4.21.15—journal entry
I will never forget Taylor White jumping and screaming because she was about to hug her mom for the first time in 8 months. I will never forget the tears Taylor Hill shared as she hugged her mom. The excitement as everyone went through their parents packs to see the goodies they were brought. I will never forget Hannah Adkinson sharing two Girl Scout cookies with me—Samoas, to be exact. And I will never forget munching on the See’s caramel candy that Taylor snuck in my back pocket when I wasn’t paying attention.
During month 8 of the World Race Parent Vision Trip (PVT) happens, where parents have the opportunity to join racers on the field for 1 week. K Squad’s PVT was held in Swaziland, in Southern Africa, working with various care points in the area. Swaziland’s care points are places in which kids can come gain an education, play, receive a meal, and learn about Jesus.
My parents weren’t there, but I was given the opportunity to film for the week. I feel so blessed that I was able to witness and capture the transformation of lives and the restoration of relationships.
It’s amazing how fast the Lord can work. I didn’t expect parents to be affected the way they were during the 5 days. It was a beautiful, unexpected sight to see a big, macho dad in tears as he reflected on what he’d experienced that day. It was amazing to see a mom affected by the opportunity to pray for the children.
The parents brought back a sensitivity to the things that we as racers had become desensitized to over the past 8 months— the poverty-stricken areas all around us, cows roaming randomly in the streets, children running around naked with dirty faces, the abundance of fatherlessness, and even inadequate kitchenware. I loved seeing the parents rejoice in the simple things with the kiddos such as blowing bubbles, being human-sized jungle gyms, painting nails, and taking the occasional selfie or two. Overall, their enthusiasm and excitement to help and to figure out what they could contribute, was inspiring to me.
It was encouraging to see healing in relationships between racers and their parents—the hard conversations, the boldness of the racers in approaching those relationships and discussing things not previously discussed. They were able to share their testimonies, some for the first time, and boldly express who the Lord is in their lives and what He’s doing. I’ve always believed that this generation has the ability to go back and reach the generation before, and this week I saw it firsthand. Parents were reignited and reinspired through conversations with their 20-something year olds.
As you can imagine, I experienced feelings of loneliness that week because my family wasn’t there. But the Lord didn’t allow me to stay in those feelings. He showered me with love through my squadmates and their families. For example, John Michael’s brother, Grant, surprised me with a bouquet of flowers one day to remind me that I was appreciated. During the last night’s feet-washing ceremony, Margot’s mom, Cheryl, took the camera out of my hand and said that she wanted to wash my feet. Taylor Hill’s mom, Deanne, prayed some bold motherly prayers over me. And many moms offered to adopt me.
I love to dream big. It’s something that I did with the squad back in Nepal, and it was amazing to hear the dreams that God has placed in all of our hearts. So I decided to organize something similar with the parents. Especially since the messages that were shared throughout the week for the parents were “it’s not too late”, “God isn’t done with you yet”. Some of the dreams that were shared were: …
“I dream and pray that God would continue to fill me with love for others…I dream that I will always have love to give…and receive.”
“That God’s church in America would truly experience repentance and there would be a great revival and we would all be “set on fire” for Jesus.”
“I dream that I can learn to forgive.”
“I dream that we go home and not just remember what this was like, but we would live this out. Imagine what would happen.”
Dear PVT parents:
It has been 2 months since you left Africa, and I hope you haven’t lost sight of the things the Lord spoke to you that week and the ways the Lord changed you. As you heard at PVT, it’s not too late to follow your dreams. So keep dreaming!!!
And a huge thank you for loving me the way you all did. I couldn’t imagine my race without PVT!
