Going on a Missions Trip!
by Denise Morris on 06/27/2008 at 8:55 AM
Hello, Friends!
I haven't been blogging much lately, but I have good reason. I'm going on a missions trip tomorrow, so I've been busy at work to make sure that life at TrueU will go on without me.
Both members of the TrueU staff have the opportunity to serve others this summer. Matthew John, our assistant editor, is currently on a Campus Crusade trip in Juneau, Alaska. I'm leaving tomorrow for a two-week trip to Lima, Peru with Brio missions. I'm pretty excited.
I've never been to Lima, and I think it will be a challenging, but rewarding trip. There are more than 500 of us going (most of them high school girls!), and we'll be doing dramas, work projects and whatever else is needed of us. It'll be great to get out and serve, and I should have a good chance to practice my rusty Spanish skills.
Anyway, I would appreciate your prayers as I head out. If you're interested in staying updated on my trip to Peru and Matthew's escapades in Juneau, please check out the TrueU Adventures blog. We'll be keeping everyone informed as we serve in separate hemispheres!
1. jayme said the following at 11:30 AM on Jun 27:
ahh...you're going with Brio! I went last year -- you'll have fun!
2. Courtney said the following at 1:03 PM on Jun 27:
BRIO!!! I went with Brio to Ecuador in 2003 and Loved it! I've been wanting to go back with them as a LIT or as an adult ever since. Great memories. :-)
3. Sara said the following at 1:19 PM on Jun 27:
I wish people would plain and simple call short-term missions trips "vacations". Despite their benefits, sending the $2000 or whatever to established missionaries is almost always WAY better stewardship.
4. Melanie said the following at 3:29 PM on Jun 27:
Missions trips are an exciting thing for sure! My eyes just lately have been opened to the huge learning experience they can be as one meets a new culture and learns what it is to work with your brothers and sisters in Christ from that culture. Although it is a wonderful thing to support missionaries, there is something to be said for supporting someone who goes on a short term missions trip. The new experiences always abundant on a missions trip offer wonderful opportunities for growth as God teaches in a different setting what it is to depend and rely on Him. May God bless you and shape you as you go and may He give you eyes to see as He does.
5. Madison said the following at 5:25 PM on Jun 27:
Sara, I agree that sending the money to missionaries would be more cost effective because no airfare would be paid, but the benefits outway it all.
I have been on a 2-week trip, and a 4-week trip, and now I am convinced that the next one(?) must be at least 6-months.
A friend of mine went on the 4-week trip twice, and she is now planning on a 2-year (possibly longer) trip, which was not in her plans before the shorter ones.
Short trips are for building and growing passion for a country/people, once you experience life with the people they are part of you forever, and you can't stop loving them, even when you come home.
6. Michelle said the following at 9:29 PM on Jun 27:
WOW Denise! I pray you will have an amazing time as the Lord shines His light through you to those in Peru!! I was a Leader-in-Training on Brio's 2004 Panama trip and it was one of several pivotal moments in my life where the Lord led me undeniably in mentoring teen girls. I found that, while I had expected evangelism to be my focus, that as a LIT the Lord led me instead to be an encouragement and prayer support for our team. As I rode the plane home from Panama I prayed, "Lord, I just went halfway around the world to minister to American and Canadian teens. Show me how I can minister to young people right in my own backyard, in my own nation, in North America!" It was a prayer that I believe came right from the heart of God, because He confirmed it through a number of other specific situations too (including the call to minister to women and teen girls through retreats and conferences). Four years later, I am now serving full-time with a national Canadian women's ministry, planning retreats and conferences. God also opened doors on a national level to speak, minister through music, and lead worship for both women and girls. It's been amazing to see His hand orchestrate all the details (right down to this job opportunity opening up as I finished my final year of university, and starting full-time the day after my graduation!)
A big shout-out to Panama 2004 Team 11 from MamaDuck! :)
And Denise, I pray the Lord will expand your vision of His plan for your life and reveal Himself to you more intimately than ever before as you head to Peru to be His hands and feet!
