Editorial Intern: Ivy
Hello! I'm Ivy, this summer's editorial intern. In other words I'm a college student trying to figure out what I really want to do with the rest of my life. In the spring I'll graduate from Asbury College with a double major in applied communications and Spanish. The thought of finishing school and starting a career is pretty exciting, but also scary. What am I supposed to do next?
Here's what I do know: I am fascinated by other cultures. I've been on a few short-term mission trips and even lived in Spain for a period of four months. I love the touching moments when God allows me to break through a language barrier and help a Guatemalan girl learn multiplication. Or the fun moments when I get to share a platter of boiled chicken feet with a Dominican Republic family. Other cultures are enjoyable. They also hold so much value. Seeing how others live and love helps me develop a greater perspective on what's really important in life. Life is not about material objects or even traditions. It's about people. I would love my future job to involve cross-cultural experiences.
I want to do more than just enjoy other cultures, however. This passion isn't just my own. I believe that God has given me a passion for his people and for communication so that I can reach out and be a communicator between his different people groups. I guess most people would call this missions. I just see it as being a light wherever I am for whomever I'm with. I want to be in the midst of other cultures as the people find God's truth. I don't, however, want to detract from the cultures' uniqueness. Knowing God and having His Word has revolutionized my own life; I want others to have the same opportunity in the context of their own cultures. And that's what attracted me to Wycliffe Bible Translators. Wycliffe is working to reach Bibleless people groups worldwide so that the people can choose to worship God.
Last December I found out that Wycliffe has internships for college students in a variety of fields. Since I was already interested in missions, I read a previous intern's online blog. The stuff that she wrote about was the type of stuff I wanted to do. I called Wycliffe, God pulled a few financial magic tricks, and waaalaaaah. Here I am. Now it's time for me to pass on the blog baton. I'll be recording the stuff that I'm doing every week so that anyone who's interested can see what it's like in a day (or three months) of a Wycliffe intern. Enjoy!
Ivy
First impressions
5/21/2004
My first week at Wycliffe has been pretty action packed with trying to figure out exactly what Wycliffe does. Sure, they translate the Bible, but I’m learning that there’s a lot of other work involved too. The different brochures that Wycliffe puts out explain some of this work. During my downtime I’ve been reading these brochures, leafing through booklets, and talking to my co-workers to grasp a better idea of Wycliffe’s mission. After all, if I’m going to help communicate this mission to others, I’d better have a good idea of what I’m talking about.
I’m also trying to figure out where everything is around here. The Wycliffe campus is much, much bigger than I expected. “Campus” includes the Wycliffe apartments, activity center, RV park, pond (complete with an alligator), soccer field, and a HUGE office building. I think I could get lost in this place, but thankfully my supervisor, Jon, has been great about showing me around. I’ve also been able to attend department meetings and just hang out with the communications department.
I think the team that I work with will definitely be the highlight of my time here. First of all, it’s a very close-knit, young team. Every morning we meet as a department (about 20 people when everyone’s there) for a devotional time. It’s been encouraging to see that the team brings their work to God first. The communications department also knows how to have fun. My co-workers have been great about including me in break time volleyball games and departmental jokes. Jon (my supervisor) and Sarai (an intern in telecommunications) even convinced me to join some of the department members in their bi-weekly post-work soccer matches. Other than a few bruises on my shin, this was not a bad ending to a great first week of interning.
Diving in
5/28/2004
This week the real work has begun. I’ve basically been working on two separate projects. One is writing modules. Modules are short news paragraphs that will be used in publications like Wycliffe’s In Focus newsletter. I get my information for the modules from missionary updates that our office receives. It’s been great to read the updates firsthand. I never thought about how living overseas affects the daily lives of Wycliffe family members.
The second project is creating a biographical database for Wycliffe USA’s vice-presidential team. I’ve been contacting the vice-presidents and their secretaries to compile background information on the executive team. I’ve been putting all of the information into an Excel spreadsheet. Our department writers will be able to use it in the future when they need quick facts for press releases.
Today I got to take a break from these projects and help my supervisor (Jon) and my editor (Dawn) create a bulletin board for the editorial section. The board will be used as a reminder of what’s going on within the department. It will also serve as a recruiting tool for visitors. When I first heard about this project I thought we would create an itty-bitty bulletin board with the big bubble letters and a few dry facts on it. I was wrong. First of all we got to go into Wycliffe’s mechanical shop and literally create the bulletin board from foam and cloth. Then we hung it outside a cubicle and plastered it with all sorts of personal pictures and magazine images. It was great team-bonding time. One of the other writers (Matt) and I spent most of the afternoon laughing as we strategically tacked up the clipping on the board in humorous combinations. The board illustrates the lives and personalities of our department members. It was a great way to end the week. I’m looking forward to a three-day weekend of enjoying Florida life and hanging out with some of these new friends.
