Can You Go Back Out After Coming Home Early?

Yes, many early returned missionaries can go back out, and you do not have to decide yet. When you are ready, your stake president can recommend you to the Missionary Department for a return to service. Some missionaries go back to a teaching mission, not always the same one, and some are reassigned to a service mission.

If you are reading this, the question has probably been in the back of your mind since the day you got home. Wanting to go back is normal. So is not wanting to. I have talked with missionaries on both sides of that question who were doing exactly what they should be doing.

The Church's guidance for leaders says healing is the first priority, and that decisions about returning to missionary service come later, after the missionary has fully recovered from whatever brought them home (Counseling Resources, "Missionaries Who Return Home Early"). I agree with this advice, and in my experience it is the most important thing you can do while you sort this out. You are allowed to take your time.

What Going Back Can Look Like

The current General Handbook, the guide local leaders use, says bishops and stake presidents should give missionaries who come home early special support and help them regain their health or return to service if possible. When a missionary is ready, the stake president contacts the Missionary Department to recommend it (General Handbook, 24.6.3.2).

Going back may not look like the mission you left. The Handbook says some missionaries who return to service are reassigned to a different teaching assignment or to a service assignment. It also says something that I think is important for every early returned missionary to consider: a specific assignment is important, but it is "secondary to the call to serve as a missionary" (General Handbook, 24.2).

A return to a teaching mission is what most people mean when they ask whether they can go back. The next section covers what that request involves.

A service mission is the second path, and it has changed a lot in the last few years. Since January 2024, young service missionaries have belonged to a teaching mission under the leadership of a mission president, and they are invited to zone conferences and other mission gatherings (Church Newsroom, 2023). They live at home, receive assignments built around their circumstances, and, with the mission president's approval, can teach lessons alongside teaching missionaries (Church News, 2026). Young men typically serve 24 months and young women 18 months, the same as teaching missionaries. Service missions are not yet available in every part of the world (General Handbook, 24.2.2). When the Church announced the change, Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Missionary Department said that all missionaries called by the prophet, "regardless of their assignment," represent Jesus Christ.

The third path is serving in another way, such as a calling as a ward missionary or temple worker (Counseling Resources, "Returning to Service"). Where young service missions are not available, the Handbook lets young members serve in the same capacity as senior service missionaries (General Handbook, 24.2.4).

The Church is also candid about the risk. Its counseling guidance notes that missionaries often get better once they are home, partly because the stress of the mission has eased, and that the demands of the field can make the same problems worse again. It asks missionaries to think carefully about why they came home and how likely the problem is to come back. That is the question I would want any missionary to honestly think through before deciding, and we will come back to it later.

What Reinstatement Requires

Under the current Handbook, the request starts with your stake president, who contacts the Missionary Department when he feels you are ready. He was also part of the decision that brought you home: the Handbook has the stake president, the mission president, and the Area Presidency where you served counsel together on whether a missionary should come home early (General Handbook, 24.6.3.2).

The Church's counseling resource for leaders, published in 2020, describes what a request to return to a teaching mission has included (Counseling Resources, "Returning to Service"):

1. A letter from the stake president asking for reinstatement. It says you are worthy to serve, that everything connected to your release has been fully resolved, and that he has interviewed you and both of you believe you can function effectively in the field.
2. A letter from you about how you feel about returning to missionary service.
3. For missionaries who came home for medical or mental health reasons, a letter from the professional who has treated you. It describes the condition, the treatment you received, how you responded, any medication or treatment you would need in the field, and whether you can handle the demands of a mission and of a companionship.
4. Updated medical and dental forms, if you have been released for more than a year.

The Handbook is newer than that resource and does not list these items, so ask your stake president what applies now. One more detail from the Handbook: if you were released and are later approved to return, you are set apart again as a missionary (General Handbook, 24.5.3).

In practice, the road back can be more gradual than people expect. With some of the missionaries I have seen go through this, leaders asked for about three months of stable service as a service missionary first. After that came a proselyting assignment in a mission close to home, and then, after another three to six solid months, a possible return to their original mission or a mission in the United States. I have also seen missionaries reassigned stateside rather than sent back to the mission they left. Every situation is handled individually, so treat it as one possible path and ask your stake president what yours might look like.

Note item three, which asks for an evaluation from someone licensed to treat the condition. If you came home for health reasons, plan for that early, because a letter like that comes more easily from someone who already knows your situation.

