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Photo of the Day

Over the past 3 years, Go International has had the opportunity to send teams to a series of islands off the Panamanian coastline called the San Blas Islands. The 365 islands are home to the Kuna Yala Indians, a culture that is unique, vibrant, and all the while desperate for a Savior to cling to. Over the years, the teams have been able to go onto the islands and share the message of the redeeming love of Christ. This small boy, is just one of the many beautiful faces that our team has been able to interact with during our time there.

Photo credit: Lindsey Eryn Clark

 

 

Photo of the Day

Three planes, one long van ride, and 36 hours later, The Go International team found themselves half way across the world in the nation of Cambodia, a nation that is 97% Buddhist. In a little village on the outskirts of Kampong Thom, the team shared the extravagant love of Jesus Christ and gave these boys and the rest of the villagers the opportunity to pray the Salvation prayer. It was in this moment, that these young boys prayed the prayer that would change their lives forever.

Photo of the Day

This past summer, the team at Go International took a team of people into the villages of Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Their mission: to spread the love of Jesus Christ. The team had the opportunity to perform dramas for the villagers that portrayed the message of Christ's love. These children were in the front row of an audience that was watching the team perform. The smiles of these children were contagious and captivated the hearts of the team.

Photo Credit: Dodge and Bel Pangburn

 

 

Photo of the Day

In the middle of a squatter camp in Cape Town, South Africa- a place that is filled with poverty and death, was this beautiful smile. This little girl's smile illuminated the streets as she played "hide and seek" with the Go International team. That day, the Go Team learned that love is action.

Photo of the Day

This past February, Go International took their intern's on the annual Mystery Trip- the interns found themselves in the beautiful country of South Africa. The team fell in love with people of South Africa as they spent time immersing themselves in their culture. The team met these two young boys in a village right outside of Jo-burg as they prepared for a crusade. These two boys were full of life as they ran throughout the African terrain playing field games with the interns of Go International.

Photo Credit: Lindsey Eryn Clark

The Dream Campaign meets the Backpack Drive

With the new school year right around the corner, Go International's apprentices partnered with Sanctuary Church in seizing the day to be a part of creating change in the Tulsa community. The Sanctuary team gathered 150 backpacks filled with a variety of school supply items and together Go and Sanctuary distributed the backpacks out to underpriveldged teens in the community. While distributing backpacks to the teens, the apprentices took the opportunity to inspire the teens through an interactive art exhibition called the “Dream Campaign”. The apprentices talked with the teens asking them: "What is your dream? What is it in life that excites you? What is that one thing that when you lie in bed at night and close your eyes, you see? What is that one thing which is so close to your heart that you couldn't imagine going through life without accomplishing it?" The teens had the opportunity to write down their dreams as they were encouraged by the Go team that they could accomplish their dreams. The Go Team shared with the teens that the dreams in their hearts were something that only they could accomplish. The teens were left inspired to not only stay in school, but to also work hard to accomplish their dreams. Change has come.

So here's the question- what are your dreams?

Photo of the Day

Just a 30 minute plane ride off the coast of Panama and you'll find a beautiful series of islands called the San Blas Islands. They are home this little boy and the rest of his friends and family: the Kuna Yala Indians. The last 3 years, Go International has had the amazing opportunity to go share the love of God to this people group.

Photo Credit: Lindsey Eryn Clark

 

 

 

 

Photo of the Day

This past June, Go International had the opportunity to go into the villages of Cambodia and bring hope to hopeless. While the team was at one of the villages of Kampong Thom, they had the honor of meeting this sweet woman who had been blind for several years. After praying with her for healing, the team watched as her blind eyes opened, her faith had made her well.

