There are many parts to our ministry here: church planting, discipleship, CUDA. A big part of the ministry that Team Arequipa 1.0 dreamed about before reaching the field was an internship program. We have all been influenced by short-term missions. We were all greatly enriched by the opportunities that our universities offered to study abroad or travel to other countries in the summer. We wanted to offer that opportunity to others through our work here. September 1 is Team Arequipa’s six year anniversary. We have hosted six groups of interns in our time here. It is exciting to see Team Arequipa 2.0 come in with the same desire to build on the internship program. There will be many more Arequipa interns in years to come.
The family of God is big, and one of the neatest parts of working as a foreign missionary is that you connect to so many Christians from various parts of the world. We have been greatly blessed by the summer interns and 2-year apprentices that have joined our work throughout the year. We learned new things every single summer. Since we just finished hosting our last group of interns in our time here, I thought it would be appropriate to post pictures of all the groups of interns and apprentices that have come through. This doesn’t count the groups that Bill Richardson brought through (3 different times). Connections are wonderful, and many of these guys are still in contact with us. It is our prayer that God impacts their lives through their experience here in AQP, and they carry his mission to wherever they go from here. All of our interns, apprentices and visitors are part of very special memories and times here in Arequipa for us.
Our first intern was Aaron in June/July 2009. Larissa’s sister, Briana, and our friend Kristen came to learn Spanish that summer.
Our first apprentice, Rachel Steele, arrived in February of 2010. She stayed two years.
Internship June/July of 2010: Whitney, Bob, and David
Internship June/July 2011: April, Hope, Stephanie, and Manet
Internship June/July 2012: (the biggest group ever) Ann, Katie, Emily, Rebecca, Jordan, Taylor, and Sean
Internship June/July 2013: Parker, Kayla, Lisette, and Gerina AND Aaron returned with his wife, Arielle, for a summer
August-December 2013: Catherine came to live with us for a fall semester to learn Spanish in preparation for her future job.
Apprentices October 2013-2015: Andrew and Bethany Grey
Internship June/July 2014: Kayla, Christy, Lexi, Fiama, and Mat
We love each and every one of you. Thank you for enriching our journey while here in Peru!