LASP Fall 2011 Newsletter

JONGEREN UIT VEENENDAALDRAMA IN BRUSSEL

a lot of information which helps us to more effectively understand the reality whichwe are living in.We headed to Nicaragua after Core Seminar finished up, where each of us spent aweek with families in communities around the city of Masaya. Even though the timewas short, it was enough for many students to form meaningful relationships withtheir hosts, and allowed them to begin to scratch the surface of the complexities ofNicaragua. The trip is never easy, but I believe that no one comes back fromNicaragua without having learned something, not only about Nicaraguans, but aboutthemselves as well.So now with half of the semester behind us, we turn our eyes to what’s next. SoonFaith & Practice Seminar will begin, where we will have the opportunity to look at ahuge range of diverse responses to faith in Latin America. Then LASC, ALL, and IBCstudents will disperse throughout the country to spend three and a half weeks witha new family as part of their community immersion experience.The semester will come to a close with a study trip to Cuba for every student herethis semester. Due to recent changes in U.S. policy, LASP was fortunate to be ableto obtain a general license for travel to Cuba, which means that instead of applyingfor a license each semester, we can now guarantee the trip for every student. All ofus, staff and students, are extremely excited for this new opportunity.So there you have it – half of LASP semester in a few hundred words. For those ofus who have already done LASP, it doesn’t seem fair, or even possible, to sum up anexperience like it with just words on a page. But I suppose for now that’s the bestwe can do! I hope that this update has at least allowed you to relive some of yourfavorite LASP memories and that you’ve enjoyed hearing about new experienceswhich this semester’s LASPers have to look forward to. Until next spring!Photo courtsey of Laura Ketchum, Fall 2011

ALUMNI UPDATES

Fall 2010Kiara Bland graduated from LipscombUniversity and is currently getting myMasters in Edcuation at CumberlandUniverstiy while teaching Spanish inPortland, Tennessee.Laura Starr graduated fromNorthwestern College in May and isnow teaching Spanish to 1st gradersin Waconia, Minnesota.Spring 2010Raquel Ayala is currently enrolled inthe Masters of Social Work programat California State University, Fresnoand interning in the Child WelfareDepartment of the County.Britney Villhauer is currently workingfull time in a health clinic in Guatemala with a missions organization called StudentsInternational.Jessica (Steckly) Kirkpatrick married Michael Kirkpatrick on July 10, 2011.Spring 2009Aleta Rogers recently accepted a two year Americorps position as a Site Coordinator with anorganization called LIFT in Philadelphia, whose mission is to combat poverty and expandopportunity for all people in the United States.Emily Adema and Brady Swanson were married on July 9th, 2011 and work as Spanishteachers in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area.Katie Gremar began teaching middle school Spanish and ESL in Illinois.Phoebe Theimer is currently pursuing a Master's degree in TESOL from Plymouth StateUniversity in Plymouth, NH.Ryan Rae married Megan Rae on July 24th, 2010. He is working as a registered dentalassistant in a children's clinic in Paso Robles, using spanish everyday.Fall 2008Greg Thonsen graduated from Gordon COllege in May 2010 and is currently living inConnecticut and working at GE Capital as an Investment Analyst.Jessica Rebstein joined the Peace Corps in January, 2011, and is currently working in Estelí,Nicaragua.Laura Frey is in her second year of teaching Spanish at Montpelier High School in Ohio.

JONGEREN UIT VEENENDAALDRAMA IN BRUSSEL

JONGEREN UIT VEENENDAALDRAMA IN BRUSSEL

Current students Laura Ketchum, Kara Castle,and Natasha Krasen show their best dancemoves in Limón.

