Now that I'm done with endings, this can finally begin.

It started in a mud hut, as all good things naturally do. In the charming village of Mavhusa , red dirt glaring in the heart-warming sunshine, I sat on a dusty stoop; my bible in my lap, my mind in a million places at once, my eyes on distant hills and even more red dirt. With the coming of a flavorful breeze, I heard children’s laughter, pots clanging and banging to some unspoken beat, and a variety of poultry squawking in protest of their lot in life. I opened my bible and there it sat, as obvious as the distinctly African thorn still lodged in my arm. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Amen, Matthew 7:7-8.

Within hours, I used a brick of a cell phone to contact my parents who were only thousands of miles and a few rather prominent bodies of water away. We decided that upon my return, I would no longer be Courtney Colin: Baker University student. I would be Courtney Colin: girl-still-trying-to-find-God’s-purpose-but-decidedly-closer-to-it-than-before.

I asked for direction, and it came in the form of a stirring in my heart that sparked change. I sought something that would allow me to live out my passion, and it arrived in a chance to work with the lost and hungry of Kansas City, Kansas. I knocked on the door of Mission ¡Adelante!, and they offered an internship that has already filled me with dreams of my life’s purpose.

The past few months spent in the embrace of my heart’s home, I am realizing that this is my beginning. The beginning promised with a new life in our Lord, the beginning I’ve been dreaming of since surviving so many endings, the beginning that falls nothing short of complete grace. So here lies the start of many blogs to come, a documentation of every gory detail making up the life of an intern. I sincerely hope you’ll join me on the journey.

In love,

Courtney Colin: Mission ¡Adelante! intern.

(If you would like more infomation about Mission ¡Adelante! please visit www.missionadelante.org.)






A snapshot of a time that changed my life in South Africa this summer.





At a Royals game with two darlings from Kids Adelante, Ashley and Perla.