College Conversations Season 1, Episode 5: Mission Trips - More than Just Travel (Podcast Transcript)
President Gregg Garner speaks to a mission team during their first meal in El Salvador amidst a Summer Internship.
Podcast Synopsis
Gregg and Jeff converse with Institute alums Ashley Moore and Nick Sherrod about the significant role of mission experiences during college. Through their personal stories, Ashley and Nick shed light on the importance of international service and travel, illustrating how The Institute for GOD incorporates these experiences into student education for profound personal and academic growth.
College Conversations Season 1 Episode 5: Mission Trips - More than Just Travel (Podcast Transcript)
Jeff Sherrod 0:04
Hey everybody, and welcome back to another episode of College Conversations Podcast where we explore everything related to attending a Christian College. This is the podcast for you if you're a prospective student, or if you're a family member of a prospective student looking at colleges and trying to decide what's going to be the best experience for your son or daughter, or for you if you're listening and attending a Christian College.
Today, we're looking at the incredible stories and experiences of graduates who college journeys have taken them what way beyond the classroom or textbooks. In this episode, we're exploring the transformative experiences of students who ventured far beyond the familiar and they took trips during their studies that had them going from the bustling streets of Uganda to the heart of India. Our guest today have stories that will inspire you, and hopefully show you what traveling and serving during college can do. Our first story takes us to the streets of Kampala, Uganda, where Ashley more a graduate of The Institute for GOD shares her eye opening experiences of teaching in a slum area. She shares about how this life changing trip and how it still reminds her of her calling to serve those in need even 10 plus years later, we also hear from Nick Sherrod, about his immersion trip to India where he was immersed and he learned about the culture, language, and met some really incredible people along the way. But before we get underway, a quick reminder, your feedback means the world to us. So if you enjoy the show, don't forget to subscribe. And to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps us to continue bringing you these incredible stories. So without further ado, this is college conversations. Hi, everyone. My name is Professor Jeff Sherrod and I'm joined with President Gregg Garner. And in this episode of college conversations, we're going to be talking about studying abroad and also trips that students take during school. We're really excited to talk about this as this has been a central component of the institute really since we've been going taking trips abroad with students and having these life long. These life impacting times abroad. We're also joined with two different alumni. I'm really excited to have them here. They they took some trips some years ago, and had wonderful times I'm really excited to hear some of the stories that you do and love for you guys to introduce yourself. So Ashley, how about you start us out?
Ashley Moore
Hey, guys, my name is Ashley Moore. And I am a graduate of the Institute for God. I graduated in 2013. And at the end of my my senior year, basically, I took a semester abroad to Uganda, specifically Kampala, Uganda, which is the capital and there are within
Gregg Garner 2:53
Uganda as an East Africa. Yes, East Africa. East Side. Yeah, it's right next to Kenya, which probably more people are familiar with. But
Ashley Moore
yeah, and I've been there too. And I actually have been there several times. But this trip was specifically to Uganda. Yeah.
Gregg Garner 3:08
Which Roosevelt called the Pearl of Africa. Yeah. Because all its fertile land. Yeah. So you're you were in Uganda. Yes, I
Ashley Moore
was in Uganda, specifically in a slum area called y se. I went with two of my peers, which was really fun because we were besties the whole trip. And my focus was really teaching in a classroom in the slums of Uganda. And
Gregg Garner 3:31
in case people don't know how to imagine what that would look like. The uniqueness of our program in particular was that you all stayed in just like public housing. Right? You weren't like at a Hilton?
Ashley Moore
No, it was a it was a hostel for. We stayed in a college town is a place called Juana Gaya. And it was a college college area for Makabe, which is the main university there. It's like, every Ugandan kids dream to go to market at a university. And so we stayed at a hostel in that area. And you know, we had people, you know, our we knew people from Rwanda, from Congo, from Belgium, you know, because
Gregg Garner 4:10
for East Africa, that's one of the schools that people would like to go to.
Ashley Moore
Oh, yeah, for sure. So that was really fun experience. actually ended up doing like a Zumba class at my hostel like it. I was like, I'm going to you're introducing this. Yeah, I am introducing it. Yeah, it was not there prior, but it was just really fun to kind of live life like a college student in Uganda
Gregg Garner 4:32
because you guys are even having to participate in like public transportations. And you're probably traveling with chickens and
Ashley Moore
sometimes Yeah, a variety of other. Totally seen how many people get fit on the back of a motorcycle or what they can get on top of a van.
Gregg Garner 4:50
Yeah, yeah. Because in Uganda, you call those mopeds Bodas Yeah. And these these Boda Boda drivers are pretty interesting breed of have traffic commuters. And and you can stick like several people on a bus, but also a lot of luggage. And I don't know, I just I just love the image of you on a boat or going to school or going to teach in the slums. Yeah.
Ashley Moore
Yeah. So I got to teach there stayed for about six months and got to see like a whole term happened with my students, which was really quite one of the joys of my life.
