A Road Trip of a Lifetime

Last Thursday, I had my first visit from the West Coast. Alan came out to do a short road trip on the East Coast. I picked Alan at the Baltimore airport up just after midnight on Thursday and we drove to a hotel about 30 minutes outside of Washington D.C. to spend the night. The next morning we parked our rental car and hopped onto the metro into D.C. We stepped off the Metro at the Smithsonian stop and immediately when we got off we heard bull horns blaring. One guy was yelling, "audit the fed." Once we ran past the people asking us to sign petitions, we realized the ugliness of the National Mall. In between the Washington Monument and the Capital building was not much more than a mile of dead grass. After taking a few pictures, we found our way into a few different Smithsonian museums. It didn't take too long for the fossils in the natural history museum to become boring so we decided to head over to the Holocaust Museum. We picked up tickets to go through the exhibit later in the afternoon so we could grab a bite to eat first.

Alan and I are extremely indecisive. We walked around for close to an hour before deciding to go to a Thai restaurant for lunch. We had an awesome lunch and then began our long walk to all the sites. We walked to the White House, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and the Capital Building (After the trip, we mapped out how far we walked and it added up to 10 miles). After seeing all these sites we headed back to the Holocaust Museum and did a quick tour of the exhibit. The exhibit was intense and I am looking forward to going back there in October to spend more time.

That night we left D.C. to visit some friends in Virginia. On the way to Virginia, we decided to stop for dinner at Five Guys, an awesome burger chain out here. This was the first of many times we found ourselves lost on the drive to Virginia. We arrived in Charlottesville, VA around midnight at our friend Justin's house. Catching up with him for a couple hours after we arrived was great.

Spending the weekend at Justin's house was refreshing after spending so much time at the crowded International House back in Millersville. On Friday morning we made a huge breakfast and headed out to see Charlottesville. Justin took Alan and me to the University of Virginia and then to Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello. These were both incredible sites to see, but not the best part of our trip. Next, we headed out to the Atwell's house for dinner. Alan and I hadn't seen the Atwells since they left Modesto five years ago to come out to Charlottesville to start a church called Portico. Hanging out and reminiscing with friends was my highlight of this trip.

Driving through Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., West Virginia, and Virginia was fun to see each of these states. On our way out of Virginia, Alan and I stopped at a winery by the name of Veritas and did some quick wine tasting. On the 5 hour drive up north to Pennsylvania, I introduced Alan to Dunkin Doughnuts because out here America truly does run on Dunkin or at least I do.

We arrived back in Lancaster on Sunday night. On Monday morning I showed Alan the Amish countryside. In the afternoon he came into HOPE with me and sat in on a meeting. Our trip was winding down and the next morning I drove him to the airport in Baltimore. This was an awesome break to this summer's internship.

Since I was gone this weekend, I had to do some mowing on Tuesday evening after work. It was 90 degrees when I left the office and by 5:45 I was mowing in the rain. Lightning bolts were splitting the sky. I kept thinking, "hmmm, I wonder if I should be mowing in this lightning storm." I am learning to roll with the punches out here whether that be at HOPE or when I am mowing. My experiences this summer has taught me to be more flexible and spontaneous. I thank God for today and know tomorrow isn't a promise but this verse is comforting as I am growing this summer.

For I hold you by your right hand-- I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, 'Don't be afraid, I am here to help you.'

Isaiah 41:13 (NLT)

Amish Adventures, Philly cheesesteaks, Patience, and the Future

In my last post, I wrote that I had made a trip out to Philadelphia, but didn't talk about it much. The night before Philly, Deirdre (my office mate) took all the interns on a journey through Amish country. It was a lot of fun driving through the countryside and seeing a lifestyle completely different than the way we live. It is pretty incredible how young the Amish kids start working around the farm. We saw boys that couldn't have been more than 10 years old steering the mules while another family member operated the hay bailing machinery attached to the mules. A couple minutes later we were driving down the road and passed a girl who was probably 11 or 12 and she was driving a mini horse and buggy with two other little girls in the buggy with her. I don't think I could drive a horse and buggy. I think the Amish children are given responsibility much younger than most kids. At one of the Amish farms, we bought whoopie pies. They are pretty incredible. It is more or less two pieces of cake with some sort of frosting in the middle. That could be a bad thing to become addicted to while out here in Lancaster. Seeing horse and buggies driving down the road on my first night in Lancaster was a pretty shocking yet incredible experience. Unfortunately, I have become numb to seeing the Amish around the area. It is just another way of life in Lancaster County.

