Mission DiscoveryReviews of missiondiscovery.org

Overall, I enjoyed the trip. It was very humbling to see the state at which the locals in the village we were working at lived. It reminded me how blessed I truly am and how the majority of people across the world have so much less than I do. I did not expect how much physical labor we were going to do. I love getting my hands dirty and I knew we would be working but I did not know that it was going to take up most of our time. I wished we could have engaged with the community a little bit more while we were there. Maybe making more home visits or finding ways to speak with the locals. I was also very confused why there were no translators on the trip. We definitely made it by very well but it would have been extremely helpful, especially when trying to share the Gospel vocally, to have a translator with us. Some of us knew Spanish and some of them knew English but it was still tricky to navigate that language barrier. Lastly, I wish we spent more time in corporate prayer specifically for the people in the village. I believe prayer is so essential in all aspects of life but even more so when attempting to share the Gospel with none believers. I would have liked if we could have all come together as a group more to cry out for the lost souls we were interacting with. All in all, it was still a great trip and I am glad I went.

I really enjoyed traveling with the ASSIST-JC team and the facilities we stayed in. Additionally, the contractors, families, and the Cairos team were all great. I was, however, disappointed with Mission Discovery on this one and think our hosts could have done better. Our leaders, Mike, Meg, and Drew, seemed rather clique-y and stand-offish. They hardly interacted with participants and I often felt like an inconvenience when trying to speak to them. Furthermore, I have some concerns with their logistical planning as we ran out of water at lunch and on jobsites around midday on the hottest day of the week. In addition to running out of water, there was lots of confusion about when we would be mixing concrete for floors that resulted in us mixing multiple houses' floors late into the day. I'm all for the hard work, but there was a lot of flip-flopping as to what we were doing and until when. It was frustrating. In addition to this, I was very disappointed with the house dedications. They were very impersonal and done as a whole group. MD staff has cameras in the faces of the participants and the families as we prayed and gifted them supplies - it felt like a commercial. I was told MD is working on updating their footage, but it really seemed like we were constantly being filmed and it ruined what could have been intimate moments. Consider spreading this out over longer periods of time so it doesn't feel like one group is being intruded on. I also have some authenticity concerns about evening worship. The God-Sightings were treated almost like an AA meeting, someone would introduce themselves and be met with a "Hi, so-and-so" and upon finishing they would be clapped for. God sightings are, in my opinion, not about the person sharing but about the Lord's work. Additionally, not all of us practice our faith via sing-along style, it would be nice to acknowledge that and mix it up a bit throughout the week. Much of our team shared similar frustrations throughout the week but said this was very out of the norm. I am looking forward to giving MD another shot and hopefully going back in 2027. I am glad I went and hope my future experiences are more in line with what I have heard about this group!

Our mission trip was a meaningful and spiritually enriching experience. We truly appreciated the dedication of the leaders. Their commitment and care did not go unnoticed, and we are grateful for the time spent in prayer and reflection, which helped us grow both individually and as a group. That said, there were a few challenges we encountered. While we had completed forms prior to the trip outlining our skills and areas of experience, we felt those strengths could have been better utilized. There were periods of downtime due to a lack of materials or unclear direction, which left some of us feeling underutilized. Additionally, this was the first mission I’ve participated in where we didn’t know our project assignment until we arrived. That uncertainty made it harder to prepare mentally and practically. We also would have brought our own tools due to a lack of resources at times. We recognize that this was the first time different groups were working together, and while that presented unique challenges, improved communication would have helped align expectations and tasks more efficiently. It would have also been wonderful to have more intentional time to connect with other small groups, to hear different perspectives during study time. Despite these areas for improvement, we are thankful for the opportunity to serve, worship, and reflect on God’s work. These experiences continue to shape my faith and my understanding of what it means to serve others.

The meeting and then small groups going from 7 to after 9 pm is too much, especially for a 78 year old after working 6 hours during the day.

It was okay, I wish there would’ve been morning and night devotions, I feel like there wasn’t a lot of lead Christ centered activities.

I likes a lot of things at the trip but I felt the trip was rushed. Like we had nothing to do at the beginning, then too many things to do. I loved the worship and my mission discovery leader was amazing in helping us, especially me, with questions.

bathrooms were scetchy and not private, rules were also a little excessive. worship was also very hard to follow.

It was a little confusing trying to navigate through the online "paperwork."