One of the biggest mistakes that some AIMers tend to fall into is getting or having too big of expectations of themselves or even of the mission field. This is one of the things that the AIM directors try to make us understand because of the consequences. Many AIMers have gone through this before and have told us what happened. AIMers have shared how they felt after realizing that they were having expectations that were unrealistic.
For example in Scotland, this country is often not very receptive to the gospel and it can be harder to be a Christian over here. Before my team came to Scotland, the assistants that had worked here told us about how Scotland can be, how expectations are something that are just going to make our mission time harder than it is. Now today, I am enjoying my time over here but that is because I came without expecting anything unrealistic from the country and the people. What's neat is that after being here for a while, they have surprised me with things that I thought wouldn’t happen or wouldn’t be. At times we expect too many things from the church, the people, etc., resulting in our feelings that everything here is wrong. This can be a real struggle. So if your expectations are too high, then reality will make you suffer from your comparisons to your expectations- and you may experience disappointment and other frustration. This is why maybe we shouldn’t have such expectations.
So let me ask you what are your expectations? How has reality affected your expectations?
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Romans 11:33
Evelyn Galvan (AIM, Scotland 09)
That is so true Evelyn! It was kinda the opposite for me... I came to New York with some expectations, like for the field to be super hard, for it to be a huge city, for the people to not even talk to you, but i was wrong, and it sent me for a spin the first few months i was here. Its actually quite different from that, its a city that feels like a small town, its not super hard, true its a hard one, even if its a state side one, but its not super hard. And the people, they will talk to you, sometimes you need to start the conversations up, but they will talk. Thanks for the encouraging post. its always nice to hear from classmates.
ReplyDeleteIn Him,
George Hamrick