It Depends on Why You Came Home

The reason you came home shapes what going back looks like. In a Utah Valley University survey of 348 early returned missionaries, 36% came home for mental health reasons and 34% for physical health (Doty et al., 2015; Deseret News, 2013). The lead researcher, Kristine Doty-Yells, has said that fewer than 23% came home for anything related to rule violations or unresolved transgressions (The Daily Universe, 2017).

Physical health

If a medical condition or injury sent you home, the question is whether it is stable now and whether the field would put it at risk again. An evaluation from your treating professional is part of the request, and a service mission may be an option if a teaching mission would ask too much of your body. Your doctor's honest read of how a mission would affect you should carry more weight than how much you want to go back out.

Mental health

The Handbook says teaching missionaries must be physically, mentally, and emotionally able to work the full missionary schedule, while service missionaries work a schedule built around their capacity. It also says a missionary who has been prescribed medication commits to take it throughout their service as directed (General Handbook, 24.3.3). Many missionaries feel better after coming home, and that improvement is tangible. However, some of that can come from the relief of being out of a high-pressure environment, so the honest question is whether you could carry the full schedule again, or whether a service mission fits you better right now.

A worthiness issue

If you came home because of a worthiness issue, the Handbook says repentance must be complete before a stake president can recommend you, and that it includes enough time to show through righteous living that the change is real. The stake president counsels with the Area Presidency if he has questions about how much time is needed. The Handbook also says a missionary in this situation may serve again after repenting, depending on the circumstances (General Handbook, 24.3.2). How long that takes is between you, your bishop, and your stake president, and it varies with the situation and the leaders involved. What I can say is that this reason is less common than most people assume, and it does not close the door on serving.

A family emergency

If something at home brought you back, the first question is whether it has settled or resolved. Talk with your stake president, who can give you more specific counsel on this situation.

Something that does not fit a category

Some returns come from a mix of things: a hard companionship, a spiritual crisis, a feeling you could not make sense of or resolve at the time. The Church's process asks that everything related to your release be resolved. For a mixed situation, most of the work is honest self-assessment, and a conversation with your stake president is where it gets tested.

Questions Worth Asking Before You Decide

There is no score to add up. These are the questions I would want a missionary to have worked through before talking with their stake president.

1. Why do I want to go back out? For some people it is a real desire to serve. For others it is a way to quiet what other people think. Usually it is both, and it helps to know which one is stronger.
2. How long has the thing that brought me home been stable, and how long was it an issue before I left? Something that has been a problem for a long time is unlikely to resolve quickly. A few good weeks at home is encouraging, but I would want to see it hold through ordinary life, including a stressful period, before I trusted it under the pressure of the field.
3. What would be different this time? If the honest answer is "I will try harder," that is the same plan that was in place the first time. Look for something concrete that has changed.
4. If it came back in the field, what would I do? Who would I tell, and what would I do on a bad day? A concrete plan I could actually use is worth more than confidence.
5. Could I carry the full missionary schedule right now, or would a service mission let me serve without setting myself up to come home again?
6. What do the people who know my situation say? That includes my doctor or treating professional, my stake president, and my parents. Do their answers match what I am telling myself?
7. Am I choosing this, or am I being pushed toward it? Pressure from the people around you can feel a lot like your own desire.
8. What would I do if I decided not to go back out, and what beliefs about myself and my future could be clouding my decision? It is easy to fall into all-or-nothing thinking, where returning to the mission means success and anything else means failure. That is not a productive way to weigh your options, and it sets you up for failure. If staying home only feels like losing, I would talk it through with a counselor or coach before making any decision.
9. Have I asked the Lord, and am I open to hearing either answer?

Write your answers down before you talk to anyone. On paper it is easier to see what you are sure about and what you are not.

What This Can Look Like: A Composite

Going back out was a decision my own daughter had to wrestle with after coming home early from her mission. Given the time she needed to get answers and heal, it never really became a realistic option. The service mission structure fit her recovery, and she found the work meaningful and rewarding. Beyond that, what I can share comes from the individuals I have coached, so the story below is a composite of their situations, with details changed. It is not about one real person.

Daniel came home after five months because of panic attacks that had gotten bad enough that he could not keep going. Within three weeks he felt better. Within five, he told his parents he wanted to go back. He said he felt fine, and he was tired of feeling like he had given up too easily and wanted to prove to himself that he could do it.

