Interns With Impact 2024: Luke, Mechanical Engineering Intern

Luke (left) is giving his summer and his engineering skills to the gospel as he serves alongside staff and fellow intern, Elizabeth (right), in West Africa.

Hailing from Oxford, Ohio, Luke is serving at the TWR West Africa Transmitting Station (WATS) as a mechanical engineer summer intern. A rising senior at Indiana Wesleyan University, he competes on the school’s cross-country and track team.

Thirty years ago, Luke’s mom would have never guessed her son would be serving on a mission trip just an hour from where she completed her medical missions service. This summer, it all came full circle when Luke committed to serve in West Africa ensuring day-to-day operations run smoothly for broadcasting. His leadership and enthusiasm shine forth when he says: 

 “I want to serve with TWR because it seems like a perfect way to use my talents as an engineer to spread the message of Jesus.” 

Q.  What is your role with TWR this summer, and are you serving?

I am a mechanical engineering intern at WATS.

Q.  How did you hear about TWR?

I heard about TWR when I was trying to find internships for the summer. I looked up if there were any Christian engineering internships and TWR was the first one to pop up. I had never heard of TWR before this, and it sounded really exciting to get involved with TWR.

Q. What are you enjoying the most so far?

I'm really enjoying meeting so many new people here in West Africa. There are other missionary families around who work with different organizations, but it is cool to see everyone working together to bring the kingdom of God to Earth. I'm also excited to see how my perspective about the world changes as I go back home.

Q. What is the most challenging thing for you this summer?

Being in a new culture has been uncomfortable because it’s all just so new and disorienting. I feel like I am in a different world sometimes, and it gets difficult to lean into the culture. Also, the language barrier is a lot more difficult to deal with than I expected. I’ve never been so aware of how important language is to create relationships. I’m learning how to do that without words, and that has been a challenge.

Q. Is there a favorite scripture that helps you during this challenging time?

A passage I've been thinking about a lot is Psalm 131, a short psalm about contentment and how to be content just being with God. Being in a very different place has been very uncomfortable at times, but I've been learning a little bit about how to be content even while I'm uncomfortable. 

Q. What are you most excited to do during your internship, either work-related or personal?

I'm really excited to climb the radio tower because the view is going to be awesome. I'm also excited to learn more about engineering and improve my problem-solving skills. Being here (West Africa) is different than America because when something breaks you can't always go and get a replacement part. You must be creative to solve the problem with what you have, and sometimes that means fixing things in a more untraditional way. 

Q. At this point, what is your favorite thing about TWR?

My favorite thing about TWR is how caring and helpful the staff has been. They have helped all of us interns with support-raising and providing information about all of TWR’s ministries. It has been a really cool experience to see the breadth of TWR’s impact in the world. 

Q.  Is this your first ministry/missions experience? If not, where have you served?

I've been on a couple of short mission trips to Mexico when I was younger, but this is the first time I've had a longer missions experience 

Q. What do you hope to try this summer that’s new? 

I really like all kinds of fruits, and the fruit they have here is amazing. The mangoes are so good, and there is also watermelon, pineapple and bananas that are all really good. 

Q. What is your favorite hobby that you have now or hope to develop this summer? 

I've always been a big soccer fan (playing and watching), and soccer is huge here. I've been playing soccer with the local kids and watching soccer games on television with the local people here as well. I also ran cross country and track in college, so I've been running a lot. It's been a good way to get around and see the city, but only in the early morning when it's cooler. I've also had a lot of time to read, so I hope to read some good books and explore new topics while I have the time. 

Unique Fact: I didn't even know this area of West Africa was a place until this internship. Also, when I told my mom I was going here this summer, she was super excited because she served here on a mission trip when she was in medical school at a hospital near where I am. But I didn't even know that until I told her, so that was cool. 

Images: (top, banner) Luke [left] is giving his summer and his engineering skills to the gospel as he serves alongside staff and fellow intern, Elizabeth [right], in West Africa, (top, left) Luke stands before the transmitter field and solar panels at the West Africa Transmitting Station, (bottom, right) Luke [bottom] and fellow staff climb one of the two radio towers on site. The towers minister to the surrounding countries in about 30 different languages.