Summer Mission Trip Ft Worth: Match Grant

Match Grant
...self proclaimed "best" department of World Relief- Ft. Worth office.
These people are really fun to work with once you get to know them.
Andrea Frick- program manager and my boss. She is just a really fun person that can be a bit sarcastic. I love her style of clothing and she always looks super cute. For a long time my task for her was trying to find a puppy online for her to adopt. Andrea recently graduated from UT-A with a Masters of Sociology. She also took a very difficult test and became licensed for social work practices. Most of the time we talk about make-up or girl stuff and puppies. We actually spent a lot of time trying to find a puppy for her to adopt. Last week she found one and now has a shepard mix named Gypsy! She is sooo cute! But besides the puppy business, she is actually a very focused and stern worker. She has a heart for serving and knows exactly how to work with the refugees and what to say to them. They usually trust her completely.
Robert Ortiz- Employment Specialist. Super sarcastic and a joker, but a really great guy. Engaged to a woman named Elise, whom I will soon meet. He works in Match by finding jobs for the  clients. Basically he is really helpful in getting the refugees self-sufficient because he helps them find their source of income. Even though he can be a prankster, he works hard advocating for refugees to employers trying to get them good steady jobs.
Bethany Toland- Married to Wes Toland who is in the church mobilization department. Bethany is a case worker for Match Grant, but what she is really passionate and trained for is Anti-Human Trafficking. She does sessions with people (like police) in the area to show them the signs of human trafficking and what to look for. She also leads orientations at the Ladera Palms World Relief clubhouse on safety and "stranger danger".
Rajan Biswa- A former Nepali translator that was recently hired on staff as a Match Grant case worker (still used for translations though). A few years ago, Rajan and his family were new refugees that even went through the Match Grant program. His English is almost flawless and he was apparently qualified for such a job like this at World Relief. He is a very sweet man and definitely on fire for God. He admits to not understanding the Bible even though he has read a lot of it. But that's ok, because God is not for the human mind to fully understand. He's also really quiet, but super nice and really smart.
Then there's me...
The first two or so weeks in Match Grant haven't been hard at all. I just come in and they tell me stuff to do for them. Most of it includes putting together case files, filing papers, and writing case notes or entering volunteer logs. I have been on errands and visits, but not by myself yet. I don't know how I feel about driving around here yet and well they don't make me go if I don't feel comfortable with driving. We have weekly Match Grant meetings on Fridays in the morning. The first thing they told me when i joined and at the first meeting is that last year their intern got a tattoo and they paid for it for her. They said they wanted that to be a Match intern tradition, but I have no interest in getting a tattoo. I told them they could dye my hair instead. Immediately, they decided on purple. I was ok with it until I realized and someone told me that I'd have to bleach my hair even more to get the color purple that would look cool. And that would kill my hair which is already damaged enough as it is. Christina the volunteer coordinator came into Match just to be my hair consultant. She says its not a good idea for my hair at this time, but when I suggested black with purple she ok-ed it. So I think that's whats been decided is black with a purple chunk or streaks.
We'll see...
It may seem like all we do is goof-off, but that's not it at all. These people are on fire for God and have a huge heart for missions and refugees. They do soooo much for them.That's all really to say about Match Grant...except that it is pretty dang awesome.
~Meliah~