Returning Home: A Guide for Missioners and Volunteers in Transition

After time living and working in another culture, volunteers and missioners face the difficult transition of leaving and returning home. Whether they were somewhere close to home or on the other side of the world, for a few weeks or for decades, the process of re-entry can be challenging. This book offers suggestions, reflection guides, and support for the person experiencing the process, from the time of preparing to leave through their return and readjustment to their home culture. Transition includes the three phases of Endings, the Neutral Zone, and Beginnings, each with its own emotional, spiritual, and practical challenges. The book offers a deeper understanding of the transition process, exercises for personal reflection and processing, important reminders, and tips for storytelling. This book is one in a series of five volumes published by From Mission to Mission, an organization serving returning missioners and volunteers since 1980. The guide shares insights from decades of experience with those returning from a time of living and serving in another culture.