Let’s talk about comfort zones. We all have them. They’re like the warm blanket we wrap ourselves up in when the world gets too scary or uncertain. But what if I told you that stepping out of your comfort zone could actually be one of the best things you could do for yourself? It’s true.
By pushing ourselves to try new things and take risks, we open ourselves up to a whole world of possibilities. We become more resilient, more adaptable, and more confident in our ability to handle whatever life throws our way. And what better way to step out of your comfort zone than by serving on a medical missions trip? Imagine being immersed in a culture that’s completely different from your own, working alongside healthcare professionals to care for those in need, and challenging yourself to grow and learn in ways you never thought possible.
It’s an experience that will change you forever.
What Is A Medical Mission Trip, Anyway?
At their core, medical missions trips are about providing healthcare and other essential services to communities in need.
They are typically organized by religious or humanitarian organizations and involve sending volunteers to areas of the world where medical care is limited or nonexistent. The purpose and goals of a medical missions trip are simple: to help people who are in need and to make a positive impact on the world while saying the love and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Volunteers who participate in these trips might help with everything from basic medical care and hygiene education to more complex procedures like surgeries and dental work. They might also work on infrastructure projects like building clinics or wells.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide support and resources that will help communities become more self-sufficient and improve their overall quality of life. It’s an incredibly rewarding experience that allows volunteers to use their skills and knowledge to make a tangible difference in the world.
At Mission Partners For Christ, our goals are to provide whatever medical treatment we can at our free healthcare clinics. We also offer free education of healthcare and hygiene. We also partner with other organizations to hand out important tools like The Shoe That Grows and eyeglasses to those who are in need.
The Benefits Of Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Trying new things and taking risks can be scary, but the benefits are worth it. Stepping out of your comfort zone can lead to personal growth and development in ways you never thought possible. It can help you become more confident, more resilient, and more open-minded. And when you push yourself to try new things, you might even discover new passions or talents that you never knew you had.
Perhaps you have found yourself at a crossroads in life, and you’re unsure of the direction you can take. A medical missions trip may be able to help you with this. Through exposure to a new country, new languages, new cultures, and the work done on medical missions trips, you may find that God is leading you somewhere.
Step Out Of Your Comfort And See What God Has In Store For You!
Maybe this is the motivation you need to go back to school to become a nurse or a dentist or some other kind of medical professional. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to seek out other missions-based opportunities so that you can more fully invest your time and your talents in the mission field. It could also be a time of re-evaluating your own life and your priorities once you see how others are living their own lives and how they follow Jesus in ways you may not have considered.
How Do Medical Mission Trips Help You Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone?
Serving on a medical missions trip can be one of the most transformative experiences of your life. It’s a chance to step out of your comfort zone and embrace a completely new way of living and serving. For many volunteers, this can be both exciting and challenging. Being in a new environment, working alongside people from different cultures and backgrounds, and facing unfamiliar medical issues can be daunting. However, it’s precisely these challenges that can push you to grow and develop in ways you never thought possible.
Volunteers on medical missions trips often face obstacles like language barriers, cultural differences, and limited resources. But through these challenges, they develop resilience, empathy, and problem-solving skills that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. Many past volunteers have shared stories about stepping out of their comfort zones on medical missions trips and coming back transformed. The lessons they learned on these trips can inform the choices they make moving forward both in professional and ministerial settings.
Ultimately, serving on a medical missions trip is an opportunity to push yourself outside of your comfort zone, embrace new experiences, and make a difference in the lives of those in need.
How to Prepare For Your Upcoming Medical Mission Trip
Preparing for a medical missions trip is a crucial part of ensuring a successful and impactful experience. As you get ready to embark on this journey, there are a few things you can do to help make the most of your time serving.
First and foremost, it’s essential to do your research. This means learning as much as you can about the community you’ll be serving and understanding the culture and customs of the area. Taking the time to learn some basic phrases in the local language can also go a long way in building relationships with the people you’ll be working alongside.
Mental and physical preparation is also key. Volunteering on a medical missions trip can be both physically and emotionally demanding, so it’s important to be in good health and to take care of yourself before and during your trip. This might mean getting enough rest, staying hydrated, and eating nutritious foods. It’s also important to mentally prepare yourself for the challenges you might face, whether it’s seeing patients with severe illnesses or working in unfamiliar conditions.
Don’t forget to do an internal inventory to see if you are properly prepared to serve in this way. A previous blog post listed the type of characteristics that are important for work in medical missions. Be sure to check it out to see if you’re a good fit.
By taking the time to prepare yourself and your team for your medical missions trip, you’ll be better equipped to make a positive impact and create meaningful connections with the community you’ll be serving.