Gregg Garner 5:27
Describe the setting for your students. Because again, I think it's important for us to cure imaginations by stating exactly what it was. I think, for a lot of people these days, they might be thinking about like, Queen of causeway when they're thinking about Uganda and maybe even like some of the inner city areas. Did it look like that? Or costway?
Speaker 1 5:47
Actually, I mean, Katya is like the neighboring slum there, or maybe you're across town, one or the other. But it is very similar. Like, if you've seen that movie, I felt like I was like, that's, that's my home. You know, like, that's where I felt like, Oh, I know, I know, these these kids like, I know this student. It wasn't the same person or same area, obviously. But the environment was very similar. dirt roads, I mean shanties. If I could, that's very generous, actually.
Gregg Garner 6:17
And actually, because a school house was like a, like a singular wall, no insulation, no
Ashley Moore
insulation, just kind of words, boards. And you can see I mean, you can see sunlight coming through and all the areas and when it rained all the kids had to move to certain areas of the class
Gregg Garner 6:33
Did they have like the tin roof shingles? Yeah. So super loud, you probably could add to stop talking to and because I know Boise is in like, a flood zone, like a terrible flood zone. Yeah. When it did rain. Did you guys get water in the classroom?
Ashley Moore
Yeah. And you can actually see, you can always see like, kind of the mold line on the walls. Like whenever whenever the flood would go out, you could see, you know, a foot to two feet up. You know, they weren't able to be in class that day. And what age were the kids that you taught? I taught third grade and fifth grade. So
Gregg Garner 7:03
where did they have to wear uniforms?
Ashley Moore
They did? Yeah. Every day. Yeah.
Gregg Garner 7:07
Did you find that a lot of kids? Were wearing the same uniforms over and over again?
Ashley Moore
Oh, yeah. They had one set to if they were a little bit more. Yeah, I guess. Yeah.
Gregg Garner 7:17
Did they did they have desks?
Ashley Moore
Boards? Like,
Gregg Garner 7:22
do you know how many kids sat on one of those boards that I know exactly. You're talking? Yeah.
Ashley Moore
Yeah. Pretty much two boards stuck together? Yeah. With two legs or whatever. But yeah, it was five to seven on like, on one desk. Yeah. Which is like three to four feet.
Gregg Garner 7:36
Yeah. And did you have like an actual chalkboard? Yeah. Yeah, like straight up? Yeah. Chalk and a green board Blackboard kind of thing? Yeah. So actually, you guys can't see her. But she's totally smiling. Yeah, you can tell she's bringing it back. Yeah. About times. Yeah. And you talk for a whole semester?
Ashley Moore
I did. Yeah. They're taught mostly like ESL. So yeah, she has a second language.
Gregg Garner 7:59
I remember when you sent me a video of the kids singing man in the mirror. Yeah, that was,
Ashley Moore
that was amazing. We are practicing for speech Day, which had no speeches, and only dancing and songs and performances. But I did oh, so I guess I taught and then after school, I would stay for about an hour and do either speech day practices with my class. Or I also taught a lot of the older women in the community, like the moms or grandmothers or the kids there. I did do like an ESL class with that demographic as well.
Gregg Garner 8:29
That's pretty awesome. Yeah. I think another story that comes to mind is when you taught Satan.
Ashley Moore
I was talking to Jeff about this earlier, I was like, What's the story? I'm like, Oh my gosh, yeah, that Lucifer thing. So I ended up calling one of my students Lucifer for like the first week. And it's just because the he was longer than that. Whenever my first journal entry was required for homework, because when I found out that her name was in fact Noosa but I just you know, and Uganda the Bible, Bible names could be Lucifer could be you know, it can be Lucifer. I think just the linguistic like the her accent the accent, I think it new spa, new spa. Yeah, it's it's very soft, very real quiet, so quiet and almost like whispering and it's loud, because there's not you know, it's all the kids in one courtyard basically. Anyways, yeah. And that was really embarrassing. Like, I still cry, like I'm cringing inside the store story now. But yeah, and she ended up being my favorite student. She, I mean, she had dreams of becoming a midwife to help poor people. And I remember the her speech. You know, she did a speech that semester and just her desire to become a nurse to help pregnant women have babies to her dreams, like really much far exceeded the confines of the slums, which always gave me a lot of hope, and she ended up graduating On top of her class, wow, like she went on to secondary school and did great. So I got
Gregg Garner 10:05
the honor of visiting Ashley while she was in term. And it's actually towards the end, right? Yeah, towards the end. And one cool thing that I noticed is a, she was like the only white person that was in the entire vicinity. But when we walked the way towards the schools, and where she had even done other internships with another group of young guys called afcad that everybody knew her. And they were like saying hi to her, and she was just part of the environment. And I'm sure that initially, it was probably odd for people to see you walking. And I know for us, it's like, yeah, human beings walk. But in the developing world country to see white people walking anywhere is pretty phenomenal. And for folks, because typically they're in their land rovers, or, or whatever vehicles that are transferring right at my door to door up door to door service. Yeah. So but there's that that thing. And then the fact that also you were recognized by the United States Embassy for your work in the slum, where,