7. Rosalie said the following at 12:56 AM on Jun 28:
Sarah does raise an interesting point. I personally feel that short term (especially super-short term ie a month or less) are probably of more benefit to the people going on them than the country they are going to or the missionaries working in the country. That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth while as they can have many positive spin-offs: helping people to grow closer to Jesus, making people more aware about other parts of the world, developing a heart for mission, becoming more aware of mission opportunities where they live, learning things that will help you on more longer term missions, to name just a few. I do think that short-termers can also be a big encouragement to long term missioners. I suspect this is less so when they go as a large team and are much less likely to get to know the missionaries. I’m sure they can also complete useful projects.
One obvious exception to what I’ve said above is when a few people with specific skills visit (especially when those skills are all available among the missionaries there) a long term mission station. It can make a huge difference and through teaching skills can also have a really long lasting impact. A very experienced surgeon I know recently visited a hospital in Zambia for a few weeks and was operating 6 days a week (most surgeons operate 1 day a week in Western countries). This particular surgeon has done a lot of paediatric (children’s) operations as well as being a very experienced general surgeon. Many complex cases were “save up” for his visit. There is a very good surgeon at the hospital normally but prior to working in Africa that doctor hadn’t done as many kids operations. This long term doctor also hurt his hand shortly before the visiting doctors came and couldn’t operate for a while so it was very much a God timing thing. An anaesthetist also visited at the same time meaning lots of operations where the patients needs to be “completely under” could be performed. This is a medical example because of that what I know but engineers, teachers, pastors, builders etc who visit for a short time but teach and help to get specific projects off the ground are also extremely valuable to long term missions.
I do think people need to be realistic about what short-term trips accomplish.
This is all my opinion and I can’t say I have peer-reviewed evidence to back this up. I’m sorry if I’ve come across as arrogant. I must admit I’ve only been on one short-term “missions type” trip myself (earlier this year I travelled by myself to Zambia and spent 3 months working at a rural mission hospital – I’m a finial year medical student). Before I went I needed to be realistic about what I would accomplish and realised that most of what I would be doing was learning. What I learned will help me when I got back again for other short term (or possibility long term which I’m praying about but as I really need to up-skill that will be a while away) trips and I was definitely more useful to the hospital in the last part of my time there.
8. Suzanne said the following at 1:24 AM on Jun 28:
Sara's got an interesting point-- short-term trips are often of more value to the team members than to those they work with. Especially when were talking about "relationship-building" teams like evangelism. But some teams are absolutely crucial to career missionaries' survival. Think about construction (and I don't necessarily mean youth groups), or medical teams, or groups that provide programs for missionaries and their kids during area conferences. As someone who's served overseas, I can say that those groups are a HUGE blessing.
Plus, short-term teams help generate interest in long-term missions, and both get people to go longer as well as give more to the career missionaries overall.
And that's always a good thing!
9. USMC Semper Fi said the following at 7:40 AM on Jun 28:
just got back from a training excersize with my unit down in Peru, pretty cool people down there. Lots ofconfusion about religion though, the Colonial Spainish made a mess of it trying to convert or kill the native population. Religion islike a convoluted mix of Earth worship and Catholisism (sp)
-Semper Fidelis
10. BDB said the following at 9:41 AM on Jun 28:
You can still blog (a little) while on a 2-week missions trip. You'd be surprised how many little Internet cafes there are in Cambodia...only 3000 Riel for one hour...
11. BDB said the following at 9:53 AM on Jun 28:
As to Sara's point, it depends on how the trip is structured. My church sends out 50-100 people to different countries each summer. The vast majority come back as changed people. They are more sensitive to poverty, including the poverty around them when they return to the U.S. It can be structured like a vacation. Out of our two weeks, we have one weekend in Siem Reap. Spending that kind of money is somewhat more palatable when you get the chance to see the main cultural attractions, such as the temple complex at Ankor Wat.
