This is part two of this article. Please click here for part one.
Go Soulwinning
Do this even if you have to use an interpreter. This will help in several ways. First, it will get some people to Heaven! Secondly, it will also help you understand what type of people you will be working with. While you are on deputation you will think about how to witness to people better. You’ll be better able to understand and study the problems the people have in understanding the Bible and the way of salvation. Soulwinning will also help you in presenting your work. The stories you tell of people you lead to Christ will stir the hearts of people in churches you visit on deputation.
Decide Where to Begin Your Ministry
Try to visit several cities or towns on your trip. Talk to the common people in the cities where you go. Ask the Lord to burden your heart for a city. It will be to your advantage if you can tell the churches on deputation where you plan to start. This will help them have confidence in you. It will also save precious time. If you pick out your city on your first visit, you won’t have to go looking around after you have raised your support and have gone to the field. This will also allow you to pray for your city during deputation. Ask God to burn a desire in your heart to see the people of that city saved.
Learn Everything You Can from the Missionaries You Stay With
Ask them everything you can think of concerning the field. Pick their brain. They will be a great help to you. If you learn from their mistakes, you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble. This one thing alone can make your trip worth the investment. Try to buy a book on the culture while you are there.
Learn the Cost of Living
Find out what it will cost you to purchase items such as food, office equipment, furniture, transportation, housing, clothing, etc. Find out what things will cost you more there than in America. You should also find out about things you can’t get there that you will need to take when you leave for the field.
Go to a real estate office and ask about the price of land in the different areas of each city you visit. This is very important. Land can be quite expensive, even in poor countries. Find out what it costs to build. This will give you an idea of what to prepare for in your future ministry.
Find a Good Language School
Find out how long the course is and how much it costs. If your country has different dialects instead of one main language, make sure that the language school teaches the dialect you will need to learn. If there is no language school, find out what the missionaries there have done to learn the language.
Preach Each Time You Get an Opportunity
Often, missionaries will ask you to preach in their churches. This will allow you to see how well people respond or don’t respond and how you can communicate the truth in a way that is easily understood by them.
Find Items for Your Display Board
Don’t purchase items too big or heavy to get back on the plane! Get small, easy to carry items. Get items that will hold up through deputation.
While You Are on the Field, Write People Who Helped You Get There
You should write every person who gave you anything to help you go. There are two reasons for this. First, they deserve to be thanked for helping you go. Even if they only gave one dollar, you should be thoughtful enough to write them from the field so they can receive a letter from a foreign country rather than one when you are home. If email is available, you could even update them on your trip.
Secondly, they may want to help you again. They will probably be more likely to help you if you take the time and trouble to write them from the field. When you write, tell them about the people you have met and their customs. Tell them generally about your trip and experiences. Tell them if it hadn’t been for them and their contribution, and others like them, you wouldn’t have been able to make the trip. Tell them about how God has burdened your heart even more for the country since you have seen it firsthand.
