BYU has more returned missionaries on campus than ever before. According to a BYU news release, Fall 2014 saw record-high numbers of returned missionaries with 19 percent of female students and 87 percent of male students being returned missionaries.
Chances are most students at BYU have a friend, or will have a friend, facing the challenge of adjusting back to normal life. Here are the do's and don'ts of helping those awkward RMs adjust to normal life.
(thermtc.com)
Do ask them about their missions, companions, president, areas, favorite areas.
Do help them find ways to serve.
Do introduce them to pop culture, gradually.
Do talk to them about future goals.
Do go to whatever local Provo restaurant has the same food as their mission.
Do encourage spirituality.
Do invite them to social activities.
Do let them show you mission pictures.
Don't ask them how many baptisms they had.
Don't force them to go back to old habits and old ways.
Don't assume they know what's going on in the world.
Don't judge them if they came home early.
Don't judge them for how long it takes to adjust.
Don't ditch them at social activities.
Don't call them weird.
Don't let them think that just because they're home from a mission, it's over. They can still have the same level of spirituality and they don't have to go back to how it was before.