Ashley Moore
yeah, and that's funny that you bring up the contrast, because towards the end of it was right before Thanksgiving. But one of the embassy guys from the US ended up coming to our school to bring backpacks. And it was like, you know, had USA on the backpack. And it was, you know, lots of great things that was needed. And I was thankful that they could meet that need. But you know, he came in with a with his car. It was of the Land Rover type. I don't know if it was exactly maybe it was like the Toyota Land Cruiser. Yes. It was like, what's the other one? They're all over Uganda for like NGOs and government agencies. But I just remember being like, man, like, this is a contrast. Like he was there for less than an hour, you know, and met me and was really generous to me. And I got to have Thanksgiving at his home. Which Yeah, so sweet and right. But just the contrast of like, man, like, I'm getting off public transport, it cost me 200 shillings to get here. I know, the
Gregg Garner 12:09
rest of the exchange rate would be $1 to 3500 shillings. Yeah, so it's a fraction of
Ashley Moore
$1. Yeah, you know it. It took me much longer to get there, I'm sure that it would take most people that are driving private, higher. But just the contrast of like, man, you just dropped off the stuff. And like, I'm here trying to give something a little bit more, even though it was, you know, a shorter amount of time when the
Jeff Sherrod 12:33
only way you're even recognized is because you did that kind of transportation. Right? So you are able to go down the street and say everyone's like, hey, yeah, and I Yeah, and
Gregg Garner 12:41
probably that that Ambassador in the embassies, recognition of your work, is to highlight what it is that you were doing that maybe they can't do or don't have the time to do maybe
Ashley Moore
I think he felt, I think he was a little bit awestruck that I was there every day. He kept making comments like, Wow, I can't believe like your hair every day. And I'm like, yep, everyday, but Tuesday, and on Tuesday, I was serving with a different organization with widow care. And he was just like, kind of awestruck, and maybe maybe felt a little bad for me. So he bought me a Thanksgiving. I don't know. But I think he, he, I think he was awestruck of like, Wow, I can't believe you've been so consistent. I can't believe you've put yourself in this environment. And
Gregg Garner 13:27
what why do you think you were like that? Like?
Ashley Moore
I think I think God's word points us to where people don't want to look. And I think the people and why say a lot of people don't want to look there. And if they do, it's for a lot of times, like the the camera or the photo op, you know, yeah. And not to say that meeting those needs is I think anyone would welcome meeting very practical needs and dropping in dropping off supplies. But I think there was something about building relationships that I felt like I was living out scripture, in a way I hadn't before.
Gregg Garner 14:04
I've always found it. Very interesting how the Bible will highlight that when it comes to certain people in need, like the sick, those in prison, widows and orphans, the verb is to visit or to come to them. Oh, yeah. It's not to give to them. To do for them. It's to visit them to come. Like that's, that's always been such a thought provoking consideration that this is what God's word directs us towards and I'd agree with you it is. It is challenging. It's challenging to put yourself because both of you guys have been with me too like Jamaica, and and serving in like the hospice, right. And man, sitting with people who are dying for a couple of weeks is credibly challenging. Here I am those nuns who run that place. God bless. I mean, it's day in day out. But again, it's like to visit to come to them. It's those are just really important. Yeah,
Jeff Sherrod 15:12
herbs. Yeah. It's like somehow this is kind of like something I was hoping to get into a little bit today, as well as is that it's not just about taking a trip abroad, while you're a college student that changes your life. There's something about the preparation. Like, you know, you said that it was, it was God's Word in you that did something. And it changed the whole quality of your trip. And I was hoping to talk about that at some point, too. But yeah,
Ashley Moore
I mean, me taking that type of magnitude of a trip my first year, second, even second year would have just been, I would have been, I would not have been able to cope with the environment.
Gregg Garner 15:44
Thank you for bringing that up. Because often young people are like, put me in code. I want to go to the darkest of the dark and the most challenging environments. But it is God's Word that allows us to navigate darkness. It is a light to our path and a lamp to our feet and you need it when you go into those dark environments. Yeah,
Jeff Sherrod 16:05
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Nick, you're also here with us alumni of the school. Tell us what you graduated with when you graduated when you when some of the background for your trip? Yeah,
Nick Sherrod
My name is Nick Sherrod. I graduated with a Biblical Studies degree in 2012. That same year, I took a six month trip to India, I served in the capital state of Haryana, which is where Delhi is the capital of India. And primarily stayed in a
Gregg Garner 16:36
is Delhi in Haryana. So, it was in New Delhi and it's all part of NCR.
