When people hear that missionaries are going on home assignment, it can sound like a long visit home or even a vacation. However, home assignment doesn’t begin as soon as the missionary steps on the plane. It actually begins long before that plane takes off.

There are months (maybe even years) of planning involved: deciding timing around ministry and family, coordinating with churches, arranging housing and transportation, preparing presentations, and handing ministry responsibilities to others while away.

That’s just the logistical side. There is also an emotional side to home assignment as well.

Missionaries say many goodbyes: to friends, colleagues, routines, communities, and places that have become home. Leaving isn’t simply packing boxes. It’s preparing to step away from everyday life and trust others to continue work that matters deeply to them.

And then there’s the move itself.

Sorting belongings. Deciding what to take, what to store, what to give away. Making countless small decisions while also navigating farewells and international travel. Some even prepare instructions for their belongings in case they never return to that same place of service.

By the time missionaries arrive for home assignment, many are already tired.

Home assignment isn’t simply a break from ministry overseas; it’s a season of transition.

As you pray for missionaries, pray not only for safe travel, but for wisdom, endurance, peace in goodbyes, and God’s presence through change.

**Stay tuned for next week as we share more about what it’s like arriving for one’s home assignment.

(Adapted from OMF’s “What Home Assignment Means for a Missionary” series, Parts 1–4 by Wendy Marshall. Links to all four parts here: What Home Assignment Means for a Missionary)