What to Pack for a Medical Mission Trip: The Trunk System

Start with the trunk, not the suitcase

Everything the mission gives away travels in heavy-duty trunks. Each one costs about $25 and carries roughly fifty pounds of supplies packed to a written inventory. A trunk makes more than one trip.

On our most recent trip, the team traveled with nine trunks, each weighing around fifty pounds — nearly 450 pounds of ministry supplies moving through airports, airline check-in, and Belize customs to reach remote villages.

What rides in the trunks

Each trunk contains supplies designated for specific ministries, including:

• Medical clinic supplies
• New Testaments
• Reading glasses
• Hygiene kits
• Gospel literature
• Gifts for village pastors and their wives
• Children's items
• Evangelism materials

Every trunk carries its own paperwork

Every trunk carries numbered identification, owner information, a full inventory sheet, a Spanish translation, and a customs explanation — so officials know exactly what is inside and exactly why it is coming.

The inventory sheets do not say vague things like “medical supplies.” They list it out: New Testaments, reading glasses, sewing kits, hygiene supplies — item by item. Every item has been donated through the generosity of faithful supporters, nothing is for sale, and everything is given to villagers completely free.

Sort before you pack

Every trunk is packed by hand. Every supply is counted. Every Bible is purchased through donations. Every hygiene kit is assembled one item at a time. Every pair of reading glasses is sorted by prescription. Every document is translated. Every customs form is prepared. Every trunk is inventoried.

What it costs to move it

Transporting these supplies is a ministry in itself. Every item must be purchased, sorted, packed, weighed, checked through the airline, transported internationally, cleared through Belize customs, and delivered to remote villages.

On Don's published budget, moving the supplies costs $1,725: eight trunks at about $25 each, six additional trunk baggage fees at about $200 each, customs fees of about $75 based on the most recent trip, and a $250 emergency contingency fund. That is more than a good deal of the supplies themselves — and it is the line most published budgets leave out.

• Eight heavy-duty ministry trunks (~$25 each) — $200
• Six additional trunk baggage fees (~$200 each) — $1,200
• Customs fees (based on our most recent trip) — $75
• Emergency contingency fund — $250

A general timeline for your own team

Step by step

1. 1

   Purchase and sort the supplies

   Months before departure, purchase donated items in bulk and sort them by ministry: clinic supplies, New Testaments, reading glasses sorted by prescription, hygiene kits, Gospel literature, gifts for pastors, children's items, and evangelism materials.

2. 2

   Assemble and count everything

   Assemble hygiene kits one item at a time. Count every Bible, every pair of glasses, every kit. The count is what goes on the inventory sheet.

3. 3

   Pack each trunk to about fifty pounds

   Pack by hand into heavy-duty trunks, each holding around fifty pounds of supplies designated for specific ministries.

4. 4

   Number the trunk and add owner information

   Every trunk carries numbered identification and owner information so it can be matched to its paperwork at check-in and at customs.

5. 5

   Write the inventory sheet, item by item

   List the contents specifically — New Testaments, reading glasses, sewing kits, hygiene supplies — never a vague line like 'medical supplies'. State that nothing is for sale and everything is given free.

6. 6

   Translate and add the customs explanation

   Include a Spanish translation of the inventory and a customs explanation so officials know exactly what is inside and why it is coming.

7. 7

   Weigh, check in, and clear customs

   Weigh each trunk, check it through the airline as baggage, and carry the paperwork through customs to the villages.