Jeff Sherrod 16:42
So, the NCR is split up between multiple states that kind Yeah, right intersect it. So, there is a little slice of Haryana that hitstun car. Yeah,
Gregg Garner 16:50
in Delhi, the capital of New Delhi is in Haryana, not Delhi, New Delhi
Jeff Sherrod 16:56
is in Delhi. New Delhi it's a it's an Old Delhi is in
Gregg Garner 17:00
Haryana. Is that what you're saying? There are part six learning something right now. So I'm super pumped.
Jeff Sherrod 17:07
Teach me part of the NCR isn't Haryana? Oh, I know city at city of Delhi is in Delhi. It's okay. Yeah, that's
Gregg Garner 17:13
right. That's what I thought. Yeah.
Speaker 2 17:15
So mainly, a lot of that northern region is where Delhi was here. The IANA capital. We primarily worked in that area. Yeah. At a commuter city outside of that called go to town, which is now called Google Grom, which is now called Google.
Jeff Sherrod 17:36
That has changed and he is famous for just changing the names of their cities. Yeah,
Gregg Garner 17:40
like, major standing cities. Yes. We're just going to change the name. Yeah, we
Jeff Sherrod 17:45
did Bombay for long enough. And now we just do Mumbai. Yeah.
Nick Sherrod
And it's not like there's just like, a few 1000 people.
Jeff Sherrod 17:53
The amount of work to change addresses. Yeah.
Nick Sherrod
Anyway, it’s a big deal. Anyways, I was able to spend six months there. I went with a great friend of mine, still great friend of mine, Nicholas Moore. We were to Nick's in India, made it made it very convenient for introductions.
Jeff Sherrod 18:13
Tell us how you introduce yourself.
Nick Sherrod
So at the time, I was not a not a big person, probably 120 pounds,
Gregg Garner 18:23
which means you blend in really well
Nick Sherrod
fit in perfect shop anyway, no, just I can. I felt very, like average there. So that was nice, Nick, little bit bigger than me. So I'm in the culture, you know, it's, it's very common to just be very free with observations of people and how they look and what they are. And to use that as a term for introduction. So I was small Nick, and he was big. That's how we went around. And it just became like, second. No one bad. And so like, did
Gregg Garner 18:57
you start introducing yourself? Yes. Little, little nick. A.
Nick Sherrod
Little Nick. Hey, yeah. Always. We got great applause from everywhere we went. Churches, NGO? Loved it. Everyone loved it. People are like, what are they running out of names over there? Send us to next. I was like, but so what
Gregg Garner 19:21
was it that you did while you were in the National Capital Region? So
Nick Sherrod
we, we had a lot going on, we partnered with different NGOs, and then also worked with a local church in the area where we would do host do Bible studies for them participate in their ministries. We worked at a rural hospital called Kabuki hospital.
Gregg Garner 19:43
And you had some pretty gosh, I don't know how to say it. There are a lot of indigent cases. I guess that's probably the way I'd put it like folks who are poor, who had no other place to go, but who had dire medical needs and needed attention. Yeah.
Nick Sherrod
So that's that's exactly what this hospital existed for. So they would do, they worked with a village that was they worked right outside of the village. And then that hospital was the option for them. And they, they really didn't have the opportunity or resources to be able to transport themselves to any other to any other place for immediate medical help. So they ran that division of it, completely hospitals, tremendous. They're doing tremendous work. They also worked with cataract surgeries for incredibly low, underprivileged people, where they bring them in and they perform free cataract surgeries for low income underprivileged. Yes, exactly. So they would drive around to the surrounding villages that were about a 50 mile radius from the hospital, do
Gregg Garner 20:52
they have like a mobile clinic or mobile surgery vehicle kind of thing. They would
Nick Sherrod
go and pick up people at different locations, they would do interviews, they would talk to family members figure out where the greatest need was, and they would bring them back to the hospital, they would do that they once a week, they would do for a certain for about a three month window, they would do the procedure there. And then it was all outpatient surgeries. So then later that day, they would drive them back. So they would do that. And then they also were a school for the local village, too. So about 150 kids from the local village also attended the place two small school, small school, packed classrooms. Yeah. But they were they were really trying to invest in that village that had a huge heart to see that their needs are taken care of as far as education and medical needs. Go, they're performing a tremendous work. So we see
Gregg Garner 21:49
you guys got to basically intern with them and experience the work of that organization. Yeah,
Nick Sherrod
so I worked on the school side, doing education ESL in the classroom, I was also able to do an eight week Guitar Lesson class with some of the older kids. That's fun. And then Nick, who at the time was working as Big Nick, who at the time was working as an EMT, was able to partner with the two doctors and was essentially doing patient surveys with them helping out with basic needs just kind of being around there assisting with them at the time. So that was our activity there.
