Canaries in Guerrero: A Millennials Guide to the Mission Galaxy

By Logan Towne

Canaries in Guerrero is a wonderful short guide on why, how and when to go on a mission trip. It is told first hand by a millennial premed student that prevailed through hardships on the trip to end up with one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. It will make you laugh, make you wonder and hopefully inspire you to find your own "mission".

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543900750

Book preview

I’ve always wondered about mission trips. I heard they could save lives and change the lives of the people who went on the trip. When the topic came up with my friends I was intrigued and knew it was time to learn more. People talk about how missions enriched their lives and deepened their relationships with others when they got back. People also cite to help others and to save lives or broaden my perspectives. As a student at the College of St. Scholastica, it was impossible not to hear about missions, as it is a mecca of humanitarian efforts and was even started by Benedictine nuns who still encourage these fruits of the soul.

When I considered whether I wanted to go on a mission myself, I asked people why they went. While changing lives and broadening my perspective were good answers, I sensed there had to be something more to it. As all good mission-ologists would tell you...the reality of the trip wasn’t exactly what they had planned. Could this change my life in ways I wouldn’t want, did I really want my life to change? Living in Minnesota at 20 years of age wasn’t all that exciting but wasn’t that bad either. We know cold winters and certainly mosquitos in the summer but nothing that demands a drastic change.

So that’s the real dilemma. Books and movies abound with suggestions about trips so esoteric as butterfly preservation in the West Indies or as practical as volunteering at a local food shelf. Groups that move their mountains or the solo practitioner that makes a village his own. As I started to research the possibilities I knew I was headed toward more than dipping my toe in this water...I was looking right into the deep end of the pool.

I guess that is the first point of this book. You have to decide why and if you want to go on a mission trip. Do you want to jump in or stay on the edge? Be unflinching about this because the trip itself will test how honest you have been. Your trip will be both judge and jury once you get there and it would be better to be honest with yourself before you jump. Are you seeking adventure, interested in seeing another country up close and unfiltered, or maybe want a meaningful vacation?

Many people who have gone on mission trips will tell you they went to help or teach people in another country but they come back with lives changed by the experience far more than the people they were there to help. Dr. Bobby Saenz, after volunteering at the Guerrero Clinic in Mexico, said, Students have come to the Guerrero Clinic for many years. Some are one-and-done people, while others are infected by what we do and share our passion and enthusiasm for helping others. One change could be a greater appreciation of the mission goals. Medical crisis assistance, construction of great or small dwellings, or curing a water shortage for a village. I could witness medical miracles magnified on a scale of 100, see gaping wounds that never healed, or know pregnancies will only end in heartbreak. Houses destroyed by hurricanes with rubble and ruin everywhere. Maybe the change would come in the keen appreciation I could get in my boring small town or my sheltered life turned upside down, never to be the same.

Or possibly a love of the culture. There are culture trips that educate and teach us about the place we visit. From traditional cooking to great regional wine. Trips start out