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Apprentices coming to Convention! Hear someone share their journey to Becoming a Cultural Communicator

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It was just another normal, sunny day.  One of my brothers was home on spring break, soon to head back to college, so we decided to go out for lunch.  As our car pulled up to the restaurant, I started to put some pieces together.  First, it was my favorite restaurant, not my brother’s.   And secondly, it was three days after the time the prospective interns had been told we would know whether or not we had been accepted to tour with ICC.  So as we walked into the restaurant, I guessed that something was coming.  Sure enough, as the waitress handed me my food, she also gave me a package that said “You’re an ICC intern!”  And so my journey as an intern with the Institute for Cultural Communicators began.  

One question I have been asked many times is “ How does it feel to be an ICC intern?”  The answer to this question truly depends on the day.

Many days I feel out-of-this-world excited!  Here are just a few things I’m excited for:

1. Traveling the country.  I love road trips and discovering different cultures.  I look forward to meeting all sorts of people and catching a glimpse of their lives.  
2. Working with my team.   With only three people, team dynamics are definitely going to be different than any other year before this, but I am excited to build relationships with the two other girls on my team!
3. Working with student leaders from across the country.  With such a small team, we are going to have student leaders at every conference helping us run the events.  So while I have “my” team, I will also have dozens of additional teams across the country.  I can’t wait to meet all of them this fall.  

However, other days I’m not so excited. With all these changes in the program, there are a lot of unknowns about tour.  The fact that I have so little control over the events of this fall can be daunting.  

Also, as amazing as having a team of three will be, I know from experience that that number is extremely difficult.  The problem is, I hate conflict.  You might say that I handle conflict similar to the way Roadrunner handles Wily Coyote.   I usually disappear before you can blink.  However, I know addressing conflict will be good for me, so although I am not looking forward to the conflict itself, I know that I will keep the lessons I learn from it for life.

As I think about the unknowns of this fall, as well as team dynamics, it is easy to start worrying.  But I recently received encouragement from an elderly man who is reaching the very end of his life.  It is hard for him to function, but when asked how he is doing, his response is “just taking one day at a time.”  Above his bed he has the verse:

Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  After visiting him I realized that this is the only way I will make it through this exciting, but tough year.  

This is my goal: to take every day as it comes, not stress over the future, and give God the glory for all He is doing in my life.  That is the only way I will get through tour, and the only way to get through life.

Paige Miller, 2013 ICC Intern

Chapter Mentor, ANCHOR Chapter