Keeping a Large Group Organized on a Missions Trip

When helping my customers with their large groups traveling together internationally, I like to recommend a few helpful tips for the journey.  The one thing that I always say is plan for the worst and HOPE for the best when it comes to large groups.  Travel insurance is a very important factor to think about which I recommend to our groups first and foremost.  If you purchase a good policy, your group will be covered for medical emergencies, emergency evacuation, and things like lost baggage!!!  Losing luggage on your international trip is every traveler's nightmare. No one ever wants to be in this position, but let's face it, these things can and do happen and it is always best to be prepared in the event that you find yourself in this crisis situation.  Travel insurance will be very helpful to compensate for some of the loss if this should ever occur.

Another important thing I like to recommend is to make sure the group is all wearing the same shirt on the day they will be traveling.  This sounds like a silly thing, but for large groups, this is an easy identifier to make sure that members of the group can easily recognize each other and stay together in the airports.  This will be very helpful, especially if each group member remembers to wear them and the colors are very bright and distinctive.  You may not think about safety issues as much on US soil, but as soon as you step foot in another country and find yourself in an airport all the way across the world, you will find that every safety measure that you take now will be appreciated when you are out of your comfort zone.

You may also want to make sure each person has their passport in a special passport carrier around their neck so that no one in the group loses their passport.  It is always good to make copies of your passport and carry one in your checked baggage and another in your carry-on just in case you happen to lose your passport somehow on your trip.  Having a copy will be life-saving if you have a forgetful group member who leaves their passport somewhere in Africa and is trying to get on their flight without it.

Also, please remember that if you are a group leader and are a frequent flier, your group members may not be.  Please make sure that you remember to educate your group on what to pack.  If you have any questions about what to carry on with you, please direct members of your group to http://www.tsa.gov for all of the necessary requirements for carry-on items and how to pack liquid items in your carry-on bags.  This can be very time-saving if all members of the group have a good understanding of what to expect when going through security, so that we can all KEEP THAT LINE MOVING if you know what I mean!!  And I know that for all of you international travelers out there, you KNOW what I mean.  ;)

I hope that these tips are helpful for all of you group leaders and group members of missions trips this summer!  Please visit my website for more helpful tips and for a free airfare quote for the missionary and humanitarian airfare we provide!  www.cheapmissionstrips.com

God bless and Safe Travels!
~Tabitha :)

What is Missionary Airfare?

You may be wondering, "What exactly is Missionary Airfare?"  Many people take missionary trips or travel for adoption related purposes, and think that their only option is to go online and book a flight that is non-refundable using an online booking engine.  Well, this is not always going to be the best option for you, especially if you are interested in saving money and having flights that are refundable (minus airline penalties and fees).  Missionary and Humanitarian airfare is something that we offer through the contracts we hold with over 30 of the major airlines!  This is an incredible resource for the Body of Christ to help them in saving money with their flights.  Our missionary contracts with British Air, Delta/KLM, United, Lufthansa, Emirates and many others, allow us to provide you with lower cost airfare in most cases, than flights that you are seeing online for your international travel.  We provide missionary airfare to churches, people taking trips with humanitarian organizations, and other types of missions related and adoption travel as well!    

You may be thinking that these flights will cause you to be seated by the restrooms in the back of the plane, but this is not the case!  In fact, you won't even recognize anything different on your flight than any other passengers in the Economy class of the aircraft.  It is really a blessing to be able to use these flights that we provide to help you use your money more wisely for maximum impact for the Kingdom!  Many times we are able to HOLD flights for up to 11 months in advance for groups or individuals with little or no money down in some cases.  Our missionary contract with British Air also allows missionaries to take 3 checked bags free per person for British Air flights.  This allows missionaries to be able to bring lots of supplies with them to donate while they are on their trip if extra baggage is needed.  

We are excited to be able to offer this resource to the Body of Christ for their individual missions travel or group travel!  We are capable of helping to reserve group flights with the airlines with just a small deposit to allow missions groups to raise their support while holding their flights up to 11 months ahead of time!  

Please feel free to visit our website where you can find videos and helpful resources for your next missions trip and you can place a quote request for a free airfare quote anytime!  www.cheapmissionstrips.com 

God bless you on your next journey!!

~Tabitha L.

