Where are they now?

Para Servir Interns

The Para Servir Internship has been equipping and training young women for missions for 5 years now. Catch up with some of our Para Servir interns and find out where they are now!
Leigh, 24, Tennessee

Nowadays I am serving as DFM's full-time volunteer in Guatemala. I help oversee house projects, prepare the home for internships, build relationships with the community and have the opportunity to seek out other potential partners for our organization.Para Servir impacted my life by showing me that there is more to life than the American Dream. It showed me that I have been fully equipped to pursue the God-given dreams that have been placed in me and it provided me with a support system to see those dreams into fruition. Para Servir has connected me with so many new friends around the world and expanded my perspective on what it is like to live a fearless lifestyle. Para Servir was a place that I was able to be vulnerable, be myself and find my purpose. Para Servir was also a time where God was preparing to open doors for my dreams. After my 2nd year of being an intern, the door opened for me to become a full-time volunteer on the field. Since then, I have made new friends, found community, learned a new language (well some of it), and been able to experience a different culture. Para Servir has opened so many doors for my life.[Para Servir 2016 & 2017]

Erin, 19, Georgia

Recently...I honestly wish I knew what I was doing. I am just trying to say yes to God and see where He takes me. Right now that means taking a gap year from college, living with a host family in Antigua and volunteering in a hospital for children and adults with special needs.Para Servir has taught me how to say yes to Jesus. It's taught me to live life through the lens of loving others like Jesus loves us. It's taught me that sometimes life doesn't look at all the way I would plan it for myself. Sometimes it looks like saying goodbye to your dream college and walking into the unknown. But, it has taught me that when I trust Him and say yes to Him, He will always be faithful.[Para Servir 2016 & 2017]

Carrie, 19, Florida

Right now I am involved with YWAM doing a Discipleship Training School and I am a student in the Photography and Storytelling track. I'm learning more about how to tell stories creatively through photos and video. At the end of the 3 month lecture phase I will be going to southeast Asia for 2 months to apply what I have been learning! My goal and what I feel God is calling me to do is to use what I'm learning here for missions long-term one day.Para Servir was truly one of the best decisions I ever made. The time I've spent in Guatemala with Dirty Feet Missions sparked my love for missions and I am SO thankful. I've grown personally during Para Servir as well as spiritually. The people I've met during the internship are now my lifelong friends so that's pretty awesome. My love for sharing people's stories and getting to capture the love of Jesus through missions all started with doing the internship and saying yes to His mission.[Para Servir 2017 & 2018]

Lakeera, Florida

Hi everyone! I was a Para Servir intern for the year of 2016. I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala with Genia for 6 weeks and I loved it! It was a huge catalyst in the pathway that I am on right now. I live full-time in Costa Rica and will be here for the next 6 months because I am actually a full-time missionary now. I went to Guatemala and fell in love with the people, fell in love with the work, fell in love with the country and had an opportunity to build a lot of very important leadership skills and character and I worked harder than I've ever worked in my life. It let me know things about myself that I didn't know before. One of those things was that I can accomplish way more than I ever thought possible. So in 2017, not even a year after coming home from Guatemala I applied to be a missionary and I got accepted. So now I will be going to Peru to work with indigenous people groups, just like in Guatemala, and unreached tribes. How cool is that? I'll get to do that for a year and a half. I want to say thank you to Para Servir for filling me up with a love of missions, a love for people and the knowledge that this is something that I could do for the rest of my life. I'm so thankful that when God gave the call to do this there was an opportunity to learn that I was able, I was equipped and that I could do this. I'm really really thankful to be on this life path and I'm thankful that Para Servir, Genia, and Dirty Feet Missions were a part of that. I cannot believe this is my life!

Kaleela, 22, Indiana

I am currently working at a church leading worship and youth ministry. I am also a paramedic volunteer. Para Servir helped me to make my faith my own. It was the first time that I was not looking to my family or church for answers, but rather seeking out the truth from the Bible for myself. I gained a new understanding of who my neighbor is and what love looks like. I learned about my identity as a child of God and I gained confidence and passion to chase my dreams!

Alex, 20, Illinois

Hey! My name is Alex and I was a 2017 Para Servir Intern. Right now I am studying abroad in Mexico City. Para Servir taught me really that I can do anything! It sounds super cheesy. But after reading "Chase the Lion" and having discussions with the girls and with Genia and Jennifer I realized that I want to be an immigration lawyer. It's not that I realized that that's what I want to do. I think I always knew that's what I wanted to do, but I never had the faith to really admit it and to pursue it. During Para Servir I realized that it's a God-sized dream. I can't do it on my own, but with the help and encouragement of my friends, my family, my support system and most importantly having God by my side will help me get there. I know that even though I can't do it along, I can still do it. Even more so from Para Servir I got a lifelong group of friends-more like family actually. Even though we are all from different parts of the country and we can't all be back for the future internships, we still keep in contact and encourage and support each other. I've made a lifelong family with the other interns, our leaders, our translators and the Guatemalans we served and worked with.