The feelings you face after coming back from a mission trip are so jumbled and impossible to process. You just spent two weeks with people who have become your best friends, and now you have to come back home to your family who just doesn't get it! The experiences you had are completely inexplicable to anybody and everybody. Here is a list trying to explain the emotions you feel when you come home from a mission trip.
1. You are tired.
Chances are you just spent two (or more) weeks going non stop and now you are just exhausted (in a good way).
2. You miss your friends.
Nothing to explain here, you will just miss them.
3. You miss the people you helped.
After helping the people, no matter what you did, they were probably so grateful. They probably treated you like rock stars even though you felt like you weren't doing anything special.
4. You are upset you might not ever go back.
You just made a huge impact on the lives of these people, and they probably made a large impact on yours, and it's really upsetting that you might never see them again.
5. You are frustrated that people at home just don't get it.
No matter how many times you try to tell them about the experience or about the emotions, they just respond with a head nod or an, "Oh, that's nice." The pictures you show them won't do it justice, but you use them to try to explain it. All you want is for them to understand a small fraction of it, but unless they were there, they won't get it.
6. You wish you could help more.
Once you get back you probably thought of a million more ideas to help the people. So now you are thinking of sending packages or something to just send more love because they deserve it.
7. You are annoyed that there aren't enough words in the English language to explain how you feel.
If someone asks you to explain how you feel about the entire trip in a couple of words, you can't. It is impossible to capture the amazing feelings and emotions that went into the mission trip.
8. You just want to tell everybody about it.
You go to a friend's house and tell them about it. You go to your grandmother's house and tell her about it. You go to the grocery store and tell the cashier about it. You just want to talk about the trip to anybody who will listen. You want to tell them every detail. Partially so they can try to understand, but mostly because you don't want to forget.
9. You will miss the different sights and scenery.
In a different place, everything seems beautiful. It's like a museum everywhere you go. Once you get home, everything is same old stuff.
It is impossible to explain every emotion you feel when you get home from a mission trip, but here's to trying.
