Greetings! 

 

One of my favorite parts of our ministry is our GO Long internship.  

 

This program offers young people the chance to go overseas for a little longer timeframe and serve with one of our ministry partners. 

 

Recently, Caleb Griffin, a senior at Asbury, spent five weeks in Chincha Alta, Peru. As you can see from the picture above, Caleb is a soccer player. He's also a media communications major.

 

"The purpose of my internship was to work in a developing country and explore the role of media and missions in my life while serving in the Viña del Rey (Vine of the King) church's ministries.  One of their biggest ministries is in education, where the church operates two Christian schools with about 400 students between the two," Caleb said.

 

During the internship Caleb's duties varied, but his main job was to help teach English. In his free time he filmed and photographed activities in the classrooms. He also conducted interviews for a documentary about the church's ministries in Peru.  "I was able to get footage of the church's ministry to the high poverty areas, where they provide food as well as spiritual nourishment.  Although it outside of what I was expecting, I translated in a medical clinic for a team of American doctors that came on a short term mission trip," he said.

 

While in Peru, God confirmed Caleb's passion for missions and media communications.  He knew missions would somehow be part of his life and this internship showed that he could integrate the two.  "It was incredible to explore using my love for creating media while on the mission field.  I really enjoyed the experience and could see myself doing this in the future, wherever God is calling me," Caleb said. 

 

The trip was not without its' intimidating experiences, like walking into an entirely Spanish speaking environment with total strangers..  "It was a little intimidating going to Peru for 5 weeks by myself, but it was challenging in all the right ways.  In some situations I really had to let go and trust that God would work things out for me.  It definitely taught me a lot about faith and trust in God, and just how faithful He is to us." Caleb said.

 

By the time he left Peru, members of the church and were calling him,"chinchano," which means a local Peruvian from Chincha. That seems like a pretty good indicator of his impact on the church and community.

            

If you know a college student who would benefit from a GO Long internship, please send them our way! Thanks for reading, God bless!

 

Ron Houp

SVP