How to Deal with Homesickness When You are on a Mission Trip

You heard the call, and you answered!
You embarked on a short-term mission to spread the word of God.
With the excitement of traveling to a new place, meeting new people and interacting with different cultures you packed and started your journey.
After arriving at your destination, you embarked on spreading the word of God to the host communities with so much joy.
After a short while, the deep longing of your home hits you. You yearn for your family, friends, the familiar surroundings and it causes so much pain in your heart.
How do you deal with homesickness while you are away on the mission?

Explore Your New Home
The research you carried out before you embarked on your journey will be of assistance.
Explore the new area, meet new people and soak in the new findings, and you will be surprised how you will quickly adjust and feel at home in the new location.

Bring ” Home” With You
You will be allocated a personal space by your host while abroad.
Carry your items like photos to place in this area. Photos will remind you of your home and people, making it more comfortable, and will help you combat any feelings of homesickness.

Enjoy the Local Delicacies and Practices
While at the local villages, make a point of finding out the local foods, traditions and what makes the town come alive!
Participate in their practices like dances, interact with the locals and get to know your host village in depth.
This will help you cope with any nostalgic feelings that might be cropping up!

Talk to Your Family
Are you yearning for your family and friends?
Talk to them using Skype or any other video call.
The talks will bring you up to speed with what will be going on back home and put you at ease.
Share with your friends about your host communities.
Take photos and share them with your people back home.

Talk About Your Feelings
With the overwhelming emotions that come with missing home, feel free to talk about them with a trusted friend or acquaintance. Your host or guide will be an excellent person to open up to.
These feeling will be fully understood, and they will empathize with you. You will be surprised at the support that you will receive.

Journal About Your Stay
During this challenging period, there are so many things that will be running in your mind.
There is power in putting these different thoughts on paper; these will ease the pain deep down in your heart.
Taking photos and documenting your journey will come as a booster when you feel low.
Looking back at these records of the high moments will boost your spirits when suffering from homesickness.

Be Positive
Despite the low moments, try your best and focus on the positive side of the whole mission.
It is alright to acknowledge the low moments but quickly switch your mind to the positive side and find joy in the bigger picture.
Mission work takes a lot of sacrifice and discipline from you, despite the joy that will come with accomplishing the task ahead, you cannot rule out the feeling of being homesick that will arise.
Focus on the bigger picture and trust God to take you through this period.

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