Honestly, I have none as far as expectations goes.
I am interested in gaining awareness of the conditions of the communities I’ll be spending 30 days each in and shaping my perspective of who God is and who I am in these next 11 months. This motivation stems from my desire to mobilize myself for God’s kingdom into a specific area where I can share His heart for people. Aside from the opportunities of ministry I’ll be a part of, I want to record the health conditions of the communities I’ll be visiting. This includes identifying factors that contribute to the health outcomes of the local people – water, shelter, diets, environments, sociological structure, and psychological factors. The places I’ll be going to are Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Albania. Whenever I have the time to do any of this I’ll find but I won’t distract myself from what is asked of me from the leadership on the Race and ministry at hand.
I believe a disciple of Jesus can take in additional information presented that is valuable and process it in a fashion that will help with ministry later and spreading of the Gospel in these settings. For me, I am especially keen on the epidemiology of diseases. But even with the knowledge and subjective recording I’ll acquire, I cannot expect myself to alleviate their conditions completely. However, I can assure you, my reader, which I intend to give my best in carrying a burden for leaving the place a little better than I went in.
Each community will have its own set of needs. I cannot be sure what they are and give an accurate account of each of them. Although in the next few posts, I will examine the countries I’ll be going into and share with you what I discover, which I hope will paint an image of the possible needs of the community and how I, as a participant on this trip, claim to serve in some capacity.
