Christian Living

Does Overseas Mission Work Rewire Your Brain?

by Ernesto Aragon
11/13/17
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Many missionaries often suffer from post-travel depression when they return home from an overseas mission field. Since I’ve traveled to 5 different nations to share the Gospel with people, I’m certainly familiar with post-travel depression. But is post-travel depression something that just happens and then we get over it, or do the experiences we have overseas actually change our perception of people and of the world?

The first time I went to Africa in 2014, it was a two week missions trip to Mozambique with Heidi Bakers ministry. Those two weeks were a significant part of my life because prior to that moment, the furthest place I’d traveled to was Florida with my parents (I live in California in the US). The first time I ever traveled overseas, I traveled alone as a very inexperienced traveler.

During those two weeks, while I was in Mozambique, I was manipulated and scammed out of $200 USD, I got sick, I almost passed out, etc. Aside from the bad things that happened, the blind saw, the deaf heard, hundreds of people got saved, etc. All of that happened in only two weeks!

To say that my life was transformed after I returned to California was an understatement. The biggest problem I experienced after returning home was that home didn’t feel like home anymore. When I went back to work, I became even more dissatisfied with my day job because what I was doing there seemed so meaningless compared to what I was part of in Africa.

What I didn’t realize was that what I had experienced was a Holy dissatisfaction with my normal American lifestyle. Going to work, paying bills, buying a house, and going on vacations to relax all seemed so meaningless without having a greater purpose. I no longer had a desire to find the perfect job, get comfortable there, and retire so I can watch TV for the remainder of my life.

When I returned from my two-week mission trip to Mozambique, I had such a hunger to share the Gospel with people that I would pray for and prophesy over people in grocery stores, banks, parks, and anywhere I could. If I’d never been to Africa, maybe I would’ve been okay with living the typical American life, but after returning from Africa, I found my purpose for living, and that’s for me to share the Gospel with people who are depressed and have no hope.

Missions trips were never designed to just be a fun adventure that allows us to take a vacation from our day to day stress, but they’re designed to ignite a fire inside of each and every single one of us that burns to share the love of Jesus with depressed and hopeless people.

Even though I was different after returning from my missions trip, everything else and everyone else was exactly the same. One thing I couldn’t understand was how that could be possible. How could people hear stories like what I’d experienced and then just say, “oh that’s cool,” and go back to living life as usual?

The reason is that your experiences overseas will forever change the way you think, and nobody will ever fully know what that’s like unless they decide to travel overseas for mission work as well. I’ve heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but an encounter with God is an experience that words can’t even express.