I’m not sure I even know how to write this blog. The last five days have been a complete whirlwind. PVT was built up so much for so long, then it got here and it was exhausting. The days were long and packed. Emotions were all over the place. Worship was amazing! The food was incredible! Ministry was powerful! Even the parent/racer free time was tiring. All in all, The time was amazing and God did great works in young and old (and me right in the middle) alike.
I guess I should explain what PVT is. PVT stands for Parent Vision Trip. It was started a few years ago to give racers the opportunity to invite their parents out to a set country at a set time to experience a taste of ministry, close community living, and life away from the comforts of home for a few days. The trip is a means of bridging the generational gap between racers and their parents and give us the opportunity to build the kingdom alongside each other as equals. Our PVT was in Draganesti, Romania this past week. We continued doing ministry with Hope Church (separate from the folks who didn’t have their parents come out), and we lived with our parents and other families at the homes of some of the missionaries from Hope Church. This time around AIM tried something new and sent our squad coaches and alumni squad leaders to be involved. The whole experience definitely took everyone involved out of our comfort zones, but uncomfortable situations are where God shows in the coolest ways.
It is a really weird strange when two worlds collide. Our squad is finally in a place of unity. We have all been living together all month (as I talked about in my last blog) and ***PRAISE REPORT*** we do have a God Of Second Chances. We actually do love each other a lot and that showed in our PVT experience. Naturally, adding parents back into the lives of racers after eight months in the field, adds some stress to this weird existence we have grown accustomed to (sorry parents, it’s true). Some people need to have hard conversations with their parents. Some have broken relationships from the past. Some have no idea what to feel…and some (like me) have had all of the hard conversations with their parents already, have a good relationship, and are just excited to see them in a ministry setting in a completely different culture than America. Whatever the circumstances, the unity of the racers, having Chuck and Selina (our coaches) with us, and the knowledge that we were all truly there for each other gave us the strength to walk in to whatever God had in store.
God had a lot in store for PVT. I got to see Him do awesome things in and through everyone involved, including my squadmates who didn’t have their parents come out. I saw parents work alongside their kids in hectic ministry settings, and thrive. We had a worship night with the whole squad and the parents and I saw walls break and chains fall in young and old alike. Our group was able to raise enough money to completely finish building a house for widows, orphans, and families in dire straits (Praise God!). People had tearful conversations and joyful conversations, and healing began. I heard parents say that they had been walking with the Lord for most of their lives, but God got exponentially bigger in their eyes in the span of a short few days. Eyes were opened and kingdom vision took over. It was really cool to see.
As far as my family goes, we had an incredible week. There wasn’t a whole lot of stuff from the past that needed to be said. We had already had most of the hard conversations before I left America. It was really cool to see some of the ways my parents have grown in faith in the last eight months and see them apply that faith in ministry and in daily life. For ministry, we did some home visits, some kids ministry, and some evangelism events. My folks seemed a little nervous at first, but stepped up from the beginning and completely rocked whatever was thrown at them. We prayed. We evangelized. We spoke life. We played with Gypsy kids. We shared scripture. We listened to other racers and parents when they were having a hard time and were able to speak some wisdom into their situations. It was really fun to unite with them and fight for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Before they left yesterday, we got to have a nice breakfast and talk about our lives; past, present, and future. They blessed me and encouraged me and our relationship is even stronger because of it. Our relationship truly is a testimony to God’s grace and redemption.
Now PVT is over and it is time to start the final three months of our Race. After a much needed debrief in Brasov, we will head to Moldova, then to Central America, then home at the end of May. Our teams are going to change again. Our circumstances are changing again. It doesn’t matter though. This all squad month in Romania and this week of PVT have grown our squad into one unified body. It doesn’t matter what the enemy throws at us. It doesn’t matter what our new teams look like. None of the circumstances matter, because God has molded us into one fighting unit and He IS going to use us to advance His kingdom here on earth. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog posts. Please continue to keep my whole squad and all of our parents in your prayers. Love Y’all!!!
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