Just some reflections on being a missionary (Day 794)

When you're a missionary, you live this different life in (often) a different country with different people who speak (likely) a different language than you grew up with, have different customs than yourself, and live in a different way than you're used to.  The most difficult part of the job is deciding if you're okay with "different."

The greatest gift that God gave me when preparing me for mission work was not my compassion and heart to help people.  These are the greatest gifts a humanitarian could have.  (Admittedly, my work often has a humanitarian bend.)  The greatest gift that God gives missionaries is humility.  People come to us in need of help--usually material--and thank us for it; we have to remind them that the real help does not come from us but from God who, regardless of what we suffer in this world, has something even better waiting for us.