You’ve just gotten back from an amazing mission trip abroad. Or maybe you’ve just gotten back from a crazy week at camp where multiple kids were led to Christ. Whatever the reason, you’re home now. But just because the trip is over doesn’t mean your work is! Here are a few tips to help keep you organized so you’re able to focus on your mission!
Organize Your Expenses
-Keeping up with your receipts while on your trip will save you a lot of time when it comes to organization upon your return home. Consider taking an envelope or a pouch with you specifically to file your receipts throughout your trip. Using apps like “One Receipt” will ensure you have additional copies of your receipts. **Tip: Take a quick photo of your receipt after every purchase and quickly fill in the prompted information. Taking this extra step along the way is a great habit to develop while traveling, saving you time on your at-home-organization!
Organize Your Notes
When we have a really awesome week at camp or on mission it’s hard to think about the mundane back office work that needs to be completed. Here are two great tools to consider using to help regulate and organize all of the crazy paperwork while you focus on your mission. They are great for leaders, admin, and participants alike. They’re also great to use to track donations!
-http://www.managedmissions.com
-http://focusministry.com/missions
Organize Your Photos
When traveling, meeting new people, and experiencing new cultures it’s natural for us to want to take photos to document every part of our trip. The only problem is we come home with a plethora of photos, not remembering which day they were from and not knowing where to start as we begin to sort them!
One cool way to organize your photos while you are on your trip is to have a statement photo separating each day. This is a really great way to get creative! Some people take screenshots of their lock screen each day to use as a date marker; other people have taken a picture of their foot to make the distinction! Whatever you choose, make it your own and have fun with it.
Another way to have prime organization is to go back through and delete replicas. If you’re anything like me, you take 10-20 photos of the same shot. Go through, choose your favorites, delete the rest, and don’t forget to backup your photos to systems such as iCloud, Dropbox, or Flickr.
Organize A Video
Creating a camp/mission trip video is a great way to show friends and family what your team did while you were gone (they are some of our biggest supporters, after all!) It also keeps the momentum going with the participants. Everyone, especially parents, loves watching recap videos, even when they weren’t a part of the trip!
Organize Follow-Up Bible Studies/Discipleship Groups
Chances are you have some new believers from camp or some people that just went on their first mission trip. We know the “burn-out” feeling all too well after returning home. This is because we spend an entire week (or more) extremely engaged with and working along side other believers learning, growing, and experiencing beautiful things away from our every day lives. We get home and we quickly get back into our routine, forgetting the incredible work the Lord just did. Don’t let the momentum die out when you get home. Keeping your team connected and plugged-in by providing a bible study or a discipleship group allows the fire to keep flaming.