Welcome to Summer Projects Central.  

The Adventure is out there and now so are you!

Remember:  With great adventure comes great responsibility!  Please check here often for updates and read all the info in your packets.  Let the adventure begin!

VISA INFO – For both projects visas will be purchased as a group upon arrival at the in country airports.  More details to follow soon.

South Africa – visas                        Nepal – visas

IMMUNIZATION INFO – coming soon!

South Africa -Immunizations                 Nepal – Immunizations

RESOURCES                                                                      TOOLS

- Welcome & Intro                                                           – Week2Week Task Planner
- Finances
- Heart preparation
- Ministry Preparation [Your Story prep]

Sample Support Stories -  The new deadline is May 13 (it was May 6th). The story that each student prepares is a significant part of our summer ministry so we are giving more time to develop them and ask that you please put a lot of effort into it.

• Story 1
• Story 3
• Story 4
• Story 5
• Story 6
• Story 8
• Story 9

Sample Support Letters                                                  FORMS-click here!

• Sample 1
• Sample 2
• Sample 3

This summer I was part of the MK2MK internship in and then helped lead the trip to South Africa. The trip was something I thought a lot about and put a lot of effort into. Raising support, going through training for a month and having a set of jobs to fulfill on project, all of this made me feel my role and my impact were pretty valuable as I had spent a lot of myself in preparation and during.
Coming back to College Station, Texas where I go to school has been rather frustrating at times and taken a lot of effort to keep a contented mindset.
For starters, I don’t like heat, so it’s always been a bit difficult to cope here but I have learned to tolerate it. However, coming back from 2 months without 107° (F) days took the energy out of me and I had to relearn how to bear that. It was also hard going from pouring into one group of people to investing in an entirely new group, as I started leadership at my church just after getting back.
Through all of this I realized that I was communicating that this group of people wasn’t as good as the last group I was with. This might not have shown in my actions, but the attitude of my heart (which God is most concerned about) was probably feeling that before I realized I was. I let myself dwell in my ideal vision of life; and that seeped into my disposition and I stopped respecting my time here. “I don’t want to go outside because I don’t like heat”, turns into not getting errands done and then not being adequately prepared for leading a small group that night. My mentality of not valuing my time made me unmotivated and stripped me of passion for the things I was called to do.
Don’t put a price tag on your days by how you weigh your actions. Let your actions flow from an understanding that your life has value because of what Christ has done for you. Let your life show that, don’t be the one to try and earn it.
When I decided to put effort into the way I eat, buying good groceries and preparing a good meal, it’s because I respect that God has gifted me with flesh and bones to live in and I’m honoring that gift by nourishing it. The same with sitting in class, preparing to lead bible study well and in general, expending my energy well because I’m motivated by the inherent value God has given my time.
I can’t look at the people I’m leading now and compare them to the people this summer and say “they aren’t as good” because God obviously thought they were both worthy to give His son for. It’s not about comparison, it’s seeing that God made each day and respecting that because He values us and His creation.
By no means have I mastered this concept, but thankfully, that does not damage the worth of my time the next moment or the next. Grace sometimes looks like having a tomorrow with His mercies new. If I had one challenge for you this semester, it would be, view each
moment you have as important. Sometimes what you do won’t feel so important, but because God has given you value your life has value. Don’t waste that by being passive. Ask to see it through His perspective.
Anna Meyerdirk grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia, is a counterfeit redhead, who likes riding on the back of buggies across grocery store parking lots, enjoys celebrating the simple things (almost more than the “big deal” things), and could survive off of a diet of colors and tea.

My school year started off fairly standard. I showed up at work on time on Monday, and came home on Thursday evening with 5 new course syllabi. One thing that is different this semester is that I scheduled my classes so that Friday was completely open. I also told my boss that I was keeping Friday off my availability; three-day weekend for the win. Initially, this was supposed to give me an entire day of slow paced sleeping in, review, paper-writing, course reading, and errand running and who wouldn’t want that?

