For those of you that don't know, I interned with Center for Transforming Mission (then known as Strategy for Transformation) in Guatemala City, Guatemala in the summer of 2012 and I want to share in this post how that experience has brought me to where I am now as I get ready to graduate. While interning in Guatemala, I learned so much
about production and how to tell stories of hope with a camera. Part of my work
was with vision trip teams where we focus on helping people see how God is working
through the people of Guatemala in some of the hardest places so they can catch
the vision and bring it back to the places God calls them to live and work. I
caught the vision and brought it back to Ann Arbor with me. My mission field since
then has been the campus of the University of Michigan. At the start of my
sophomore year, I began investing my life into the faith community at New Life
Church with a desire to serve the University of Michigan campus. The staff members
of our church are even called campus missionaries as they raise support so they
can serve the campus full-time. In the past three years, I have witnessed
multiple students’ lives transformed by Christ as they come to know the truth
of the Gospel and I am currently leading a life group of 13 female students who
weekly meet to share our lives with one another and study scripture together.
I
graduate on May 2 from U of M and am planning to spend the summer in a
Leadership Training Program with New Life Church. It is an intensive
discipleship training program that offers participants a unique chance to grow
in their relationship with God, learn how to share their faith with others, and
spend time investing in their personal character growth all while living in
Christ-centered community. I believe there is life-transforming power in living
in community with other believers who are also taking steps of faith and
obedience and pursuing a deeper relationship with God. My desire for this
summer is to find rest between ending school and starting my career and to build
a solid foundation of making decisions in faith with God before entering into
the next phase of my life.
This
program begins in late May so between graduating and starting this program, I
am spending just over two weeks in Guatemala with my host family revisiting the
places I created photo and video projects for during my internship. I hope to
gather as much footage as I can while there and then edit it when I am back in
Ann Arbor before leaving my camera with the Guatemalan team of Center for
Transforming Mission. I will leave for Guatemala City on May 5 and return on
May 21. My mom Lori will also be joining me on this trip (though she will only
stay for a week) and we will be with my Guatemalan host family Mefi, Silvia,
Andres, and Sofi who have graciously offered us a place to stay while there.
I
want to keep you updated so you can be continue to be a
part of my story and the story of what God is doing in Guatemala. I want to ask
you for your support in prayer on
this journey that God would once again give us His vision and guide our work.
If
you are interested about my work in Guatemala and in Ann Arbor or where I hope
to be in the fall, I would love to talk with you! My email is aawier@umich.edu or you can message me on Facebook. I plan to post my work again
on my blog right here so continue to check this out if you would like to see
what I am up to this summer! Thank you once again for investing in my life the
work God is doing globally from Michigan to Guatemala.
In
Christ,
Lexie
Wierenga
