After the Amor Mission Trip

After completing the trip, your child will have experienced so many things, it will most likely be difficult for him or her to know how to unpack what they've learned. This will be a time of transition, from a culture they have grown to know and love, back into their own culture, where they will start attempting to know how to integrate the two. You are able to serve an integral role during their time of readjustment, providing encouragement, flexibility, and most importantly, a listening ear.

Here are some questions and different ways of engaging your child that you might find helpful.

1. Pick up your child yourself when the group arrives home!
2. Hug them, tell them how glad you are that they are home. Help them to feel secure in your love for them.
3. Let them just be for a while. Try not to jump into a to do list of unfinished tasks, but instead ask if they want to go for a walk, get their pictures developed, or plug in their digital camera and give you a tour of the week.
4. Ask them questions but also be understanding when they need their space: What was the highlight of the week? Describe your neighborhood to me. Tell me about the people. What was your work site like? Tell me about the family you built for. Were there any children who played in your neighborhood? What is one thing you’re nervous about being back home? Describe what’s going on for you as you come back home. Tell me about your times at camp. What was the funniest thing that happened this week? Describe for me what it was like to cross the border. What did you see or experience in your neighborhood? How did you see yourself change? What is one thing that you’d like to keep from your experience? Did you get prompted to live differently during the course of the week? How so? How can I help or our family help you as you seek to create a change or live differently?
5. Give them some time to adjust to being home. It might take a little bit. There is a lot going on for your child.
6. Provide an outlet for your child to share his or her experience while on the trip. If the group your child goes on their mission trip with has a time to share stories, make it a priority to go yourself (make sure it's okay with your child's group leader to attend first). If there isn’t a planned event to recapture the events of the week, host a reunion night at your home, invite students and parents for time to show pictures, share stories and talk about how life might look differently now.
7. Plan an opportunity for your family to go and serve together somewhere.
8. Look for ways to continue the conversation about your child's trip for many weeks after their experience. Listen carefully to your child, and when they are ready to talk, make yourself available. Let them know their stories and their experience are important to you.
9. If your child comes back with a passion to serve in a new way, do whatever you can to encourage, support or even participate in service with them.
10. Help them to translate their mission trip experience into life back home. If you have questions on how to do that, make an appointment with the group leader who took your child and seek out ways for you to help your child integrate all they’ve experienced into life as normal.