PVT highlights
Some of you may know, others may not, that this past week was PVT, which stands for Parent Vision Trip. AKA MY PARENTS CAME TO ROMANIA!!
I could say SO much about the last five days! I could talk about how refreshing it was to have a piece of home here, how awesome ministry was, how thankful I am for my parents, and how nice it was to visit Bucharest, but instead of writing a long blog about all of these things, I am going to cover some HIGHLIGHTS from PVT!
Before I start here is a little recap: My parents were only with me for 5 days. The first day was the day they arrived, we spent three days doing ministry, and the last day was an “adventure” day we spend in Bucharest. Although five days is not a long time, a lot happened and the Lord used it for His Glory!
-One of the highlights of the week was getting vending machine coffee (which happens to be pretty dang good and popular in Romania!) And sitting on a park bench with them and talking. Finding out later in the week that there was actually a café down the street that had legit cappuccinos…Why didn’t I know about this all month??!! (There was not much to do in Draganesti-Olt, so one café would have been nice!)
-Second day of ministry we did the “big event,” which was a social event we invited people to throughout the month and the previous day of ministry with our parents. The church we had partnered with, Hope Church, had started church planting in a city about an hour away and this event was the final big event before they started actual services in a building and not in a persons house. At the event, we all set at different tables, where the people we invited would sit with us, along with a translator. There was a speaker and refreshments and we were encouraged to have biblical conversations. Me, my parents, a squad mate (Sarah), and her mom sat at a table with our translator and two Romanians who were invited to the event. Long story short the women grew up Romanian Orthodox and had lots of questions about what we believe and how we do things. They asked what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus and we got to explain to them that we talk to God often and read our Bible to get closer to God. They asked how often they had to read their bible and we explained to them that it could be a scripture a day, a chapter a day, or a book a day, but that there are no expectations or rules to how much. After the speaker had spoke, we asked the ladies how they enjoyed the speaker, which then led into a conversation about prayer. The ladies asked how we prayed, which my mom then responded, you can pray anywhere, in your car, walking down the street, or at a table. One of the ladies who was very interested, then asked if she could pray like this, she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart!! What!! SO cool!! So my mom and Sarah’s mom went around the table and were able to pray for her, leading her in asking Jesus into her heart! Immediately the women were glowing with smiles that stretched from cheek to cheek. What a beautiful experience this was for everybody.
-Third day of ministry we did house visits. My parents and I went alongside a local Romanian missionary to visit two of her friends. The first house was an older lady, Ana Maria, and her daughter and law, Donna. We sat for a little while talking about God and the delicious pastries Ana Maria had brought for us. We prayed right before we were leaving and then I asked Ana Maria, if she had a lot of head scarves (part of the normal attire for an older Romanian lady), she said yes and then asked if I would like to see them?! As we were going through her scarves she then asked if I would like one and proceeded to wrap it around my head!! Such a special moment. As we were heading down the side walk, she then asked my mom if she would like one as well! And of course Tresa said yes!!! So then we all had our head scarves on and had to take a million pictures. This was probably my moms favorite part of the trip! It was so cool to serve alongside the Romanian missionary in sharing the gospel and building the Kingdom.
-A cool part of PVT was that our parents got to meet all of the people that we have been doing life with for the last seven months and not only that, but all of the parents got to meet each other and become friends! It felt so cool to meet all of my squad mates parents, you know someone so much better through that!
-The ministry we worked with this month was Hope Church. Raul the pastor is so on fire for Jesus and has so much vision in bringing the gospel to Romania. Romania has 0.2% believers! And Raul and the ministries through Hope Church, and all of the missionaries who are connected with Hope Church are bringing light to this country and the true gospel of Jesus is being spread throughout this country. I was not aware of anything happening in Romania before the World Race and it has been so awesome to work alongside Hope Church this month. My eyes have truly been opened to this part of the world and to the Romanian people. With that being said, it was so cool to share that with my parents! So cool for them to see how on fire Raul and Hope Church is for the Lord and bringing His name to the nations!
-Boldness! My parents say it was cool to see how much I have grown in my faith and in boldness. And that is cool– for them to see how the Lord has used this year to stretch me and draw me closer to Him. However, same to them! It was so cool to see my parents step out in boldness. To watch them share the gospel and share parts of their testimony and to pray for people! I loved being able to come alongside my parents and do ministry with them. That truly is a gift!
-That HUG though!! #homesweethome Man, how refreshing was it to have a piece of home here on the world race! I was anxious leading up to seeing them, but seeing them was exactly what I needed! It lit a fire under my butt for these next four months!
One of the best parts of PVT was obviously seeing my parents!! But what is so cool, is that yeah they probably would not have came to Romania if I had not already been here, but it was not about me! It was about building the Kingdom, sharing Jesus’s love, and all about God’s glory. They might have thought they were coming for me, but God used them to change lives for His sake while they were here. So cool.
I am so so so beyond blessed to have had my parents here this past week! It was such a beautiful time. Pray for my parents as they travel home and for all the lives that we came in contact with this past week. Pray for Romania and Hope Church. That God would continue using and expanding this ministry to build His Kingdom. Pray for workers, the harvest is plentiful in Romania.
Hey and go check out Eastern Europe, it is pretty dang cool!
LOVE YOU MOMMA AND DADDY!!!!!!!