Photo by: Dodge and Bel Pangburn

 

 

Go Geographic by Brittany Norris

The annual Mystery Mission Trip is something every Go Intern looks forward to being a part of. Last year the interns first stop was Cambodia where they visited several villages of Kampong Thom, bringing the the gospel in the form of dramas. One day, while in a village, the team was introduced to a woman who had just lost her husband 5 days previously. The translator explained that she was expressing her dream to move to the village we were in, along with her children, and away from their disease ridden community that took the life of her husband. Her reasoning went even deeper than that. She wanted so badly to move from their predominately Buddhist village to this specific village that was home to the local Christian church so that her sons would not be raised in the pagodas and instead, would be under the influence of the Christian church. She had been unable to relocate because of her financial situation. After the Go team heard of her need, we rallied together, and within 5 min, all the funds were raised for her to have a new hut built, which was even bigger than she had anticipated! All it took was two hundred and fifty six U.S. dollars, and she was able to have her desire met. Our team had not planned on being in that village that day, but God knew her and her family were in need, and He is the master of setting up divine appointments; even though the Mystery Trip was left a mystery to the interns, God knew all along not only where we were going, but why we were going there. Don’t miss the opportunities He’s setting up in your daily life, it may not be penciled into your schedule, but rest assured you’ll be blessed for making the time.

Written by Brittany Norris Photo by Katie O'Toole

Go Geographic: Cambodia Intiative

This summer, GO International is taking a group overseas on an 18 and older mission trip to Cambodia. Although we have several different initiatives taking place while in the country, I want to highlight a particular project we’ll be doing with an orphanage based in the village of Kampong Thom. They have the capacity to house 80 children, but they currently don’t have the resources to feed that many. Usually, orphanages operate off of a monthly sponsorship program. Although sponsorship is helpful, supplying them with the means to provide for themselves would be much more effective. That’s why this summer Go International will be purchasing a farm on a 120-parcel plot of land right next to their housing complex. This farm will consist of chickens, quails, fish and mushrooms. This vital project will also lower the monthly sponsorship rate, making it much easier to have financial support. The Math.

-On average, sponsoring an orphan for one month costs $40.

-This would make the yearly figure approximately $480.

-If the entire orphanage had sponsorship for 80 children from birth to the age of 18 that staggering cost would amount to $691,200.

The Solution.

The cost of the farm is only $12,000.

$12,000 is certainly much cheaper than $691,200.

Together, by building this farm, we provide 3 meals a day for 80 orphans at a fraction of the sponsorship cost. This farm will also be a source of revenue, resulting in it being self-funded. With a gift of $100, you can sponsor one of the land parcels and be a part of the solution by providing a way for an orphan to have shelter and food.

To apply now click here: https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6W2Q7FXXSZK4NC4B

To donate now  click here: https://www.easytithe.com/dl/

To join our prayer team click here: https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=VJJETQ9MH6XB3PN6

Written by Brittany Norris

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Go Geographic: Ecuador

In June of 2008, Go International made a trip towards the Equator, to the city of Quito, Ecuador; a beautifully developed city surrounded by mountains and amazing views everywhere you look. With warm, dry, temperatures in the day and cool, pleasant climates during the night, this location was all the more enjoyable.The capitol of Ecuador, Quito is home to roughly 2.1 million people. Those we met were very welcoming, friendly and eager to hear everything our group had come to share with them. During our travels, the Go International team spent some time working with a large local church in Quito. Our group helped in their youth ministry- preaching, praying and speaking into the lives of the students; also, later in the week, a couple of our staff members were able to have the opportunity to speak in an adult church service and minister to their hearts as well. The church also set up some ministry time for our group at a local children’s hospital, where we dressed up as clowns to paint faces, make balloon animals, and brighten the days of the children who were ill and had to spend their days away from home. Another day we were able to partner with this same church and distribute food to some of the poorer parts of Quito as well as some of the impoverished villages outside of the city. After the 2-3 hour drive into the mountains to the Quechua Indians, there was a stark realization of the differences between city and village living; not only technologically, but socially as well. We had to use 2 translators to communicate from English to Spanish and Spanish to Quechuan. Although the people in the village were more shy and reserved than the city residents, they were happy our team was there. When we gave the salvation message, it was clear that very few people ever traveled up the mountain to reach them, so we began to explain God’s message from the very beginning of time. It was quite a culture shock as the women, covered with their large tribal pieces of jewelry, and the men wearing their hats, (who were all significantly shorter than even our shortest team member) surrounded us with attentive ears, waiting for the words being spoken to be translated through 3 languages. It was a moment to soak in as we stood on a mountain top, removed from the rest of society with only fog in the distance as 40 of the 50 families in the village raised their hands to receive Jesus. Our encounter with these people was definitely one our team would never forget. One of our staff members, Lauren Morris, walked away from the trip focusing on the significance of ONE person. She later explained a memory to me from the trip. “After talking to one of the men in the village for almost an hour I remember on the bus ride back thinking: ‘If I hadn’t come and spent forty-five minutes just talking to that one little man and getting everything translated, would anyone else have ever made that effort?’” she said. “Would he ever have accepted Jesus?”