Philadelphia is a great city, that is if you are in the right part of town. Below is a picture of the Philly group atop the Rocky steps, with the skyline in the background. I've been to Philadelphia three times now and each time I go there, we try a different philly cheesesteak joint.

It is incredible how popular these cheese steak restaurants can be. The lines can be a couple blocks long and take longer than an hour to get your food. It's a great experience but I would trade quality for quicker service. Below is Geno's Steaks, a really popular place to get steaks. Yesterday, we made a day trip to Philly and got cheese steaks at Jim's, another popular restaurant on South Street. South Street is supposed to be like Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I could never live in an area like this because it is crowded, touristy, and dirty. As I've said, there are some great places in Philly and some places that are not so great. I didn't like South Street too much and once we finished our steaks, we went straight to the car and left.


This summer has been an incredible experience on many different levels. After accepting my internship with HOPE, I began to question if this was the right direction for me to go after graduation. Now over 2 months into my stay out in Lancaster, I can say I made the right decision. It has spurred spiritual growth with me as a result of me being out of my element. Working for HOPE has developed invaluable relationships with people from all over the United States. I have been praying for increased patience and I think my patience has been challenged this summer. Graduating from Point Loma and then immediately coming out to Lancaster to volunteer during the week and then mow lawns on the weekend wouldn't have been my first choice in post college plans a couple years ago. I've always thought that after graduation, the pay checks would begin to roll in. This economic climate has redirected my journey. I am thankful for my patience being challenged. I don't think there are many people who go get a degree from a private university and then subsequently start mowing lawns for income. My prayer for this summer and my subsequent journey lies around, "Not my will, but yours be done O Lord."

Each phone call with friends and family back home, the same question is asked of me, What are you doing next? I don't have a definitive plan today, but a blurry image of what the future may hold. I have committed to volunteer with HOPE until the end of October and there isn't necessarily an open position for me at HOPE. I've asked advice from many individuals at HOPE and have struggled to make the decision to leave such a great organization where I love the work I am doing and the people I'm working with. Over and over, I have been told of how important for-profit experience can be. Just because I leave HOPE and start working in the for-profit world, doesn't mean I can't come back to work for a non-profit in the future. I am hoping to go back to San Diego in the late fall for a couple of different reasons. It is where my business network is, I have a couple great friends that are still out there, and I really enjoyed living there during college. I am taking my decisions day by day, so my plans could change next week, but today this is what the future looks like in my mind.

The intricacies of Microfinance

Day by day I have been unknowingly piecing together my understanding of microfinance (MF). I've come to realize that MF isn't as simple as Muhammed Yunus makes it out to be in his immensely popular book, Banker to the Poor. Here is a Banker to the Poor in a nutshell...

In Yunus' book, he describes how micro loans can be a solution to solving poverty around the globe. Yunus' explains how these loans can be given to the riskiest segment of the world's population, without collateral, and how the loans will pull these people out of poverty. The loans are given out in groups, so if one borrower doesn't pay his or her monthly interest payment, the group must come up with that sum before subsequent loans may be given out. One reason why people pay back their loans is because of the social pressure that is inflicted by the group. The repayment rate for these micro loans given out by Grameen Bank (Yunus' bank), has historically been over 99%. It seems so simple. Give a poor person a loan, collateralize it in a group, poor person pays back their loan, and poof, the person is released from the grip of poverty. I know that is a very quick and insufficient explanation of MF, but it will do to illustrate my point.

Since being at HOPE, I have seen many different side's of MF that weren't mentioned in Muhammed Yunus' book. It isn't all about passing out money to the poor and then collecting it with a little interest. There are many departments or segments that make up a nonprofit like HOPE. Not everyone working for HOPE lives in a third world country and passes out loans. Some people deal with the finances, others raise money, plan events, deal with spiritual integration, or market HOPE to the world. I've been working a lot on the development side of HOPE and that is very far from first hand passing out loans overseas. In the next few paragraphs I'll go through the logic of why development is so important, especially today. What does it take to give out loans???

