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Church mission trips to Central America.
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:00 pm
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:00 pm
These seem to be the hot thing lately. People spend a few thousand bucks to travel to Honduras or Guatemala to play paddy cake with some central American orphans and post all over Facebook.
My question is this:
Unless a person has a very specific set of skills, like being a minister or a carpenter or a plumber, wouldn't it be better if you donated that 1500-2000 bucks you spent traveling directly to the orphanage rather than taking some excursion down there to "witness firsthand"? I see these pics of whole groups going down to "volunteer" their time, but lots of it winds up looking like a jungle adventure wrapped in self-righteousness. Tell me where I'm wrong. Pile on the hate.
My question is this:
Unless a person has a very specific set of skills, like being a minister or a carpenter or a plumber, wouldn't it be better if you donated that 1500-2000 bucks you spent traveling directly to the orphanage rather than taking some excursion down there to "witness firsthand"? I see these pics of whole groups going down to "volunteer" their time, but lots of it winds up looking like a jungle adventure wrapped in self-righteousness. Tell me where I'm wrong. Pile on the hate.
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Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:04 pm to wmr
I have a couple of Baptist friends who go to Guatemala every year. Husband is a surgeon. Wife is a former teacher, now a kinda sorta nurse. He performs non-stop surgeries on arrival. So yeah... you're wrong. 
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:08 pm to wmr
I think some people think about becoming missionaries or go overseas to do that type of work. It gives them a taste of how life would be.
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:09 pm to wmr
It's their money. Why so angry over how others spend their own money?
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:16 pm to wmr
I think more people need to see just how good we have it here in comparison to some other countries.
I had a coworker who just went on a mission trip to Guatemala. She went down to work with special needs students (she's an ECE assistant here) at a camp they had for about two weeks. Said it was one of the best experiences she had in her life. And feels like it helped honed her teaching methods by dealing with kids in a different culture and working with other special education teachers. While they were there they also built some water purification systems for the village and helped in the construction of a kind of community center/health clinic for them. So the village definitely benefitted from their experience there.
So yeah, I gotta disagree. I'd love to at some point travel to an area where some of the kids I work with are from just to get a feel for their culture/way of life.
I had a coworker who just went on a mission trip to Guatemala. She went down to work with special needs students (she's an ECE assistant here) at a camp they had for about two weeks. Said it was one of the best experiences she had in her life. And feels like it helped honed her teaching methods by dealing with kids in a different culture and working with other special education teachers. While they were there they also built some water purification systems for the village and helped in the construction of a kind of community center/health clinic for them. So the village definitely benefitted from their experience there.
So yeah, I gotta disagree. I'd love to at some point travel to an area where some of the kids I work with are from just to get a feel for their culture/way of life.
This post was edited on 7/27/14 at 9:18 pm
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:19 pm to wmr
I've been to Mexico, Aruba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela on missions.
I agree that sometimes the people would benefit more from a specialized trade. But most often the time is spent just socializing with the people. It's actually amazing how much weight that has in those countries.
I've done a large variety of trips ranging from construction, medical, door to door, revivals, camps for youth, VBSs, you name it.
To me, relational and service trips are by far the most beneficial in my opinion.
I agree that sometimes the people would benefit more from a specialized trade. But most often the time is spent just socializing with the people. It's actually amazing how much weight that has in those countries.
I've done a large variety of trips ranging from construction, medical, door to door, revivals, camps for youth, VBSs, you name it.
To me, relational and service trips are by far the most beneficial in my opinion.
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:26 pm to wmr
Can you link the other thread you started on this same topic a while back? Your crappy username makes it hard to google search it.
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:31 pm to wmr
Because sometimes the people going get more out of it than the kids themselves. I visited Puerto Rico on a mission trip a couple of years ago. We formed a baseball team and played against kids all over the island. We shared the gospel with them after the games. I know for sure that it had a huge impact on my life. To answer your question, most people go to see their money at work in person. Plus, no one goes just to go. There is some goal or task that they plan to achieve.
