Hello y'all- Bad me for keeping you waiting this long... Just been 'busy', you know? It's a summertime kind of busy- The kind that is so relaxing at times that you willingly push things like this aside, or are actually so busy that it's out of the question... I think I've finally found a comfortable in-between time where I can make this habit.
To fill in where I've been up to now:
I came a week before the other interns started to arrive, to actually move all my things to Bend (living pretty light, though- Didn't take that much), since it's my goal to stay out here for the fall and who knows how much longer. I knew once we came into the main part of Bend- The Old Mill District (it's like a shopping center, concert arena, all around a scenic chunk of the Deschutes, nestled in a place where you can see almost all the snow-capped mountain ranges of Oregon) that I needed to be here longer than the summer internship allowed.
It's a healing and rejuvenating place, and a complete answer to prayer after these last two years of spiritual dryness and confusion ("God what do you want for my life?" over and over)
I spent hours every day at the church office, helping out at the front desk, prepping stuff for the coming interns, organizing and cleaning etc. spaces. It felt so good to just be doing work, after having done nothing this last term (I took this last term off from school to save up for the internship and be ready for the move). It felt good to be needed and wanted.
Later, I would come home to Zach and Heather's (the amazing cousins I am living with right now, in their cozy upstairs bedroom they opened up for me!) and spend time with their kiddos, Megan (6), and their twins they adopted form the Congo in January 2011, Noah and Lauren (2 1/2). They are so sweet and precious, it was hard for me to get any work done while I was at home. Now I don't get to see them for days at a time, since it's non-stop work at the church and coffee shops and they go to bed right after dinner.
Noah clings onto anyone who will hold hold him for a long period of time, but he comes to me every time with arms open wide, and tries his best to sound out my name.
Lauren is obsessed with my nose ring and jewelry- She points to it, says it out loud as best she can, and says "Ooh" when I put on different earrings. Definitely loves the bling.
Megan and I are working on hand-sewing projects, which she is always super excited about when we get the chance to sit down and go through together. She sings the cutest made-up songs from everything about cleaning her room to making pudding. I love these kids. They bring so much joy that I felt I was lacking back into my life.
Got used to driving around in Bend faster than I thought I would. LOTS of round-abouts and very few left turn lanes. Streets turning into different names, and highway speeds of 45 mph.
This is, for sure, a very laid back town compared to what I'm used to. It didn't take me long to fall in love with the easy-going nature of people's sense of 'come as you are' and 'take your time'.
The coffee and the food. OH my lanta. They are absolutely to die for. Don't think I'll ever be selective enough to choose a favorite, but I've been to Thump coffee, Strictly Organic, Pine hollow, Backporch Roasters, the Looney Bean, and a couple others. Not a single cup has left me disappointed. That goes for the tea as well.
For food, I've tried Parilla grill, 10 barrel (Thai chicken/peanut pizza is delish!), Bend Brewing Company (killer sweet potato fries), Jackson's Corner (super sandwiches, located in an old-town residential area), Greg's Grill, Jimmy John's, and more.... No wonder rich people come here to retire. And I'm getting to know my server/ baristas' names.
We have 29 interns this summer, with a myriad of focuses. Some are interning with World Relief, a missional outreach organization with a media and graphic arts location here in Bend. My mentor Amanda works there (each intern is assigned an intern, and boy was I lucky to get her!), and she has an amazing heart for the Lord in serving with photography, administration, and media writing. She recently went to Uganda for a small team trip to connect with an orphanage/ school near Kampala and grow relationships with the leaders and children. Antioch is partnering with this organization- which means being bound to their steps financially, in prayer, and as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as they lauch new parts of making their programs more efficient and accessible to more kids. Here's the link to a video Amanda made, all about Otino Waa:
http://vimeo.com/24749772
Back to focuses.... Children's ministry, outdoor ministry, music and worship, graphic arts and design, writing, missions, discipleship, pastoral, videography, photography, working at the Kilns college and bookstore/ coffee house (it's a human rights book and gift store, coffee house, and has classrooms where the college holds faith-based classes in the fall through Winter. All the people who 'work' there are volunteers, and proceeds of all merchandise go towards supporting the college and human-rights organizations, like IJM and Not For Sale. I spend A LOT of time in there, sipping a latte and working on my latest intern project.)
So, here's the shpeal on what I'M doing this summer... I signed up to do missions, with an area of interest on anti-human trafficking.
