These new missionaries are not prepared for the consequent emotional pressure. Because they can't handle their disappointments and frustrations, too many of them go home within a short time. I'd like to discuss some of the major causes of frustrated expectations. The roadblocks to fulfilled aspirations spring from nay sources. Sometimes new missionaries are told about some of them, and some are quite obvious, but other roadblocks sneak up on them and cause unexpected trouble.
Some pressures are internal, some external.
Naive expectations based on self image. Our sending churches think of missionaries as superpeople and that affects our self-image. Add to that our strong sense of call from God, and we may see ourselves as God's answer for a certain country or tribe. Truthfully, one young man told me that he more or less expected something like that to happen the first time he walked down the street. I laughed because somehow that sounded familiar.