Saturday, November 21, 2015

The Costs Involved With A Mission

Well, friends, that concludes the mission part of our Peru journey. If you've been following along because maybe someday you'd like to do a mission, I hope you got some insights into what we experienced. It's my favorite trip I've ever taken and one of the best things I could do for my teenage daughter, I think. From here out, I am going to talk about what Machu Picchu travels entailed. I've been told by many people that experiencing the "Lost City" is on their bucket list. It was on mine too! I'll talk about things we learned and what that felt like for a few blogs and then wrap this November up!

If the mission work is more your thing than my bucket list adventures, and you are thinking this is something you might want to do, here are some details to consider. The next trip with this particular group, returning to Chacabamba and reaching out to other villages, will be in the Spring of 2017. For some reason, Spring time is more ideal for the schools for our visit, so the plan is to get back on track with a trip 18 months from the last one. You don't need to be a Southwest Airlines employee to attend. Almost all of the arrangements are made for you, besides flights. Here is a breakdown of the costs involved:

Round Trip flight (from Miami)-     $550
Four Nights in Cusco-                      $125 (double occupancy)
Mission Fees-                                   $400
Total Mission Expense-                   $1075/per person

From the Mission Fees, we were credited a $300 tax deductible donation. The last $100 was to pay for our meals and transportation to and from the village. We did tip our cooks and Navidad at the end and you would need money for food for the nights in Cusco. Technically, you'd only need 3 nights in Cusco if you were only doing the mission. The fourth night is necessary if you want to go to MP.

Transportation to and from the Cusco Airport would be around $12, if you are more savvy than the Spokane group. :)

We did some fund raising before the mission, and it was requested that each person try to raise $150. This is very inexpensive as far as missions go. I looked into other mission trips, and they request that you raise $1000 or more for your mission.

The suggestion donations to bring included everything you've read about (shampoo, soap, wash cloths, school supplies, candy and crafts,) but also, a set of sheets to bring to the villages and leave behind. If I do this mission again, I would also consider trying to pack clothing that I could leave behind. We packed very lightly, so I needed most of my clothes for the duration of the trip. But, I would pack differently next time so that I could leave clothes in the village. I did leave my suitcase behind, and one of the workers from the program, Rosa, was happy to have it.

At the end of the blog, I will have the total cost of everything we did. This is a reference if you are only doing the mission work. I would like to do missions in other parts of the world, but this was a very good mission to do for the tenderhearted. The people we met are poor, to be sure, but they are not suffering as much as in other parts of the world. Everyone we saw had food and clothing. A couple from our group talked about their Cambodia mission, where they saw many naked children in the streets. They couldn't talk about their mission without getting very emotional. I am relieved that I did not expose Abbi to that level of suffering. It was a very loving experience to meet these sweet people, and although I wanted to give much to them, I didn't feel sad leaving them behind. I can see that their life is safe. After my first day of crying, I pulled it together and embraced the moment. I think this is a mission where my American friends can love on people and fill their own hearts. I wish everyone could experience it.

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