Internship Q&A

I was contacted with an idea to put together a form to answer questions that people may have and give more information about the internship. To that end I've attached a form to this that answers all the questions I was asked. If any of you has questions that you would like answered feel free to contact me. I may not know the answer right now, but I will do my best to get the answers. I've included this in a mass email but will post it up here for more diverse communication.
1. Are you coming alongside an existing missionary team?
          My team and I will be serving under established site leaders (missionaries who are there working but are our primary leaders). Along side them there are 2 other missionary couples in the area.

2. Are you church planting or trying to grow an existing church?

         Specific ministry that we will be working with will vary depending on opportunity and on the passion of each team member. I will hopefully be getting involved in some sort of mission-based business. The goal of that would be to learn some tricks and just gain an understanding of running a business in a foreign nation, how to handle difficulties that can arise.

3. What types of activities will you be involved in while in Kenya: construction, children's Bible school, church leadership, etc?

         Church involvement will be a consistent activity. The women on the team, at least in the past, spend much of their time building relationships with local women. The men will do the labor jobs. It will also be our responsibility to take care of the women on a daily basis.

         It has been conveyed regularly that trust of the men and respect of the woman are two crucial elements to team unity and success. It is definitely a prayer request for the duration of our time in Kenya.

4. Is this an English-speaking area or will you be using translators?

         The first four months of our time in Kenya will be spent learning Swahili. It is not the primary language of the area but it is understood by most of the locals and is what we are allowed to learn.

         There will be the use of a translator for a while at least. Initially, that will one of the most positive things about having established missionaries working with and over us.

         This is also an area that could be lifted up in prayer. That each member of our team would be diligent in our study of the language, but that the Lord would grant us the blessing of quickly learning it. Until we have at least a moderate grasp of the language learning the culture and building relationships will be limited.

5. What will your accommodations be like?

         From what I’ve been told, the current housing for the interns who are there right now is an apartment, one for the guys and another for the women. It doesn’t have running water but besides that I was told it is fairly nicely furnished.

         A portion of the funds raised will go toward rent for our housing and also for the linguistic training that we will receive.