Article submitted by Gary Wadding, MVI Missions Coordinator
On our MV mission trip: can we? will we? do we have to? can I bring my? Huh? Huh?
People going on their first-ever mission trip certainly do ask a lot of questions. That’s fine, and it’s why the MVI staff make themselves available to help with planning for your mission trip. MVI has a large number of training resources available for those heading out on a mission trip, and devotes considerable effort toward preparing your team for all they will experience during their journey into a foreign country for the Lord.
Additionally, MVI holds a team leader training course to help the team leader understand what to expect on the trip, and how to work in cooperation with MVI’s overall design for mission teams. This free training is offered three times each year, on a Saturday at the MVI offices in Orlando from 9am – 4pm, with lunch provided. The team leader goes home with a much better understanding of what to expect. Materials for every team member are sent home too, so as to eliminate as much misunderstanding as possible. Flexibility is the key to any successful team trip, but nevertheless, it is also important to plan as well as possible, and train every team member.
Part of the MVI team leader training involves cross-cultural role playing. The group will practice encountering people with potentially different traditions, values and customs. Although the leaders are great folks, they always discover how many misconceptions we all have about visiting people from another culture. By the end of the role-playing they realize just how much they need to prepare their heart and mind for the trip.
Besides all the training and preparation, MVI (Field Coordinator) missionaries will meet your team when they land, and the trip will be very well planned out by a person with extensive experience in the country to which you travel. The MVI missionary will contribute significantly to the success of the mission trip. He/she not only knows the people you will work with, and the areas you will visit; but also has experience working with short-term teams, making sure that each person has the most meaningful trip possible.
Preparation, planning and experience makes your Missionary Ventures trip one of the most rewarding and impacting things you will ever do. Move forward with confidence as your mission dreams become reality with MVI. Please give a phone call to Amber Russelburg to discuss fulfilling your dreams. She can help you plug into an existing trip, or help create a very specific trip for you and your group. We are here for you.