Money!

Where does that money come from? Many different places, but someone (or many people) need to be seeking this money out through the form of donations, grants, etc. It takes an immense amount of effort to bring in money and in turn loan that money to entrepreneurs in developing nations. This summer I've realized how much I love to talk about the work HOPE is doing around the world, but it takes a strong strategy and a lot of persistence to effectively raise capital.

The next important question isn't a personal question, but is very broad and complicated question that affects HOPE and other nonprofits greatly...

What is the current state of the economy (both here is the States and around the world)? Let's take the current state of our economy and use this example...Say someone had $10 in their retirement account 2 years ago, today they now have $6. They still have their money, they haven't technically lost anything, it is just a loss on paper. Because of the psychological response to the downturn in the economy, people allowed fear to control their financial decisions and they sold shares in their retirement accounts, thus leading to a realized loss. Now that they have lost their money, they are afraid to continue with their philanthropic giving to organizations like HOPE. The fears that the downturn in the economy has produced, has made it extremely difficult to raise money because of the security in which people find in their money (or for this hypothetical example, retirement accounts).

Microfinance isn't as simple as I read a couple years ago in Banker to the Poor. There are many external variables that affect MF and many different roles within organizations like HOPE that are integral to loan out money and ultimately help the poor pull their families out of poverty.

Moving away from MF, I have been all over the Northeast the past three weeks. Three weeks ago, I was up Western New York and Canada. Last weekend, I was in New York City and yesterday I was in Philadelphia. It almost feels like I am studying abroad (domestically) all over again because of the many new places I'm visiting. I wasn't a big fan of New York City. Too many people, tall buildings, crowded sidewalks, and stinky streets. I did love the food we had while we were there. We went to a really nice Italian restaurant, a French cafe, and had a Chinese lunch called Dim Sum. The highlight of the weekend was definitely going to Monk's Restaurant from Seinfeld. It was a relief to head back to Lancaster after a busy weekend in New York. The city life isn't for me.

This was my first trip back to Philly since my frightening experience of being lost on the city bus system after flying into PA back in June. I enjoyed this trip much more than I was expecting. Lauren, Mike, Michael and I had Philly Cheese steaks at Geno's. After we dropped Michael off at the airport, the rest of us toured some of the sights. The City of Brotherly Love felt much more manageable to me than New York. Traffic, parking, and overall congestion in the city wasn't too bad. The highlight of this trip was running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (the steps Rocky ran up).

The past couple weekends have been a blast traveling around the Northeast with the other HOPE interns and I think it's about time to take a break from traveling for a few weeks. We'll see about that...

Economic Dependency and Canadian Vacation

It has been almost two weeks since I wrote my last blog so its about time for an update.

Here is an example of the interconnectedness of the world's economies:

Over the past few months we have begun to see the recession hit the developing countries that HOPE works in. I find it fascinating how long the economic downturn was delayed from reaching these countries. It is also really interesting to see how interconnected everyone is in the world, no matter if you are a commercial banker in the United States or an agrarian farmer in a third world country. The world economy is so intertwined now that nearly everyone is going to feel this economic downturn. The difference between the affects of the recession in the United States and developing countries around the world is huge. Note: I don't want this to discount the struggles that many people are having around the United States today, but I want to try and provide insight to how the recession affects lives overseas. Here's an example: Lets say that individual A works in a factory in Nairobi, Kenya. He makes widgets that are exported to countries like the United States, Germany, and France. Since demand for these widgets is down, exports are also down, and so Individual A is fired. Before Individual A was fired, each day he would stop by Individual B's mobile vegetable cart to pick up food to take home to his family. Now that Individual A and other Kenyans have lost their jobs in Nairobi, the demand for Individual B's vegetables has dropped significantly. Individual B is stuck because since he planted his crops months ago, his supply is high, and he cant sell it all to make any sort of profit. On top of his business struggles, each night he has to ride his vegetable cart two hours back home where he does his farming.

