ICS Trip Blog - H. Pearson
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 experience a variety of overseas ministries. It
is hoped that, by giving students the opportunity to enter and live in an
established on-the-ground ministry, they will come to a fuller realization and
passion for intercultural missions work.
This trip’s team is led by one of Northwestern’s most
tenured professors, Dr. John Easterling. When it comes to leading student
teams, Easterling is certainly qualified, simply by the quantity of his
missions experiences. He served as a long-term missionary in France for over
six years, and continued serving his mission organization after returning to
the States for an additional two years. However, beyond his own long-term
experience, Easterling has led 29 other student trips around the world, making
this internship his 30th. It will also be his last. Easterling plans
to retire after the 2021-2022 school year. Regarding this trip, he states, “Both Cambodia and the
Philippines are new to me. I will be equally excited to see them. [But] I
love Thailand and Japan equally too. [And] Hawaii, what's not to love!”
When asked about his favorite part of leading student mission trips, he offered
an interesting perspective: “My favorite part is post-internship when students
email, phone, mail, or just walk in my office to share about their lives.
It is then [that] I can see the influence of the ICS internship on the lives of
each and every student.”
One
of the students going on this year’s internship is Emily Fisher, a junior
majoring in Intercultural Studies. She explains her thoughts about the trip
this way: “I chose to major in Intercultural Studies because I feel called to
long-term missions after graduation, specifically in Southeast Asia. This
internship will give me an idea of what long-term missions will be like[…].
During our time overseas, I can explore missions in the four countries we will
be visiting through the career of an English teacher and hopefully build
long-term relationships with current long-term missionaries.”
One
of the benefits of the Intercultural Internship is that students have the chance
to visit multiple locations, which can be helpful in discerning a future, more
permanent ministry placement. Heather Jones, a junior who is triple majoring in
Intercultural Studies, Youth Ministry, and Bible, remarked, “I’m hoping that [God
will] give me more guidance on where he has called me to serve long-term.”
Laura Toppin, a junior Intercultural Studies major, views the learning
experiences of this trip as preparation for her future career. She comments, “I want to be a missionary, so this trip will teach me more about other
cultures and how to witness to people around the world.”
Living
on the mission field for two months is an exciting prospect for all of the
students; each has high hopes of what God will accomplish through the team
during the time spent overseas. However, Claira Bushway, a junior majoring in
Intercultural Studies with a focus on Non-Profit Leadership, provides a
balanced outlook: “I want God to use us wherever we go, but I […] am expecting
the people we meet to impact us greatly as well.” Cosette Gamache, an
Intercultural Studies junior, also has adopted a moderate outlook on the trip.
She acknowledges that, “God always uses these things to grow us, but the
process isn't always pretty, so I can get nervous.” But she also recognizes
that, “[God] is faithful, and I'll rest in that.”
The
students and leaders humbly ask for prayer as they continue their trip
preparations. They specifically request prayer for boldness, good health,
safety, and growth. Ultimately, this Intercultural Internship team desires to
do God’s will in this New Year, both on and off the mission field.
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