Did you ever stop to realize that Nehemiah didn’t start up his short-term mission trips until he made an advance set-up trip? See it in Nehemiah 2:11-16. He started by staying 3 days. We don’t know what he was doing during that time. Getting over jet lag? I doubt it; I think Jerusalem might have only been, at most, only one time zone away from the palace where he was working. Maybe he was praying. Scripture gives us no indication. When he did finally hit the streets, he did so in a very quiet way, conducting his research at night with just a few cohorts. This was special forces, special ops stuff — for the Lord, of course. He then immediately translated his research to mobilization. He didn’t leave the film in the can. And when others tried to discourage him and even attribute false motives to his work, he deflected their criticism by staying focused on the Cause. All in all, he seems to be a very effective researcher.