“I’ll never do another mission trip.” Those were my words in 1976 after returning from my first mission trip. My new wife and I had journeyed to Guatemala with 40 other individuals. It was a mix of college age and mid twenty-ish people who had come from all over the U.S. and Canada to serve there following a devastating earthquake that level homes, schools, businesses and churches. Our work was clear: We would clear rubble, rebuild homes and lead children’s outreaches.

We lived in a tent community in the town of Chimaltenango, Guatemala not far from the capitol city. We partnered with CEPA, a group of pastors that formed after the earthquake to serve the needs of schools, resident, and churches or orphanages hit hard by the quake.

I have to say that the romantic first weeks of the trip had me thinking that I could do this for life! By week 4 of the 8 week journey I had a severe case of dysentery. So sick I went to the only available hospital to get replenished with fluids. It happened to be a maternity hospital. Funny that this place would actually become the birthplace of ideas for what I would start 15 years later called Mission Discovery (www.missiondiscovery.org).

We get lots of calls from team leaders or individuals looking for a mission experience different from their last. Some, not all, have had a previous experience with another agency that seemed much like my first experience.

Knowing that God used that trip to help form Mission Discovery Short Term Mission makes me wonder if there really are any “bad” mission trips. He is in that line of work. What the enemy means for harm God can use for good.

Now some 37 years later I help lead hundreds of individuals and teams on trips. There are three things I keep in mind as I lead these incredible servants of God with the memories still fresh of my first mission trip:

Don’t rescue them from a struggle that will prove good for them later.

Do ask them to be students, or learners on the trip. God is always talking!

Ask them to look for God around every corner, every day. (That doesn’t stop when they return home) God is never not at work!

[Maury Buchanan is President of Mission Discovery Short Term Missions based in Gallatin, TN. visit missiondiscovery.org for mission trip info. Mission Discovery works near the town of Chimaltenango today as a result of that first trip that Maury and Ann Buchanan took in 1976. See the trip details]