Be Healthy and Stay Safe in the Mission Field

Mission Highlight: Health & Safety

In our previous Mission Highlights, we shared how we serve short-term mission volunteers through Resources and Training, as well as the variety of Opportunities that we offer to them. But once a team is out in the mission field, what can our organization do to keep them healthy, safe, or protect them should an accident occur? Read on to find out!

Health & Safety Training Resources Accidents happen. Or sometimes, maybe someone becomes too sick to safely work while serving. While we pray that this isn't the case for your team, we want our team leaders to be fully prepared when leading a mission journey. Our Team Leader Handbook is designed to guide you on the many things to consider when traveling for missions, and that includes how to be safe and maintain healthy team members. We'll help you think through questions like: Is the water safe to drink or should it be treated? Does the project host have access to medications if they are needed? Are there mosquito-born illnesses that your team should take extra precautions to prevent? What worksite safety standards are in place, and what do you do if you think your team is in hazardous work conditions?

Of course, our Handbook is what we use for our in-person Team Leader Training course as well; the added benefit of sharing experiences with seasoned volunteers is one of the most valuable ways to gain insight into this important aspect of mission travel. Learn more about Team Leader Training by clicking here.  Bonus: The Appendix of our Handbook is filled with First Aid Kit checklists, a team leader timeline guide, personal and team packing lists, and more to make sure your team is prepared to serve away from home.

Medical and Travel Insurance  Each week, our staff meets to pray for our teams and volunteers who are in the field. Among the many things we pray for are the health and safety of those who are serving. Serious accidents and illnesses are a rare occurrence, but when they do happen, we have a comprehensive and affordable insurance program that is available to virtually every volunteer who travels for mission purposes--and no, you don't have to be affiliated with the UMC to access this insurance! Taking advantage of the UMVIM, SEJ supplemental health insurance programis one of the most prudent decisions a team can make for themselves. While all UMVIM projects are safe, working on the mission field can carry with it some inherent risks. Not only does it ensure medical care should the need arise, but it also covers things like emergency reunions, trip interruption, and even loss of baggage. Click here to learn more about how our insurance offerings eases the minds of volunteers and their families!

We are committed to our volunteers through every aspect of their mission journeys. Continue to stay in touch with us this year to learn how UMVIM, SEJ is here to connect you into mission opportunities across globe and equip you for service. Click here if you are not already receiving our Weekly Updates, Mission Highlights, and more.

{Mission Highlight} Opportunities

In 2016, Our Mission Highlights will focus internally, on what UMVIM, SEJ does to serve the short-term mission community within the United Methodist Church. Join us this year as we focus on the ways we equip teams and their leaders through Resources, Trainings, Mission Opportunities, Healthy & Safety education, and Relationship-building.

In our previous Mission Highlights, we told you how we serve short-term mission volunteers through Resources and Training. The next step is to find the Mission Opportunity that fits your group's interest and abilities. We work with projects across the United Methodist connection so teams can serve where and how they are being called. These opportunities range from healthcare and education, disaster response and recovery, construction and home repair, and everything in between. Read on to find out more.

Mission Opportunities Lists UMVIM, SEJ maintains the International Mission Opportunity List, and all projects on the Internationaland Domestic Lists are developed with the leadership in the regions or country in which they are located. UMVIM helps connect volunteers with project leaders to assist with the resources and skills to see projects to completion. If you're not sure whichMission Opportunity is right for your short-term mission journey, we are here to help. (Check out our Mission Highlight on Resources to learn more about how our staff is available to assist you in every aspect of short-term service!)

Medical Missions Medical-based mission trips make up a large percentage of the UMVIM effort. Doctors, nurses, dentists, and others from the medical field take their expertise to underserved areas across the globe to provide quality medical care. If you are a healthcare provider and would like more information on how you can volunteer your time and services, check out the Medical Missions page on our GO! tab for more information. Our Medical Missions blog, run by UMVIM board member Jane Dunn, is a wonderful source of information.

