Throughout my summer as an intern for the Board of World Mission I was presented with the question “What are you doing this summer?” at least once a week. It was hard for me to describe and to be honest with you I did not like getting asked this question. The reason isn’t because I didn’t like what I was doing, instead the reason was that I loved it so much I didn’t know how to put it into the short conversation they were likely expecting when asking me this question. I mean how could I summarize some of the most important 4 months of my life into just a few words? I couldn’t so I would just respond saying “oh, I am doing a bunch of different stuff” and move on. However, right now as I am looking back on some of the most developmental and fulfilling months of my life I want to describe the “stuff” I was doing and how it impacted me, so if you are interested and looking for the real answer to the question I avoided all summer, I will do my best to answer it for you now.
I started this journey in November of 2023 (we could go back much further than that, but I am already assuming this will be a long story so I will spare you some detail) when Justin Rabbach asked me if I would be interested in serving as the Board of World Mission intern for the summer of 2024. To be completely real, when he first offered me this I was tempted to say no, I didn’t know what to expect, and sometimes that is the scariest part for me. However, I kept feeling a call to say Yes, I kept getting visions of new people and experiences I would have, plus I looked up to Justin’s leadership skills already, and felt that a summer working under them would help me develop as a leader myself and let me tell you, saying yes to this opportunity did not disappoint.
A few months before my internship began I met with my supervisor Sylvie who gave me a list of some of the opportunities I would have that summer and I was ecstatic, I knew right in that moment that I had made the right choice. The first weekend of my internship I attended service camp at Mt. Morris. We painted walls, cleaned up the vespers area, created some REALLY COOL new seating by the creek, and joined in fellowship with one another. I found this weekend to be one of the highlights of my summer that year and the people I connected with there continue to impact me to this day. One of these people was Jill who has been a staff member for the BWM in the past. She found out where I was staying during my time in NC and told me it was haunted. So the next month while developing programming for Vacation Bible School at Estamos Unidos and packing my bags I just hoped that I would make it home from my time away in one piece and with no hauntings.
I left for NC on June 10th, boarded my plane early in the morning, and was expecting to reach my destination by noon. However, I got trapped in the Charlotte airport for 8 hours instead and gained a lot of time. During this time I was able to work on social media posts, and I ended up creating a video for TikTok, this is something that I found so fun about my job was that I had freedom to develop things on my own. I was given the chance to grow my skills, and practice receiving feedback from my supervisors! It helped me to gain trust in myself and what I was capable of.
One thing I found that I was very capable of during my time in NC was the ability to overcome. I discovered this as soon as I entered my “haunted house” and realized I was not going to be able to sleep if I heard any of the “ghost noises” Jill told me about, so I drove to Walmart in the Laurel Ridge car and bought myself a big old box fan to keep running at all times. I ended up sleeping well that night after reading Psalms before bed and sleeping with my bible on the pillow next to me. I woke up refreshed and excited, I jumped in the LR subie and drove over to Estamos Unidos where I was meeting Angelica. I met her and immediately could feel the light and goodness shining through her. I spent a lot of time with Angelica that first week while I was developing VBS programming, recruiting volunteers, distributing flyers, and preparing materials. No matter what I was doing I always felt welcomed and valued.
Soon enough it was time for me to serve as a leader for the youth of Estamos Unidos during their time at Laurel Ridge for mission camp. I was nervous. I had been to mission camp before and I had been a counselor before, but I had never been a counselor at mission camp with high schoolers. I was positive they were going to hate me, that they were going to talk bad about me in Spanish because they knew I couldn’t understand it. Instead they began to teach me Spanish, they welcomed me into their family, they played Uno with me, they celebrated with me, and they worked alongside me all week to help others. My fears had been proved wrong again, and all of my campers from that week hold a special place in my heart despite them beating me at a card game or 2 or 3, actually we don’t need to talk about how many times they beat me in cards. We just need to talk about how amazing my campers were and how good of heart and character they were. I was sad to leave camp that week because of the community we had developed.
As I drove down the mountain from mission camp I was going back to my “haunted house” and still had a lot of work to do on my VBS curriculum for the week ahead. I didn’t like being in my house alone that much because I got bored, so I spent a lot of time at Lot 63 in Old Salem. There I met a community of young adults who became my friends and never judged me for getting espresso at 8pm. I never learned many of their names but I spent hours learning about their lives, doing cartwheels, talking about books, and drinking coffee with them. It was yet another “family” I met and was greatly influenced by.
I spent a lot of my time as the summer intern working on VBS for Estamos Unidos and was so excited to share what I had prepared with the youth there! It was a great experience for me to practice my curriculum planning skills, while also having the opportunity to develop in my role as a leader. I was honored to experience this and make an impact through this program. It was a busy 3 weeks with Estamos Unidos, but it was very impactful on who I am today.
For my final week in NC, I headed back up the mountain to Laurel Ridge to help lead a program with Sylvie. We faced a few challenges throughout the week and seeing how Sylvie handled each day with such grace and kindness was a valuable experience that helped me to see how to manage the ups and downs that may come along with being the person “in charge”. I learned during that week at mission camp that even if it is literally pouring rain down on you laughter and joy can still be found. No matter what the situation your attitude is determined by how you choose to react, and I think that is a pretty valuable lesson.
I headed back to MN after that week on the mountain, and was excited to get started on some online work, such as updating the training curriculum for mission teams. This was a great way for me to practice what I have been learning in school. I was also able to attend many meetings that helped me to see some of the work that happens behind the scenes for grant proposals, fundraising, planning, and organizing events. In what felt like a short time I was able to accomplish so much, and I was still able to attend Camp Chetek in Wisconsin which is a valuable part of my summer each year.
Following camp I was able to wrap up a few of my big projects and get started on what I am calling my “big idea” as of now. I told Justin and Sylvie about this earlier during my internship and I was grateful that to finish my internship off they gave me time to begin planning and developing what the idea may look like in the future.
Overall my time with the Board of World Mission allowed me to engage with what I was learning in school while developing new skills and relationships. The people I met during my internship this summer quickly impacted the person I am today. Not only did the people I met during my time teach me through their actions towards me, but their actions towards others were just as impactful. While I learned from those around me, I also learned that sometimes it is just as important to trust in and learn from your own mistakes. When given the opportunity to be independent in some of these bigger projects throughout the summer I really began to discover what my strengths were. This made it easier for me to appreciate and long to be in community. This came to be as I learned how important each person and personality is to the world, we all have our strengths and like I told my students at VBS if we all work together on God’s team we can more easily make the world a beautiful place.
Delaney Brummer is a member of Our Savior’s Moravian Church in Altura, MN, and served as the Board of World Mission intern over the summer of 2024.