But this morning I met with the executive director of the Children's Hospital here in Siem Reap. He started coming here years ago as a doctor on short-term trips. Specialist surgeons fly in for two weeks, do a bunch of surgeries in their specialties, and then head home. In his case, after doing that for several years, he and his whole family just moved here to run the hospital. She's a doctor, too.
It's also a good way for people to learn how to survive in another culture where they don't speak the language. There's quite a bit of English spoken in Cambodia, particularly in the cities. On my first day here I had to go to three different places before they understood the term, "Coffee." I ended up with something that tasted like a latte in a bag. It was good!
We also meet up with local churches in the countries we send people to. We've spent all our time with in-country nationals as translators. They run the program we're working with. It gives them a chance to hone their English skills with native speakers - something very valuable to them. And we're out in the provices doing medical work with the children. Ít's really public health stuff, like de-worming and handing out vitamins. There is no running water in these locations. Let's just say the facilities involve scooping water out of a bucket.
If you actually interact with the culture, two weeks is long enough to confirm a call to missions. You WILL feel it if it is what God called you to do. Conversely, some people hate it and develop a really bad attitude. But lots of people are in the middle. They come back changed, and from what I've seen at my church, they are more likely to sponsor children or support missionaries in the future once they see the need first hand.
And the American missionaries we've visited with - and bought meals for - really do appreciate being able to talk with someone from home for a while, too. I have friends who are in Malaysia who'd love for me to visit them on this trip. I wish I could. "Close" for them is a five-hour plane ride!
But I love it here. I'm sure I'll be back.
12. Kirsty said the following at 2:14 PM on Jun 29:
Sara,
Sometimes going on a missions trip is about being a blessing and an encouragement to missionaries out on the field who hardly ever (if at all) see people from home. That is something that is worth more than the costs involved in getting there.
13. Emily said the following at 9:14 PM on Jul 2:
I definitely think that short term mission trips are helpful for everyone involved. One trip I was helping to lead, we were told to bring clothes to leave with the pastor there, and one of the kids brought an entire suitcase of really nice clothes to leave, not even for him to wear. His heart was changed so much in the trip.
And the most recent trip I was on was in Ecuador, and I got to visit a missionary family who was not in the capitol city and who never got visitors. They were so happy to have a couple Americans come to visit.
And alot of short term trips also have a missions training component, which is extremely useful for those who are called to longer term missions. The training I received on some trips has been invaluable!
14. Rachael said the following at 12:38 AM on Jul 3:
Re: Sara (3)'s point.
I kind-of think that way about myself and involvement in Christian activities. I'm not currently as involved in Bible studies/service as I had been, but those activities probably mostly could have been considered to be hobbies, but in general people don't call stuff like that "hobbies." Although I do think God has put a servantish passion (at least to some degree) in my heart, pretty much I was doing what I was interested in, though one thing became more of a commitment rather than constant enjoyment. We shouldn't compartmentalize obedience to God or think we're being obedient when we're not.
Re: short-term missions / ministry
Definitely experience in interacting with various populations can increase the volunteer's sensitivity and empathy. I feel my experiences with a particular ministry (in the U.S.) has definitely opened my eyes more to the people on the streets even when I'm not "doing ministry." And that's a good thing...the work God does in one's own heart is definitely an important thing...and an outpouring of that can affect others in the long-term.
15. Davonne Porter said the following at 1:00 AM on Jul 9:
I am the mom of someone who is currently on the Brio Peru trip. My 16 year old daughter Bailie has a real heart for missions. The money raised along with what she earned for this trip fades to insignifigance because of the work God has done in her life during preparation for this trip, the news we have received from her via email and most of all the eternal value we are seeing.
She has reported that many have come to know the Lord in just a few days, they have been able to meet some of the physical needs of people, that her heart has become more grateful for God's blessings and she is experiencing a new passion for a big world out there that needs Christ.
She was able to bring 100 "salvation" bracelets with her as well as some copies of the gospel of John in Spanish to pass out to the children in Peru - wow I love to think of the how God will use those materials!
I am one thankful mom to see God work on so many levels in mighty ways through the Brio missions trip to Peru.