Gregg Garner 22:24
We went to get a mix of things. Yeah, the week and that's so important on these trips that a student gets to experience a diverse amount of ministerial or service opportunities, because it enhances your awareness as to what it actually means to do education. In the developing world. What does it mean to do health care? Does it mean to do church planting or church ministry? Or yeah, or and like what Where did you guys stay? Where were your accommodations? Were they similar to Ashley's? Are they different? I mean, these are different countries and different infrastructures.
Nick Sherrod
Yeah, absolutely. So we actually stayed with a member of the church that we were working with at the time. He had a two bedroom place, and me and Nick stayed in one bedroom. He stayed in the other one. So it was just the downstairs apartment of a little community that they had. didn't have running water, running water. And what's the hot cold?
Gregg Garner 23:21
Well, picture here, you know, like, Yeah, I'm seeing an apartment. And I don't know, I'm like thinking an Indian Disney apartment for like Cheetah Girls or something. I don't know. Like, what are we? What are we talking about? What is it? So
Nick Sherrod
when we went in 2012, India had one of its coldest winters in history, it got down to like 32 degrees, which for India is very cold.
Gregg Garner 23:47
I was there to kick you guys off, man. It was cool. We were I came I brought shorts. Yeah, all kinds of things. I was like, Man, I'm putting scarf over my knee.
Nick Sherrod
So the first part of our trip. It is most most buildings. They're made out of concrete, solid wall concrete interior wall concrete floor concrete, we're on the bottom floor, there was a couple of trees that shaded it. So it felt like in the winter, we were in a frigerator because the thermal mass of the concrete of the house just never warmed up with the sun of those times. So we would, we'd be doing our best to stay warm. There was no heaters or anything like that. I was just trying to gather as much blankets as we could. In the summer. Obviously climate change drastically, it would get up to 115 120 during the day. Because we were on the bottom floor. It stayed a little bit but I would say the interior of the house was it could be 80 to 9095 degrees on the inside. And that was towards the end and getting used to climate, the climate of the region. It felt very comfortable to be in a 95 degrees. Yeah, yes. It 100% acclimate now
Gregg Garner 25:01
When y'all were there, you all ate the food of the people too, right? You weren't like shipping in Whole Foods or anything like that. No,
Ashley Moore
but I did get a butterball Turkey that the US ships in. They will they will ship in butterball turkeys to their embassy workers. Like butterball Turkey I did know but other than that definitely eating. I mean every day for lunch I went to a little canteen area called Souders and it was just a woman a mom that made her business cooking out of her home
Gregg Garner 25:31
and she made like the traditional sub like post show Oh yeah,
Ashley Moore
I have my favorite was peas and rice. But yeah, they had the had the food post show and groundnut su Motoki matoke. A Yes. Yeah. Loved it. That's awesome.
Gregg Garner 25:45
So me
Nick Sherrod
and Nick had a rule, we developed a few rules that we were on the trip, and one of them was if you crave it, do not try to find it. Because in our experience, every time we were like, man, a cheese burger, which we didn't have beef there but cheeseburger a pizza, something along those lines. If you craved it, and you tried to seek it out and find it, it was severely disappointing. Like if you didn't Yeah, like I wanted to hit that nostalgic nature of what you're missing. And then it would just it didn't ever fulfill it. So we were like if you crave it, don't get it. Eat Local, eat what they have here. Eat at the local roadside cafes or your your like dal and rice. Yes, dal and rice is essentially like, the faster that you are like, I'm in India, and I want to experience India and I want to live here and I want to have my time to be like valuable was the better like the quicker you enjoy the experience. And you became like, less like uncomfortable with the surroundings around you be
Gregg Garner 26:56
I mean, and that's part of the biblical principle that we teach when Jesus says things like, whatever is put before you Yeah, yeah, exactly. That there's there's a, I think sometimes when Jesus gives commands, we're we're looking for the rationale for the command before we implement the obedience. But I think you guys could probably testify as I can. And Jeff, you probably can't do that. For me not even understanding the significance of that, but doing it anyways, the value of things I learned on the other side of just doing what he said, whether it is like being able to experience the hospitality of people who would make things for you, whether it is a mom who's just running a little kiosk, or it's a family who's invited you over. There's something so special about giving them the freedom to bless you with what they think is the best and man I've been blessed with like goat hooves, and and like crickets, and fish heads. snakeheads chicken feet, all the good stuff I've been able to experience. But it really is. I think that's an important takeaway for anybody to know, obedience to what God says. Without the need to make sense of it. You enter into an adventurous type of learning that I think is is always beneficial. Yeah.
Jeff Sherrod 28:19
And then you just kind of see the lights go on when you obey. Yeah, no, I have a friend who I would have not had. Yeah,
Gregg Garner 28:25
like, like, I know, you were in Lucknow for a while, which is another part. It's Uttar Pradesh of India. And I know that we had our kebab places. Oh, yeah. Now because kebabs are,
Jeff Sherrod 28:35
it's like famous world famous. Yeah, generations of kebab makers.
