Do It For The One: Missions Trip Journey

Sunlight at midnight, a cold climate you didn’t train for, and ministry plans that change on day one. We’re talking through a mission-trip adjustment that surprised me in all the best ways and a few uncomfortable ones too, including how constant daylight can mess with sleep and why your body still requires real rest even when you feel spiritually “on.” Along the way, Romans 8:28 grounds the whole story: God works with all of it, including the parts that feel inconvenient. 

I also answer the practical questions people always ask, like how food changes affect you in a new place, what it’s like meeting teammates in person after only Zoom calls, and how a team can build real sisterhood fast. Living close, sharing responsibilities, and choosing to care for each other turns potential tension into unity. It’s a reminder for Christian women in leadership that community doesn’t happen by accident, it’s built through small acts of honor and listening. 

Then we get to the ministry heart of it. When the crowd is smaller than expected, we don’t shrink the effort. We show up in excellence, do it for the one, and trust that God already knows the number who will be there. We also talk about staying in the moment and being strategic with your phone so you don’t miss what the Holy Spirit is doing in real time. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to serve faithfully through change, pressure, or low turnout, this conversation will meet you right where you are. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review so more women of faith can find the show. 

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose Of The Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Positioned for Purpose Conversations. I'm your host, Carlette Marie. Yes. Our podcast is for women of faith who struggle to see God in their pain, in their hardship, and in their most challenging times. This is a gentle reminder that right where you are, yes, right there, God will use you in the mess, in your hardships and in your most challenging times, in your heartaches and in your pain. God has a plan for your story. Romans 8 28 states, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. Welcome. Hi, if this is your first time with us, thank you for joining. I am Connect Marie and I hope that this episode will be a blessing to you. And if it is, would you continue listening to the previous episodes and would you also consider sharing with someone else if it was an impactful for you?

Adjusting To Cold And Endless Light

SPEAKER_00 1:24

So one of the questions that I was asked was, How did I adjust to the new environment? How did I adjust to the new environment? And it wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be. Adjusting to the cold, of course, you know, you layer up and stuff, so that was a little easier for me. I still felt the cold, especially in my legs, but the top half was actually really warm and my feet. So though it was cold, I was excited by that. Getting accustomed to the continued daylight. Well, that was also it was exciting for me, having never experienced that. When you know at night there is blackout curtains, and you also have your sleep mask that you put on. Getting to bed was took a little longer for for me, just because you know you're seeing light outside, so it feels as if you should not be sleeping, you should be up. But after days of ministry, you'd quickly understand that you need to go and rest. So that was something that was good. I also experienced the summer solstice, which is the sun shining for 24 hours straight. My god, I am thinking that this must be when this this Joshua spoke to the sun and it stood still. That this could be something that is similar comparable to, but that really was a unique thing to see the sunlight shining for a couple of hours. Well, because I went to my bed that night, I think late, maybe after 12, and to see that the sun was out there, like you could just go out and be doing whatever it is that you want to do, and that just speaks of how great God is, how amazing He is. That in one spot the shot the sun is shining for 24 hours straight, in another spot, sun may be setting or it's midnight elsewhere, just to see how God thinks of us, that where we are placed is not is not accidental, he prepares us for the climate to which we are in. So the adjusting to the to the environment in terms of the cold, in terms of just having the constant daylight hours. It took a while, but what I know is that your body still requires rest. So even though it was new, it also felt good.

Food Changes And Culture With Gratitude

SPEAKER_00 3:59

The next thing, too, was well, they took pre-packaged food for us because our system would not be accustomed to what they would normally be eating, and so though our host they actually gave us samples of that, some I liked, some I didn't, but of course, you go anywhere for the first time, you are going to try what they have because it's also a part of getting to know another culture. So, in terms of eating the pre-packed food, it was pretty good. It was pretty good. I didn't feel as if I missed my home food or anything, whatever was provided. I enjoyed it, I blessed it, I gave God thanks. We enjoyed what we had. The food was pretty good for those eight days that we were there, and I'm thankful that you know you're going somewhere for the first time. You can't be hung up about the things that you love, the things that you would like to eat, you would have known where you're going. And our team leader prepared us for that as well. So she came prepared with everything that we would like to eat, even though they're pre-packaged and stuff, you just put your hot water in it and you had a nice meal. So just having that meant a whole lot, and just being able to see how our host catered to us as well. Because at days we had, I think we had spaghetti and meatball, and then another day we had chicken. So just God just coming in and giving us respite from what we were having. But overall, that felt good. What

