Planning a short-term missions trip

Let’s say that you have no fear factors and you have set your heart on a missions trip. Amen! First we start with some practical tips -

Planning for the mission trip – find out about suitable trips you can join in, the timing, as well as the costs. Many of us work full time. I used to hold a full-time job in a big financial corporation until mid-2008. I worked ten-hour days and occasionally on weekends when there were special projects. I was very busy! Planning to join a mission trip became tricky because I could only take leave during certain days or certain months. I asked and tried to fit in to the schedules, as well as prayed for the right timing.

The costs - people are naturally concerned about the costs of the entire trip, including airfares, accomodation, land transport and daily meal costs. In these days of budget airlines, airfares had gone down tremendously. A return flight to a nearby country could cost as little as S$100/-. Free accomodation can be had, if you desire it and make it known. Meals are cheap in the countries we frequent.

A treasurer is usually appointed from among the team members to handle all the payments on behalf of everybody. The other trip members should be wise and not carry too much cash themselves, but instead assist to keep an eye on the treasurer (who had the most cash!).

The length of the trip – I have made trips lasting from one day (Sunday), or a weekend (two day one night from Sat to Sunday) to Indonesia. We have four or five-day trips to Cambodia, usually over a weekend (from Thurs to Monday). There are longer, seven to ten-day trips to the Philippines. Even longer, three-week trips to China. There really is a trip to ‘suit every need’, depending on the distance the place is from your home country, and how much leave you can take from your job. Some major trips are planned months ahead.

Paperwork – We sometimes assume that everybody on our team is of the same nationality, and forget to check whether the necessary paperwork such as visa application is required. Someone learnt a hard lesson about two years ago. We went to China, and Singaporeans do not need a visa. She is a Malaysian who needed a visa, and she was denied boarding at the airport. She held a ‘special promo ticket’ and the flight dates could not be extended. She had to forego the whole trip!

If you are of a ‘different’ nationality from the majority of team members, do be aware of this and make it known to the team member, or check out the visa requirements yourself ahead of time.

Travel insurance may or may not be included during the booking of the flights. Find out whether you need to take up insurance, or whether a group insurance will be taken up.

Immunization from diseases – in these days of H1N1 influenza, everyone is naturally concerned about catching nasty diseases in other countries. Do get your flu shots way ahead of time. Worried about malaria, or other mosquito-borne diseases, or diarrhoea from bad foods? If you are with a sizable mission team, a doctor is sometimes part of the team. Medical care in other countries is often ‘not as bad’ as we imagined, if you really need to check into a hospital!