Gregg Garner 28:39
I mean, this one go bomb maker where we went. Do you remember? Like, they hadn't even washed the kebab thing in 200 years? Like the skillet or what what was I know was cast iron was like, basically, it's like an inverted. Yeah, it looks like a bowl that's kind of turned upside down. It's been super smooth. They haven't washed it in 200 years. And I'm just like everyday making available. They're just like my, my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, you know, like Wow, I've never I don't even know if I've kept you know, a pan for longer than a decade.
Jeff Sherrod 29:11
Gnostics don’t last here.
Gregg Garner 29:13
was pretty crazy. So getting that experience for both of you in the communities and, and being a part of the people's everyday life public transportation, the same kind of housing units eating the food, I would be willing to bet that it was still your experience with the people that trumps all of that wander less that so many YouTube channels these they try to try to capture. Like, I don't know if you guys know what I'm referring to. But there's so many of these travel channels on YouTube where people are like eating the food. They're writing the the transportation, they're going to the museums and sites. But it's very rare that you see on these channels that they're hanging out with the people can you give us each of you just give us one story. Have an impactful encounter that you had with some person while you were on that trip.
Nick Sherrod
I can say for me. So I got to see the inverse of that. I firsthand there is we inverse of what so the we got to see other what I did in my six months, I ran into plenty other Westerners Yeah, that were there for that experience the YouTube experience. And pretty much every single one of them was like, man, it'd be just cool. If I had a friend. Like they were doing this experience, I think they wanted to travel to India, they want to see all sides. But then they realized that the human component of it was like a huge need for them. Now that was completely different to Nick and I's trip, because we really want it to be able to invest into the people that were there with. So the local church that we had partnered with one of the guys there, menorah, Paul, who we still work with today, blessed friend of mine, just FaceTime with them just two days ago. But upon like seeing him like, we're both the same age. And I remember the first time seeing him, he walked into a room. And I looked at him and I was like, Man, that guy is going to be one of my best friends for the rest of my life. I just felt it. Like, right, and then and for the remainder of that trip. And even you know, we're now talking 12 years later, 1012 years later. It still is still true. But the the human element of being able to partner with him to be able to join and at the time, his ministry to was everything about that trip. It wasn't the experience of India, it was beginning to connect with people that God had put in front of us, and investing into that. But that that that for sure was was the greatest paella this trip beyond just the the experience of traveling the world. If you miss that opportunity to like, see another person eye to eye to understand what they go through to join with them. And their experiences. That's understanding India, that's understanding where other people come from, how they live life, the culture, what they do like that, that was such like, a time that I'll never forget is that building that friendship, and then meeting people, all those different aspects. But yeah, that that for sure was was India for me,
Gregg Garner 32:34
The image of God is not found in anything other than the human being. Yeah. And even though there, there are so many beautiful things about India and Uganda, even things that God created, none of that creation contains his image, like the person and for you to be able to connect with a person and see God in them is a yeah, there's nothing like that. And in particularly in their context, yeah. Right. Which is a major responsibility of the missionary who is to make disciples of the nations not to change the nations or transform them into something that they're not, but to actually teach them. Jesus's teachings. And, and it is pretty awesome that 11 years later, you guys are still friends and doing ministry together. Yeah, pretty amazing. Yeah. Ashley, what are you got?
Ashley Moore
Yeah. So I think you go in, or at least I was going into a trip like that, which I was just so thankful we got the freedom to plan and propose what we were going to do for that, you know, six months of time. I found that to be really fruitful, because I think it gave me experience in the admin side of things. And you go in, so mission, so mission driven, like I'm going to have, you know, this curriculum is going to look just like this. And I'm going to be here at 4pm to do my class and all these people are going to come and I'm going to do you know, you have all these tasks that you want to do. And those are great, and I think I accomplished a lot of the things I set out to do. But then you get there and it's like, every day routine you get in a routine, you get to be there long enough to be like I'm living here, like, I have my routine. I know my schedule, which I found to kind of be like my safe place. And one of my one of my stops along the route to walking into school was a lady named Mary's. Or her name was Mary. I'm always referred to call it Mary shack because it literally was just a shack. It was, you know, five, five by five foot I feel like that's like almost maybe maybe five by six, but it was just long enough to have like an actual twin mattress in it. And she was Adobe which Dobies our clothes washer so that people drop off their clothes to her. And her whole place was just filled to the brim with clothes like dirt, other people's dirty laundry. And she had five kids I taught her to I taught her oldest daughter in fifth grade. aide. And you know, I just remember her being greeted by the biggest smile, like anytime I would come into by say and walk by her house, it was just like, just see the why of her teeth and like she just lit up like she was excited, she