Avoiding homesickness

- First tip to avoid getting homesick... WORK! The more you stay busy, the less time you have to think about home.
- It's totally fine to talk about home with your companion sometimes. It's nice to get to know them, their interests, what they like to do, what their family is like, etc. But try not to talk about home too much. Focus your conversations on missionary work.
- Read letters from home once when you get them and then put them away until P-day. Reading them throughout the week is a sure way to get distracted and homesick.
- Same with pictures. Look at them once when you get them and then put them away until P-day.
- Only write letters on P-days. It will be tempting to write them during lunch or at night, but try to avoid it.
- Saving most of your thinking about home for P-days will really help avoiding getting homesick.
- Keep your letter writing focused on the work and not how much you miss the person.
- This might be different for other people, but for me, it actually helped me to not be homesick when I was able to read emails/letters from my family about what they were doing. This helped me feel like I was a part of what they were doing at home and I felt like I was not missing anything. I will talk more about letter writing in another post, but figure out what would be best for you. If NOT hearing about what they are doing would be better for you, then make sure your family knows.
- It really helped me to not get homesick on holidays if I tried to do some of the same traditions I do at home. For Christmas, my companion and I combined my traditions with her traditions and added some of own celebrating (including some Swedish traditions). It ended up being a wonderful Christmas and I didn't get homesick at all.
- Obey the rules about calling home. You have two phone calls, one on Christmas and one on Mother's Day. Try to stick with the time limit. In my opinion (not sure if it's actual rule or not), only immediate family members and grandparents (no friends!) should be included in these calls. You only have a limited amount of time, so focus on talking to your parents and siblings!
- It's okay to get a little homesick sometimes! Most of us have never been completely away from home (no visits) for that long before. Don't get too hard on yourself if you do get homesick. Write your feelings in your journal or talk to your companion, say a prayer, then go out and work.
- Remember why you are out there. The people in your mission have you for only 18 months or 2 years. Home has you for the rest of your life. Don't waste your time thinking about home. Do what President Hinkley's father recommended: "Forget yourself and go to work!"