SMI Student Blog
Browse the SMI Student Blog Posts
The blog entries below were submitted by past participants of the SMI program during their time in Philadelphia. There are also some yearly recaps from our Summer Program Director.
And So It Begins (a glimpse of our first outreach, 6/30)
We are only three days in to our time in Philadelphia, and already I am learning so much. I can already tell that this experience will be difficult to put into words. Today was our first day of door to door outreach, and since this is the majority of how we will spend...
Crying is Okay
During my time here at SMI, I was really challenged with the idea of comforting this neighborhood. Seventeen students gathered to use our talents to not only physically help the city of North Philadelphia, but to also give spiritual support and hope for the...
“It shall not return to me empty”
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to...
Princes and Paupers: Who Are The Poor?
As many medical students can confirm, type A people—you know who you are—like to compartmentalize. We like to organize: work, time, people. But in the three weeks that I’ve spent here, I’ve found God skewing my lines and boxes for people. Merriam-Webster defines...
When in our hopelessness we meet the Saviour
I, perhaps like most of the students, began our outreach into the community with excitement and trepidation, hopefulness and uneasiness. It was discouraging to arrive at homes to only find our team loitering in front of a stranger’s home. But when we did reach a home...
Esperanza in Jesus Christ
The more people I talk to and the more houses I walk into, there is less esperanza to be found. Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and is also the name of the medical center that we are associated with. Time after time, people tell me about their lives; their son...
Suffering and Transparency
My time in Philly for SMI has been an exciting and equally challenging time. It has been mixed with struggles and growth. I would like to share an experience I had during the last few weeks to explain what I mean. During one of our community outreaches when we walk...
“My Son Died Last Week”
"My son died last week." It was the end of our routine health screening, and as me and my partner Natasha had been trained in SMI, we asked our patient if we could pray for anything for her. I remember her upbeat voice, her boisterous personality, her laughter come...
Some Take-Aways
It’s common experience in the world of missions for people to come in expecting to give so much to the community, only to leave having received so much more than they could have possibly given. SMI has been no different in that regard. Between the families of Northern...
Diet and Exercise
In almost every home we go in during outreach, we recommend a healthy diet and adequate physical exercise. We also emphasize the importance of both the physical and spiritual aspects of health. In one of our Biblical Foundations training sessions, it was said that...
God is Faithful
Over the past couple weeks of SMI, I have seen the Lord work in mighty ways to shape my life and the lives of those around me. Coming into the trip, I tried to avoid forming preconceived notions about what to expect in my interactions with the people in North...
“We’ve Been Expecting You”
"Come in, we've been expecting you." She probably just said those words because people in scrubs had been strolling around the streets for the past week. Yet, I couldn't help but think how those words meant something more to me. God has a plan for each of us and he is...
Whose Fool Are You?
I am blessed for this to be my second year on the SMI team. It has been especially good because I can see the team developing and amazing stories coming about, even from the first day of outreach. We had evangelism training, which was really helpful. It eliminated...
Second Chances
When asked casually how SMI is going, my answers thus far has been one of two: “cool” and “it’s like college.” [Smile]. Though the prior answer is a neutral word I’ve incorporated into most conversations, the latter has been something I thought more about when we...
“Do not be anxious about anything…”
Hello! My name is Allison and I just finished my first year of medical school at SUNY Downstate. I came to SMI this summer because I wanted to use what I learned so far to do hands-on work to help people. I also wanted to see how God’s power can work to heal...