Individual A and Individual B are struggling to stay alive, losing a job or not selling what they have harvested means that they are one step closer to falling off the cliff of poverty. This economic recession potentially can be a mass killer in the developing world. It is important now more than ever for international development around the world.

On a brighter note, I went on an incredible trip last weekend to Western New York, Niagara Falls, and Ontario, Canada. We left immediately after work on Thursday and drove 6 hours north to Rochester, New York to stay at Sandy's (one of the interns) house. Waking up on Friday morning to the smell of bacon in a comfortable house was surreal (despite sleeping on the floor). It was the start to a nice vacation from life in Lancaster. We got to Niagara Falls around 11 AM. I was really excited to see the waterfalls and then we went on Maid of the Mist, a boat that takes you right up next to the falls.

We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and were surprised how many taxes there were on our lunch. It was also interesting how many places in Canada only took MasterCard. Next time it might be a good idea to bring some cash instead of the Visa card. We left Niagara Falls around 2 and started the drive to Georgian Bay where we (Sandy, Cameron, Mike, Michael, and myself) were going to stay for the weekend. It took us about three and a half hours to get up to the marina where we met Sandy's family. At the marina we hopped on their boat and took a 45 minute ride out to their island. Everything is green and beautiful up there. On the island there are a couple sleeping cabins, a main cottage, and a boat house. We spent a lot of time barbecuing and eating a lot of food that we don't get at the house in Lancaster. On Saturday we went cliff jumping, took a nap on the dock, went kayaking, climbed up some small waterfalls, fished for a while, read books, and ate a ton of food. While we were on the island I didn't shower once and never knew the time. Swimming was our form of shower. We woke up when we wanted to, did whatever we felt like during the day, and went to bed whenever we felt tired. It was a much needed relaxing weekend. When Sunday came around I did not want to leave. I still wish that I was back on the island relaxing. Sunday we left the island just before noon and hopped back on the boat. After 10-11 hours of driving, we were back in Lancaster. The work week was less than 8 hours away, but it was all worth it!
I am ready to go back to Georgian Bay...

Week Five and the Summer is Rolling

It is incredible how fast this summer has been flying by. I started my fifth week of work on Monday and the week is almost over. The majority of the other interns only have another 4 or 5 weeks because they start school in August. Myself and two other interns will be staying on until later on in the Fall. Right now I feel blessed to be staying on longer because I am not ready to pack up and head home yet.

One of the greatest aspects of working at HOPE has been the amount of responsibility that they give the interns. I am treated as if I am a normal member of the staff and am expected to give my opinion in meetings. Each week, the founder of HOPE/my boss and I take a potential donor out to lunch to talk about HOPE. These are people that have established relationships with Jeff already. Before my first lunch, I was afraid that I would just be the intern sitting off to the side, but that isn't the case. Jeff and I take turns talking about different aspects of HOPE and what we are asking of the potential donor. I have loved the opportunity to try and pump other people up on what HOPE does. Each lunch that I go to, I get a little more involved, confident, and excited for the opportunities in which the donor can help HOPE fight poverty around the world. That is one of the most rewarding pieces of my job. On my last lunch, we took out a huge national company who is interested in making HOPE their primary charity in Central Pennsylvania. The contact we met with wants me to spearhead this and talk with their marketing department in Philadelphia to see how we can make this happen. It is projects like this that have and will stretch me while I am working for HOPE this summer. These opportunities get my blood pumping and make work even more enjoyable.

This past 4th of July weekend was extremely tiring. Friday is our day off of work, but as soon as I got up, myself and another intern Mike helped a couple move into an apartment. They had just moved back from working for HOPE in Rwanda and are relocating to the headquarters in Lancaster. Later that evening, the other interns and I went downtown to get Mexican food (my first time since being in Lancaster). On the first Friday of every month, all the art galleries downtown are free. One of our friends from HOPE has a friend that owns a gallery and we went and visited his gallery. It was cool to see his art and how he runs his gallery. HOPE is having an art auction at one of the galleries so we also went to that preview. On Saturday, all the HOPE staff was invited to a 4th of July party at a HOPE donor's house. It was an insane party. There were a couple hundred people there, a pig roast, and one of the biggest fireworks shows I've ever seen. Apparently, people back East are more patriotic because they celebrate the 4th of July on the 5th of July too. We went to Longs Park to watch a fireworks show. They had civil war cannons that they shot as well as an Army orchestra that was performing. It was an awesome experience. There wasn't much down time over the weekend, but I am grateful for the opportunities to go out.

