Meet Emily Snow coming to ISM September 2013 – internship The Well, Bangkok

Hi I am Emily Snow.

 

I am 20 years old, and am currently finishing my junior year of classes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Human Development and Family Studies.

I have a great family made up of a loving mother and father, two sisters, one brother, and four dogs. I grew up attending church, Sunday school and confirmation classes. Upon coming to college, I became immediately plugged into a campus ministry that has encouraged and emphasized a personal relationship with Jesus. My walk has been transformed since then, and I am incredibly thankful for the community of believers that He led me to on campus.

Over a year ago I attended Passion 2012, a Christian conference in Atlanta, Georgia. “Rooted in the confession of Isaiah 26:8, Passion exists to glorify God by uniting students in worship, prayer andjustice for spiritual awakening in this generation.” Their mission succeeded in my heart over those four days as my eyes were opened to the reality and extremity of modern day slavery. My heart aches at the thought of these women who are often desperate for work, who are enticed by the promise of a better future from a seemingly generous businessman or woman. At this interaction, they unknowingly enter into an industry of degradation and abuse-the sex trade.  These women are either being trafficked under the hand of a pimp, or have willingly entered the industry out of financial need and do not see a way out. Through this continual exploitation they begin to believe that they are worth nothing more than sex. This is the reality that I cannot bare to leave alone.

After my four days in Atlanta, I knew that I would eventually serve in a ministry for these women. God laid it on my heart to wait for a while, and so I did-until this past winter when I came across an opportunity to do ministry for 9 days in Bangkok. However, God had a different plan for me. After many conversations with my parents, it was clear to me that if I were to go, I needed to spend a significant amount of time there. I began researching other opportunities, and stumbled upon Impact School of Missions and their many internship opportunities. I read the curriculum, the blog, looked up all of the recommended books’ descriptions and all of the different ministries. I was hooked. About two weeks later, I excitedly (and a bit fearfully) applied.

Around this time, I had just been accepted to my major. I had an advising session the same week, and was ecstatic to find out that I have a required internship, and that any of the internships I ranked in my ISM application would be accepted! I am happy to announce that following my 4 weeks at ISM this fall, I have the opportunity to join my formal education, missions training, and God-given passion into a 2.5 month internship with The Well-Bangkok! My prayer is that God will work through me to show these women the joy of following Jesus Christ, and the worth we have in Him. I look forward to having my life changed by this incredible opportunity, whether it is slight or radical. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Romans 8:28 NIV

Put Feet to your Heartbeat

Have you ever met someone who says they LOVE missions, or are passionate about human trafficking and alleviating poverty but don’t really know anything or do anything about it?  We all can be inspired by a movie or a story or a sermon, we can even be moved to  tears,  but the evidence of true passion will involve action.  Students preparing to come to do an internship in SEA have made the first huge jump toward putting feet to their heartbeat!  Way to GO!

If you are preparing for an internship or a short term missions trip there are number of things you can do to get ready!  Passion drives us to do something – so there are many things you can do to be informed and be as ready as possible.  So what can you do?

1.  Read as much as you can about the nation where you are going to serve.  There are many books and blogs giving interesting insight into the nation you are going to serve.

2.  Watch movies – anything you can find related to the nation you are serving.

3.  Read missionary biographies – VERY inspiring.

4.  Eat the food – amazing restaurants with Thai, Indian and Filipino cuisine are in most major cities.

5.  Go out for coffee with missionaries and take notes.  They love it when someone wants to hear their story. Buy their coffee

6. Throw a themed party about the nation – invite all your friends, dress up, eat curried dishes, play the music from the nation, pray about the nation and raise funds.

7.  Take a language class – and have fun with it!

8. Befriend someone from the nation and discover the beauty of their culture.

9. Read about the dos & don’ts and take them to heart.

10.  Start eating with your hands (India) or with a spoon and use your fork to guide the food to the spoon, (most other SEA nations).

As you prepare if someone asks, “so what do Thai people eat?” you don’t want to answer “I have no idea.”  Get ready!  This will help you put FEET to your HEARTBEAT.

 

 

 

ISM’s top 10 Prayer Needs!

