Participant insight: Fulfilling my calling

IVEPer Miguel Angel Neri Carbot from Mexico during his work at Ten Thousand Village in Goshen, Indiana

I would like to begin by sharing a little about how I came to participate in the IVEP program. In Mexico, I was studying international business because my calling is to help financially support missionaries. To accomplish this, my dream is to have a company where I can send handicrafts from Mexico to all parts of the world, thus fulfilling my calling and helping the artisans of my country.

For this for some years God had put in my heart to leave my country to learn and develop more tools focused on what I want to achieve. It’s been years of prayer and searching for the best way to achieve this. A friend told me one day about the call to participate in IVEP this year 2021-2022, which was the answer to what I was looking for. I started my application and in this whole process I could see the hand of God with me step by step. After a series of events that only He could have achieved, I finally got here.

Miguel Angel Neri Carbot, IVEP Participant 2021-2022

Host insight: Join us in the kitchen

IVEPer Juliet Dias from Bangladesh (right) with her host Shane Vetch (left) together preparing meal in the kitchen

When I heard Freeman Academy was looking to have an IVEPer for a year the information went in one ear and out the other. The staff had talked about this before but it did not pan out, so I did not give it another thought. When the subject came up again and it looked like things were falling into place, our administrator mentioned the IVEPer would need a place to call “home” as well. Fast forward to the COVID pandemic 2020. My husband and I had agreed to host Juliet from Bangladesh, but her arrival was delayed several times, to the point we thought she just would not be able to come to the U.S.

It’s early August. I am getting ready to start school. We received word she was coming at the end of August! What!? Now things starting to move fast. We prepared her room, sent off our recommendations, filled out forms, sent emails, received pictures and tried to keep our extended family in the loop.

Amy Hofer Vetch, IVEP Host 2021-2022

Partner insight: The goal is not a perfect year

IVEPer Luis Magopeia from Mozambique is pictured with his fountain project at R City in Chicago, Illinois

In 2018, our family of six moved to Puerto Rico to attend and teach at a small, local bilingual elementary school for the year. While I knew it would be challenging for my children to adjust, I had thought my own cultural transition would be fairly smooth. I had visited the island several times, and for the last 10 years, our best friends in our community in Chicago had been from that culture. 

It wasn’t quite that simple.

I felt like I was confused for the first three months straight. Spanish on the island is fast. My fledgling language knowledge couldn’t keep up, but I had at least somewhat anticipated that difficulty. The greater challenges were the nuances of human interactions. Anything that went unsaid, I missed entirely. Without knowing the rhythm of life, I was constantly walking into situations I never saw coming. People were constantly telling me, “Tranquila.” (I’m still not 100 percent sure that’s the right ending to that verb.) Relax. Don’t worry. Apparently, my stress was just slightly visible.

Elizabeth Galik, IVEP Supervisor 2021-2022, River City Community Development Center (R CITY)

Alumni insight: IVEP year set me on the right track

Elizabet Geijlvoet from Leeuwarden, Netherlands (IVEP 1995-1996), preaching at Doopsgezinde Gemeente Aalsmeer, Netherlands

Dear MCC friends all over the world

When asked to write a short story about my year in IVEP, I immediately said “yes!” because of the tremendous experience the IVEP program gave me. And of course, this was due to all the different people I met, became friends with, and learned to respect.

I was in a period in my life and study wherein I did not really know what my next step would be, and the program rang a bell in my mind. I was 24 years old and nearly finished with my divinity studies, single, but yet hesitant to find an internship in pastoral care. I needed a break from the books, I wanted to see more of the world and find out more about myself.

My father said the wise words, “I heard of the IVEP program and maybe you should just do this!” So, I went and got an application form. But I got nervous shivers when I received the news I was admitted.

Elizabet Geijlvoet from Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, lived and worked in Goshen & Elkhart, Indiana and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 1995-1996

The Who's Who of IVEP

IVEP U.S. 

National Coordinator  andreageiserleaman@mcc.org 

Central States abbyendashaw@mcc.org 

East Coast caitlinjones@mcc.org 

Great Lakes brookestrayer@mcc.org                

West Coast  adelaidahernandez@mcc.org