God Will Transform Your Life When You Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone!
In conclusion, the benefits of stepping out of your comfort zone and serving on a medical missions trip are numerous. By taking risks and trying new things, you’ll develop important skills like resilience, empathy, and problem-solving. Serving on a medical missions trip can also open your eyes to new cultures, ideas, and perspectives, and allow you to make a meaningful impact on the world.
If you’re considering taking the leap and embarking on a medical missions trip, I encourage you to do so. It may be challenging, but it will undoubtedly be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Whether you’re a healthcare professional or simply someone who wants to make a difference, serving on a medical missions trip is an opportunity to challenge yourself, grow, and learn. So why wait? Take the first step today and begin your journey towards making a difference in the world.
You can check out our upcoming medical mission trips here.
Katie is someone who didn’t get overwhelmed with the large need in Uganda. Instead, she made it her goal to love one person at a time.
“I have learned that I will not change the world. Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one person. So I keep stopping and loving one person at a time. Because this is my call as a Christian.” —Katie Davis
Katie Davis is a missionary and best selling author living in Jinja, Uganda. She was inspired to do work in Uganda after a life-changing three-week mission’s trip. She resides in Uganda with her 14 adopted daughters running Amazima Ministries International — an organization that cares for vulnerable children and families.
Often, people make the assumption that mission’s trips aren’t worth the time and money because of what “little impact” they have on a country as a whole. What can a few short weeks do in the grand scheme of things? We can’t cure diseases or stop them in their tracks. We can build structures, but then vanish after a few days onsite. The impact cannot be stretched long and wide in such a short time, so why bother?
But the people who don’t believe in positive results from a short-term mission’s trip are forgetting about the importance of the ONE! Changing the world for one person can then change the world for many! The “one” may be a part of the local community or a member of the mission’s team. Like Katie, what begins as a few week mission’s trip can transform into a lifetime of service.
You may not be on the ground running like Katie Davis, but you’re able to continue investing in the community from afar.
Choose a community and stay committed by…
Giving financially
Returning often
Training more people to serve on a trip
Sponsoring a family
The impact of the “one” is important. Because of you, hope is seen in the eyes of a woman who thought she would lose her child. Joy is heard in the laughter of a little one who is finally free of pain. Or, most importantly, the “one” is lead to eternal salvation through sharing the Gospel and making disciples.
These acts for the few can leave a transformational impact on the many.
Malaria is disease of the blood that is spread through infected mosquitos
Though Malaria was eliminated from the United States in the early 1950’s, it still can affect half of the world’s population. 3.2 billion people live in areas at risk of transmission in 106 countries and territories. Because it is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, one of the top killers of children, and keeps livelihoods and communities from thriving, we want to tackle it head-on by sharing researched facts about this illness and explain what YOU can do to help!
What is Malaria?
“Malaria is a disease of the blood that is caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which can be transmitted from person to person by a particular type of mosquito.” To read a detailed description about transmission, go here.
What are the symptoms:
Chills, fever, and sweating, usually occurring a few weeks after being bitten.
Pain areas:in the abdomen or muscles
Whole body:chills, fatigue, fever, night sweats, shivering, or sweating
Gastrointestinal:diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting
Also common:fast heart rate, headache, mental confusion, or pallor
It’s important for someone who has contracted this disease to receive treatment within 24 hours, though that is not always doable.
Here are a few economical reasons we should be fighting against Malaria:
Malaria-free countries have 5x greater economic growth than countries with malaria.
A 10% decrease has been associated with a .3% rise in GDP.3
Every $1 invested in malaria control in Africa returns $40 in economic growth, contributing to Africa’s prosperity and its prospects as a trading partner. (Resource)
“About 3.3 million lives have been saved because of international malaria control interventions, the World Health Organization reports, and malaria mortality rates in African children have dropped by about 54 percent. Hopeful statistics like these help validate USAID’s declaration that the war on malaria is the “greatest success story in global health. But there’s still significant work to be done.”
This graphic does a great job covering all you need to know about this deadly illness:
So what can we do?
This is the reason that Mission Partners for Christ exists; to be the church to the world through medical missions. For us, being the church means that providing access to medical treatment that we often take for granted here in the USA is a big part of that. Our hope is that some day, this deadly disease will be completely wiped out. This is an achievable goal, but we need your help to get there.
There is a lot that we can do to win the war against this disease. Things like providing access to medical treatment and professionals, preventatitives like bed nets, and education about how the illness spreads are all important factors to eradicating malaria. These are the things that we provide on our outreach trips.