His stake president did not say no. He asked Daniel to wait a few months and see how he was doing, and Daniel was frustrated about that for some time. Over those months he started seeing a doctor and a therapist, fulfilled his duties as a service missionary, and had a few rough weeks that he told his parents about instead of hiding. When he finally sat down and worked through questions like the ones above, he saw that most of his reasons in week five had come from shame, a belief that if he did not go back, he had failed in life.

That was about eight months after he got home, and he still wanted to serve. I am going to leave the story there, because I have seen it go different ways. Some of the people I have worked with went back and finished. Some went back and came home again. Some decided to stay home and realized that they could still build a life that was meaningful and fulfilling. I could not have told you which was which from how confident they sounded at week five.

If You Go Back, and If You Do Not

If you decide to go back, go in with the plan from question four, tell the people who will be around you what helps, and keep working with whoever has been supporting you at home. Kristine Doty-Yells, whose research I cite throughout, has written that both of her sons came home early, went back out, and came home early again (Doty-Yells, 2017). A second early return is possible. If it happens, the same things are true that were true the first time: it is common, and it is not a verdict on your faith or your worth.

Going back can also look different from what you pictured. In a 2026 story in The Daily Universe, Ben Jensen described starting in the Massachusetts Boston Mission, leaving it because of mental health struggles, and finishing as a service missionary in the Idaho Boise Mission. There he served at a food bank and a senior center and taught art classes at a school (The Daily Universe, 2026).

If you decide not to go back out, that is a complete and valid decision on its own. The same story describes Brandon Walton, who came home from his Alabama mission after two months with an ankle injury and was given the option to return once he recovered. After a lot of prayer he chose not to. He said he had worried about how it would look, but felt peace, and felt "the Lord was leaving it up to me."

The research points the same direction. Samuel Hancock, a BYU psychology PhD student who came home early himself, interviewed 20 early returned missionaries, 9 men and 11 women. Fourteen said their faith in God was stronger because of their early return, four said it was weaker, and 19 described an optimistic view of their future (Hancock, Public Square Magazine, 2026). In the earlier UVU survey, 62% of early returned missionaries said they had strong spiritual experiences on their missions (Doty-Yells, 2017).

The Lord told Joseph Smith that when people give a work everything they have and are hindered, He will "accept of their offerings" (Doctrine and Covenants 124:49). The Church's guidance points leaders to that same verse for missionaries who come home early.

And if you are not ready to decide, that is a decision too. It is okay not to be sure. If that is where you are, take the time you need to feel stable and healthy. If you wait, keep the age limits in mind: the Handbook lists 18 to 25 for young men and 18 to 29 for young women (General Handbook, 24.2). Make it a matter of fasting and prayer, and trust that whatever the Lord directs you toward will work out, regardless of what others around you feel or expect.

When Other People Push

In the UVU survey, 40% of early returned missionaries said they felt pressured to go back out (Doty-Yells, 2017). In my experience, whether the pressure is direct or just felt, it is common.

The Church's guidance tells leaders not to pressure a missionary to go back, and to discourage family members from doing it before the missionary is ready or if the missionary does not want to (Counseling Resources). Doty-Yells gives members the same advice: let them work out their own path forward, then cheer them on. Most of the people asking mean well. They love you, they are worried, or they may just not know what else to say.

It helps to have a sentence ready. Something like, "I am focused on getting well right now, and I will decide when I am ready." Or, with someone you trust, "I am still figuring that out. Can we talk about something else for now?" You do not owe anyone a timeline or an explanation.

Pressure can run the other way too. Someone may tell you that going back would be a mistake, or that you have already done enough. They may be right, but it is still your decision to make.

Where to Start

Talk with your stake president. You do not need to have decided anything before you do, and he can tell you what the process looks like right now. If a doctor or a therapist has been part of your life since you came home, bring them into the conversation too. In some areas, the Church's Family Services offers counseling sessions for missionaries who come home early, and your bishop can tell you whether that is available where you live (Counseling Resources).

If it would help to have someone in your corner while you work out your direction and next steps, someone who understands what coming home early is like, that is what I do at Returning Stronger. I am a licensed marriage and family therapist, but Returning Stronger is a coaching practice, not therapy, and when I work with someone through Returning Stronger, I do it as a coach. You can book a free 30-minute discovery call to talk through where you are and what you are weighing. You do not need to know your answer first.