Posted on 7/27/14 at 9:49 pm to wmr
Meh, their time and their money. Who am I to tell them how to use it?
Posted on 7/27/14 at 10:23 pm to wmr
You aren't wrong
what these people need is clothing, food, shelter, and clean drinking water...not a western religion
what these people need is clothing, food, shelter, and clean drinking water...not a western religion
Posted on 7/27/14 at 10:43 pm to wmr
A better question is, how much good are missions doing for the people in these countries? Are they keeping kids from becoming MS-13 gang members, only to resurface inside our borders to wreak havoc?? Many Latin American countries never seem to make any progress, and that's why I'm asking.
Posted on 7/27/14 at 11:50 pm to wmr
I sort of see what you are saying. But I doubt the people going are having a negative effect on the people they are visiting. If it is slightly self-centered I have no problem with that. It would be unreasonable to expect completely altruistic behavior.
Posted on 7/28/14 at 12:29 am to wmr
Well someone needs to do it cause I'm not goin down to those Latin American shite holes... I'll just stick with giving clothes and shoes to poor kids in the Memphis ghetto and Mississippi Delta.
Posted on 7/28/14 at 12:35 am to wmr
Have you ever gone on one of these trips? Probably not. Which means you have no idea what it's like. So you don't know what you're even talking about. You're making judgements based on what you saw from pictures which most the time are taken the last day when they're saying goodbyes to the people they helped and don't include a lot of the work they actually did.
Our church recently had two trips to Honduras and Guatemala (which I have never been able to go on) and on each trip half the group played with kids and did VBS type stuff (which I assume you're putting in the patty cake with orphans category) and the other half made mortar, put up bricks, built a set of stairs to the second floor of the orphanage, did some roofing and some other things that have slipped my mind at the moment. Yet the things I saw about the trip on Facebook were pictures of the people they worked with and of them "playing patty cake with orphans". So maybe you should actually find out about what they did on the trip rather than make assumptions based on what you see on Facebook.
Our church recently had two trips to Honduras and Guatemala (which I have never been able to go on) and on each trip half the group played with kids and did VBS type stuff (which I assume you're putting in the patty cake with orphans category) and the other half made mortar, put up bricks, built a set of stairs to the second floor of the orphanage, did some roofing and some other things that have slipped my mind at the moment. Yet the things I saw about the trip on Facebook were pictures of the people they worked with and of them "playing patty cake with orphans". So maybe you should actually find out about what they did on the trip rather than make assumptions based on what you see on Facebook.
This post was edited on 7/28/14 at 12:41 am
Posted on 7/28/14 at 1:22 am to wmr
Had a friend who went to Baja just a few weeks ago they took regular volunteers, doctors, dentist,optometrist,minsters gave free healthcare to the locals.
Posted on 7/28/14 at 8:16 am to wmr
I went on one in high school. The church paid for it all for the most part. We helped run water from a well to a village in Honduras. It was pretty fun and rewarding, but my buddy and I got sent home 2 days early for sneaking out at night to party with the locals.
Posted on 7/28/14 at 10:47 am to wmr
Business customer friend of mine just got back from a 3 week vacation in kenya. He spent 1 week doing volunteer work with a church group and the other 2 weeks looking at wild animals etc.
Alex has no particular skills but he spent his time painting a new school and helping build a water line. he also signed up to sponsor an orphan for a year at a local church run boarding school.
Alex has no particular skills but he spent his time painting a new school and helping build a water line. he also signed up to sponsor an orphan for a year at a local church run boarding school.
This post was edited on 7/28/14 at 10:50 am
Posted on 7/28/14 at 12:28 pm to wmr
Some people probably do it for the self righteous satisfaction.
Most people however, do it just because it's a good thing to do.
Either way they are doing something good. Also there seems to always be a small number of people in every group that gives everyone in that group a bad name.
Most people however, do it just because it's a good thing to do.
Either way they are doing something good. Also there seems to always be a small number of people in every group that gives everyone in that group a bad name.
Posted on 7/28/14 at 2:05 pm to wmr
Don't hold modern Christians to any sort of standard. They really, really hate that. 
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