Mission Partners For Christ provides education in the communities we serve all about prevention, and we provide treatment during our outreaches. This treatment is costly but necessary. If you want to make a difference and help us beat this preventable illness, please volunteering for oone of our trips or consider a donation to our organization to help support our efforts.
***Please note: to protect the evangelistic work and the Christian believers in this people group, we will not be able to share names of the people we encountered during our medical missions trip to Guinea. We will use initials. Believers live in persecution, often from their own family if they convert from Islam to Christianity. ***
God moved powerfully during our time in Guinea in February 2023. Here are just a few stories of answered prayer during our stay there.
Answered Prayer For Housing
In December, I was made aware that there was no hotel within 2 hours of community “K”. I asked God how would the Americans be comfortable? Our host said he would ask the mayor for a place for us to stay. I prayed for an indoor toilet. The team prayed and within one week I was notified that a man who owned a water company had a newly built home where he never stayed. It was available for us. It had 3 large bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with running water, electric and area for our team to relax, eat meals, worship, pray and read the Bible together. This was a modern home in the middle of nowhere!
Travel Needs Met
In June 2022, I had reached out to Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) as we had flown with them in other countries. The travel by road to community “K” would be very long and arduous for an American team. MAF assured me that they could fly us to city “L” and then we would travel 2 hours by rough road in 4WD vehicles.
On January 10, MAF Guinea informed me that they were still in the process of obtaining government permissions to fly and without it, we couldn’t travel. In addition, they stated that they could fly us to city “L” on Feb 6. However, we were informed that they could not do the return on Feb 11 as they had no pilot. We didn’t want to cut the medical outreach short, so our team prayed for government permissions and for a pilot.
On January 13, I was made aware that the government permissions were approved, and they found a pilot to fly us; this person was so committed to helping our team that he actually traveled to Guinea from Uganda for these flights!
On February 1, just days prior to our trip I was notified by MAF Guinea that their plane was grounded due to a customs issue.
On February 3 (one day before our trip), the MAF Country Director had a meeting with the Customs Director to ask for temporary flight permissions for February. MAF Guinea referred me to another airline company that mostly did flights for miners. The cost was $4995 USD for one plane each way and it could not hold our entire team. Hundreds of people started praying!
Finally, we saw our prayers answered and MAF received the temporary permission. We were the 1st passengers flying with MAF Guinea.
Our USA team arrived in Conakry airport on Feb 5 and were welcomed by leaders of immigration and customs. It was a VERY smooth process at the airport. None of our luggage was opened or inspected, which was fortunate as that could delay us.
We went to a very nice guest house for the night. Late the next morning we went back to the airport for our flight to “L” with MAF, where government leaders were waiting to greet the flight.
“L” usually only has 3 flights at their airport per month. We traveled by rough road from “L” to community “K.”
We continued to pray for MAF full approval for all future flights. They received their full approval on February 15.
An Unexpected Volunteer & Opportunities to Share the Gospel!
The American team arrived in “K” in the late afternoon on Feb 6 and our medical supplies traveled by road with pastors from our host’s church along with others to cook our meals-Victoria and Dian. Several interpreters also traveled by road from Conakry. In order to host this outreach, the Ministry of Health of Guinea required that Dr. S, one of their staff, serve alongside of us.
We were prayerful that he would not show up as a Muslim during the medical outreach. He brought with him another Muslim MD, Dr. B, and 2 Christian Guinea eye doctors traveled along with them. These doctors were very humble and a pleasure to work with. We continue to pray that Dr. S and Dr. B come to have a personal relationship with Christ.
During our first night in “K”, the spokesperson (known as the “superfect”) of the “K” people group came to our lodging to welcome our team. He was present and walking around each day during the medical outreach.
During our international flight I prayed that every person who heard the gospel would accept Christ. I asked God to heal deep religious wounds, emotional abuse, poor self-esteem, shame, and fear. I asked for healing of infections, malaria, ringworm, wounds, deafness and blindness. I stated that I stood on the word of God and His promises! I know my fellow team members and thousands of others were praying the same.
We were able to bring 84 solar audio Bibles with micro-SD cards so they could hear the gospel message in their language.
Each morning, we enjoyed Bible study, prayer and worship together. Some mornings we divided up and prayed for one other person. We enjoyed delicious meals and enjoyed fresh goat one evening.
On the morning of the medical outreach, we were short one translator for me. A man, age 55 (same age as me), came to the medical outreach for care. He was Muslim and spoke English. I “hired” Mr. D on the spot. Little did he know I would ask him to help me 4 days in a row. His wife had left him because he was poor and was now married to his uncle. I started sharing the gospel with him on the first day. He watched me pray for people that were deaf, people with large wounds, and for women that were unable to get pregnant.
