Adaptability is essential for a Medical Mission to a Foreign Country

The other day, I was talking to a very good lady at Starbucks who had been sent from the Sunday school, and youth group to create a “Starbucks Run” and bring back all the Frappachinos, lattes, and passion tea drinks. While we had been waiting, we got to talking about her Sunday School, and the Youth Group and how they raise money for their endeavors. I indicated that automobile wash fundraisers function quite nicely, and that I had written an e-book on the topic, and would be glad to e-mail it to her.

She said; “that could be really fantastic because our church is planning another mission to either Costa Rica, or Honduras, it will be a medical mission, to help the indigenous poor individuals.”

Then she told me a story that her church was in Honduras when there was an overthrow of the government, really they ousted the president in a military coup. They didn’t know what to do, and the group couldn’t return house for two weeks, and a State Department official helped them get out of the country. They decided to do their medical mission in Costa Rica working with some the other churches, and another group which left early and couldn’t total their mission either.

It is a good factor they had a back-up strategy, but much more importantly they had strong adaptability, and they improvised as they went. Having an itinerary along with a mission having a list of issues to do might not always work out as planned. In fact, most of the individuals I’ve talked to that go on medical missions to foreign countries explain a few of the hardships they encounter. Roads washed out, civil unrest, criminal gangs, parasites within the water, sickness, and all sorts of other calamities.

Many of these issues you may not consider big deals, but when you are within the middle of it, you either adapt or die. Therefore a strong leader leading the medical mission is very apropos. If you are thinking about going on a medical mission, and you don’t have a lot of experience traveling to Third Globe Nations, I suggest that you take leaders who’ve carried out it before, have stories to tell, and have turned crisis into opportunity on the fly. Your experiences and observations on these trips will give you memories for a lifetime, and lots of great stories to tell your children and grandchildren.