The first 5 weeks out here have been exciting. I truly have had answered prayer in many different areas. Coming out here from San Diego was a hard decision because of the strong relationships I had, awesome bible studies, and a church that I truly feel I can call my home. I kept wondering, why would I leave a place where I feel life is going well? I've prayed a lot about finding friends out here, finding bible studies, and not having to sit around on my butt wishing I was back in CA. We have 2 different bible studies at work that foster spiritual growth for me. I've lost count of the number of HOPE staff that have had myself and other interns over at their homes. Many of the younger HOPE staff hang out with us outside of work and plan events that we can do. The fellowship that I've had with HOPE/Keystone employees and people living with me at the Millersville International House has been such a blessing. I feel comfortable here and am very content living day by day. I am happy for the day that I've been given and am excited for what tomorrow will bring.

This verse constantly comes to the front of my mind...Psalms 118:24 - "This is the day that the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it." This is my prayer!

Mowing Internship Summer 2009

I am convinced that my real internship this summer is mowing lawns. I mowed 5 out the past 7 days. Monday and Tuesday after working at HOPE during the day, I mowed at night. Wednesday night I had the evening off. Then all day Thursday and Friday I was out mowing a Keystone community. Today, is my normal mowing day and I mowed three houses throughout the county. I am pretty stoked that I have a 7 day break until I start mowing again next weekend. Even though I am sick of mowing, it has been a pretty cool experience. After working Monday through Thursday in the office, I am ready to be doing something outside. After I mow all day on the weekend, I am ready to get back into the office on Monday morning. I've been driving a couple different work trucks and learned how to back a trailer. When I decided to come out to Pennsylvania, I accepted the fact that I wouldn't have a car out here. It has been a nice surprise to have the work trucks to drive.


Interning at HOPE has been really cool because there are so many like minded people working towards the same goal. HOPE International is a microfinance organization that provides small loans to people in developing countries around the world. HOPE strives to go to the hard places that other organizations have often stayed away from. The loans are given to people as a hand up and not a hand out. That meaning that there is interest on the loan and it isn't a gift. Many times the only option for a loan in these countries is from a loan shark who charges exorbidant amounts of interest. HOPE's micro loans give people an opportunity to expand their small business and pull their family away from the cliffes of poverty. They may be able to eat 2 meals a day instead of just one, add more nutritious food to the family's diet, send the kids to school, pay for needed medical care, etc...

How does my work in Pennsylvania help those overseas in the countries HOPE works in? Here is a breakdown of what I do at HOPE... I work for HOPE's founder Jeff Rutt. He founded HOPE in the late 1990s after his church had been sending containers of supplies to Ukraine and he realized this really wasn't helping. The people in Ukraine were becoming dependant on these containers sent from the US. Jeff found that it was important to let people pull themselves out of poverty. He realized that people already had the survival skills, they really just needed capital and so he began giving out loans through HOPE International. Before Jeff founded HOPE, he started Keystone Custom Homes (I think its pretty obvious that they build custom homes). He later then started another nonprofit that stems from HOPE called Homes for Hope. Homes for Hope finds builders, contractors, and tradesmen that all come together to build a home. Once the home is sold, the profit that the builder usually pockets is given to HOPE International. I split my time between those three organizations: HOPE International, Keystone Custom Homes, and Homes for Hope. My typical days have a couple meetings and maybe a bible study. The days fly by because there is so much going on between these three organizations. I enjoy being really busy with many different projects and so I think this is a great internship for me. Many projects with HOPE and Homes for Hope involve helping Jeff raise money. Raising money from donors can take many different forms. I may be helping find sponsors for the HOPE golf tournament, go out to lunch with Jeff and a potential donor, or work on ways to save HOPE money. I am basically a liaison between Jeff and HOPE, making sure that all of his projects are completed. I have only been here 3 weeks (next week will be the start of the 4th) and work has already gotten intensely busy but I am loving the fast paced environment and having some involvement in HOPE's great cause.

