ASSIGNMENT PREP

TIMELINE

After Approval

Airfare: once approved, begin looking for airfare, just to become familiar with price range. If you find one significantly lower than the approximate amount indicated on the info page of your assignment, you may decide to puchase it (just be aware of cancellation, change penalties).
Budget Anatomy: details will be sent out or included with applications approved after November. You’ll have the specific amounts for your tuition payment and incidentals.

Facebook or WhatsApp groups created.
Information about any necessary vaccines and visas sent out as applicable. (There are none for 2025.)

Assignment Overview document emailed to all participants. Contains field information and specifics for each assignment.
2nd Tuition Deadline – April 18th.

Ways to be spiritually prepared:

Incorporate the Word into your daily routine.
Advance out into focused prayer throughout your days ahead of your assignment (ideas below).
As you pray, allow quiet time, asking God to speak to you, directing your thoughts and prayers toward what matters to Him.
Implement a fasting routine ahead of your arrival on the field. You’ll be challenged to do this while on assignment, so start before you arrive.
Get involved at home in ministry to the degree you can (without overload). Practice pushing yourself outside of your “comfort zone.”
Enlist friends and family to begin covering you in prayer. Some pastors may even wish to pray over you before your departure.
Further ideas are included in the Assignment Guide.

Ideas for focused prayer:

For direction of each participant as they seek the “next right step” in following Jesus.
For safe travels of participants and instructors.
For harmony among all members of the program.
For your eyes to see beyond the obvious.
For submission to authority (at home and on the field). Yielding to one another is an important part of the group “harmony” process.
For supernatural favor in every ministry endeavor and personal interaction.
For host missionaries/representatives as well as other leaders in the program (on the Locations page).
For the Holy Spirit to pray through you. Practice yielding to the moving of the Spirit.

Don’t over pack! Pay close attention to the packing list sent out for your assignment in April. You’re only allowed one checked bag, one carry-on and one personal item (such as a backpack or purse) for your international flight.
Have a copy of your passport with you in a separate place from your actual passport.
Bring a few favorite snacks for those times when you will want a taste of home.
Be sure to read through the Assignment Overview arriving in your Inbox in April. Many of the details you will need to know about airport pickup, currency exchange, travel adapters, and details about your assignment will be noted in that document.

Below are a few words of practical and spiritual advice from someone who knows!

Cheyann Stratton

2019 New Zealand

Don’t literally pack for 2 months, rather about 1- 2 weeks. 2 weeks is pushing it too! Thank ya Lord for washers and dryers!
While packing, leave the cute/fancy clothes and shoes at home. You don’t want to walk a mile+ every day in your best clothes or shoes. NO HEELS! (Blisters for days)
Pack a travel water bottle, walking shoes, sunglasses, and a camera.
LADIES, bring a practical purse! That was my instant regret!
Last but not least, pack an extra bag, or leave room in your luggage for souvenirs!

You’ve come on this trip for a life changing experience, so open yourself up to be worked on. Get out of the room. Go on new adventures, even if you’re just exploring the city, and GET OUT OF THAT COMFORT ZONE! If you want a life changing experience, you have to allow the experience to change your life! Allow God to do His work!
Getting out of the comfort zone is where God can do His work. You’re vulnerable, and trusting Him! Believe me, many times my anxiety would throw up a wall and I would shut down, but I put my trust and faith in God. He broke those walls, and I was able to used by Him! There’s nothing better than being in His will!
You are with your fellow Next Steppers for 2 months. Get to know them, and love them. Once the time is up, you’ll wish you had 2 more months.
Don’t be afraid to minister to people on the street. Don’t be afraid to invite that waitress to church. Don’t be afraid to talk, and shine His light! God has not given you a spirit of fear! Honestly, many of these people you may never see again. So why be scared?
I was so scared that people might give me weird looks, or judge me. But a fellow Next Stepper of mine witnessed to a girl, whose store we had been to MANY times, and we all saw God begin to work in her life. I was ashamed of being scared, and I made choice then that I would try my hardest never to be scared of witnessing again! Souls are stake here, and I would hate for one to be lost because I was scared!