Databases and more databases
6/4/2004
This week’s big project has been creating another Excel database. This one will describe all of the current media pieces that Wycliffe distributes. It will be used internally at Wycliffe so all workers can find out what’s available for use. When I first talked to Ruth, one of my project managers, about the piece, I didn’t think the assignment would be that big of a deal. Once again, I was wrong. This project has been growing exponentially all week. Wycliffe doesn’t just have a few promotional pieces it uses. It has a plethora of brochures, books, videos, DVDs and CDs. Plus the informational categories that I need to include for these pieces are growing.
I didn’t realize how much detail goes into creating media pieces. I’ve been searching old records to find out who filmed what and who wrote which scripts. I’m definitely learning a lot about Wycliffe’s mission statement from this work. I’m reading all of the brochures and watching sections of all of the videos so I’ll have a better idea of what each media piece is. Part of my database will include short descriptions of each of the pieces. The spreadsheet will be a pretty big file by the time I’m done, but it might take me the rest of the summer to get there.
Delegates' conference
6/11/2004
Delegate’s Conference was held this week. The conference is made of about 100 Wycliffe members from around the world who meet to discuss organizational business and glean inspiration from one another. As a Wycliffe volunteer, I got the chance to sit in on some of the meetings and presentations. Robert Webber, author of The Younger Evangelicals, was one of the speakers I heard. He spoke about the need to cater to a younger audience. He also explained how many in our generation are looking for small church groups who are focused on the basics. I agree. After he spoke, some of the other interns and I ate lunch with Webber. (There are about 10 other interns in Wycliffe’s different departments this summer.) It was great to speak to him personally about how mission organizations can reach our generation.
I’ve also been involved with some of the basic conference work. During two of the conference days I sat in on business meetings and ran the microphone to whichever delegates wanted to speak during the debates. On another day I did kitchen duty. Much of the meeting times were dedicated to organizational decisions that I didn’t fully understand. I did, however, get to meet a few of the delegates personally. One night Susan, Wycliffe’s vice-president of communications, invited the department to her house to eat ice cream and talk with the Boswells. The Boswells are a couple who spent many years as missionaries in the Solomon Islands. Several years ago they were able to present their people group with a translated New Testament. God is now using Solomon Island nationals to plant new churches and spread his word. Listening to the Boswells gave me a greater appreciation for what our office is trying to communicate. It’s all about translating the Bible so others can worship God.
Other interns
6/18/2004
One of the best parts about interning at Wycliffe has been meeting the other interns. Wycliffe offers internships in a variety of fields—telecommunications, design, information technology, engineering, stewardship ministries and more. There are about 15 of us here for the summer. None of the other interns work in the editorial section, but I do get to see them quite a bit outside of work. And every Monday afternoon we meet to discuss John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life.
Sarai, Adam, Joel and Erin have all been interns in the communications department, so they’re the ones I’ve gotten to know the best so far. I’ve also gotten to know Bob, an engineering intern who hangs out with us everyday at lunch and on the weekends.
I value my friendships with the other interns because each one brings a different perspective to our group. We’ve each lived in different parts of the world—Peru, Washington, Indiana, New York. Many evenings have been spent hanging out at someone’s house reminiscing about the funny childhood experiences or challenging each other to widen our worldview. This has been a great pastime because, first of all, there’s always laughter, and secondly, it’s free. (Since internships at Wycliffe are not paid, “free” has become a keyword in my vocabulary.) Not all of the interns plan to stay with Wycliffe long-term, but some hope to. Perhaps if I return to Wycliffe later in my life, I’ll be able to reconnect with some of these friends.
Department retreats rock
6/30/2004
Yesterday was our department retreat. The entire communications team spent the day at Pioneers’ conference center in Orlando. The focus of the retreat was on the individual department members. We analyzed personality tests and spiritual gift tests to see how we can best work as a team. The activity helped me better understand how I fit into groups. I prefer to sit back and take my time analyzing and processing information. I never realized before how much that characteristic is tied to my personality type.
After the individual analysis, we did several group challenges. For one we had to create a device that could protect a raw egg as it was thrown a distance of 20 feet. Thankfully we came up with a successful design; there were no messes for our group. I could definitely see the different personalities coming out of our team members during this exercise. Joanna, who works in electronic media, took a leadership role to figure out the best egg-packaging techniques. Jon, my supervisor in the editorial section, seemed less competitive. He played the role of the encourager and also entertained us with his jokes. Roy, Wycliffe’s design facilitator, created an American flag and other logos to decorate the package. I contributed ideas, but acted more as a follower to put the product together. The exercise allowed me to see the benefits of having a variety of personalities on the same team.