It’s been a few weeks of real class and my first major assignments are coming up, and have my Fridays paid off? Not really. I really hate to rail about discipline and how it’s essential to achievement. You guys all know that stuff. In my case it’s not so much a discipline issue as a lack of demarcation. I’d probably be less tired and do a bit better in everything I tried if I was more disciplined, but I still get things done, and I get a few things done pretty darn well.

My biggest problem is that I don’t know when to ‘switch off’ and when hit the middle gears. I have a tendency to be in low gear all the time, and then throw on my afterburners just prior to deadline. I haven’t set clear lines of personal time in place where I dedicate some time to simply switching off. I’m working on that now, and since I have an entire extra day at my disposal (and since I’m a hardcore introvert), I’ve been trying to set aside at least half a day to ‘me time’. This means time when I put down everything I have to do for class, work, church, friends, even my own logistics (bills, yard and house work, mail, fixing my car, etc.) and really just enjoy myself. This may mean fixing my car or cleaning the house, it may also mean sleeping till noon or going to get an early breakfast devotional. This is time where I do whatever it is that I feel will refuel me the most. Pit stops if you will.

This may seem a bit self-centered, but when I’ve had some time alone, I feel better equipped to deal with everything else. I’m more focused, I’m more motivated, I can think more clearly, and often that translates to better hearing the Lord’s voice. It allows me to say, “Ok. You’ve had your time from ‘X’:00 PM to ‘Y’:17 PM, now it’s time to finish writing that paper on the nature the linguistic sign or whatever non-sense I have going on.” Clearly delimited time helps me to be more productive.

So, all this to say, find your super-funtime-recharge method and apply it. But make space for it in your calendar, even if it’s just half-an-hour a day reading that one book that you love, or baking a cheese-cake. Then go and hit the rest of your stuff with the ultra-invigorated hammer of unmitigated productivity.

Really, though. If you haven’t already learned how to switch from the 2 gear system (low to after burn), to one with an off option, then you really need to. Also, you know the saying, “You can sleep when you’re dead”? Even though a huge part of me wants to believe that’s true, the other part likes sleep too much. Let’s value our time, people, and learn to rest.

Chris Snell grew up in China and is a senior at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Roll Tide. He’s studying to be a linguist which means that somehow he’s ending up with a degree in anthropology despite his best efforts to graduate with something packing a little more punch. He’s also currently writing this bio in the third person, which, for anyone who’s never done it, is an incredibly strange experience.

• Please PRINT these,
• FILL OUT appropriate forms[under 18 years old OR over 18]
• IMPORTANT! For UNDER 18 years old Medical History/Consent Form-Please fill in ALL of the following names in the blank following “I hereby authorize…”

 - for NEPAL Project write in these names:        

• Keith Beyar  
• Lori Beyar              
• Yale Kushner   
• Donna Kushner     
• Jon Yturralde

 - for S. AFRICA Project write these names:       

• Jenn Seabourn  
• Dan Ryder    
• Katie Holland    
• Julia Wicker

• Make a copy for yourself, and
• MAIL THE ORIGINAL with signatures to mk2mk office [NO FAXs accepted].  Please put in the mail no later than APRIL 15th.

Medical History/Consent [UNDER 18 years old]

Medical History/Consent [OVER 18]

Liability [UNDER 18]

Liability [OVER 18]

SOS Enrollment Form  or use this for proof of insurance if you do not have SOS

I was reminded of a poem Advent by the Orthodox poet Scott Cairns. It’s long, but I want to quote it in full:

“Well it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas—everywhere, children eyeing the bright lights and colorful goods, traffic a good deal worse than usual, and most adults in view looking a little puzzled, blinking their eyes against the assault of stammering bulbs and public displays of goodwill. We were all embarrassed, frankly, the haves and the have-nots—all of us aware something had gone far wrong with an entire season, something had eluded us. And, well, it was strenuous, trying to recall what it was that had charmed us so, back when we were much smaller and more oblivious than not concerning the weather, mass marketing, the insufficiently hidden faces behind those while beards and other jolly gear. And there was something else: a general diminishment whose symptoms included the Xs in Xmas, shortened tempers, and the aggressive abandon with which most celebrants seemed to push their shiny cars about. All of this seemed to accumulate like wet snow, or like the fog with which our habitual inversion tried to choke us, or to blank us out altogether, so that, of a given night, all that appeared over the mess we had made of the season was what might be described as a nearly obscured radiance, just visible through the gauze, either the moon disguised by a winter veil, or some lost star—isolated, distant, sadly dismissing of us, and of all our expertly managed scene.”