1. The Holy Spirit would draw students to ISM.
2. Students would be radically transformed and challenged as they learn and serve supernaturally.
3. Students would be an amazing blessing to the ministries they serve.
4. Students would be an amazing blessing to nationals.
5. Many students would come back as long term, sold out, creative & visionary missionaries.
6. Those who return to Canada would be crazy with generosity in their living & giving.
7. We would be a blessing to the Thai Bible College students and inspire them to become even more missions minded.
8. The staff at ISM, Peter & Sandra McIntosh, Jessica Pellowe, Joel and Avin Reimer for Holy Spirit’s leadership as they prepare and invest in the next generation.
9. A release of funds for continued support of  ISM.
10. We need Canadian reps for the school in BC, Ontario, East Coast.  Please write psmcintosh1@gmail.com for info.

Unicorns are in Fairy Tales

Growing up I was taught that only some very special, super spiritual people were “called” to the mission field.   Not only were they special, the “call” was even more special.  All the missionaries I heard speak either said, or I imagined them saying, that they heard God’s audible voice.  I imagined that voice was very similar to Morgan Freeman’s.  The voice connected with the very special call would boom, usually in the middle of the night – “GO to Africa” – and oh yes, it was always to Africa.  Others I imagined had a vision of a large God hand that reached out of the sky and pointed to a continent or country. Yes, Africa again.  I would either listen, on the edge of my seat, to incredible stories of trekking in strange and exotic lands and eating barbequed mice on a stick or ask my mom if I could go to the washroom for the third time, depending on the presenter.

Go to Africa

As a young woman I thought missionaries were strange creatures and if their words didn’t confirm this to me their clothing did. I remember watching endless slides of sad, dirty children with flies on their mouths, and, after hearing the presentations, I usually thought, “I don’t ever want to be a missionary and/or I could never be like them.”  My memories may be slightly blurred by my preconceived ideas of what I thought it meant to be a missionary.

Surprisingly however, I’ve met a lot of people who have the same preconceived ideas about missionaries.  Many people think you need to be super spiritual and have a supernatural call before you go overseas.  But, for most people, that may never happen.  Kind of like saving enough money before you get married, only less likely.  If you believe the idea that missionaries aren’t just like you,  you put them into an elite category, which results in you never entertaining the idea that YOU were called to go.  Waiting until you are ‘amazing’ before you go will keep you exactly where you are right now. Very special and super spiritual people, along with very special calls, are more mythical than real.  Unicornish. People are people.  Missionaries are people.  People make mistakes, sin fairly regularly, let others down,  struggle with pride – just like you probably do.  We all can be wowed by a great talent and the charisma of someone telling a story, but the true character of a man/women is not found in their words, but in the way they live.  Yes, some missionaries may yell at their friends and family, eat too much, lie from time to time and even might have wrong motives.  They can also be beautiful, kind, compassionate, grace filled and inspirational.   The point is, they are people.  You are people.  God loves and uses people. You don’t need a special call or be of a special spiritual status in order to do what Jesus said.  Instead of praying about whether or not you should go,  you might want to pray about whether or not you should stay. Yes, supernatural calls do happen,  but generally just reading Jesus words, “Go and make disciples” Matt 28:19, should be enough.  ”Go and make disciples” is the supernatural call, isn’t it?   Does He really need to say more?

Am I a beggar?

You are about to embark on the experience of a lifetime !  You’ve told all your friends, you’ve got your passport in hand and you realize that there is one tiny missing piece that will make this dream become a reality.  $$

HELP!

The thought of raising a few thousand dollars is a daunting one, especially if you have debts to pay.  All our images of those who ask for a handout are not positive ones.  We immediately think of the guy sleeping on the grate on Queen street in Toronto with his roughly scrawled “help me” on his cardboard sign.  You may ask yourself how is asking for money for missions any different?  Aren’t we just slick, dressed up beggars?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Your attitude is everything!  Try to approach fundraising this way:

1. When you ask people to help you serve overseas you are giving them an opportunity of a lifetime to invest in someone they love.

2. It’s a PRIVILEGE for people to give to you because they are filling their treasure box in heaven.

3.  You have a plan to do something powerful with your life and by doing so you are inspiring people to think beyond themselves.

4.  All investment in God’s kindgom reaps rewards larger than ANY other use  of money.

5.  People want to give to you.  Raise friends – you will have the funds.

6. You signed up to follow Jesus and for your life that means you live by faith. Faith is the evidence of things UNSEEN.  A pay check requires little to no faith.

 7.  People don’t know what they don’t know.  You get to inform them and let them wrap their arms around the world.

8.  God is for you!  His goodness, mercy and love are chasing you all the days of your life.

9.  Sales pitches are for used car salesmen. You are serving broken and hurting people.

10.  Jesus said “GO” –  He will take care of you.