Great Unexpectations

These last two weeks have been interesting ones.  I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying and am finding myself in a fairly ambiguous time right now.  God's presented me with some new options recently that I was not expecting.  The big one that has been weighing on my heart is the question of the amount of time I will be staying in Peru. 

I've been telling everyone that I'm going for two years.  This may still be true, but only if I can discern that that is God's will, and to be honest I'm not sure right now.  I've been thinking about how I arrived at the decision to go for two years, and I feel like it was my own pride.  The mission agency originally suggested going for one year to see what it was like and then I could decide if I wanted to stay longer, but I brushed that off immediately, claiming that anything less than two years was not worth it, as it takes at least one year to get acquainted and comfortable with the culture.  And I'm ashamed to admit that my attitude toward other missionaries who only went for one year before coming back to the States and settling down was that it was not a true missions experience.  Wow!  What a jerk I've been!  I realize now that wheather someone goes for one year or twenty years, as long as they are obeying the Lord's personal calling on their lives, their missions efforts are not only genuine, but effective. 

I want to have a genuine missions experience too.  I want to do the Lord's will and have the most effective ministry possible.  Please keep me in your prayers that I will be sensative to hear what God is asking of me and to be obedient to His will.  Thanks.