2020 ICS

We're Halfway There! Hello family and friends! This is Emily Fisher writing to tell you that this past Thursday marked the halfway point of our time teaching and our time in Thailand. If you have been following this blog and reading about our experiences so far, then you have heard from Keegan and Heather about their time at Santisuk's main campus at Lat Phrao. However, Santisuk has multiple smaller branches. My friend Hannah and I are working at Santisuk in Pakkret. I am excited to share with you all about how God is working within the walls of this very small school.  The number of students across all the branches of Santisuk have been dropping steadily for the past few years. Between myself, Hannah, and Rhesa (the director and only other teacher at Santisuk Pakkret), we only have 10 students, of which I am teaching half. However, the small amount of students has allowed us to get to know the few students we have. We are building relationships with them, and they are

Hi everyone! For those wondering this is Heather Jones writing the blog this time. We are now on week two of being in Thailand and we are seeing really cool things happen. The first week of teaching came to an end last Thursday and we had a crazy busy weekend. On Friday the whole student team from the main campus went and visited Laura and Natalie at their apartment. We went to the mall and  relaxed with them for a while. That evening we had a church service back on the main campus. On Saturday most everyone went to a University and taught some English and played games with the students. I got to experience something a little different though. I went with my youth cell group to the Grand Canyon of Thailand (as they call it), to an orphanage, and then to the Indian sea. I can't speak for the other group who went to the University but I was very encouraged to see how God is at work through the orphanage and through the Thai people that I went with! On Sunday we went to a church servi

Hello everyone, I'm Keegan Goldfarb for those of you who don't know me. We arrived in Thailand last Thursday, and after two days of training we have now officially settled in. We started teaching our classes this week, and are getting acclimated to all of the new sights, sounds, and smells. Personally, I have tried a lot of new foods that I didn't think I'd ever try, but they turned out to be really good. Every morning (those at the Santisuk Main Campus) have purchased smoothies from a sweet local ladies shop, and they have been amazing. Personally, Thailand has been tough to get used to, because it is so different than back home, or even the previous country we visited (Cambodia). All of us students have been meeting every Thursday night and Sunday night to pray together, and lift each other up. We have the four that are staying at the other campuses call in and join us as well (RACHAYOTIN, Natalie and Laura) (PAKKRET, Emily and Hannah). Please continue to pray for our

Our team is here in Cambodia finishing up our final days. We knew that we were going to see how God is working in Cambodia but it is nothing like we expected. Churches are blossoming, people are coming to Christ, and Cambodia has come a long way. Today we had the opportunity to go to an orphanage on the other side of the city and got to speak with a missionary named Maria. Hearing her story was encouraging to us all and we learned that God does in fact in work even when we don't see it. We were able to show our puppet skit as well as our group song which was a great experience to share our love of Christ. My biggest takeaway so far is that even with the language barrier, there are all sorts of ways to worship and we are all worshiping the same Father who loves us unconditionally. Cambodia has been an amazing experience so far and we are expectant for what God is going to continue to do. - Celiena Davis

Around the World in 62 Days By Hannah Pearson The year 2020 is just about upon us. While this means cookies, Christmas, and unkept New Year’s resolutions for most of Northwestern, a few students are looking forward to bigger things on the horizon. On January 3, 2020, 11 students, 2 professors, and 1 additional chaperone will be embarking on Northwestern’s Intercultural Internship. They will be traveling to four foreign countries in Asia: Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan, finishing with a time of debriefing in Hawaii. Their travels will last about two months, through the entirety of Quad 3. This internship is designed specifically for those majoring or minoring in Intercultural Studies, though it is open to any Northwestern student. It is intended to expose participants to the day-to-day realities of missionary life in the field. However, acknowledging that there is no true normative standard for “typical” missionary life, this internship allows students to exp