~ Front Desk ~ Introduction: Preparing and Orienting

Especially for the Team Leader…

Review this Website

MEH requires that team leaders review the team information on this website, and pass on relevant information to team members in orientation meetings.  Please review and share the information off the website, especially from the page: Preparing and Orienting your Mission Team.  Remember, some of your team members don’t have easy internet access.

Acquiring Passports and Immunizations

Don’t forget that each team member should be working on getting both passports and immunizations as soon as possible.  Both of these can involve a long process, and can involve a significant cost to team members.

Accident Insurance

Each team member is adviseded to purchase short-term Travel Insurance that is usually available through ones Travel Agent. It covers the cost of medical evacuations, medical injuries, and life insurance coverage. No team member should go on a mission trip without it.

Passport Copies

Two complete copies should be made of each team member’s passport.  Have each team member carry one copy of their passport separately from the original passport (like tucked in a piece of luggage), and the team leader should carry the other copy of everyone’s passports—in their carry-on.

Alcohol and Smoking Policy

It is better to clearly inform team members sooner than later about the Honduras MEH policy of no smoking or drinking alcohol at any time during the mission team’s stay in Honduras.  Please remind each team member that ANY alcohol use or cigarette-smoking by any team member at ANY time during your stay in Honduras damages the church's reputation in the communities in a very real way, and is strictly prohibited.  Drinking alcohol and smoking, even in moderation, are not Christian activities in Honduras.  This is a cultural reality in Honduras, and MEH teams must take this reality seriously.   

If a team member cannot follow this rule, he or she should not participate in the mission to Honduras. 

Team leaders should decide if they will extend this rule to the travel times to and from Honduras, to the team’s conduct in airports. 

Roles for Team Members

Assign specific roles and jobs to individual team members on the mission team.  Here are some team roles that have worked well in the past:

§         Team medical advisor.  Someone who is prepared to give first aid during the trip.  She or he should create and carry the team’s first aid kit, remind team to take malaria prophylaxis, to drink water, use sunblock, etc.

§         Daily devotional leader. Or someone to organize a schedule so that different team members lead daily devotionals.

§         Luggage coordinator.  Knows total number of checked bags, carries all claim check tickets, creates and carries general inventory list of bags.

§         Other roles include: Money-Manager or Treasurer, T-shirt acquirer (see section on team t-shirts below), Team photographer, Team journal-keeper, Air-travel coordinator, Donations coordinator (includes gathering used suitcases to pack donated items in, and the actual packing of the donations).

Used Luggage for Donations

Take advantage of all the luggage your group can check when you travel to Honduras.  Each team member can check two pieces of luggage.  Most teams designate one piece for the team member’s personal luggage, and one piece for donation items.  Often teams use second-hand luggage from Goodwill or donated luggage from friends to carry donations.  This makes the transfer easier.

(Note: a few teams have required that team members use just their carry-on for personal luggage. Then two pieces of luggage are available for donations!  Reports are that this method is challenging, but a valuable exercise in “going simply”.) 

 This website has a list of possible donation items that would be put to good use in Honduras .

Practice Spanish

The experience of each team member will be enriched by even a minimal knowledge of Spanish.  We encourage each person to explore ways to learn, or review, some basic Spanish before you leave for Honduras . 

§         On this website, you can find a list of some Spanish Words and Phrases.  Go over the pronunciation of this list with someone who knows Spanish.

§         Please actively recruit Spanish speakers to be team members.  The more Spanish-speakers on a team, the more opportunity for deeper connections with your Honduran brothers and sisters. 

§         Remind all on the team that translation is a difficult, tiring job.  The fewer total translators on the team, the more exhausted the translator.

§         Finally, when you are in Honduras, boldly use all the Spanish words and phrases you have!  Have fun with it!  Your trying to connect in this way is greatly appreciated by the local people.

Team T-Shirts

Consider creating a team t-shirt that you can wear on your trip to Honduras.  It is not absolutely necessary, but does help make team members easily recognizable as you move through airports, and helps make going through customs in Honduras quicker and easier. 

§         Choose shirts that are 100% cotton so that they are cooler to wear in the Honduras heat. 

§         Consider using Spanish for all wording on the t-shirt, in recognition of those you are serving.  If you are planning to leave shirts behind as tokens of appreciation for pastors, translators, and local congregations members who work with you, all the more reason to use Spanish.

§         Like all donations, please give all extra team shirts to the coordinator team leader to be distributed.  It is possible that construction workers who aren’t known well by the coordinator will not receive a t-shirt.

Communications Expectations

§         Don’t expect to phone home or e-mail.  Best to tell the family of team members left behind in the US/Canada that team members will not be able to communicate with them while in Honduras.  It just is not possible sometimes.  Some sites do not have phones.  Even though some sites have internet cafes nearby, and they are often very slow, and a team’s free time is limited.  If family is not expecting to hear from the team, then it will be an extra treat if it does happen.

§         In case of emergency, the MEH coordinators will be able to contact both the team and the team’s US/Canada emergency contacts from the team’s data form.  The team leader will receive the phone numbers of the MEH coordinator and local pastors in the weeks before the arrival date.

§         If a team wants to send word to family members after they arrive in Honduras, announcing their safe arrival, it is much appreciated if the team leader plans ahead before the team departs from the US/Canada.  Ask one person who will be checking email in the US if they will receive a short email from the MEH coordinator, then forward it on to a list of email addresses of family members.  Before leaving the US/Canada, the team member should send an email to the MEH coordinator with the email address of this one contact in the US/Canada.  Remember, if the MEH coordinator is with the team for a few days, the e-mail won’t be sent to the US/Canada for several days.

Leadership

§         Please encourage less emphasis on the tasks, and more emphasis on relationships with locals.  It is always helpful to reiterate with team members that the actual construction work may be the task of the group, but is not the most important reason a team is in Honduras.  It is tempting for North Americans to forget the importance of relating, of listening, of taking opportunities to show the love of Christ , because the task gets in the way. 

§         The team leaders who model flexibility generally have the most flexible, easy-going teams.  (This is true for many team characteristics, not just flexibility.)  Practice recognizing that an unexpected (potentially frustrating) pause in the work is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work—in a conversation, in spontaneous playing or singing fun songs.  Unexpected pauses are a great opportunity to have a conversation with a local person.  The teams that connect with Hondurans are the ones remembered most fondly—not the team who laid the most bricks.

updated Feb. 2005