Several years ago Bonnie and I wrote Coming “Home”: The Reentry Transition to use in our reentry retreats for people returning to their passport cultures after serving in other cultures for several years. We wrote that book for people to read after they had returned to their passport country. Later I wrote We’re Going Home: Reentry for Elementary Children and an accompanying book, I Don’t Want to Go Home: Parent’s Guide for Reentry for Elementary Children. Still later I wrote a book for people to use months before leaving their host country, Before You Get “Home”: Preparing for Reentry
Although I have written several books about reentry for people to use during different phases of their return and for different people, none are for those returning after a short-term mission trip. Though there are many more people returning from short-term service and the issues these people face are quite different from those returning from long-term periods of service, there are far fewer resources available to help them sort out those issues.
Since the course of my life was changed by my own short-term service in 1989, I am including an autobiographical section in each chapter. Readers may be interested in this personal material, or they may prefer to skip it altogether.
I want to thank Larry Frick, Bert Jones, Larry Cochran, Art Nonneman, and Yvonne Moulton for the excellent suggestions about the material in this book.