Marching On

We are beginning another month. The weather is changing as well. It's now spring--and Pakistani spring lasts only for around a month they say. Then the long summer sets in. After experiencing some initial difficulty with winter, I have also adjusted and gone comfortable with it... now temperature is rising again. And that would need another adjustment on my part.I have been here in Pakistan for seven months now. And I consider myself still a new-comer.
With only seven months of experience, I am still struggling to learn the language, eat/enjoy the local food (which is quite spicy), adjust to the weather (that goes very cold in winter and terribly hot in summer), understand the native customs and traditions and overcome homesickness and loneliness that come once in a while.Since I also come from a predominantly Christian country I had to change and adjust some of my mindsets and approaches to doing mission and apostolate especially in this place where Christians are a minority. And this I guess, I am still learning up to now.
Life here is a continuous adjustment, constant learning of new things and nonstop challenge to do things better. There are a lot of risks to being a missionary here. Well, that's certainly true, but I guess that's only one side of the equation--there are also a lot of opportunities to serve, to be happy, to be able to share and to learn and gain new insights from the very people we serve.