cafe, but close enough.
2. I had Latino fast food. Which is NOTHING like American fast food. We went to a place called "La Palacia de Jugos" (the fruit palace). The building itself had 2 complete walls, the other two had open archways and windows without glass in them. It was like one of the chinese food places at a mall where you stood in line and pointed at what you wanted. We got Plantains, chicken, and yummy rice with every kind of green vegetable possible in it.
3. I went to a pentecostal church that was predominantly Haitian. The building itself was a LOT like EPC (my church in Cape Coral). but the worship was like New City Fellowship on steroids. We sang songs that I learned at NCF, but they had dancers, trumpets, flags, everything! It wasn't just a culturally diverse congregation, it was culturally diverse worship. It was incredible (and it made me REALLY want to go to Haiti). Oh, and the church was celebrating it's 90 year anniversary. NINETY YEARS!
4. I didn't celebrate Memorial Day. I mean, I had the day off and everything, but we didn't do anything special. It made me kind of homesick (mom, don't cry). Normally, I'd have gone over to my Grandparents house, played a few games of Scum or Skip-bo with my Aunt, Grandparents, and immediate family. My Grandfather would have grilled some form of beef while my Grandmother prepared potatoes, and my Aunt a delicious salad. We would have squeezed around the table, all cooing over 2 year old Ruthee and throwing sarcastic comments to each other here and there (only when things got dull). We would enjoy dessert while my Grandfather read their daily devotions and have said a prayer for all the veterans and their families. Instead, I was kept from any downtown/beach area because of Hip Hop weekend, and I went to Starbucks, and wrote papers.
5. The airconditioning isn't working in the office this week (something with the roof being fixed, I really don't understand). And it's raining outside, so The office is a bit warm and humid. And when I came in today, all the conversations that were being held were in Espanol. Shoot, I don't need to go over seas for a cross-cultural experience!
So, those are the reasons why I don't feel like I'm in America any more. But I love the diversity in Miami. There are people who sell stuff at every stoplight (mostly cold water, fresh fruit or the most beautiful flowers).Yvonne informed me that they're most likely illegal immigrants, I asked her if she ever bought stuff from them. She said that she had on numerous occasion because they sell them for really cheap. She said it just came down to survival. No one asks to see the store clerks papers, they're just going to go to whoever sells it for the cheapest.
It makes me excited about where I'll be living from Thursday on. The house I'm living in is a few blocks West of Little Havana. I've been through it twice or so since being in Miami and it's WONDERFUL! I don't understand it's bad reputation, I mean, yeah, don't go out there at night, but that's no different than MLK blvd in Ft. Myers or Alton Park in Chattanooga.
Anyways, this week I'll be starting to call other mentoring programs (probably not today because it's extremely loud in the office with all the fans going on), I'll be helping with the Women's RE: Conference run by the CCDA (Christian Community Development Association. aka- COOLEST PEOPLE EVER!!!), And I will have completed two out of five of my short paper requirements for the internship class.
sus oraciones son muy apreciadas!
Sus amo muy mucho, amigos y mi familia!
Vaya con Dios
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