International Travel Manager

(800) 732-4806 x705

Traveling and Staying Healthy on a Vegan Diet

There are many healthy ways to order your foods if you find yourself in an airport and not knowing what you can eat safely on a vegan diet. Mexican restaurants are a great choice because they seem to have black beans and rice along with salads sometimes with lemon and lime slices and guacamole, which is a good alternative if you are trying to stay vegan while traveling. Another way of keeping healthy on your journey is to plan ahead and make sure you have lots of fruits and vegetables handy. We like to pack little ziploc bags filled with grapes or grape tomatoes to snack on when we are on road trips. However, when you are flying, it is not always easy with all of the regulations to have these same snacks. I recommend staying hydrated and avoiding the processed and packaged foods as much as possible.

Always ask for water every time they offer drinks on your flight. This will help you to stay hydrated and avoid some of the cravings for candies and other temptations. On my last flight, I sat next to a lady who was eating a banana and some peanut butter. I almost wanted to ask her if she was vegan! I thought this was a great idea for a snack and most airports have foods like this, if you get creative. It can actually be fun piecing together a meal of vegan foods, from restaurants inside of the airports if you have the time.

Find a travel agent that will assist you in ordering a healthy vegan meal for your flight. I do this regularly for my travel customers, so I know that most airlines offer this choice for international flights. It is fairly easy to stay vegan with all of the options out there. When choosing a vegan meal, just remember to place your order at least 24 hours prior to departure. They will need time to prepare your food for you, so make sure you don't wait too long. If in doubt, make sure you have some vegan snack bars in times like these. These can be a life saver!! If you are one of those who needs your green barley juices, you can bring your powder form of barley grass with you on your flights and a mixing spoon and enjoy your barley drink with water during your flight. This will help you to stay alkaline and create an environment in your body that resists sicknesses that are lurking around every corner when you travel.

Have a safe and healthy journey!

~Tabitha L.

We are Christians passionate about serving the Body of Christ with missionary and humanitarian airfare for their missions travel. We specialize in providing missions teams and individual missionaries with helpful resources for their missions trips including a store which can be found on our website. http://www.cheapmissionstrips.com

Faith Like a Child

I was helping Faith (our 2 year old) brush her hair this morning, and was explaining to her that some children don't have a mamma or a papa....  She looked up at me and said, "Don't have cuddles?"  I said, "No, they don't have cuddles either..."  It is amazing how, even the little children can understand these things, and are moved to respond with compassion for these little ones who have no one to love them.  We have much we can learn from them.

Cancellations and Refunds with Humanitarian flights

Many people ask me all the time how the cancellation and refund process works with the humanitarian flights. I have dedicated this to all of my adopting families and others who have questions about cancellations and refunds with humanitarian flights, so I can hopefully help to answer them here. Some benefits of using humanitarian airfare include the fact that these flights are refundable, minus airline penalties and fees, if you should need to cancel the flight prior to your departure date. Most flights out there on the internet are non-refundable, but the humanitarian flights are not in that category.

Missionary and humanitarian flights, unlike most flights, are refundable, minus airline penalties and fees if you should need to cancel and request a refund. These are not total refunds of 100% of your flight cost, but they do help tremendously, since most other flights are non-refundable. There are many other benefits to using humanitarian airfare as well. Humanitarian flights are changeable and usually the first change after departure does not have an airline penalty, so the change fees are much lower than changing a regular flight that you will find. Also, since humanitarian flights are only able to be accessed by a missionary and adoption travel agent, you can also expect much better service than using an online travel engine to purchase your flights.

The cancellation process for humanitarian and missionary flights can take around six weeks before you will see the refund applied back to your credit card. However, many people notice that their refunds show up closer to two or three weeks after the cancellation has been processed with the airline. There are always going to be multiple charges and credits with any refund of this nature, and many times you will need to add up the costs and credits which should all equal up to the amount quoted to you for your refund.

Sometimes an adopting family will need to cancel just the return portion of their flight for various reasons, and re-book with another airline at a later time. This is a case when the family would be very thankful that they have humanitarian flights vs. published flights. The humanitarian flights are refundable, even for just the return portion. This is always just a partial refund, less airline penalties and fees, but still helps tremendously to preserve some of the loss that would otherwise be incurred.

Generally, families who use humanitarian flights, especially for adoption travel, are very happy with them if they need to make changes to their return date. There are sometimes unpredictable circumstances that cause families to be forced to cancel their flights for adoption travel, and when these things happen, they are always very thankful that they have used humanitarian flights rather than anything they could have booked on their own.

I hope this helps in answering some of your questions!

Safe Travels!

