But unless you have a specific skill that you have already developed, wait for some guidance from the mission board you choose. In any case, the mission can help you choose a sideline that will be most helpful in the area assigned. All of these things are great, but the best preparation is in the practice. Prospective missionaries should be people who have already begun doing something. Again and again when Paul wrote to the young churches he reminded them that his credentials were the kind of ministry that he had among them.
Education is neither the ultimate credential nor the ultimate preparation.
A vital part of preparation is a vital ministry. I hope that you have read this far and not thrown up your hands in despair. As I have read over what I have written to you, I was reminded of a letter written by Adoniram Judson in 1816. How well it describes my own feelings. In encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do use a word of caution.