by Roving Reporter Marcia M.
I recently got together with Rebecca Matsch, our Wesley Foundation Intern. She was assigned an internship about 2 months ago to PB UMC for 9 months. That would mean she’d be leaving us in May, but the assignment is open, so she hopefully will be with us longer. She told me the Wesley Foundation, a UMC campus ministry, has been around for a long time. In the past, they had folks who worked on college campuses, but recently they’ve done a revival to get young adults involved in church. As an example, Rebecca is one of 3 Wesley Foundation interns in San Diego.
Rebecca met Pastor Bob last summer at church camp. She told me, “We discovered, Bob and I are on the same page. We share the need for community outreach and try to be the best neighbors we can be. We agreed, it is important to show love. Bob recommended that I apply for the upcoming internship so I could work with my feelings about community outreach. I realized he was right and when I did, I applied for internship at PB UMC. He does not direct my activities, but we get together once a week to discuss my goals, which he totally supports.”
Rebecca’s goal is to explore how PB UMC can be a great neighbor by bridging the secular/sacred community gaps. “I am trying to create projects to reach out and show our love. My first project is to start a garden, on church property, to grow food for our Wednesday Project Grace community dinners. I hope we can get dinner attendees to take care of the garden. We know, God gave us this land to take care of. I also am working with Pastor Bob on arranging community classes to reach outside the church. We are working on ways for these classes to bridge the secular/sacred community gap.”
Rebecca is a freshman at Point Loma Nazarene University, a private Christian College. She is majoring in social work. “I want to be a social worker after graduation. I’m going to work with kids, specifically in child protective services. I love kids. Put a baby in my arms and I am happy. I also like to work with people with special needs, and may also continue that after graduation.”
Rebecca commutes from her family home in Point Loma, where she has lived all her life with her family. It is only 2 miles from school. She told me the reason she lives at home instead of on campus is related to owning an automobile. “If you live on campus you can’t have a car. I need a car as I have several jobs that require that I can drive. So, I live at home.”
I enjoyed getting to know Rebecca and became fascinated with what she is doing at PB UMC. I wish her the best of luck and am looking forward to seeing how her projects work out.