Tabitha Lovell, International Travel Manager

The Doe Waiting for Her Adoption

Yesterday, the doe in my yard reminded me how all creation is groaning and waiting for it's redemption. WOW! To think that all nature and created things will be delivered from the bondage of corruption with the Children of the Lord. Are you a child of the King? Are you groaning and anticipating the Savior to deliver you from your bondage and waiting for the adoption and redemption of your body? This doe reminded me of this because I saw her eating in fear of danger, with no rest. Each time she put her head down to eat a blade of grass, she fearfully looked around to see if there was a predator coming to harm her. I believe this is part of that groaning and anticipation to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God that the Bible talks about!

I have been so blessed to serve so many adopting families with their travel internationally, but I just realized as I was reading these verses, that I am waiting for my adoption too!  The Children of God are ALL waiting to be adopted fully and completely!  Did you realize that even we groan within ourselves, when we see the corruption of this world we are living in, we groan for the day when our adoption will be complete and we will be HOME with our Savior!!!

Rom. 8:22b  Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Are you waiting for your adoption to come through?  Let the Lord Jesus give you new HOPE today.  Let Him show you that you are not only waiting for an earthly adoption, but a Spiritual adoption that will be complete one day as you remain abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Without Him, we have NO hope at all!  

I can't WAIT for that deliverance day when we will be face to face with the Savior! In my heart, I groan for this along with this doe, to be totally free without any bondage of corruption, without any predators lurking to steal away the JOY of Jesus anymore! OH, how I LONG for that day!! Do you long for it too? If you repent of your sins and surrender your full faith in Jesus Christ, the Precious Lamb of God, He will cover you with His blood and you can walk in faith with Him all the way to Heaven! 

As you read these verses, remember the doe today who is longing for her deliverance and groaning for it. Won't you turn to Jesus today? Won't you join these saints who are waiting for their adoption day?  Jesus promises that if you come to Him, you will surely find rest for your soul.  The Spirit of the Lord is groaning too.  He is praying for us in our weaknesses, GROANING with us as we wait!  What a Precious Father we have, who sympathizes WITH us in our weaknesses.

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us[b] with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

God bless you as you seek Him today!

Be ENCOURAGED today!!!!

~Tabitha Lovell

www.cheapmissionstrips.com

Divine Encounter at the Lost River Cave

Yesterday was such a beautiful day with my sweet family!  We decided to stop off and look at the Lost River Cave in Bowling Green Kentucky, that we have heard about.  We have a "picture ministry" where we will ask someone to take our picture and then we will use that opportunity to share the gospel with them! So, we met a couple at the entrance to the cave, who we shared with for hours yesterday in Bowling Green. The wife is Jehova's Witness and the husband Muslim. We were able to show them from the Bible SO many things, exposing so many of the false teachings they are soaked with in these two man-made religions.  They were not in agreement in their own marriage because they are both holding on to these opposite religions.  It was sad for us to see this because we were thinking of that verse in the Bible that says "How can two walk together if they are agreed?"  Amos 3:3

We are praying for them now, that the two of them will be able to be ONE in the Spirit of the Lord, surrendering their religious ideas to Him and humbling themselves to the Truth of the Word of God.  I was able to share my testimony with the wife, because she said herself that she is not born again.  So, as we were walking back together to our cars, I was able to share my testimony with her.  She thought that the only ones who could be born again are the 144,000 in Revelation.  I just shared my testimony of how the Holy Spirit of the Lord came to live inside of me and how I was saved.  They did not have such testimonies, so I believe the Lord really spoke to their hearts.

When I talk to a Jehovah's Witness, I always see so much head knowledge, but nothing deep inside of their hearts to match what is in their head.  It is all just a man-made, false religion with absolutely no hope of salvation.  I am not afraid to speak to them anymore like I once was.  I was fearing that I would not have an answer for them.  But really, the answers are so simple!  We can share our testimony and share how we need to be BORN AGAIN or we will not enter the Kingdom of God.  Also, there are SO many scriptures about hell that they avoid.  They do not believe there is a hell.  So, we need to show them because IF they do not repent and trust in Jesus as their GOD and Savior, they will end up there, in the VERY place that they disbelieve exists.  

SO, I challenge you.  Look up all the verses about Hell and keep them handy for the next time you may meet one of these people.  It may be just what is needed for their false doctrine to be exposed and for them to see the LIGHT (Jesus) who is desiring that they be led out of that false religion and into His Kingdom!  

I encourage you to take a step of faith in this direction.  They need to hear your testimony and so do the Muslims.  They don't have a testimony of salvation and they do not have any hope of salvation or eternity in Heaven.  We really need to shine the Light and bring them this hope before it is too late!

God bless you as you seek Him!

~Tabitha

www.cheapmissionstrips.com