ended up joining my, my English class for the moms and grandmothers. And so she was in class. And it just became, I think, for me, as I learned her story, her husband had left her earlier that year, and had gone somewhere up north. And she said to work, but the way that she made it sound like was like he's not coming back. And so she was abandoned. You know, she was at that point. Functionally, like a widow at that point, and like, she doesn't have a husband in her life doesn't have these five kids to raise. And I remember this one day where I so badly, I don't know, everything just seemed to go wrong that day. And as in, you know, my time oriented culture, I was expecting, oh, everyone's all these women are going to be here, right? If right at 4pm. Today, it had already been a terrible day. And I was like, Okay, great. I've got my got my class to look forward to. And it gets to like, 430 No one's there. And I'm like, I'm, I'm just over today. I don't know. It was just it was too much. It was like towards the end of my trip. And I was like, I'm just need to get my routine. I need to go back home. I need to go back to my, you know, room, do my p90x, do my Zumba and go to bed, call it a day. But I knew I was packed up to leave. And I knew after passing Mary's house, like I knew I'd have to see her because you can't get out without passing her shot. And I knew I would see her. And she was you know, she was folding clothes. And, you know, I walked by, and I'm legit. This is my shame kind of story. Like, I'm legit trying to sneak by without her seen me. And she's like, she sees me, of course, because I'm the only white person in my site. So she sees me. And she's like, Madam Ashley, madam. Ashley, where are you going? Like, where are we not learning today? You know, and I'm like, I have a decision to make, like, I'm either going to just go home, or I'm going to like, teach. I remember having like this very much moment where I was like, man, like, am I here to serve or be served. And that was kind of the mother's really poignant moment for me where I ended up just saying, okay, like, she lived next to one, one of the other students, Carol. And so Mary and Carol, I just grabbed them both. And we're like, let's just do like a small session a day. And we ended up, you know, learning a couple things. But I don't remember what we talked about, you know, as far as like the class curriculum goes, but what we shared was just like, they were sharing their stories of heartache like it, they had come to a point where they trust me enough to like, talk about their relationships with their husbands, or, you know, Mary telling me that she struggles put food on the table for kids, like, she doesn't take a meal at night. So her kids can have a little bit more and like the she cries when they ask for more, and she can't give it you know, that that's something that like, if I hadn't stayed, if I hadn't made that decision to like, stick it out to like, you know, be be present for that moment, like I would have missed out on that connection with, you know, gosh,
Gregg Garner 38:15
what, yeah, what that did for your perspective, right? To feel like, this is a hard day, I'm at the end of my rope. This is this is too much. I'm going home. And then God puts you in a situation where now you get to hear from people whose scenarios, their lives are so incredibly challenging. It's like, it just makes whatever it was that you're you were feeling was so hard. Just kind of disappear. Yeah,
Ashley Moore
it was. It was just, it was a humbling, humbling moment where I felt like Jesus, I thought it just reminded me, you know, we love because he first loved us, like, and that's a lot to answer. You know, that's, that's a hefty call, because we see how much he loved us, you know, throughout the Gospels throughout the whole Bible. And yeah,
Gregg Garner 39:05
it really utilize, you've used to scriptures, Mark 10:45, for the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. And then out of the Epistle of John, we love because he first loved us like that that text there is, is so profound, because it doesn't allow us to give people love based upon what they've given us. Yeah. Yeah, it puts the impetus for our love, on the fact that God loves that, right. So now we love as a result of his love for us. And you having that word written on your heart. It gave you what you needed to make the right decision, which gave you a life changing moment and experience. I mean, we're talking now it's 10 years later. Yeah. And you have tears in your eyes because it was that big of a moment. How has it affected you in the day? I mean, a lots changed in 10 years. You know, you're, you're married and initially love you married big Nick
Gregg Garner 40:08
and you married him and you guys have kids, and you run a business. I mean, like, so much has changed. And when when you and you know, life is challenging, life is challenging. You've had your challenges and, and we've all had our challenges or shirtless recent few years. But like, when you reflect back on that gift that God gave you that evening with those women, how's that impact you now?
Ashley Moore
Oh my gosh, it's, it is like a, I feel like capstone of where God was rooting me. You know, I, it's one of those moments where I'm like, what will keep me going serving the Lord is like, looking back at our membrane, like I get, you know, it was like an anchor. Yeah, it's like, I get why they're hunters like Deuteronomy, like, let's remember, because that's, that, for me is like a story where I'm like, I have to remember to this. This is a marathon, not a sprint, like, I've got to keep going. Because there's still an urgency where it's like, there's a lot of Mary's in the world. Like, there's a lot of Mary's, you know, you know, in, in Uganda, in India, even some here Nashville, like, there's people that are in need, and I have to have that impetus to love like Jesus did. Yeah. And so I think being rooted in the word really helped me to make, you know, I think I think I made the right decision that day, you know, I think God was proud of me that day to say, Okay, I stuck it out. I did, I did the right thing. You know,
Gregg Garner 41:32
I'm sure he was.
