Intro

Welcome to my blog! Some of you have journeyed with me on a different blog in the past, some of you are new to my blogging. As I just graduated from college in May and I'm preparing to head down to the L.A. region for two years for an internship with Servant Partners, I wanted to start a new blog for the journey. This blog is designed so that you can comment on what I post, so please feel free to do so!
Having grown up in Thailand and gone to school in Oregon, why on earth am I going down to L.A.? Well, over the last four years with my involvement with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, I have been learning more about what the God of the Bible says about poverty, and I've become increasingly convinced that I can't pretend to be a follower of Jesus if I'm not seriously willing to consider what he says about having compassion on and becoming advocates for the poor and oppressed. I definitely have not figured out what this means for me yet by a long shot; but I know that I am feeling compelled to learn more. I chose into this internship as the next step after college because I want to be in a community of people who are asking these same kinds of questions and who have been on this path a little bit longer than I have, and who therefore can help guide me. I also hope to develop genuine relationships with people in poverty who can invite me into their lives and teach me.
Details about the internship: well, I confess that right now a lot of it is unknown! I do know that orientation starts at the end of August. Throughout the next two years, I will be living with another intern (there are 16 of us new interns) in an apartment in a low income area; working fulltime at another job (to pay the rent and food bill!); getting to know my neighbors and the issues they face; getting together with the other interns to study issues of poverty as well as what the Bible has to say about poverty, oppression, and wealth; volunteering, carrying out projects, getting involved with a local church, and more. Basically, I don't know what all I'm going to be doing, but it's going to be busy! In the fall at the beginning of our internship, we are also going to be heading to an urban slum community in Manila, Philippines for two weeks.
Right now I'm still in Oregon, finishing up my job for the summer. I'm also fund-raising (since I have to raise $4000 for this internship) and looking for a full-time job with benefits down in L.A.. My family returns to the States from Thailand in a little more than a week, and I am so excited to see them. :) This summer has been a wonderful time of enjoying deep conversations and silly moments with friends, and I can hardly believe it's almost over.