Your missions donation and the heart behind it.

“The Ultimate Mission Trip Packing Guide.” 
– tips and tricks from Praying Pelican Missions missionaries on how to be best prepared for your mission trip and how to take the pressure off of packing your suitcase for a new culture, climate and lifestyle. Our heart is to remove the anxiety and focus from timeless questions like: “How much is too much?” and give you a few tips that we’ve learned throughout the years. Ultimately, we pray that these posts would be a resource for you as you prepare for your trip. We want to provide you with a few tools that can help you as you prepare for your trip of a lifetime.

Through a missions trip there are lots of ways to give.  You are giving of your time, your finances, and your personal belongings.  Growing up I was on the receiving end of people’s donations.  My parents were young with minimal income and no family assistance.  As a new Christian (my elementary years) I would see how God used others to supply “our daily need/daily bread” during this time.  One of His most impacting gifts was my first pedal bike.  At age 7, I was desperately praying for a brand new red dirt bike as there was no way my family could afford one.  After praying all winter, my parents started us up on our summer day care.  My babysitter’s son had quite the growth spurt and outgrew most of his belongings, including his new dirt bike.  They could have “Ebay-ed it” and tried to make up some money, instead they recognized a need and acted.  They gave me the dirt bike which was red and brand new!!  This bike/donation was not only used for my growth as a Christian but in my first job. 

Years down the road God showed me greater depth to His promise of providing, it was through me giving.  Around 2009, my wife and I answered the call to missions and were preparing to move to Ireland with Youth for Christ. Fundraising was a challenge ($70,000 a year is a big goal) and we originally were leaning towards selling everything and putting it in the fundraising pot.  One Saturday morning while my wife and I were standing over all of our families possessions laid out for the big sale, God started reminding us that He had provided these things for us in the first place and could replace them.  Whether it was through family, friends, or are own jobs, ultimately God had provided the means.  In the end we ended up donating a good portion of our belongings.  From that Saturday on we started noticing others needs instead of our own wants. 

The mini van was one of many donations that we received in Ireland.

Now the idea of this blog is to give a guide, so I want to do just that in closing.  First identify what the needs are in the community that you will be serving in.  Then praying that God would show you what to give.  The next step is key, responding to what God shows you.  

Some practical items are…

• Basic care essentials (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc).  Giving these items allows the person to save up their money for bigger needs.
• Climate specific clothing (no Parkas for Puerto Rico).  
• Sun protection clothing (light long sleeve, light sweat pants/jeans, and hats).
• Giving openly, not out of excess (old underwear and worn out shoes are not ideal).

Hopefully you have caught the key part in missions donations is “where your heart is at”.  Remember God not only wants to provide our “daily bread” but to use us in providing others “their daily bread”.