Meeting Teammates And Living In Unity

SPEAKER_00 5:35

was it like meeting my teammates for the very first time? In preparation, we would have been on Zoom calls, two of the persons I already knew beforehand, the others I didn't outside of the Zoom meetings that were had, and there I felt a camaraderie amongst us as already. So when I met them for the very first time physically, it didn't feel strange, it felt like these were my friends, like I knew them, that we had history together, and we would have only been like talking for maybe about four weeks, I believe, in in leading up to us actually going. So when we met and we had our our devotions and our everything, it just felt like a sisterhood coming together. I don't know, nothing about meeting the other five women felt strange at all. It just reminded me that like it was just a part of the journey that God brought us together. There was no ism, no schism. Imagine there were eight women sharing one bathroom and there was no shower, no shower stall, right? So we were told what we needed to take until we were able to actually get a full shower. So those bathroom wipes really cleaned up really nice, and of course, the temperature also aided that as well, just to see how a two men came together. We shared the bathroom, we shared the cleaning up duties, we we take care of each other when we're cooking. Each person looked out for the other, and that made it so good, you know, because sometimes I guess you'd hear people talk about other experiences when you go with other persons you didn't know. You may have felt uncomfortable. I didn't have any of that, and I think as well, it was just because of how the Lord just joined us together, and we know there's nothing that is devoid of challenges, but for me, I didn't see the challenges, and even if there were any, they they have not stuck with me, so I won't try to conjure up what hasn't stuck because if it wasn't stuck, that means it was quite fine. So adjusting to the team was really good, it was just seamless. We shared one open space on our different cuts, and that was really nice because the pastor wife put up some little kind of shelving units and just put a curtain over it, so you had a semi-privacy there when you lie down, you don't necessarily have to see the other person. But we talked and we laughed and we joked and we prayed together, we worshiped together. That was amazing.

Lost Luggage And Learning To Pivot

SPEAKER_00 8:21

What was that like on the on the first day? What was it like on the first day? Because some of our luggage were left and we were saying, you know, how would we be able to like minister? We just said whatever we had, because we knew what we wanted to do. Our leader just said, Well, we're going to just go ahead and do that, and we were prepared to do that, and though our luggage came later in the evening, and that is that means that sometimes you have to pivot because not because God is sending you, necessarily mean that things are go in going to go in the order in which you want it to go. But what will you do? You have to learn to pivot, do something else, right? Because you can be frustrated by what didn't happen, by the plans that you had that didn't materialize the way you wanted it to materialize. So for that first day, we had to pivot, right? And God just gave us the grace, so it was an amazing time. Ministering

Ministry Lesson: Do It For One

SPEAKER_00 9:23

to the community, what lessons did I learn? The one lesson I I have I've learned, and it is still sticking for me, is don't look at the numbers. And if you listen to yesterday's episode, I think I mentioned something like that. Don't look at the numbers because the first day the numbers were were low. And what I loved about us and our leader and all that is that we we we ministered as if we had the amount of persons we were expecting. For VBS, the children were not short-changed. We didn't say because it was less than the amount that we're not going to do the full gamut. We did the full gamut, we did our songs, we did our skates. Ah, it was beautiful. We we we we we rolled out the stops every single day because what did the Lord say? Do it for the one, and so every day when we ministered, it was for that one person. We showed up in excellence, we showed up in excellence, and ministry was great. You know, ministry was great doing some things that I've never done before. It was an awesome experience, and I know you've been hearing me say it has been an awesome experience throughout this podcast, but it's like I can't come up with another word that actually just describes it. It was God feeling. Oh, look at me, it was God feeling. So the lesson that I learned is that show up in excellence evenings for the one, and I remember doing a workshop becoming her. And I said, Lord, I wanted 10 women to join this workshop, and only two persons registered and paid their fees and turned up, and I still had to show up, I still had to give the full training as if everyone is there because each person is a full person, is a full person. So I had to show up and give them my best, and that's always what I strive to do. So, my one is do it for the one and show up in excellence anyway. What