Brandon Reynolds is the community pastor at Antioch, as well as the director of the summer and year long internship programs. He's in charge of the interns focusing on pastoral, discipleship and missions. After spending about a week learning about Bend, getting to know our fellow interns, and getting a good grasp on what Antioch is all about/ their vision for the future and what the internship program looks like, we met with Brandon in our focus groups and were given choices of projects to work on. He literally had a stack of pamphlets, emails, and past info booklets produced by Antioch that he gave us free reign on to choose what we would dive into for the next two and a half months. Some were to do research of certain organizations, local and global, meet with representatives, and evaluate if Antioch should partner with them or not. Another kind was to work on a very specific project brought up by people within the church body, who had a project they were already working on and needed assistance with. And some were getting into the nitty-gritty parts of being the hands and feet of a budding organization, like helping the Ryan family begin a youth missions hostile in South America. The interns under Brandon all meet together on Mondays to discuss our projects and where we're at with them, and collaborate to make our gifts spread where we're needed to make our works happen (we've only got 10 weeks to accomplish all our goals!)
I was really overwhelmed by all of this, and chose a couple of tasks to get started on. But after emailing the people to meet with them and figure things out further, they wouldn't get back to me. And I was super discouraged. I waited about a week to hear from them, met with Brandon to talk about other options, and he offered me a new idea:
They need help in the office, with some administration tasks in the missions department (Antioch is still very new at determining just how the church is meant to be involved with missions, locally and globally, financially, etc.- which is also something all the missions interns are helping pray about and decipher), as well as keeping correspondence with partner organizations and maintaining the church's mission blog :
http://www.antiochchurch.org/_blog/Antioch_Missions_Blog I'll be editing and writing for the blog (which means interviewing local authors, organization workers, and church goers involved in missions and writing reports on their knowledge), while learning how to and helping out with admin, as well as helping with the Justice Conference 2012- more to come on this later, but I met the director Erin Lytle, and she expressed a great need for help in event coordination! Will hear from her soon about how I can help.
In a larger perspective, I'll be stabilizing some parts of what Antioch needs to make their grounds for the missions department strong, as they discover what next steps need to be made to act on what the church's role is in missions. Since I'm staying past the summer internship, I'm going to volunteer as much as I can to maintain projects after summer interns leave.
The internship is a lot more informal and come-as-you-go that I thought it would be; make-your-own program according to your focus (which I'm having a lot of fun doing).
I've bought several books to learn more about human trafficking, missions in the church, and global Christianity:
Not For Sale, by David Gladstone
Stop The Traffik, by Steve Chalke and Cherie Blair (doing a written review and analysis of this one-SO good!)
Right here Right now- "Everyday missions for Everyday people", by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford
Not In My Town- "Exposing & Ending Human Trafficking &Modern-Day Slavery", by Dillon Burroughs and Charles Powell
and Kingdom Without Borders- "The untold Story of Global Christianity", by Miriam Adeney
(Got all of these on our trip to Cannon Beach for surfing- We went to Portland and hit Powells bookstore for some learning material... I lucked out!)
Phew. So, needless to say, I'm gonna be busy.
We get to go on several retreats to see the sights of Oregon- We went to Smith Rock to rock climb and hike misery Ridge a couple of weekends ago.
I got to billet twice, and tried to climb at the end of the day- but after hiking for two hours, I couldn't make it past the first stretch!! So tiring. But we get to go again soon on our off-time.
It's crazy to be so close to where professionals come for their training- We watched a climber go up a completely flat rock; absolutely crazy to watch them get up with such ease.
And, we saw people walking a tight-rope from one cliff to a rock formation called Monkey Face (yes, it looks just like a monkey), one attached to a line, and one without. The guy without one made it, and the other didn't. These adrenaline junkies are INSANE. But really entertaining to watch.
So now, I'm just in the beginning process of figuring out what all these tasks mean. What all of these words written on pages make clear about God's heart for missions as a part of his bride. It's really a bigger question than I thought needed to be answered- Some times when i think about it, I'm so overcome by it's vastness (for a little brain like mine in comparison to the creator), and have to find ways to continually surrender it to God.
"YOU know how these pieces of your church, your people, your vision for the future, and this idea of missions go together. Calm my heart so that I may listen, so that I may be overcome with your holy spirit, and poured into with an understanding of how to reach your people on such different levels- You know better than I, and I trust your leads more than any."
This is a similar prayer to what I keep thinking and saying every time I begin to feel the slightest bit overwhelmed.
"If our God is for us, WHO can be against us?"
Just got back from our surf trip last night, and today is just a day to recuperate, rest, and gear up for the coming week of working hard, playing hard, and making the kingdom come alive.
That's it for now. Gonna go stick my nose in one of them books and enjoy what comes out of each one....
Blessings, my friends and family- My prayers are with you that you have blessed adventures and journeys this summer, and that God is directing you towards His objects of affection.
All my love, Emily
