Kate Wurm
Kate Wurm
Southeast Asia, 2019 - 2020
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I graduated from Belmont University in May of 2019 with a Major in Religion and the Arts and a Minor in Photography. My roots are set back home in Detroit, MI, but a piece of my heart will always belong to India. From September 2019 to September 2020, I will be an International Justice Mission Communications Intern in the South East Asia field office.

Bring It On

Back in September, I was fairly confident in my ability to keep to the promise of maintaining the “bi-weekly” part of a bi-weekly blog; however, I’m afraid my confidence was a bit pre-mature.

Although inconsistent, I hope you (whoever you are) are enjoying my updates from this year in India.

My “first look” moment with the Taj.

One of the coolest updates from the last few weeks was actually a bucket list item for me: I finally got to see the Taj Mahal! And on the same trip, I got to see a whole bunch of beautiful buildings, cities, and faces. The highlight of the trip was eating dinner with our local driver/tour guide and his family. That meal consisted of some of the best Indian food I have ever had.

After that trip, it was back to work.

I know some of you are just  d y i n g  to know about the big work update referred to in my previous post. I think I said something along the lines of, “a big change is coming!”

A sweet face from our trip to Jaipur.

It’s coming was a bit bigger than I expected, but not too big for this little Wurm to handle.

As of last year (2019), the communications department in our office was made up of 3 people: the manager, the designer, and the intern (me!). As of 2020, the communications department is now made up of 2 people: the designer and the intern (still me).

The manager of our department moved to New Zealand just two weeks ago to further her studies. She made this announcement to our team a while back, although we were a bit anxious for what this transition would mean for the team, we were also excited for her next adventure.

A large portion of our communications department falls under the category of “content writing.”

Whether it’s internal communications or external, we’re are always producing content. Breaking news about a rescue, an update on a new partnership, a press release for an event, or restoration story for our website. Those are just the weekly tasks, which take priority over the somewhat-just-as-important daily tasks, but the work doesn’t end there. We also have the monthly tasks and the yearly tasks. It’s a lot of tasks.

One of my favorite views in Jaipur.

The content writing aspect of our department was mainly what our manager handled, and she was dang good at it. I’m guessing you’re maybe wondering who will be handling the content now that our manager is gone

Well… I was wondering the same thing. Until I recently got word that I was the chosen one.

Up until the day that we find a new manager, I’m responsible for making sure that everything that got done when we were a team of 3, is still getting done now as a team of 2. It’s a humbling job, and I have to ask for help at least 7 times a day – maybe more. My eyes feel strained by the end of the day from looking at my desktop screen repeatedly, and my fingers feel a bit stiff after being glued to the computer keys, but it’s been an official week and a half on the job and I’m still alive. I owe that to Jesus. And to our designer. And my roommates. And the McDonalds down the street from our office that serves hash browns in the morning.

Pretty pink building in Jaipur.

 

I knew coming to India would be challenging, and I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but part of me believed that the easiest part of this year would be the work done within the office walls. I’ve worked in an office-like space before, so I thought it would feel more familiar than the rest of India, but quite honestly, it’s just as much of a challenge as directing your hindi speaking rickshaw driver to your apartment when your gps stopped working and you’re stuck in the 9:30pm rush hour traffic jam (not easy).

But I’m okay with a challenge. As my dad always says, Wurm girls are tough.

Never too many Taj photos.

I’m learning as I’m going, and I have a feeling that life will be that way for some time – perhaps forever. I will continue to make mistake after mistake, but that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about how I need to respond in the midst of this. I can choose to pout and be frustrated with the impact of this change, or I can choose to celebrate the opportunity, laugh at my inabilities, repeatedly give myself grace, and accept this new challenge.

If His power is truly made perfect in weaknesses, then OH BOY I’m about to experience a  w h o l e  new level of the power of God. Bring on the weaknesses.

-kate

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