If I was asked a couple years ago what I would be doing after graduation, I don't think I could have predicted this. It has been an interesting experience graduating from college, volunteering my time at a Christian non-profit, and mowing lawns on the side to make a little money. This scenario would have sounded absurd to me three years ago. In my last few years in college, I realized how much I loved learning and I think that is why I am having a blast thus far this summer. There are things from my last internship in commercial real estate that really help me in this internship, but other projects I have are completely random and force me to teach myself new concepts. I had never mowed lawns growing up (I know that is embarrassing) but have loved having the opportunity to learn how to operate the commercial mowers and back the trailer. My Toyota Tacoma work truck is a manual transmission and that has been great being able to drive stick again for the first time really since high school.

The first 3 or 4 weeks of summer out here have been pretty eventful. I hope that each week will bring something new to learn or some exciting adventure. This summer has already been a growing experience both spirtually and personally.

The beginning of Week Three

Here is a mind dump of my random thoughts from the past week or two...

The first couple weeks have flown by. I thought that this was going to be a summer with an abundance of free time and boredom. So far I have been pretty wrong about that. I work at HOPE International Monday thru Thursday. Friday is my day off before I mow lawns on Saturdays. So far I haven't taken a Friday off. I spent the first Friday working with a Keystone employee at one of the Keystone communities. Keystone Custom Homes is home/community builder and was founded by my boss Jeff Rutt (he also founded HOPE International). I am technically a Keystone employee also because of the mowing that I do on the weekends. This past Friday, I went to a Homes for Hope breakfast. Homes for Hope is a separate nonprofit that brings together builders and sub-contractors from around the nation to build homes. These homes are then sold to the public and the profit is given to HOPE International. This is not like Habitat for Humanity because these homes are built just like any other home and if someone looked at the home it would look like any other house on the block. The builders volunteer their labor and greatly discount the materials they use on the house. So if the total cost for building the house was $150,000 and the house sold for $300,000, then HOPE would get a $150,000 check. That can provide a lot of loans overseas. I've gone to two Homes for Hope events now and it has been great talking with people about what HOPE does and learning how to interact with builders. A Home for Hope was completed in the end of April and it has been incredible seeing how generous builders/sub-contractors have been even amidst a challenging economic climate. Over the past 10 years, 64 homes have been built and over $10,000,000 dollars has been given to HOPE International.

My first couple weeks at HOPE have been great. Within the first 3 days, I felt very comfortable with everyone in the organization. Each week we have devotionals and time to grow together as a team. The HOPE staff has been a blessing and really involved the interns even outside of work. Every week some employee has had a barbecue at their house or we will go to the park to play volleyball or ultimate frisbee. They invite us to their churches with them and have us over on weekends to watch movies.

I share an office with Deirdre (Jeff's assistant) and I have had a blast just talking with her throughout the day. The days fly by so fast because each day there are a couple meetings for either HOPE, Keystone, or Homes for Hope. If there isn't a meeting, there is probably a devotional or special event. For example, today was the beginning of the HOPE International ping pong tournament during our lunch hour. By 3 in the afternoon, I am hoping the clock will slow down so I can get some work done. Tomorrow night, we have game night at a HOPE employee's house. Then on Thursday, we have a barbecue at another HOPE employees house and Deirdre is planning a day to take the interns into Amish country later in the summer.

I have an extremely busy week ahead of me. This weekend it poured rain as I was trying to mow lawns. Now that I am behind on my lawns, I have to mow lawns after I finish my work at HOPE. Tonight I left work at 4:30, picked up the the equipment/other work truck and mowed 2 lawns in Lancaster. Tomorrow night will be a longer night, but hopefully I will get most of my lawns done before dark.

This has been a pretty disjointed post, but that is more or less how I feel the past 3 weeks have gone. It has been great, no day is the same, and each day brings a new adventure. I am excited to see what tomorrow brings and how I will grow from these experiences. In the coming weeks, I will describe in greater detail the work HOPE does around the world and how I am involved in that work.