Patience

    It takes tremendous patience for workers serving here.  Coming from a fast-pasted culture where one frequently hears the encouragement "the sky's the limit" and "aspire to reach your full potential," it is difficult to enter an area where there are no "quick-fixes" nor no easy solutions. 
    Not only are there no "quick or easy solutions" there is also no guarantee that you will ever see the results of your labor.  It could be years, decades, even generations before the work here "produces" lasting fruit. 
    We share Gd's love with people and share the good news, but many do not receive it.  Many come with mixed motives.  Many do not even have a clear picture of what it really means to be a bel/ever in JC.  So, we stand and keep sharing and keep pr/ying and keep walking forward but we do not know which seeds will bear fruit.  We don't know when the soil in a person's heart is tilled and ready to receive it.   We must keep sowing and scattering seeds and patiently trust that the Lrd of the harvest knows when the soil will be ready and when the seeds will bear fruit. 
    We must also learn to trust the hand of the great Surgeon who gently works his scalpel in our hearts to remove what displeases Him and enable His love to work in our hearts.  It's a painful process.  Yet, many times all we can do is "Be still and know that He is God" and walk patiently, doing what He has placed in our hands to do.