About three weeks ago, I GOT TO SEE MY PARENTS! Our last week in Guatemala doubled as my squad’s PVT (Parent Vision Trip), where each racer got the opportunity to invite their parents into our new (now normal to us) lives. PVT was a very special week that consisted of lots of love, laughter, growth, ministry, new experiences, and a wonderful overload of touristy things (I did more in 5 days than I had since I arrived three months before).
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We rode horses up a volcano! We went on a coffee farm tour!!
I hadn’t seen my parents in six months and for some reason, that made me nervous. But all of that went away the second my tearful mama took me into her arms and I caught a glimpse of my dad’s sweet smile while he was still unloading their bags from the van.
It was such a joy for me to introduce my parents to the people I’d been talking about and absolutely adoring for the past 3 months. We had 3 half-days of ministry while they were here and each day was so special.
The first day, we organized a VBS and my parents rocked their part of the creation activity, and my dad (like I assumed he would), made lots of new friends 🙂
The second day, was a day that my team had been looking forward to for quite a while. We met a man named Don Felipe within the first week of working in our village and had gotten very close with both him and his family. He has been severely physically disabled for years. Every time we went to his house, we expected to speak encouraging words over him, but it always happened that he spoke life and encouragement into us. He shared that he used to preach at his church, but had lost hope of ever giving messages again. We soon realized that the Lord meant for us and his family to be his church, so thats what we did. And so, on the second day of ministry, we all gathered at Don Felipe’s house with his whole family where he gave a message and then also made all of our parents share something too HAHA.
The third and final day of ministry was field day!! At the beginning of the day, I got to go with my parents to invite one of my most near and dear (also funniest and stubbornest) students to come to the last day of our program. With a bit of convincing, we got my girl to come with us.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
Everyone assured us racers that PVT would be more than just seeing our parents and our parents getting to see us after 6 months. I thought okay thats all good, but I’m not really sure what that looks like. But, I listened to their advice to be bold with the Lord and do what he says.
So, after worship one night, the Lord told me to have Gabe (one of the amazing base staff members) to pray for healing over my dad’s foot. AND IT WAS HEALED. He had previously been told that he would be in a brace for the rest of his life, but the Lord didn’t have that for him. The first part of the week my dad was struggling to walk on the cobblestone of Antigua, needing to take frequent breaks because of the pain. After the Lord healed him, he didn’t wear the brace, walked normally, and felt no pain.
And this is just a fun selfie of Cami and my mom being goobers!!!
P.S. Mom and Dad,
Thanks for making the sacrifice to come see me. Thank you for recognizing and accepting the ways I’ve grown. Mom, thanks for the warm feeling you bring to me and all of the sacrificial love you show me. Dad, thanks for bringing much laughter and an open heart.
Thanks to everyone who read this. This might not be the most influential blog I’ve ever written, but it’s so special to me.
Also, I am now in Cambodia. After a delayed landing into Mexico City, my squad split to four different states in the U.S and thankfully made it back to LA on time to fly to China. I love it here. It is hot here. And it is hard, but the Lord is still going to make this a season of worth. I will be trying to keep my blog updated more often. Tune in for more about my new home!
Much Love,
Lexi
