July 26, 2026
Cross-Cultural Living, Book Reviews

Book Review: Looming Transitions

Transitions are common in a missionary’s life. My wife and I have been missionaries for 41 years and are now in the middle of our 9th “Home Service.” Saying that transitions are common does not mean they are not difficult or disruptive. Transitions are never easy but there is light beyond them. Amy Young has written a helpful book, Looming Transitions: Starting and Finishing Well in Cross-Cultural Service, published in 2016. She writes from her own twenty-year experience serving in Asia where she helped “hundreds of people adjust to the field and prepare to leave it” (back cover). She writes in an easy conversational style. The Introduction and first two chapters give a clear and honest picture of what transitions look like. The author points out that the stress of transitions stems from the gap between our expectations and the reality along the way. Transitions affect us socially, physically, and… Read the whole post
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