And that’s what it’s about. Even if the only person we ever made any difference for was that one little man, the entire trip was totally worth it, knowing that his life was forever changed and that he accepted Christ into his heart.

Written by Brittany Norris

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Radiate: Clean House

As the apprentices were putting together our outreach for this past Friday, they decided we were all going to be a blessing to Greg and Christa Baca. We wanted to serve the very people who have served and sacrificed so much for us and the Go family. So we packed up, headed out, and arrived at our Director's house to clean, clean, clean. We all jumped right in- dusting, sweeping, cleaning counters, and doing some yard work that the boys facilitated. We had a lot of fun talking and enjoying each other’s company while being a blessing. To end the afternoon we all had coffee together and spent a little time with the wonderful people that pour so much of their lives into ours!

Through My Eyes by Lauren Bruhn

After Christmas break Hello! I hope that all of you readers had a restful Christmas season, ate bundles of deliciously fatty food and enjoyed time with your families- I definitely did! First off, 10 days in the office until Mystery trip, yay! The anticipation is quite overwhelming now that we are less than 3 weeks away from the trip; it seems almost unreal. This past week, we started a new series in Inspire class called “Eyes Wide Open”, and not to use such an obvious pun, but my eyes are definitely already being opened. With such a short amount of time left before we leave, I believe that it is no accident that we are talking about missions and issues that are taking place all over the world. In Hosea 4:6 God says, “My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge...” It is first knowledge that pushes people into taking action. We are definitely gaining knowledge in this core series, which is just propelling our excitement through these next few weeks and into Mystery Trip!

Speaker of the Week: Bob Harrison

This week once again, Bob Harrison, our guest speaker returned to the Go offices to share with the interns some wisdom he’s gathered throughout his life. For his first statement  Dr. Increase confidently proclaimed, “Everything you do is a calling card towards your future. Opportunity comes at any moment. You have to ask yourself if you’ll be ready for it.” He looked around the room and continued, “There are two things about life you need to know. Life is a mix of learning to enjoy where we are while preparing to go somewhere else.” Pausing to let the thought simmer he continued, “All too often people focus on just one of these things. These individuals are either so focused on the future that they don’t allow themselves to enjoy the life they are currently living; or on the flip side of things, they are so focused on enjoying life right now that they forget to plan for future opportunities”. He took the discussion a new direction by quoting something Norman Schwarzkopf told him while he was at a speaking engagement with him. “He told me that, ‘Life is a collection of seasons,’” Mr. Harrison said. “You see, often people tend to think of life as a continuum- we see it in a linear fashion." The truth is, life is just like the seasons, one ends and another begins. We need to recognize what season we are in so we can embrace it for what it is and so we also can properly prepare for the upcoming season ahead. Mr. Harrison continued with many more valuable pieces of information, but there was one key point he left us with that grasped my attention- Change begins with us. If you are looking for change in your life and the environment that surrounds you, begin with small changes in your personal life. The smallest of steps pave the way for the greatest moments of progress. Written by: David Solomon