Summer Internship... Overseas?

Hey friends and family!

As many of you know, this trip to Uganda is not the only trip I am embarking on this summer, but that I am also going to be working in Bangkok, Thailand, for 7 weeks as a college ministry intern with Envision: Bangkok.

This summer internship is something I would have never imagined or dreamed of, and I still don’t think it has fully set in that it is my life. God is so good, and this specific opportunity has already taught me so much and I haven’t even left yet.

RedBox GO Scholarship

Redbox is a scholarship program that was established at Grove City in the 1970s to enable students who are interested in and passionate about missions to pursue a missions internship for 6-8 weeks during the summer after their sophomore of junior years. There are various offerings and campus events that go to support the scholarship, so the amount raised and the number of students that go changes every year. Alongside the monetary portion, redbox also offers general missions training, with focuses on developing a biblical basis for missions, cross cultural communication and fundraising resources.

I found out about the RedBox GO scholarship (or just “redbox”) my sophomore year at Grove City through a friend whose mentor had recently participated. I distinctly remember talking to one of my friends last summer about how cool it would be if we did Redbox together. The application came out in September, and I prayed about whether or not to apply, but I didn’t sense a clear yes or no, so I went ahead and submitted it and figured that if this was absolutely not God’s will, he would shut that door. I had an interview with a pannel of faculty the following week and then I waited to find out.

Narrowing It Down

While I was home over Christmas Break I had a lot more time on my hands and was able to really sit down and think through my choices. I ended up narrowing it down to a 8 week program in Kenya that was everything I wanted- established program, built in mentorship, other college aged students, rural environment- and then a more flexible internship in Guinea where I would be teaching english and likely be the only intern there.

For some reason, I could not stop thinking about Guinea and just felt the Lord pulling me there. Even though it did not make sense, I just felt so much peace, so I had an interview and was accepted to their site, and never even applied for the Kenyan opportunity. By the time I went back to Grove City for spring semester, I was 99% sure I would be in Guinea for the summer.

Being apart of the RedBox Program, I had one last step to complete, which was to submit a trip proposal form to the RedBox committee for approval, as well as to the College’s Safety and Security Committee. Due to some of the current events going on in the country, the Safety and Security team had some follow up questions that I needed the missionaries help to answer. A lot of their concern stemmed around the fact that I would be alone for the majority of the time. When I submitted the missionaries reply, unfortunately the council still was uncomfortable with my level of safety, and they denied my trip proposal.

This all happened on a Wednesday. The same day I reached out to the mission org. that I had committed to and explained the situation to my mobilizer, and asked what other sites would be available. She was able to quickly set up some other options for me, so by Sunday I had two interviews, one with the team in Indonesia and one with the team in Thailand.

After talking with both sites, I was blown away by the Lord’s faithfulness. Originally I had limited my search to locations in Africa, to make it easier to go from Uganda to the next site, and so I had totally crossed off South East Asia. Yet both of these sites had work that I felt significantly more excited about, digital marketing or college ministry. Even in my short zoom call with both teams, I also felt like I connected with the staff so well.

They asked that I let them know the next day, so I had less than 24 hours to choose. I pondered both choices, prayed, talked to my family, and ultimately came to the realization that Thailand scared me more, but it also excited me more, and so I leaned into that. It is crazy to look back and see that in less than a week my plans completely changed and I had a brand new destination.

Training Weekend

In April I was able to travel to Columbus, OH for a training with Envision (the mission organization I am going with). At the training I was able to not only meet the 4 other interns I will be working with, but also meet all the other interns that are being sent all over the country- and the world!

During the weekend we were able to process some of our expectations for the summers, learn about cultural differences, recenter and refresh our hearts, and my favorite, hear stories from former long term workers. I think I could write a whole novel on the things that I learned during this training and what my takeaways were, but overall I walked away with a greater sense of awe and wonder at the goodness and magnitude of the Lord, and the way His body is so diverse and beautiful.

Weekly Rhythms

While I’m not sure 100% what my day to day routine will look like, I have a vague image of each week. In partnership with the local church, our team of interns will help run small groups and game nights with the university students in the area, with the goal of forming deep relationships and furthering their connection to the church. We will also be helping to facilitate the short term trips, meet weekly as a staff to get an inside look at missionary life, learn some Thai, and be discipled one on one by some of the long term workers.

There will also be a huge emphasis on spiritual disciplines, including 3 hours of solitude weekly, so I am hoping to grow in my scriputre memorization and ability to pray faithfully and diligently for others.

Prayers

A few ways for now that you can be praying for me!

• Continued health and a smooth adjustment! I want to be able to give my all to this experience, and to feel 100% like myself. With the travel, change in temperature (av. 95 every day), new food, and new time zone, there will be many changes to face, and I would love prayers that I am able to do it with the Joy of the Lord as my strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

• Unity among our team, that we would be of one mind and therefore more able to reflect the love of Christ to those around us (Philippians 2) and that our differences would not be stumbling blocks, but rather ways of highlighting the various but necessary parts of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12).

• Prayers for humility, that I would be eager and ready to learn, accept my limitations, willing to ask for help, and most of all that I would daily lean on the Lord!

Thank you all so much for praying and for supporting me in this! I hope to write with more updates soon!

With love,

Kaitlyn