Mission Trip Advice: Stay Present

SPEAKER_00 11:36

advice would I give to someone going on their very first mission strip? Stay in the moment, stay in the moment. One of the things that I really had talked to the Lord about as I was going was that I did not want to be on my phone, and so where we were was remote, right? And they had Wi-Fi and stuff, but my plan, my provider, it it took a little while for me to have access, and it worked out for me. And for me to have access to, I would actually have to go outside, and in going outside, that is the only place that I could actually record a podcast interview, right? And so sorry, not a podcast interview, that was the only place that I could actually go to send a message or or just to do whatever. And remember, as I said, the place was already cold, so I had no intentions of constantly going outside. Can I tell you it was on the last day I realized if I sat at a certain spot in the church, I could actually get messages, but it worked out for me fine because remember, I had already said I wanted to be in the moment, I didn't want to miss anything that the Lord was doing, so that worked out beautiful. So my one advice would be to say to someone stay in the moment, stay in the moment, stay in the moment, right? Not to say you can't use your phone, but be strategic in how you're going to do it. Because especially for me, I didn't want to miss anything that God was showing me. I didn't want to miss times with my teammates because we were only gonna be there for 10 days. I didn't want to miss any conversation, and you know, because I'm caught up with other conversations that for me could actually wait. But that was my takeaway. It

Let The Holy Spirit Lead

SPEAKER_00 13:36

also says, what was my takeaway? Remember, remember the mission to the okay, what was my what's my takeaway? My one takeaway again would be that when God calls us and puts us together to go, to do, to serve, to share, or even if it's you alone, allow the Holy Spirit to minister. It's his plan. So you can set your plans, but know if is this what God wants from me? Is this how he wants me to serve? How does he want me to serve? What happens if the number of persons don't show up as I thought they would? Would I withdraw and hold back what I'm doing, or will I still lay the spread out as if it's the 100 that I was expecting? So my takeaway is show up with excellence, don't look at the numbers, prepare anyway and go out and serve. Because at the end of the day, when the Lord called you to send you or to tell you to do something, he already knew the number of persons that would have been there. So we show up anyway. Another thing that I learned as well is that be open to hear what your fellow teammates are saying, right? Listen, give everyone an ear, give everyone an ear because everyone has something vital and something important to share. And so we want to be able to hear. So not just you sharing, but that you're also willing to listen. Because I ministered Wednesday night and I also shared in the workshop. And I was in the moment when my friend Judy shared on Sunday night. I was in the moment when my other sisters shared their testimonies. I listened to what they were saying because each person had something to say that would also help me in my journey. I listened when Helen did her workshop on forgiveness, when Karen did her workshop on our gifts and abilities and how God uses them. Every ministry item, Mary, everyone who served, I had to be able to open and listen to them just as how I wanted them to hear me when I shared my story, or when I shared the word, or when I did a workshop. It's all about building community and also knowing that we don't have all the answers. God placed us together so that as we minister, we minister to each other. We minister to each other. And so those were the questions that you asked and I responded to.

Wrap Up And Guest Teaser

SPEAKER_00 16:31

So I hope that you found today's episode one that meets you where you are, that you'd have heard some nuggets that blesses you and that ministers to you. Also, on Friday, as I wrap up, I'll have a very special guest, one of my teammates, will be coming on with me. So you'll hear things from her perspective. And so tomorrow I'll wrap up my own segment. And I hope that you'll be there to listen. Blessings and see you next time. Bye bye.