Disaster Response UMVIM, SEJ works with UMCOR and Conference Disaster Response Coordinators to communicate the need for volunteer teams to disaster-affected areas. A generous UMCOR grant has allowed us to bring a Disaster Response Liaison onto our staff to further our ability to connect volunteers to the appropriate response. Click here to head over to the UMVIM, SEJ Disaster Response page, where you will find opportunities all around the Jurisdiction, and contact information for your conference's Disaster Response Coordinator.

Youth and Young Adults Today's young people are tomorrow's leaders, and we are intentional about providing opportunities to the Next Generation of the United Methodist Church. In 2013 we launched a Summer Internship Program where the brightest of the SEJ youth are able to serve in local and international placements. It can be challenging for youth leaders to find appropriate opportunities that develop both disciples and leaders, so we have developed a Mission Opportunity List that is geared to youth-appropriate mission opportunities. Click here to check it out.

You don't have to look far to see the wide variety of ways UMVIM, SEJ provides opportunities for you to serve. Continue to stay in touch with us this year to learn how UMVIM, SEJ is here to connect you into mission opportunities across globe and equip you for service. Click here if you are not already receiving our Weekly Updates, Mission Highlights, and more.

{Mission Highlight} Training

In 2016, Our Mission Highlights will focus internally, on what UMVIM, SEJ does to serve the short-term mission community within the United Methodist Church. Join us this year as we focus on the ways we equip teams and their leaders through Resources, Trainings, Mission Opportunities, Healthy & Safety education, and Relationship-building.  In our last Mission Highlight, we told you how we serve short-term mission volunteers through the Resources we provide. The next step is for each team leader to be trained on what it means to truly engage in Christian missions. It's easy to hop on a plane, unload at a project and work passionately for a few days, then go back home. But that's not what we're about at UMVIM.  UMVIM, SEJ believes in effective Christian service, which we feel is first achieved through training team leaders on how to equip themselves and their team to make the most of their mission journey. UMVIM, SEJ has written a handbook based on our 40+ years of experience in the short-term mission field, so that you, as the team leader, can lead a mission journey that benefits both your team and those whom you are serving. We hope this handbook will be an integral part of your pre-trip team training, a go-to resource while you are in the field, and an asset as you return home. We have structured this handbook around the process of forming, training, and sending a team, though it still does not replace the in-person training coordinated through your annual conference or the UMVIM, SEJ office. A few travel essentials: your passport, the Bible, a camera...and the UMVIM Team Leader Handbook! Every conference in the SEJ has UMVIM-certified trainers who lead training courses throughout the year to educate volunteer leaders, using our handbook as their guide. These trainings also allow new and seasoned leaders to learn from one another; sharing experiences and best practices with our fellow volunteers is an important part of growing and learning.  Through our Team Leader Handbook and the structured Team Leader Training course we developed, we exist to guide you through the practical, relational, and spiritual aspects of leading your team into the short-term mission field.  Disaster Response Training UMVIM, SEJ works in partnership with UMCOR to plan and facilitate the annual SEJ Disaster Academy. These academies are designed to train those who are interested in serving in the wake of a disaster. Our academies are held in late February/early March every year. As information comes out each fall, we will keep you posted on social media and our Weekly Updates. Additionally, UMVIM, SEJ staff member Gray Miller serves as our Disaster Response Liaison, and you will soon be finding her across the Jurisdiction as she trains Early Response Teams.  We're just getting started in 2016! Stay in touch with us this year to learn how UMVIM, SEJ is here to be your best resource in the short-term mission field. Click here if you are not already receiving our Weekly Updates, Mission Highlights, and more.