Branching out
7/9/2004
I can’t believe it’s already Friday again. This week was a short one due to the forth of July holiday, but it was still pretty busy. I spent the beginning of the week emailing approval requests for some of the field updates that Matt and I wrote. After the updates were approved by different Wycliffe regional directors, I was able to post the write-ups on a Wycliffe intranet site. Now that the news clips are posted, they can be used by any Wycliffe office worldwide—Wycliffe Germany, Wycliffe UK, etc. (Many countries have their own Wycliffe organization. It’s more than just the USA.)
Yesterday I got to do one of my favorite things—talk to people about their missions experiences. Thirty-one individuals from a Californian church flew down here to plant sod in the Wycliffe RV park and to learn more about Bible translation. The church is a financial partner of a Wycliffe couple. The trip will allow the church members to see what the couple does at the USA headquarters. I got to interview to this multi-generation group of volunteers to find out what they thought about Wycliffe. Now I’m trying to pull all of the interview quotes and research into an article. Since each person had a story to tell, condensing the material into one stream of thought is a challenge. There’s just too much that I’d like to include. I’m not sure yet how this article will be used, but posting it on Wycliffe’s Web site is one possibility.
New programs, new tasks
7/16/2004
This week Jon and I worked a little more with the web redesign. We spent Tuesday looking at the basics of Dreamweaver, a nifty program used for developing websites. Jorge, one of the designers, gave us a tutorial and then let us practice recreating websites. Our imitations of other sites allowed us to learn the structure behind web grids. Luckily I’ve used Dreamweaver before in one of my classes at Asbury. I love using the program because it’s challenging and because the design side of it adds variety to my day. The editorial section will probably be using the program a lot over the next couple of months as they make edits to Wycliffe’s website. I wish that I could be here longer to be a part of that project.
I’ve also gotten a little more practice in public relations this week. I wrote a press release for an agreement that will be signed between Wycliffe and Operation Mobilization. Now I need to develop a list of media organizations to send it to. Yesterday I asked Ruth, who does a lot of our public relations work, for a list of publications and organizations to send it to. She just gave me a whole booklet of media contacts in the Florida area—radio stations, newspapers, magazines, ect.— and told me to use my best judgment on which ones to send the release to. I guess a lot of public relations work is a learn-as-you-go process.
Marketing
7/23/2004
It’s been another varied week at Wycliffe. Matt and I are working on an ad to market a few of Wycliffe’s books to readers of the magazine Discipleship Journal. This is a challenging assignment. It’s usually not too difficult to write ads asking people to serve on mission trips, donate money to ministries or pray for Bibleless people groups. These pleas are all a part of the Great Commission. But buying an art book about missions does not seem to be as critical. Matt and I struggled for several days with how we should construct the ad. Should we use humor, Bible quotes or inspirational pictures? We couldn’t seem to come up with anything significant.
Ruth finally helped us see the ad in a new light. It’s not about selling the books. It’s about encouraging people to worship God and to know Him in his fullness. Since these books deal with different global understandings of God, they are tools that might allow people to see a different perspective of God. That is why we sell the books. I still don’t know how we are going to write the ad to explain this significance, but I’m willing to give it another try. It’s much easier to write about something when you believe in its importance.
Final goodbyes
August 2, 2004
I can’t believe tomorrow is my last day here at Wycliffe. Seriously, where did the time go? There’s so much I still want to do in Orlando before I get in the car and make the 18-hour drive back to the Ohio cornfields. Plus I’ve got several projects here at work that I’d really like to finish up. I’m working on some articles for Wycliffe’s flagship magazine that will come out in November. One is an article about a Dallas church that is enthusiastically supporting a Wycliffe couple in Tanzania. Another is a blurb on a Bibleless people group in Cameroon. If I don’t get these done before I leave, Matt can finish them off, but I’m trying to do as much on them as possible.
I guess it’s a good thing that I’m so busy during my last few days. It’s keeping my mind off of the goodbyes that are coming. I didn’t think that I’d come to love Orlando and the people from this office as quickly as I did. I have no idea if I’ll run into this team of people in the future, but I would like to think that our paths will cross again sometime. They have definitely made an impact on my life. Working here has given me confidence that I’ll be able to find a post-college job in the “real-world” that I will enjoy. It’s also given me confidence that my schooling will adequately prepare me for that job. I still don’t have any easy answers for where I am headed in the future, but I know that there’s no other place where I would have rather interned for the summer of 2004.