2015 Interns to South East Asia: Brianne Botzum, Ethan Harris, Nick Termer, Richard and Hayley Gowen. Please pray with us for their summer of service together in the Philippines.
From June 28-July 17, our organization will be facilitating an internship for five young people in the Philippines. The internship gives participants a first-hand glimpse into what very real needs exist in the third world environment and allows them to consider what it will look like to respond to those needs. The interns will travel to three different islands in the Philippines where our organization works. We look forward to all the wonderful opportunities they will have. This trip is being facilitated by Brett Madron, G.O.D. Int'l Director of the South East Asia Region, Chris Cameron, educator and recording engineer, and Candace Galford, administrative assistant and event planner. Below, they reflect on their hopes for the interns.
BRETT
Brett Madron (middle) and Joel Olson met this man in the Pag-Asa slum. He was cleaning plastic containers in the polluted river so that he could recycle the material. Interns will meet people like this man, and be introduced to places like this--something very few people from the West ever venture into.
I’m eager to get to walk alongside our five interns this summer as they experience the Philippines for the first time. Remembering my first experience in the Philippines just over nine years ago gives me a lot of excitement for how such an experience can truly impact a person’s whole perspective on life.
From observing classrooms where the student-teacher ratio is all too high, to visiting and learning about the real problems with living in slums, to seeing how men in prison can be enlivened by visitors who truly care for them, such moments cause us to ask how we can respond.
These moments do something to a person, especially when you couple that awareness with the Bible’s instruction to prioritize those who are most vulnerable. This will be our task this summer – to introduce these interns to what it looks like to give themselves over fully to serving God by assisting those in great need. Pray for us as we travel. We are thankful for these interns who have given 5 weeks of their summer to invest into this work.
CHRIS
Chris Cameron (right) visiting a church in the Philippines alongside his brother Nate, and full-time development worker, Clark Miller.
I’m excited to help facilitate Summer Internship in the Philippines this summer. I went on Internship in 2007 and it was a life changing experience for me that opened my eyes to the world around me and deepened my understanding of and relationship with the Lord. Now I get to partner with some great friends to facilitate the same for others.
This trip is personal for me as I have a personal connection with each of the interns who are joining us. Richard Gowen has been one of my best friends since we were teenagers and he and his wife Hayley will be joining us for their first international mission experience. Nick Termer was in my youth group when I was a youth pastor a couple of years ago and he and I got to minister together in the Philippines last Summer. Both Ethan Harris and Brianne Botzum were students in the Exodus and Deuteronomy class that I taught at the Institute for G.O.D. this past Spring. I know the Lord is going to do wonderful things in the lives of all of these participants. I’m humbled to be a part of that process.
CANDACE
Candace Galford helping a young boy with reading in the Lapu Lapu City dumpsite. The boy's parents work at the dumpsite, scavenging through trash to recycle for income--sadly, a livelihood for many people in the Philippines.
I'm thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to help facilitate internship to the Philippines alongside Brett and Chris. In 2008, I went to the Philippines for Summer Internship, and it changed my life in so many wonderful ways. This year, I’m excited to play my part to help this group of interns have an experience that deeply affects their lives as well. As we prepare to leave, I’m anticipating all the wonderful things God is going to do. In addition to organizing the logistics of our trip, I will also focus on documenting the trip through pictures and video in order to effectively communicate what is happening to you, our supporters.
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