This summer I will be interning for 8ish weeks in Guatemala (from May 30-July 21, followed by debriefing in Dallas, TX from July 21-24) at a ministry called El Oasis that serves and cares for girls, many of whom have come from abusive backgrounds. El Oasis is a ministry of Kids Alive International but the internship is set up through Camino Global.
Just a quick note on how I got connected with this internship. For a while now I've wanted to spend a summer or a semester abroad in a Spanish-speaking country to challenge and improve my language skills, since I'm a Spanish major hoping to be a Spanish-English interpreter someday. Then this past December I attended Urbana, a tri-annual missions conference in St. Louis, Missouri through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. At Urbana there was an exhibition hall with tables and tables of missions organizations, seminaries, etc. I realized many of the missions organizations would probably have summer internship opportunities in Latin America, and what better way to spend my summer than to combine my love for Jesus, my love for the Spanish language, and my goal of improving my language skills? So after inquiring with Camino Global and three other missions organizations and making a spreadsheet to weigh the pros and cons of eight different internship opportunities through those four organizations, I finally settled on El Oasis with Camino Global! (Oops, my "quick note" turned into the longest paragraph in the post. J Now back to the point...)
As an intern at El Oasis my primary goal and responsibility will be to show Christ's love to the girls and building relationships with them, but I may also be doing things like tutoring, mentoring, helping the girls with homework, helping them communicate with their English-speaking sponsors, helping out in the kitchen, or assisting with administrative tasks in the office (or a number of other things, I imagine).
Despite all the information I've received about my internship, I still don't think I can really know what to expect until I get there. I'm learning to trust God with the unknowns, whether big or little. I would appreciate your prayers as I prepare to leave in just over two weeks. Pray that I would be prepared with all the physical/material things I need, but also that God would be preparing my heart to love and learn from the girls in Guatemala.
Watch this short video for some more information about El Oasis.
Stay tuned for updates throughout the rest of the summer!
All for Jesus,
Emily
Background photo credit: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/guatemalan
So excited you are blogging! I cannot wait to read your updates and hear how God is using you for His glory in Guatemala!!!
ReplyDelete~ Becky