26 Expectations
Thinking of going to Nairobi, Kampala, Gulu, Eldoret, Arua, Mombasa or another place in Eastern Central Africa? The list below provides 26 things that I and many others have come to expect each and every time we travel to work alongside our brothers and sisters in the IMFC.
To encounter the living Lord and learn more about His love and power.
To see God work through you and your teammates to bring many people to saving faith in Jesus Christ and to demonstrate His love for them.
To make life-long friends.
To possibly experience some stomach discomfort.
To come to a new and greater appreciation for the missionaries and their commitment to follow the Lord’s calling in their lives.
To be humbled by the faith and commitment to Jesus our brothers and sisters exhibit in their daily lives.
To be pressed beyond your personal comfort zone and to experience vulnerability.
To learn how materialistic, rich and self-centered our American church can be.
To be challenged by the Lord to do more for Him in your own community.
To learn that your own faith may be shallow and untested.
To discover how great an impact you can have for the Kingdom of God.
To have a new understanding of the American blessings.
To spend a couple of weeks without TV, and sometimes electricity, hot water and spotty internet.
To come to a greater understanding of Paul’s heart, his epistles and the Book of Acts as you lead people to faith in Christ, plant churches, and then bring this home with you to America.
To worship in a church in the dirt, and under the stars or the sun.
To learn how to wait patiently when nothing happens on time.
To learn flexibility when plans and schedules change, and then change on the way there.
To come to a new understanding of the breadth and largeness of the Kingdom of God.
To learn what a LONG plane ride really is.
To touch and be touched by people who are dirty, diseased, and needy beyond your wildest imagination.
To feel the heartbeat of Jesus when he saw the multitudes of people as sheep without a shepherd and fields ripe unto harvest.
To have the opportunity to share Christ with someone who has never heard the story of Jesus’ love and really wants to hear it.
To be asked for money over and over again.
To discover what a rough, pothole-filled road really is.
To experience a deep thankfulness that the Lord has counted you worthy to share in His work and to represent Him in a place that desperately needs Him.
To want to return again and again.