The interns are here, the interns are here!
Every summer starting in the summer of 2009 Team Arequipa 1.0 hosted interns from various universities. We decided as Team Arequipa 3.0 to continue this work.
This year we are hosting 4 interns for 8 weeks. We have 2 interns from Harding University, Lizzie Tripp and Paola Quijano, 1 intern from Oklahoma Christian University, Hannah Henley, and 1 from Abilene Christian University, Sam Jones. We are excited to be working and learning with these students for the 8 weeks they are here!
osting interns is not an easy task. It can be disruptive and time-consuming to integrate several new people into the vision, mission, and day-to-day work. So why do this? We decided as a team that it is an investment we want to make. We do not host interns to do projects and busywork but to be a learning member of the team. As a part of our team strategy and mission we want to be involved in the preparing of disciples who are a part of God’s mission and we believe much can be done in two months toward that end. Whether they end up living overseas or within the United States, these internships are a small part of furthering God’s kingdom wherever they end up.
The interns will live with a missionary family for the majority of their time here to experience what daily life is like. As you read this, however, the interns are in the midst of an immersion homestay with a Peruvian family. For the next week, each intern is staying with a different family as a way to practice Spanish and to learn about and witness Peruvian culture up close. For the rest of the summer, their day to day will consist of shadowing the missionaries in our different ministries and Bible studies we are a part of.
Each intern also has the opportunity to develop a project of their own to complete while they are here. This is not a project that we expect them to do to “save Arequipa” but rather as a way to get them to put something that they’re learning into practice.
We also have readings for the interns to do and a weekly discussion over these readings. This is a neat time for us to get together and dive into what is the Mission of God, what is the Gospel, ministry among the urban poor, and how we fit into it all.
It is an honor for us to get to host these four students this summer. We have invited them into our team as learning team members for the next 8 weeks, to dream with us, learn with us, pray with us, and walk around this city we love, looking for the places God is actively at work and joining in.