I love this description of the season—with all its gaudy consumerism, its frantic manufactured desire about gifts and shopping, the shining lights and swirl of mass-produced goodwill. But in all of it, despite it, shot irrevocably through to the heart of it remains the glowing miracle of the divine coming down to this humble earth, of Jesus Christ born in a backwater town to a no-name virgin and her carpenter-husband. It is the mystery that transforms the entire season—Santa Claus and all—into a time of joy, and hope: a reminder that God bends to breathe upon this ragged world, and works in ways we find too wonderful to understand.

Women: can you imagine yourself as Mary with the Christ-child within you, a kicking God swelling your belly? Men: can you imagine an angel telling you that your betrothed will bear a child—not your own—who will save the sins of His people? For all of us: can we imagine the miracle of the Creator of the skies entering time, wrapped in flesh, and touching our world with His light?

In this Advent season, with the end of the semester at hand, presents to buy, and travel plans to organize, I pray we might all take some time and meditate on the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and come to a deeper and more profound understanding of this great God that we serve, and who came to us nearly two thousand years ago in such remarkable and quiet humility.

God bless you all.
Josh

Josh Mackin is a junior English
major at Messiah College in
Pennsylvania. He plans to
snuggle up with hot cocoa and
cider and read a good book this
Christmas and wonder wide-eyed
at the incredible blessings that
are his. He thinks you are cool.

Hello Brothers and Sisters!

I hope that February finds you comfortably settled into the New Year. I feel like I finally am. As a sophomore, January is typically a hectic time. Classes change, new schedules take over and I find myself in the thick of new events. The excitement of catching up with friends and diving into new classes is exhilarating, but by the end of the month, I’m ready for some routine and stability.

I function really well in routine. For me, it’s not as tiring as new things can be. I’ve got my class schedule down, and I’ve figured out how to squeeze in an extra five minutes of sleep in the morning.

Routine, however, is not healthy in every aspect of life. In fact, staleness, a lazy comfort and a false sense of stability can set in to areas that should never become routine—most notably my spiritual life. This is one area that I strive to keep ever fresh and changing.

Recently, I have made the mistake of gauging my spiritual life by the regularity of my routine: the number of times that I read my Bible in a week, how often I prayed or the frequency of church activities that I have attended. And if I’ve been deliberate and planned well, these often fit neatly into my new February schedule.

Now, all of these things are good. But the integrity of my relationship with the Lord is not ruled by the statistics of how many times I’ve had a quiet time in a week. (Frequency certainly benefits it, but the number in itself is not the measure!) In fact, although I have done many “spiritual activities” with good motives, I’ve become convicted recently that my actions can be like the Pharisee in Matthew 23:25. I’m dedicated to great activities, but the truth of the matter is, my dedication and growth on the inside is lacking. The outside of my cup is clean, but the inside is still dirty. My spiritual life is not measured in numbers, my growth is most important–how much I am becoming like Jesus. I need to be living a changing life, not a routine life. There is a common Christian phrase about having a “changed life,” but I think there is more to it than that. It is not a one-time deal with a series of monotonous actions following. This February, I am learning the importance of living a life that is changing to be more like Jesus every day.

So in the midst of February activities—routines in school, at church and in our spiritual lives, we need to forget about the numbers and focus instead on how Christ is transforming our hearts. Are we living a changing life? This February don’t let your relationship with Jesus become a routine. He desires way more for you than that!