{Mission Highlight} Resources

Mission Highlight: Resources In 2016, Our Mission Highlights will focus internally, on what UMVIM, SEJ does to serve the short-term mission community within the United Methodist Church. Join us this year as we focus on the ways we equip teams and their leaders through Resources, Trainings, Mission Opportunities, Healthy & Safety education, and Relationship-building.   So You Want to Serve? We've all been there. If you're reading this, then you have found yourself on our website, blog, or email list because God has stirred that missional part of your heart. You want to be giving of your time and abilities to serve your God and His people. You know you want to serve, but maybe you don't know whereto start? We're the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission of the Southeastern Jurisdiction, and we're here to help you through every part of what it means to be a short-term missionary. Our Staff Every member of the UMVIM, SEJ staff is in place because we share a passion for Christian service. Each of us has served domestically and abroad in many capacities, and our personal expertise is the first thing we offer to short-term mission teams and their leaders. No question or concern in too small, and our favorite part of our jobs is to take the time to walk you through whatever you need to know. Our names are Paulette, Landon, Gray, Leslie, and Malinda, and you can read more about each of us by clicking here. Don't hesitate to reach out!  Our Website Two years ago, we completely overhauled our website with the goal of being a better resource to the UMC short-term mission community. There you will find a general Safe Sanctuary Policy, travel advice, and pretty much everything in between. We are always adding new resources that we feel could be valuable to you as you embark on your mission journey. Click over to our website, and specifically the Resources & Publications tab, to get an idea of everything we have to offer.  Social Media Our social media strategy is simple: to keep you in the loop on all things UMVIM. We update Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, You Tube, and our blog with any bits of information we hope can be useful to you. Interacting with the UMVIM community on social media is a lot of fun for us and a great way to help us spread the word, so please comment, like, double tap, retweet, and share away! Don't forget to use the hashtag #UMVIM to share your short-term volunteer experience with us all, because sometimes, the best resource for others is YOU. We're just getting started in 2016! Stay in touch with us this year to learn how UMVIM, SEJ is here to be your best resource in the short-term mission field. Click here if you are not already receiving our Weekly Updates, Mission Highlights, and more.

Eric & Liz Soard: Building Meaningful Relationships in Tanzania

In 2015, we are highlighting UMC missionaries who have been commissioned from the Southeastern Jurisdiction to serve around the world. Many of these missionaries accept volunteers to help with the important and necessary ministries they have established or are in partnership with. Contact UMVIM, SEJ for more information on how to serve!   Building Meaningful Relationships in Tanzania Eric and Elizabeth Soard are a young couple on the forefront of the United Methodist effort in Africa. Together since college at Lambuth University, they felt a calling to Africa, and began their time on the continent as volunteers in a country that would eventually become their second home: Tanzania. Presently, they are commissioned UMC Missionaries in the Lake Zone near Lake Victoria, where they are church planters and discipleship trainers. Along for the journey are their 3 sons, Derrick, Kaleb, and Micah. The Local Community The Soards have many roles and responsibilities in the Lake Zone, including laying the foundation for the first UMC University in Tanzania. For the last three years, they have concentrated their efforts on building up the local church body, and have established 10 new churches so far. "Our focus is on building the local community of Christ, to mobilize them to engage with each other and the community around them" says Eric. "We want them to be able to the answer the questions, 'Would your community notice if you weren't here?' and furthermore, 'Would your church members miss this part of their lives if you weren't here?'" Through intentional discipleship and leadership training, the Soards are ultimately leading these congregations to be self-leading, self-replicating, and self-sustaining. UMVIM Teams and Building Relationships While the Lord has equipped the Soards for their work in Tanzania, they cannot do it alone. The churches belong to the local congregations, but UMVIM teams are needed to help where they lack the resources to cross the finish line. Over the last couple years, they have asked the members of their local congregations what they would consider the most valuable part of having volunteers serving alongside them. They answered, "knowing people are praying for us, taking the time to offer their knowledge to us, and building relationships with us." A mission journey to Tanzania with the Soards might be filled with bumpy roads and a lot of dust, but it serves as the background to the warmth and hospitality you will experience while there. So many teams opt to stay in the comfortable cities and more developed areas of the country, but the extra effort you spend getting to this part of Tanzania will be rewarded with meeting the wonderful people, sharing meals with them, and being given the opportunity to sit down and talk to them about the place they call home. "The work is important," says Eric, "but it's secondary to the relationships."

