Learn & Serve: Intern Support Update!A few weeks ago, you got to meet our Learn & Serve interns for the year. Beth, Faniel and Hamp have been hard at work both in and out of the SIFAT office helping support and lead Learn & Serve retreats as well as other events. One component of the L&S Internship Program is raising financial support. Interns are required to raise $9,500 in order to cover the living costs of their time at SIFAT as well as to provide them with a $145 per week stipend. While the idea of raising this much money may be daunting, the process of raising support has many positive effects. Here’s what our interns—and donors—have to say about support-raising: Learn & Serve: Fall 2012 RetreatsFall 2012 is shaping up to be a busy season for the Learn & Serve staff! We have over thirty retreats and events scheduled for this fall for a wide variety of groups. These groups are coming from all over the southeast to spend time on our campus and experience Learn & Serve (L&S) programming. This fall, we will be hosting groups for more than fifteen Urban Slum Experiences and more than ten Global Village Overnights! Along with these programs, groups will also be participating in times of worship and devotion led by SIFAT staff, appropriate technology trainings, challenge course elements, and more. Through these retreat programs, participants have an opportunity to experience how the majority of our brothers and sisters around the world live every day, and then leave with an understanding of what they can do to respond to what they have learned. The most recent L&S retreat was held for Rome First Baptist Church (RFBC) of Rome, Georgia. The wonderful participants from RFBC participated in a range of activities throughout their weekend retreat. They spent time fellowshipping with each other, worshiping, and diving into our programming. The group spent majority of their time at SIFAT in our Urban Slum and Global Village.  Students from Rome First Baptist Church experience worship during their first night on the SIFAT campus. Learn & Serve: Meet Our New Interns!A letter from Addison Shock, Learn & Serve Program Director:
Greetings from Learn & Serve! The weather is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter. Fall is upon us! Fall is my favorite season of the year, as it is for many people in the southern United States (SEC football, anyone?). I, of course, have my preferences when it comes to SEC teams, but one team this Fall will stand above the rest. This team is filled with hard working, determined and strong young people that are scheduled to suit up every Saturday this Fall. This team is one I love with all of my heart… most days, at least! Yep, you guessed it, this team is the L&S Intern team!
Learn & Serve: Summer 2012 Worship, from Abstract to ConcreteLearn & Serve Summer 2013 Worship Leader Becca Griffin tells her perspective on how worship at Learn & Serve this past summer provided a bridge for students between concrete and abstract expressions of faith:
Many of the words that are used in singing/teaching/talking about faith tend to be abstract and make it difficult for youth to connect. There is no more lack of desire or devotion for them than anyone else, but a lack of concrete example when it comes to living out the faith that they sing about/learn about/profess. Perhaps connecting the ideas of faith with reality is not a struggle for youth alone, but abstract concepts like love, justice, and following Christ, when only spoken about and not experienced or lived out, make it hard for youth to really learn, practice, or live out those things that they affirm, or have been taught in word to do as Christians.  Learn & Serve students singing in worship at SIFAT’s Quonset Hut. Bolivia: Video from AU EWB TeamThe Auburn University Engineers Without Borders (EWB) chapter served in Bolivia August 2-12 as part of a long-term commitment to Quesimpuco. Since this is the EWB team’s third trip, the AU Office of Communication & Marketing (OCM) sent a media team to capture video and photos of the service learning experience in which these college students, faculty and alumni participate. The EWB team works throughout the year to design simple technologies that can be used in this remote village in the Andes. While in Quesimpuco, team members work with the community to teach the concept of the technology and discuss different ways it can be implemented with the available resources. You can read more about what the team did and see photos from their trip by clicking here. Watch the video AU OCM produced of the partnership among SIFAT, EWB and the people of Quesimpuco below! To learn more about our international projects and trips, click here. |
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