't get Western food there! They had better have
stayed at home!
After a few years had passed, however, the young man mentioned above
did start to do country work, and he did it very acceptably. What is
more, he even came to prefer an ordinary country meal of local food to
the best Western dishes that his wife could give him at home! Seeing
that, I began to realize a thing that should be a comfort to all young
workers who find the food or the living conditions difficult. _Over a
period of time familiarity not only turns difficulty to ease, but
often even removes the "dis" from dislike!_
The young worker goes with an older one to make a call or two.
Everything is new. Everything is strange. Everything is nerve-wearing.
If a seat is offered, it is uncomfortable. If food or drink is
offered, either may be unpleasant. Even if he understands more or less
of what is being said, the conversations are tiring. And by the time
he reaches home he is utterly worn out. As far as he is concerned,
however, that is not the worst. He looks at the older worker who has
taken him out--someone getting on in years, perhaps a bit stooped, and
obviously not in the pink of health. This missionary has done all the
younger one did, and more. He also preached a few times to crowds that
gathered, and he carried on endless conversations, but just listening
made the younger worker tired. Yet this older man somehow has arrived
home as fresh as a daisy!
The new worker, in his first station, often has to go through a stage
in which he finds everything uncomfortable, unattractive, and
difficult, but there is no need for him to become discouraged. Even
that older worker probably did too, although he may have forgotten it!
The change comes slowly, and the young missionary may not be able to
see it for a long time, but if he everlastingly keeps at it, he will
surely find that, after a few years, familiarity has made the
difficult easy. Most people will find, as well, that it has even made
the distasteful pleasant!
* * * * *
A mother was coaxing her little daughter to eat her vegetable. "But I
don't like it!" the child objected.
"But you will," encouraged the mother. "Just eat it a few times and
you will get used to it. It won't be long before you really like it!"
The child sat stock-still for a moment, considering. Then she burst
out, "But I don't _want_ to like the horrid stuff!"
Other people's ways, other pe
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