Short-Term Mission Trips

When people think about going on a mission trip I think most of them think of the great things God will enable them to do. How they will leave a lasting impact. How they will share the Gospel and God might bring others to Himself through that. How they are going to do something life changing for someone else and the feelings they will have from those events. They are hoping to create life-long memories and build relationships.

Being a missionary for nearly the last 8 years I can tell you that some of your most impactful work will look like these pictures below. Summertime and I have a love/hate relationship 😂. I love summer, we usually have lots of visitors and that is always so fun and honestly they help breathe fresh air into life here. Hate because suddenly lots of people on social media are experts on how bad short-term mission trips are. Lots of “stay home and send the money”, “if you aren’t reaching your neighbors, don’t reach across the ocean” and on and on with those type of “eye roll” statements. But not everyone is in fact an expert on short-term missions AND not all short-term trips are created equal.

Of course missions is about the Gospel and serving and loving on the community you go to serve, but having others come and spend time with us is such a blessing to us personally and the ministry as a whole. It gives us time to connect with others from our culture, we can have conversations and use American slang or sayings without confusing others (for the most part). We can get ideas from others on areas we are “stuck” in. Having other kids and teens come and hang out with our kids and teens and them clicking like they’ve known each other for years is so, so sweet and something my kids need even if they think they don’t. I guess when you all have wanting to serve God in common it helps the clicking click and the friendships form.

I’ve learned that there’s something special about spending time with people on this side of the world…we seem to be more intentional because we know this visit isn’t forever. We build deep relationships because we know our time together is limited. We love hard because people (physically) showing up means we definitely aren’t in this alone…traveling for 25+ hours is no joke! Living and doing life together with other believers, even for a short time, is such a blessing! Without even realizing it, often times God is weaving our lives together and the “goodbyes" and "see you laters” become hard.

We have roots here. We have a thriving church where the Gospel is preached weekly, so don’t dismiss the idea of a short term trip because of a bunch of naysayers. When you visit here you can build into and help build up a mission. When you are having conversations and sharing the Gospel with others we have a solid church to connect them to. And as selfish as this may sound, we NEED visitors. Selling most of your belongings and packing what little is left and moving to a foreign country is no easy task. We miss family, friends, tacos, and southern slang 😂. We need to see support and I am not talking about dollars in the account. We’ve flown those flights multiple times, we know that it is love that causes you to do that.

Consider a short (or long) term trip! Mercy Ministries needs it, the children of Mercy Home need it, the Bys family needs it. Don’t let the chatter of the naysayers cause you to hit pause on a mission trip yet again. If you’ve been here before we feel so loved and honored that you would spend your time and money to come and be a part of what God is doing here! We love hosting families, church groups, and individuals. If you have been here before we’d love to have you again! Reach out and let’s plan a trip and serve the Lord together!