If you are returning to the field, there will hopefully once again be the fanfare of a good send-off, with new friends and a fresh commitment of support. This time you will know what faces you on the field and, we trust, you will now feel refreshed and ready and eager for your return.

If your homestay has been overly hectic, however, or if there is disturbing news from ‘over there’, that may not be exactly how you are feeling. Is there a sense of reluctance maybe to leave home again, or even of dread or foreboding about what faces you back there? Be honest with your PACTeam and again let them think ahead into the next steps with you. Bring them into your struggles and promise yourself and them that, rough or smooth, you will keep in touch with them and be honest and accountable.

This can feel like a rerun of the earlier occasion when the fieldworker was going out for the first time. But now, you have heard the stories, you have connected with the work in a new way and there is much to celebrate. Alternatively, maybe both you and they know that they are going back to a tough battle situation. It may not be culture shock facing them this time, it could be a difficult team environment or a tricky political and security context.

This is a time for drawing close in committed prayer and trust together for the journey ahead. Make the send-off one where they can look back and feel encouraged at words spoken over them, uplifting scriptures shared and blessings given.

If you are returning to the field, there will hopefully once again be the fanfare of a good send-off, with new friends and a fresh commitment of support. This time you will know what faces you on the field and, we trust, you will now feel refreshed and ready and eager for your return.

If your homestay has been overly hectic, however, or if there is disturbing news from ‘over there’, that may not be exactly how you are feeling. Is there a sense of reluctance maybe to leave home again, or even of dread or foreboding about what faces you back there? Be honest with your PACTeam and again let them think ahead into the next steps with you. Bring them into your struggles and promise yourself and them that, rough or smooth, you will keep in touch with them and be honest and accountable.

This can feel like a rerun of the earlier occasion when the fieldworker was going out for the first time. But now, you have heard the stories, you have connected with the work in a new way and there is much to celebrate. Alternatively, maybe both you and they know that they are going back to a tough battle situation. It may not be culture shock facing them this time, it could be a difficult team environment or a tricky political and security context.

This is a time for drawing close in committed prayer and trust together for the journey ahead. Make the send-off one where they can look back and feel encouraged at words spoken over them, uplifting scriptures shared and blessings given.