Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Summer Internship

I started my summer internship yesterday at Degage Ministries in downtown Grand Rapids (www.degageministries.org).   Degage is a French word that means to relax and be at ease.  Theirs is a different kind of ministry – it isn’t a soup kitchen because you have to pay to eat there; it isn’t a gospel because you don’t have to hear a gospel message in order to use their services; it isn’t a shelter though it does have a place for women to spend the night.  So it’s a very unique downtown ministry that seeks to meet the needs of the poor but not in the usual way. 

During the course of the summer, I’ll be sharing stories about the people I meet there and things that I do there.  So far, I’ve spent one day in the dining room selling coffee and one day helping upstairs working with their ID card program.   I’ll say more about each of those later.

So far, the most challenging part has been figuring out my new bus schedule!  But it’s great, because I can get on just a few blocks from home like before, and get dropped off and picked up right in front of Degage without having to transfer so it works out great.  So I catch the 6:30AM bus downtown and catch the 12:00PM bus back home at noon.

I’m just there in the mornings so my afternoons will be spent doing some work for the Admissions Office at the seminary, writing sermons, and doing some summer reading and writing for the coursework that accompanies this internship.  Hopefully, I’ll have the chance to take a kids swimming or something once in a while too.  It should be a good summer.

1 comment:

Beth TenHaken said...

You will do great, son. However, wouldn't it be nice if you were interning here in Worthington for the summer? :-)

Love you lots.........Mom