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Being a first-term missionary can be an interesting role. Perhaps I overanalyze things at times and for that reason often feel a bit discouraged with the ministry. Thankfully I have friends like Jose and Scott who have lifted my spirits and helped me see things in perspective.
As a first-termer, you have so many preconceived ideas about the ministry in the country to which you are going. I don't have our ministry presentation set up on my computer now, but if I could watch it again I'm sure I would laugh at a lot of the things I said in it. This problem has to do with appearances/superficial understanding and the reality. Having only visited the country before on short-term trips, I didn't understand many things. It's the difference between an answer from a book and an answer from personal experience.
As Scott helped me see, the knowledge and understanding we have gained will be invaluable in our future ministry. We haven't seen the fruit in the ministry that we want to see, but that is because we are still building the foundation. A couple of the insights I've gained in a year and a half:
- Colombians are equal partners in the ministry, but in order to truly understand them I must give myself to them in friendship, spending time with them. If they are not my friends, they will not share difficult things with me. On the other hand, if they know that I love them, they will be willing to tell me almost anything that they are thinking. This has implications because missionaries often make mistakes in the ministry and need to hear about it.
- We must be honest. I've seen the temptation in missions to make the figures look good or exaggerate slightly, or place things slightly out of context so they look better. I am trying to reject this temptation on every level in our ministry.