Alisa is a nursing major at the University of Florida. Her dream is to travel the world doing medical missions.

Mid-semester? Third quarter? Just starting second semester? No matter what category you fall into right now you are probably wishing that you could blink and that your workload would just be over now. At least I do. I am starting the second semester of my junior year and am a little over- whelmed already with what has to be done within a matter of a few months.

It amazes me to look back and see how much I have gone through in my academic career and how God has gotten me this far. I think about the number of different kinds of schools I went through and different systems I have learnt. From Egyptian school, public American school, private American school, Home-school, and now Christian College and yet God has gotten me through every step of the way.

Each January, our school has a three and a half week period of time where we can concentrate on class or take that time and go on missions trips that our school participates in. I have two roommates and I have been with them since my freshmen year here at Taylor and they both went on trips over this J-term month.
One of them had only been out of the country once in her life and the other had never been out of

the country, so I knew this would be a life-changing experience for them. They have been the two people I have shared my life with the most over the past two and a half years and they have lis- tened and sat through my stories, but I knew that they could and would never understand or completely be interested. Therefore one of my biggest prayers was that they would be able

to feel and experience a little more of what my life was like growing up. And God did just that! When they got back to campus, the three of us went to our closest local café (aka Starbucks!) and they shared for 3 hours their two different trips. It was amazing to listen to and, in the end, they both shared about how much they didn’t understand what a missionary family was really like and for the first time they have more of an under- standing of me and my life.

I never would have even imagined this happening with them. Maybe you feel like you will never get to that point with your friends for whatever reason, but God does have a way of working those things out. Most of my friends still don’t understand and I know that even my roommates won’t totally either, but I do know that God has a way bringing those blessings into your life. It took me two and a half years to see that and I pray for the same for you guys.

My roommates and I were challenged by two things in our conversation. One is the fact that when we go on missions trips, we see God at work in our lives and the lives of others so clearly (the high). But the low comes when we get back here and we don’t notice God at work so evidently and so we hit “the low”. But in fact God is working just as much here as He is “on the field”, just in different ways. God wants to be as evident in our lives at our colleges just as much on the missions’ field through our studies and interaction, and in our jobs. God is at work and we must be careful not to miss him in the busyness of our schedules, especially as things start to pile up. That pile will be a lot easier if we let Him walk us through it!

The other thing that challenged us is the factor of love and what it means to love like God loves us. We can’t even fathom how much God loves us because it is so great! Just picture the people

you love in your life the most and times it by billions and you got it! YEAH! It is HUGE! So I encourage you in the next month to explore what it means to

really love people. I would love to hear from you if you get any insight that you would like to share too because God wants to use us to encour- age one another.

Lots of kisses to you all and have a fantastic end of winter! Lord willing!

Carly Timbie

Jenn (2nd from right) with associates from the first and second MK2MK Internships.

The public speaking workshops challenged me to become a more creative and impacting presenter. As a teacher, these lent themselves directly into my professional life, not just in the classroom, but also in leading professional development workshops for fellow teachers.

The interpersonal skills workshops have been used on a daily basis in my classroom and with my fellow staff members. I am a more effective listener to my students and build stronger relationships with them in helping them work through the social aspects of growing up.

 (Jenn graduated from Stephen F. Austin University and teaches fifth grade in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is also associate staff with Campus Crusade, MK2MK). 

Nathan (bottom) with the rest of the 2011 Internship in Ethiopia

Although I cannot say at this time that the internship with MK2MK was particularly beneficial to me in the broader scope of my career, I do think it came at a time in my life when I was making some big decisions.  The internship really helped me to see my life in the broader scope of eternity and helped me to ask some tough questions about what my life will mean.  By then end of the time in Ethiopia I remember praying okay I will go where ever you want me to go, so that when I returned to the US I was able to leave for China two weeks later without thinking twice about it. All in all I think MK2MK taught me that I can depend on God to take care of me no matter what.

(Nathan grew up in East Asia and Philippines, graduated from Michigan State and works at Abbott Nutrition)