Mr. D traveled long distances to serve with us and was very attentive to whatever I needed help with including packaging medication in our pharmacy. On the last day when a woman presented with complaint of unable to get pregnant, Mr. D asked me right away to pray with her. He didn’t accept Christ during our time there but stated he was open to it. He was given a New Testament Bible in his language and said he would read it. On Tuesday we served in village “M” Our host, Pastor Wilmont, shared the gospel openly via microphone prior to the start of the outreach. We treated 389 patients. One person accepted Christ, and three others were interested when they came to meet with Pastor Wilmont one-on-one. That evening, one previous convert came to our lodging. Team members Rosemary and Kim met with him along with Pastor Wilmont for a time of encouragement and prayer.
Will You Join Us?
We know that God listens to our prayers and that prayer is powerful! With that in mind, we ask that you keep believers from Guinea in prayer for continued encouragement, sustained faith, and protection from persecution.
If you would like to join us on an upcoming medical mission trip, check out our Upcoming Trips to see where we’re going next!
As many of you may know, Mission Partners For Christ is headed to Burundi this summer. We could not be more excited to go.
We had originally planned to go a few years ago, but we had to postpone the trip due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks be to God: we are now finally able to go and to serve. And we would love for YOU to join us!
To help you understand the country a little bit better, we wanted to share a little slice of information about this beautiful nation: the history, the language, the culture. Each part is a beautiful mosaic that makes up the nation of Burundi.
Ten Facts To Know About Burundi:
1. While the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa people have lived in the region for more than 500 years, the Republic of Burundi is actually very young. Burundi, originally part of the Kingdom of Rwanda and known as Ruanda-Urudi, was colonized first by Germany and then by Belgium. Burundi gained independence as a nation in 1962, and became known as The Republic of Burundi in 1966.
2. The Hutu people make up a large majority of the estimated 12,857,000 population (upwards of 80%), while the Tutsi people are a minority, making up roughly 15% of the population. Other people groups, such as Twa, Lingala, and more make up less than 5% of the population all together.
3. The Burundi flag is full of symbolism that refers back to the small nation’s origins. The two green triangles symbolize hope and optimism. The white cross and circle both stand for purity and peace. .The red panels symbolize the blood that was shed for Burundi’s independence. The three stars in the middle of the flag are representative of two things: the three major ethnic groups of Burundi (Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa) and the country’s motto, “Ubumwe, Ibikorwa, Iterambere” (“unity, work, progress”).
4. Visual arts are an important piece of Burundian culture. From decorated papyrus celebrating Burundi legends to ceramic art, introduced by Italian missionaries in the 1960s, art is a staple of Burundi life. You can see some of Burundi art, and even book a 3D virtual tour, in the first-ever Burundi art gallery, TwoFiveSeven Arts.
5. Sports have been a uniting factor for Burundians. Decades of war and poverty necessitated a common goal to bring people together, which sports and athleticism has provided. Football (soccer) is a popular sport, and Burundi has participated in The Africa Cup Of Nations tournament on several occasions. You might also recognize the name, Vénuste Niyongabo, who won Burundi’s first Olympic gold medal for the 5,000-meter race in the 1996 Olympics.
6. Burundi has two official languages, Rundi and French.
7. The official currency of Burundi is known as Burundi Franc (FBu).
8. There is no official religion, but religion does play a major role in the backdrop of Burundi life. Up to 65% of the Burundi population identifies as Roman Catholic, 15-25% identify as protestant, 2-5% identify as Muslim, and the remaining population practices indigenous faiths.
9. Due to Burundi’s turbulent history with civil war and unrest, medical care has been hindered and left inaccessible by much of the population. In 2018, Burundi was listed in the World Hunger Index as the country with the highest rates of malnutrition. The people of Burundi need access to medical care, just like the rest of the world and yet in 2015 it was estimated that 1 in 10 Burundi children died from preventable disease before the age of 5. This is why Mission Partners For Christ has prioritized Burundi as we rescheduled trips that were delayed due to the pandemic. We recognize that every person, created with love by the God we worship, deserves accessible healthcare.
10. Burundi was listed in the 2018 World Happiness Report as the least happy people in the world. This fact is heartbreaking to consider when we know that every single person who calls Burundi home is a human being who was made in the image of God. We know they deserve to live happy lives, and we hope to show at least some of them the hope that lies in Jesus Christ.
What To Expect On Our Burundi Medical Mission Trip
We will be serving in a rural location in Burundi alongside Burundian doctors and with our partner, CAPRO Calvary Ministries. We will be encouraging them in their work and assisting where able. We’ll be providing an eye care clinic and providing “The Shoe That Grows” to those in need of good footwear.
