Mission Possible!

5 Things to Ask Yourself Before Going on a Missions Trip

1. Are You Ready to Rough It?

Bugs... BIG ones!  No WiFi.  Cold showers.  Funky foods.  Walking endlessly.  At first glance, you may think there's no way you would survive this, coming from the land of immediate convenience (and tiny flies).   Don't let this be a hindrance or a reason not to go.  Turning off the luxuries of our country will have its benefits.  You will be able to truly experience how the majority of people outside of America live.  With prayer, (and mosquito nets) you don't have to put the QUIT in 'mosquito'.  Rest assured that if God has called you to it, He will call you through it.  

2. Are You Ready to Serve Others?

Make sure your heart is ready.  You might think you're ready to serve others until, "hey! You actually have to serve others."  Test yourself by humbling yourself.  Before you're faced with the tasks of running an orphanage for a day, see if you can perform the small tasks beforehand with a loving attitude.  Volunteer at a local homeless shelter or offer to clean someone's house who is in need of that.   And while your dream job on the mission field may be working alongside children all day, don't set expectations.  You may think you are going to do one thing yet when you get there you will be asked to do something entirely different.  Blessed are the flexible for they cannot be bent out of shape.  

3. Are You Ready To Go Anywhere?

Thailand, Peru, Costa Rica?  Mission teams are sent to these dream destinations, but what if you were called to Timbuktu?  Be honest with yourself.  Are you going on a missions trip as a travel opportunity or do you genuinely want to challenge yourself while doing God's work.  I wrestled with this one.  It's okay to want to see new places but you cannot let this become your main motive.  Not everyone is called to be the hands and feet of a ministry, willing to go out of their comfort zone.  If the desire of your heart is to see the world, God hears that.  He will use you to spread the good news of the gospel.  

"And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news" Rom. 10:15

4.  Are You Ready to Spread The Good News?

The most important part of a missions trip, the actual mission: to go out into the world, teaching a lost culture about our God that saves.  K.P. Yahannan's book, Revolution In World Missions, emphasizes the importance of this, setting your heart on fire, wanting to do anything possible to help.  Some organizations think it is enough to bring food, clothing, and aid.  The physical needs of the destitute are met for a brief period but what happens when that team leaves?  What happens when the clothes they brought  don't fit anymore, and the blankets left get lost?  The sense of hope is diminished and that community is right back to being cold, hungry, helpless.  As a missionary you are called to feed the spirit of these people.  These people need a hope in something that is not perishable.  That something is their savior, Jesus Christ (their daily bread, warmth, comfort).  

"Now go and make disciples of all the nations.  Baptizing them

in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.  Teach them to 

obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this: I am with 

you always, even to the end of the age." Matt 28:18-20

  Jesus commissioned us to do so.

5.  Are You Ready To Smile Through The Storm?

The bugs may bite, the mud may streak your face, the sun is going to beat down on you while you labor.  You may feel defeated when that indigenous person speaks in a foreign language and doesn't quite grasp the concept of your words.  You can smile knowing God is bigger than any barrier.  A hug is a hug in any culture, a smile is a smile that can uplift in any language.  Learn "God Bless You", "Jesus Loves You" in their language.  You are there to be a light in the dark, God will not let your valiant efforts be wasted.  There are countless smiles waiting to smile back!

With all of these things in mind, remember to stay in prayer, 

putting God's will before your own.  

You don't want to go anywhere without His guidance.

Where will He call you?

Follow along as He has called me
 first to Haiti, and then the Philippines this summer!

#Baggage #TravelGuide 

-Alysha M.

:)