It’s one thing to read up on something, it’s another to actually experience it. The former at best gives you a foretaste of something, for instance reading up on what goes in Cameroon gives you a foretaste of the country. The latter is when you actually go to the country and stay there for a given duration, though the advantage here’s that you’d experience Cameroonian culture as it actually is since reading up on a description only goes so far.
While reading up on a country can spark one’s interest, it gets complicated by factors like whether if someone has the budget to actually go there and whether if one goes the extra mile to acquire dual citizenship. That’s if the host country permits it, which worsens matters if one wants dual citizenship real badly since it depends on the country. Some countries allow this, some don’t so with the latter you’d have to renounce your citizenship to become a citizen of that country.
Not to mention in the case with missionaries they may be called to stay in that country to preach the gospel there, if he wills it they’d have to stay there longer than they wished for. Sometimes that country’s not the country they want to go to, say you want to go to Japan but you’re called to evangelise in Cameroon to the chieftains and stay there for some time. There’s also culture shock, reverse culture shock and acculturation from staying somewhere else for so long.
But for those who really want to stay in a foreign country, it’s worth experiencing this especially if it’s something that they wish to do or are called to do.
fynm 