We will also be providing counseling and prayer for those who need it and sharing the gospel as the Lord opens those doors for us.
Applications are closing shortly, however if you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit to join us in Burundi, we urge you to sign up now. If you have concerns about finances, you may find this blog post encouraging. If, on the other hand, fear of the unknown is holding you back, you may find this post to be helpful.
Want to learn more about Burundi? Click here for more.
A missionary is a person who is tasked with the work of spreading the gospel. They might live in a foreign nation or they might work in their home country. A missionary can be someone who is serving on a short-term missions or someone whose entire career and ministry is built upon being in the mission field.
You will often find missionaries hard at work in the communities they serve in a variety of ways: teaching, giving aid, and helping with community development programs. But their main objective is to always ensure that the gospel of Jesus is taught so that other might know of God’s love for them.
You may have found yourself wondering, “what does the average day in the life of a missionary really look like?” Well, friends, read on and and let’s discover what an average day might look like!
Morning
Many missionaries believe that the best way to start the day is through prayer. So they get up, early in the morning, and fall to their knees before the throne of God. They often do this before breakfast to ensure that they have quality time with the Lord before the busyness of the day sets in.
Next they will eat a nutritious breakfast, often with other missionaries with whom they are serving. The most important meal of the day done, they will then turn their attention to planning out their day. Will it involve evangelism? Manual labor? Something else?
The next part of the missionary’s day depends on what sort of work they do in their community. Many will be off to teach the community’s children. Many will be off to work in health clinics offering life-saving care to others. Many will be meeting with leaders in their community to strategize new plans and developments.
Afternoon
At the mid-point of the day, the missionary will stop to take a break to eat lunch, drink water, and rest. Taking a break is crucial for the missionary. Due to the nature of the work, it would be so easy to burnout or experience fatigue if rest time were not factored into each day’s plan.
This time of rest doesn’t necessarily mean that the missionary is disengaged, however. No, the missionary will use this break time to reflect on how the day is shaping up and what remains to be done before evening falls. Lunchtime is also a great to take a moment to spend time in the Word of God and to pursue personal reflection.
After lunch and rest, the missionary is back to work! They will return to the tasks they didn’t get to finish that morning. In addition to that, they may also prepare and participate in worship services held by the believers in their community. Fellowship with other Christians is one of the most precious parts of the missionary’s day; it refreshes the soul to be able to pray and worship with other children of God and brings them back to why they became a missionary in the first place: everyone should have a chance to worship the Lord!
Finally, if time permits, the missionary may spend time ministering to those in the community who are in need of food, healthcare, or just a kind ear.
No matter what work the missionary’s hands may find to do, they do it for the glory of God and with the hope of getting to introduce others to Christ!
Evening
Finally, the evening arrives and the missionary is ready for dinner with friends and team members. Dinnertime is an excellent moment to find refreshing fellowship with others doing similar work.
Following the evening meal, it is now time to debrief with team members. They will discuss how the day went, whatever issues or challenges showed up, and how to address them. They will also acknowledge the successes of the day and give thanks to God for allowing them to be part of it. The debriefing period will likely be followed by prayer for the rest of their time in that community and for whatever challenges the next day will bring.
Finally, the day comes to a close. The missionary can now retire to their personal space. This is an excellent time for the missionary to spend some private time in prayer and in the Bible, learning whatever The Spirit may want to teach them in that moment.
Finally, the day comes to a close. The missionary can now retire to their personal space. This is an excellent time for the missionary to spend some private time in prayer and in the Bible, learning whatever The Spirit may want to teach them in that moment.
The work of a missionary is not easy, by any means. It takes dedication and a heart for service to be a missionary. But the work that they do, every day and in every country in the world is desperately needed. Missionaries don’t just bring the good news of Jesus to those who may never have heard it before, they also bring hope in the form of education, healthcare, community development, clean water, and so much more.
Are you considering a ministry as a missionary? Consider joining Mission Partners For Christ on one of our short-term medical mission trips. You will get to experience, first-hand, on what it is like to go out into the field to bring the good news of Jesus AND to be part of making their physical lives healthier and happier.
We have two trips coming up, for which you can still apply!
We will be traveling to Burundi this July 14-23, 2023. Registration will be closing soon, so don’t delay!
Later in the year, we will also be travelling to Togo November 4-13, 2023.
We need everybody! Regardless of whether or not you have experience in the medical field, we have a spot for you.
And don’t forget! If you are a dental medical student, you can apply for a scholarship to have $1000 put towards the cost of your first trip with us.
