SPACE Missions 2005 A - Trinidad

Our first student summer team is now in place. The current juniors will be travelling to Trinidad for two weeks at the end of July. They will be helping a GCC supported family who has been there for 15 or so years. The primary ministry activities will include personal evangelism, helping out with vacation Bible schools for kids, and general helping out the missionary family.
There are 3 definite leaders and the team will consist of a total of 12 people. So up to 9 students can go. There are two other leaders that will fill in if all 9 students don't sign up. Of the three definite leaders, one of them is a CpR veteran leader in his eighth year of leading small groups, MM. Another one of the leaders, JG, has been to Trinidad twice before, going on this same missions trip when he was a student.
Applications are due in one week, and then face to face interviews will be scheduled. (This year, we are starting the precedent that any overseas mission applicants will have to have a face to face interview.) The team will be decided on March 23.
The team hosted an information meeting last night. They cooked a bunch of Trinidadian food, talked about the trip for a few minutes and reviewed information packets. They also let me talk for a few minutes about my role in the ministry and about SPACE.
The team did a great job with the parents meeting last night. Parents always make for a tough crowd when you are taking their kids overseas.
Some of the questions included:
- how old are each of you leaders?
(the oldest is 30)
- is there an atomsphere of hostility from the Muslim culture there?
- are you going to fly on the cheapest airline?
I'm really excited about this trip, its got a great leader team and some great students involved. Also, this trip is the essence of SPACE missions - a group of students progressing through mission experiences as they get older (this team went to DC last year) - and a cross cultural team working with already well established GCC missionaries.
This is one of the best cross cultural experiences we can be doing within our student ministry.