Q & A with ACTION missionary Erin Johnson

1. What are some ministry tasks that you want the intern to accomplish while serving with you?

It depends on their gifting and desires.  The main thing is to build relationships and encourage the kids, youth, and staff of our ministry.  This mainly involves just living life with them.  Teaching English would be very helpful as well as teaching other skills that the intern might have, such as music.

2. What are some key lessons from your ministry and walk with the Lord that you want to impart to the interns to help them as they consider their own individual call to missions or vocational ministry?

God has gifted us all differently. Each missionary may or may not fit into the "typical" role of a missionary.  For example, I am an administrative person, so I often felt discouraged in the 'intern' stages of my missionary journey because I wasn't particularly gifted in teaching or preaching like many missionaries are. Then eventually the Lord ended up using me to pioneer a new ministry, and I ended up really using my giftings (and still am).  (Of course, it's still good for me to challenge myself in other areas.)

So, it's likely that the first few years of a missionary's journey will be mostly about discovering more about who you are and what God has gifted you to do.  You might not be making huge Kingdom impacts (visibly) while being a short-termer or intern.  But then, when it's time, God will show you His specific purpose or role for you.

3. What criteria do you use to measure the effectiveness of an intern serving with you?

Flexibility, adaptability, takes initiative to get to know BND kids and staff and building relationships with kids/youth in our ministry.

4. What would a typical day look like?

Hard to say because it depends on what's going on in the ministry at that particular time.  A typical day might involve hanging out with kids, visiting their families in the slums, teaching a class, cooking meals, writing newsletters to supporters, or going to the local market.  (Probably not all of the above in one day!)

5. Please list specific skills an intern may expect to develop by the time the internship is completed.

• Basic understanding of Tagalog (or more, the longer the intern is here)
• Able to share devotions and share testimonies
• Learn how to interact with street kids (either on the street or in recovery stages), and interact with the poor, in an encouraging manner
• Able to get around on local transportation