Jeff Sherrod 41:34
So well said. I think one of the cool things that you guys are relating your stories is that if you're listening to this, you're like, Man, I wonder if I came to the institute where I get to experience something like this? Well, this is like part of the curriculum that we do. And we're not just saying, take one trip for six months. I mean, we the way that we do it at the institute, it's a series of trips that graduates people through this experience, starting with summer internship with Greg, I know you that you've historically led this event this year, yeah, kind of exposes people to some of the needs around the world.
Gregg Garner 42:04
And we go to both hemispheres, and you're exposed. And I think that's a good good word to use, to the diversity of ministerial efforts that one could participate in, including the demographics, youth, widows, orphans, prisoners, like it's all put out there. So that someone can always say, Yeah, I had that experience. But I think even more valuable, and you guys experienced this was how that affects your future Bible study. That's your Absolutely. When all of a sudden, you're in the most similar environment to what Jesus was in. Yeah, yeah. In talking to His disciples, it really changes the way you study the Bible. Yeah. So we often recommend that students go on the summer internship, even prior to starting their collegiate education. And if not, then the next year. And then after that, it's immersion trip.
Jeff Sherrod 42:55
Yeah. So this is this, we call this the immersion program. This is a series of two different kinds of also graduated trips as well. Each one of these is about five to seven, sometimes that immersion, too, is a little bit longer than that. Yeah. But you know, that first trip just kind of helps people to often lock down an area, but they're still observing in a more narrow focus. So maybe their focus is agriculture, or maternal health care, they're volunteering, and yes,
Gregg Garner 43:18
in the first one, they're going to implement a project. So they're, they're taking a lot of information in, but they're also serving by implementing a chicken coop, or a rooftop garden, or ESL course, like it's, it's one singular project, where in the second immersion, they're participating in a program, right? Something that is ongoing, something that does require that day to day so that when they do a deputation experience or a study abroad experience, they have both of those things in their pockets to go. Yeah, this is, this is what I'm gonna be doing while I'm there, I'm gonna build off of that, or I'm gonna continue this now, but that's, that's the essence of the programs. And I think your emphasis on the graduation of those experiences is really important. Because it can be as you both mentioned, too much just hit you all at once. Yeah,
Ashley Moore
I mean, I remember my first immersion, like, it was just, you know, my first version was five weeks in 2007. And you know, towards you know, I got two weeks and I'm like, feeling good feeling like I'm you know, with it and then, you know, I would say after at the halfway mark, I was like, Okay, what day is it? Like how many more days you know, it was it was a lot of stamina, wasn't there?
Gregg Garner 44:37
Yeah. Your your emotional reserves get tapped into and then like, the questions Yeah, questions concerning poverty, sickness, disease, death, like they just pile up. And when you don't have enough of that Biblical education, to frame how it is you're what it is you're seeing It enhances the weariness. Yeah,
Nick Sherrod
at the end of my six month trip, so we had three or four days to kind of wind it down at the end. And I took like an entire day. And I made a list of every single class I had taken at the institute. And then from that, I had taken points of everything I had been taught and how I had implemented something on my trip from that class. And I was so easily able to do it with every single class about how it translated to my experience. And at the end, I was like, this is, this is what I stood on. Like that word, that word that was planted, where, even at times, I was, like, not even just doing it just because it was in there. It was like in my heart, to be able to, like, share that in that moment. Like when I would go to talk at a small Bible study or something, I had the ability to go in and be like, ask them, like, what's the need for these, and then be able to, like, bring up a passage from that, because of the immense amount of work that I had been able to take in the years prior to that. Yeah. But yeah, after like, looking at that list, you know, just brought the tears of like, the word was, the word was that that rock that I stood on, that allowed me to like be able to be so success successful. Through my time there where I didn't like lose heart, I didn't, you know, just check out like two months in and just be like, endear the rest of the trip. Like I really felt like I thrived through it. But God was working in me. And that word was planted deep. And it was like every single there wasn't a single class. And it was like, you could have made so many points. But it was just like, every single class, I was able to pull something that was like a life giving lesson that I was able to implement on the field. And it was like it brought life and I was like, Yeah, this is there's nothing that was lacking in those times. And I remember that moment, I looked for the paper life. As a teacher, I love that testimony, I haven't been able to find it back, which is really sad. But I remember it. And it was it was such an impactful day for me just to be able to do that. And it was it was a testimony to the education I received and how it translated exactly into what we were asked to do and what I was doing. Beautiful.
Jeff Sherrod 47:24
Yeah, guys, I'm so thankful for this conversation, just your vulnerability and sharing. I know that if students and parents are out there listening and, you know, I hope that this has been inspiring for you guys listening, just know that this is still the work that we have in front of us. There's still a lot of work to do and God's looking for laborers to be able to do it. So thanks for your time. And I'll say thank you. Thanks for listening to college conversations. If you have ideas for the podcast, including topics or guests, or even just questions you might have, we would love to hear them. Contact us using the link in the show notes. Thanks and God bless