Earlier this summer, UMVIM, SEJ Executive Director Paulette West traveled to Tanzania to personally visit with the Soards to become more familiar with their mission, and to help establish sister-to-sister church partnerships here in the SEJ. (Click the video above for a recap of her time there!) If you are interested in learning more about serving short-term in Tanzania, or what a meaningful partnership with the Soards could look like for your church, please contact Paulette West at paulette_west@umvim.org or Eric Soard atsoard.eric@gmail.com. You can also follow the Soards' journey on their blog, ingodslife.blogspot.com.

Jamie & Lisa Williams: Educating and Empowering the People of Belize

In 2015, we will be highlighting UMC missionaries who have been commissioned from the Southeastern Jurisdiction to serve around the world. Many of these missionaries accept volunteers to help with the important and necessary ministries they have established or are in partnership with. Contact UMVIM, SEJ for more information on how to serve!

Meet Lisa and Jamie Williams of the Kentucky Conference. Their story began as college freshman, when they knew on their first date that they were called to be in international mission service together. Their vision was cultivated over the years by prayer, dreaming, and preparation, and they are now serving in Belize as commissioned United Methodist missionaries.   The Williams began serving as short-term UMVIM team leaders while Jamie was serving as an elder in the Kentucky Conference. When their youngest child went to college, they became Individual Volunteers through UMVIM for a year and a half. "We appreciate the care of Mrs. Paulette West and Mrs. Una Jones, along with many others, who made sure we had successful training and ministry. It helped us to discern our calling into what became a full-time mission appointment with Global Ministries," recalls Lisa.

Jamie, or "PJ" as the kids call him, (short for Pastor Jamie), is the "presbyter" of the Corozal Methodist Circuit. He has three churches, and serves as chaplain for two primary schools with more than 700 children in attendance! His hope and prayer is to train new clergy and lay preachers within the Corozal Circuit, as there are very few new people coming into the ministry in Belize.Lisa is a veterinarian by trade, but staying true to her call to missions, she is now the UMVIM Team Coordinator for Belize. Her role is to work with and get to know the needs of the locals, and then place teams into the types of service where they can be best utilized. She also meets with local village children to have Sunday School on Saturday mornings, and facilitates a weekly women's Bible Study.

Education for All

The Williams' biggest project, which began in the spring of 2012, is the building of a new high school in the capital city of Belmopan. Belize has a very young population, yet only enough schools to accommodate about half of its youth.
 

The Belmopan Methodist High School has received over 40 UMVIM teams since breaking ground, and half of the project is already completed. There are 180 freshman and sophomores in attendance at this time! The student body will expand each year as the building continues in the construction process, eventually encompassing all senior high grade levels. 

"Worth Every Hard Moment"

The Williams are constantly faced with a lack of resources, and understandably, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. "The joy of seeing children being educated and learn about Jesus, watching UMVIM teams make a real difference and observing their experiences, along with parishioners so happy to receive even the smallest token of pastoral care...it makes the uncertainties of mission service worth every hard moment," say the Williams. 

Will You Answer the Call? Do you feel called to lead an UMVIM team to Belize to serve alongside the Williams? They have many congregations and schools that need resources, workers, and people to love them! You can learn more about the Williams by visiting their website and blog, where you will also find information on how to connect with them in UMVIM service. To learn more about what it means to be involved in healthy, covenant relationships with long-term efforts, please reach out to our office. UMVIM, SEJ harnesses the strong connectional nature of the United Methodist Church, connects teams to sustainable mission opportunities, provides in-depth leader training, and offers supplemental health insurance to short-term missioners. Photos: Courtesy of Jamie and Lisa Williams