Alumni Post: Devon Dollahon

I finished my internship for the Wesley about a month ago, and have left Ruston to start a new period of my life at graduate school. Recently, I was able to return to Louisiana to visit my friends. It will be a while before I can see them again, and for many of us, our friendships will drift apart. I guess that’s just how it is with college, though that acknowledgment doesn’t dull the pain. I would have felt similarly if I had left last year when I graduated instead of staying for another year as a Wesley intern, but I think these feelings are particularly poignant now. It was easier last year, not only because I was staying and several of my other friends were too, but because this year I experienced something personal and deep with those at the Wesley that I have rarely felt before, despite the Wesley already being a place of genuine friendship. 

Being an intern means having a whole new level of intimacy with the community. You are invested in other interns, invested in the lives of students you disciple, and invested in strangers. My fellow interns from last year know me better than almost anyone now. Most of our staff meetings we bared our souls to one another. We supported each other and cried with each other. When I met with students, we shared our lives even when we didn’t know one another well yet. We shared our feelings of grief over relationships gone wrong, joy over things going well, fear or pain felt for family members, and anxieties over our futures. We became friends. I did my best to point them to Christ, and to love them sincerely. Beautifully, they often did the same for me. The internship also taught me to see everyone I passed on campus as a person. A person who needed God needed love, and needed a community. 

I am not the same person I was last August. I don’t know how someone can do the work we do here and not be changed by it. Particularly because it’s hard. What I said before may sound idyllic, but many times things went poorly. There were awkward hangouts with students where he/she just didn’t want to be there and seemed to treat coming to the Wesley like a doctor’s appointment: getting his/her shot of spirituality before going back to finishing a paper or playing a video game. There were countless moments when I terribly embarrassed myself in front of strangers. Every day is a rush to meet with all the people you want to see, prepare for all the events that need to happen, and finish all the chores that keep the Wesley building running. Many days I felt like a failure because I didn’t yet have the maturity to know how to do my work right yet or how to accept my mistakes without condemning myself. However, Ryan and Kaiti encouraged me continually. In addition, all year there were major difficulties: friends and coworkers who left suddenly, loved ones who were sick, tornados that hit, and periods of diminishing attendance. The internship is hard because when you start you’re not ready for it. However, you grow to meet it. And those who weathered the difficulties with me, both students and staff, are closer to my heart because of it. 

If given the chance, I would do it all over again, the good and the bad. Because the good has been so overwhelmingly good: the joy of dance parties, the goofy antics of friends delighting in being themselves, the wonder of learning new truths from the scriptures, the understanding and love shared and shown when we grieve and pray together. These were moments of God’s presence. He has used this year to teach me to pray with sincerity, accept my failures, lead unselfishly, listen to hard advice, truly trust others, and to live every day as a gift from the Lord. The fruition of these lessons didn’t come till the end, till the last thing we do as interns: the mission trip. It was incredible. We traveled through desolate and dangerous mountain roads to reach children who have no access to the Gospel, we prayed over families who were grieving from sickness or death, we gave clothes and food to those with nothing, we helped build new churches, we made lasting friendships, and we were shown love with a generosity and sincerity that astounds us. Through it all, we became a family, and God showed us what it means to live each day for Him. 

I think that has been what is most life-changing about this year: beginning to understand how to really live each day for others. College can be quite a selfish thing. I spend every day studying hard to get the grades I need to get the degree I need to get the job I need to make the money I need. Don’t get me wrong, studying is good, but there is a difference between waking up in the morning and thinking “what do I need to do to maximize my grades,” and “what can I do today to serve Christ.” The difference may sound easy to fix, but it is a state of mind that needs to be rewritten. Every single day for a year an intern devotes themselves to doing God’s work. Every day is about someone else. It’s difficult, but one must lose his life to gain it. It’s life-giving. It’s fulfilling. It’s beautiful. 

This year has been a journey, and its end is bittersweet. Though it hurts to leave them behind, I am glad for all the moments we had together and the man I am becoming because of this job. I will be praying for my family at the Wesley, and I am excited for the wonders God will work in the lives of next year’s interns. 

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1,2

Devon Dollahon

Devon Dollahon is an alumnus of the Wesley Foundation at Louisiana Tech where he studied electrical engineering. Devon has a fun-loving, caring, and beautiful soul and we are grateful for the way he shared himself during his time with the Wesley community. He is currently in graduate school at Texas A&M continuing his studies in electrical engineering. We are confident that he will bring light wherever he goes.