ALUMNI UPDATES

Andrew Ryan is currently teaching Spanish at Horizon Christian High School in TualatinOregon and attending George Fox University for a masters in teaching (MAT).Spring 2008Jen (Blake) Oestreich married Josh Oestreich in 2010. She lives in St. Paul and works at achildren's hospital.Andrea Faulkner is currently teaching kindergarten in Alexandria, Virginia.Fall 2007Lindsey Gant recently moved from Costa Rica to Chicago with her husband AndrésSanabria.Kylie Bauer is attending George Fox University for a Masters in Marriage, Couple, andFamily Counseling. She is engaged Trevor Frideres and will be married on September 2nd,2012.Kate Westfall is doing a sustainable living internship in northwestern Argentina. She fillsher days constructing a house with mud, gardening, cooking, and spending quality time in ahammock.Scott Key was accepted to Rice University to the Master’s of Architecture program.Spring 2007Nancy Sharpe is living in Washinton DC and finishing her Master’s of Social Work at theCatholic University of America while also starting an internship at the DC Rape Crisis Center.She is engaged and will marry Benjamin Garber next August.Fall 2006Danielle Dupré is attending Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, studying to earn hermaster's degree in school counseling.Rachel (Schmitz) Katyl married Daniel Katyl in August and currently lives in Cochabamba,Bolivia working with MAP International, while finishing her Masters in InternationalDevelopment from Eastern University.Amy Jones continues to work atSEAMAAC, a community­basednon­profit organization located inSouth Philadelphia with a missionto support immigrants, refugees,and their families as they seekaccess to opportunities.Spring 2006Charity Mead is living in Philadelphiawhere she works for the DruedingCenter, a transitional housingprogram in North Philadelphia.

Current students Bret Ellis,Taylor Tushar, and Don MikeRivage­Seul check out thecompost pile at RoderickSell's organic farm inHeredia.

Fall 2005Daniel Fuller began work as the Mentoring Directorfor Shepherd Community Center in Indianapolis, IN,where he works to match at­risk youth with adultmentors in a community­based mentoring initiative.Spring 2005Nicki Parks is engaged to Marion Neal and will bemarried February of 2012. They are extremelypassionate about music and currently play togetherin a band called Nickels for Charity.Lyndsay Grimm graduated from Geneva College witha Masters in Higher Education/Student Affairs inMay. She now works at Westmont College inCalifornia as a Resident Director.

Brittany (Harty) Webb lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Luke, where she works as afamily nurse practitioner in the inner­city.Wendy Ivarson is in a Masters of Educational Administration program from the University ofSouth Dakota and is working at a community college in the TRiO program and teaching ESLclasses. Last year she and her husband Joel taught English in South Korea.Fall 2004Kendall (Yoder) Yake had her first son, Ryan, on January 29, 2011. She is currently workingas an oncology pharmacist for Kootenai Cancer Center in Sandpoint, ID.Laura (Wenger) Carmany and her husband, Matt Carmany (LASP Spring 2002), arecurrently on a 4 month tour of South America.Courtney Phelps recently started a new position with Catholic Relief Services in Afghanistanwhere she is coordinating and developing the women's programming sector in the ruralGhor Province.Sarah Harbert graduated with my masters in Education, Teaching, and Leadership with anELL license from Butler University. She teaches ELL at Clinton Young Elementary School inIndianapolis, Indiana.Spring 2004Shannon Gorres is in the MDiv program at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa. She stillresides in Lawrence, KS, where she started a Hispanic Ministries program with free Englishand Spanish language classes, a Workers' Justice program, and a Spanish worship service(plymouthlawrence.com/salvame). She also founded an intentional community based onsocial justice, permaculture, and holistic health (cosmicbeauty.org).

Photo taken during theIndependence Celebrations at apreformance of a local high school.(Courtsey of Jamie Grubert, F11)

