First of all, it is absolutely essential that those desiring to be
missionaries should have a deep love for Christ, a full grasp of His
plan of salvation, and be wholly consecrated, in their inward lives,
to Him. Mission work is not preaching grand sermons, or witnessing
marvellous baptisms; it is a patient Christ-like life, day by day,
far from external help, far from those we love; a quiet sowing of
tiny seeds, which may take long years to show above the ground,
combined with a steady bearing of loneliness, discomfort and petty
persecution. The work demands of every worker very real and manifest
self-sacrifice and acts of faith. It aims at, and ought to be
satisfied with, nothing less than the conversion of the people to
God. Not witness-bearing merely, but fruit-bearing is the end in
view. Anything short of the salvation of souls is failure.

It is generally found that when people are of no use at home, they
are of no use in the mission field. The bright, brave, earnest
spirit, ready to face difficulties at home, is the right spirit for
the work abroad. A patient, persevering, plodding spirit, attempting
great things for God, and expecting great things from God, is
absolutely essential to success in missionary efforts. Those will
not make the best missionaries who are easily daunted by the first
difficulty or opposition, but those whose strength is equal to
waiting upon God, and who fight through all obstacles by prayer and
faith. The spasmodic worker, frantic in zeal one month, and at
freezing-point another, will be weary long before the station has
been reached: while in the strength of Christ the weakest of us need
not draw back, nor say, "I am not fit," yet nothing less than
burning love to Christ, and in Him to perishing souls, will survive
and overleap the difficulties and disappointments of the work.