“Ready to Go”

Cindy, assigned with her husband to Zaire, Africa, feels she is more prepared now than ever before. “I’ve wanted to be a missionary ever since I was a little girl. After being with the other students for five months, I’m really ready to go.” David and Charmaine, assigned to Ecuador, similarly expressed, “We feel that now we will better be able to blend with the different customs and life-styles in our assignment.”

Missionary Service is a practical course in how to view a foreign assignment realistically. One student, Glen, noted: “I found the Missionary Service course particularly helpful. It made me repeatedly search my motive and ask myself, ‘Why am I here?’” He and his wife, Gaylene, now feel qualified for their assignment in Papua New Guinea.

Another student, Pam, appreciated how practical the instructors were. “They helped me see that no matter where we are assigned, it is going to be vastly different from home.” Saipan, a tiny island in the western Pacific, will be the new home for Pam and her husband Peter.

Gordon has spent the last 12 years at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn and has seen many missionaries sent out from Gilead School. Now he, too, has benefited from Gilead training and will be serving as a missionary in Hong Kong. Does he feel that Gilead has conditioned him well for his new assignment? “The practical aspects of missionary life that have been emphasized throughout the course have helped me to look at it realistically,” answered Gordon. “Knowing what to expect is a big help.”