Andrea Guengerich lives in Austin, Texas where sheworks for Breakthrough Austin as a college counselorfor low­income students who will be the first in theirfamilies to go to college.Jessica Mueller is currently the Service­LearningCoordinator at Mercy High School in Burlingame, CA.Christine (Reeve) Keitt and her husband Tracey areliving in Santiago, Chile as missionaries withIberoAmerican Ministries, where they work as Englishfacilitators with their two schools.­Fall 2003Lauran Wilburn graduated from dental school in 2009and now works as a dentist in private practice.Christie Zimmerman is attending Colorado StateUniversity for her MBA focused on Global, Social andSustainable Enterprise.Sarah (Dooley) Sotelo and her husband, Karlos, currently serve on the Board of Directorsfor Amirah (amirahboston.org) ­ a safe house for women escaping the bonds of humantrafficking in the Boston area, to open Fall 2011.Spring 2003Amber (Freeman) Berliner lives in North Platte, Nebraska and is a stay­at­home momcurrently persuing her MBA.Bekah (Miller) Peiffer moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, Keith, and is workingas a medical receptionist while finishing her master’s in Spiritual Formation and Leadership.Marie Lefever is living in the Twin Cities area working as a 911 Dispatcher for the Sheriff'sOffice.Fall 2002Jordan Linscombe lives with his wife Mindi and their son Barrett in Colorado Springs wherehe manages church­to­church partnerships within Compassion International.Julie Nanninga recently started working as a Travel Guide with Joshua Expeditions, a non­profit educational travel ministry, which integrates missions and education into travel.Spring 2002John Johnson and his wife had a daughter born in August 2010 and a son born in August2011. He recently started working for Fairfax County Public Schools as an InstructionalAssistant.Fall 2001Whitney (Smith) Paz is currently teaching Spanish to junior high students in Santa Barbara,CA.

En RutaMatt McIntyre, Fall 2011Voy, no sé dónde, pero voy

Vuelo, no sé dónde, pero vueloSalto, no sé dónde, pero saltoCorro, no sé dónde, pero corroAndo, no sé dónde, pero ando

Voy, yo sé pór que, voy...

JONGEREN UIT VEENENDAALDRAMA IN BRUSSEL

Spring 2000Sara (Shoemaker) McMillan and her family are planning to move to Quito, Ecuador in 2012to serve as missionaries. They will be serving at an English­speaking international churchdiscipling college and career aged young adults.Spring 1999Emily Merchant is currently living in Southern Mexico with her husband, Josh, where sheteaches science at a missionary kids schoolFall 1998Dorina (Lazo) Gilmore and her husband split their time between Pignon, Haiti and Fresno,California serving with Christian Friendship Ministries, working in the northern mountains ofHaiti with 4 main churches, 5 schools, 2 health clinics and an orphanage.Spring 1998Amanda Cox is living in Denver, Colorado with her husband and I is the coordinator of theFaith to Action Initiative, which advocates for the deinstitutionalization of children living inorphanages and promotes family and community based solutions for children in need ofcare.Fall 1996Naomi Lambertson was married to Michael Pusch on August 28, 2010, and on August 29th,2011 they had their first child, Klara Grace Pusch. They live in Portland, OR.Laura (Rapinchuk) Pheneger, and her husband, Matt, work as full­time missionaries withAmbassadors in Sport (AIS), bringing hope through soccer around the world. They areconsidering adopting a boy from Nicaragua and ask for prayer as they begin the process.Kenny Miller has been working in El Salvador for the past 5 years as the Deputy ResidentCountry Director for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US economic assistanceprogram focused on poverty reduction in the northern zone of the country.Spring 1996Dawn (Bakker) Berkelaar is working with ECHO (www.echonet.org), co­editing theirquarterly publication ECHO Development Notes, which is sent to agricultural development

workers around the globe (primarilyin the tropics), in English, Frenchand Spanish.Fall 1994Andrew Herod is currently theDirector of Family Services in LosAngeles for Para Los Ninos, a nonprofit that operates two charterschools, offers mental healthservices and family support servicesto the under­served Latin Americanpoor in the metro LA and South LAneighborhoods.

JONGEREN UIT VEENENDAALDRAMA IN BRUSSEL

Students Abraham Urizar and Cari Bickelshow off their fair­trade Sandino t­shirts.

JONGEREN UIT VEENENDAALDRAMA IN BRUSSEL

Fall 1992Eric Liljenstolpe has lived in Costa Rica for more than 12 years and married Karol SanchoAraya in February, 2010. He works with Franklin Covey and a variety of other businesses.Spring 1992Charles Perabeau completed his Ph.D. in Religion & Society from Drew University in May,2011, and is currently serving as Associate Professor of Sociology at Olivet NazareneUniversity.Fall 1990Chris Norman is the Art Director at Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign, ahunger­based non­profit based in Washington DC helping to end childhood hunger inAmerica.

Corcovado National Park

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