not only did i say “yes” to Jesus when i came on the race but so did my family. my family whether they see this or not said “yes” to God when they let me leave home for 9 months to travel to (more than 4) countries (ecuador, peru, colombia thanks to missing a flight, guatemala, cambodia then thailand for final debrief!), they said “yes” to God by allowing me to come on this journey but also for them to have a journey of their own.
since i have been on the race, people have told me how proud i should be of my dad and i believed them but there was something in me (the devil) that kept saying “allyson, he’s going to come to pvt and be the exact same as you knew him to be don’t get your hopes up for this ‘new’ person everyone is talking about,” so i accepted that. i knew deep down that he had changed but i never believed it because i haven’t been home to see it. i believed he made some pretty incredible relationships in his life group but i didn’t believe that those relationships went outside the church walls, i didn’t believe that he raises his hands in worship, i didn’t believe that there was a restoration happening in my parents relationship.
but let me tell you. he got to guatemala and WOW. something happened back home and i literally have a new dad. he was made new. brand new. he said “yes” to God and it really shows.
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my mom and i have gone to church together for years and it was always just something we did, we never seemed to have that relationship with the Lord that He desires that we have. i switched churches and a while after (after a lot of begging) she came with me and LOVED it. that’s when i started seeing that relationship with the Lord in her become stronger and stronger.
in the last 6 months she kept telling me about my dads relationship with the Lord but never her own — and wow she also has so much to celebrate!!
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as soon as they got out of that shuttle bus to walk into the hostel in antigua i ran over and hugged them and immediately i felt something new.
i felt the Spirit in them. i felt love, a kind that only can come from the Holy Spirit. i could feel the hunger for more of the Father. i felt the excitement for what they were about to do in Guatemala— they’re making it on earth as it is in Heaven!
night 1 of pvt (parent vision trip) we had worship and wow the spirit was alive. one of my squad leaders felt it strongly in their spirit that people were hungry for the Holy Spirit, for growth, for more of Him and she asked them to go to the front so we could pray for them and immediately my dad went up. his hunger is so real. i went up to pray for him then i look over and i see one of my squad mates with his hand on my dad’s back praying for him, then i saw another hand it’s my squad mates mom and then another hand is his dad. truly a night to remember. life change happened and there’s no better community to have behind you like this one. wow. the word i have for this community is strength.
day 1 of ministry we taught english classes at a school in Parramos, Guatemala and my dad lit up. kids. EVERYWHERE. it’s like my dad was in Heaven on earth and my mom, well, she loves anything for the Kingdom. it was truly an amazing day (even though the schedule at school was way out of wack they loved it and made sure i knew that! my parents were in their happy place whether that was my dad and playing with my students at recess or my mom helping teach english class.
day 2 of ministry we had a field day with the kids from the village we do house visits in and wow! first of all, kelsey asked if someone would share a word at the field day for the kids and immediately my dad shot his hand up and said “I WILL!” with a huge smile in his face, so he did!! the parents fit right in with the kids! i truly thought i would have to entertain my parents and give them “jobs” to keep them present/entertained but it was actually the complete opposite. let me tell you, team hopes parents are the real champions!! we had a surprise for our parents at the end of the field day and that was to pie their faces!! every single parent said “yes let’s go!!!” and they did the thing and the kids LOVED it!!
day 3 of ministry we did ATL (ask the Lord) in the village. team hope shared a little bit about ATL then we did a super cool activation with the parents! ATL is a lifestyle, people!! live it out!
day 4 is adventure day!!!! let me tell you: my parents and i were fearless!!! we went zip lining, we drank coffee (we all hate coffee but somehow we all managed to like the coffee we had at this place, it’s quite comical), we ate traditional food (which for my mom was a bit of a challenge because she doesn’t eat things that are a bit strange but she did because she was being fearless), we went to a macadamia nut farm and tried some nuts, got facials, and bought some natural sops then my mom got her nose pierced (SAY WHAAATTTT!!) i know, she was fearless today. then for dinner we had an uber take us to the top of a mountain to this restaurant. we doing out they only take reservations after 4pm so we couldn’t eat there + long story short we thought we were going to die + be stranded on this mountain forever but after a few phone calls/messages we arranged for someone to come get us and in the mean time we worshipped on top of this mountain because God is still good in scary situations! 🙂
as Im writing this blog i am laying in my bed in CAMBODIA! woot! be praying that in Cambodia the Lord will do huge things and that i will be fully present and make these last 3 months of my race count! the weather here is not the kind of weather i like. it’s around 100 degrees F with hiiiiigh humidity & were only allied to have our ac unit on for 6 hours each day but i am eternally grateful that we have ac + that i get to be here in cambodia for the Kingdom!
see y’all in (less than) 3 short months! (PS i found out that i fly into LAX on June 2 at 11am then i will be spending a few days adjusting in LA and maybe meeting Miley Cyrus or something cool like that and i’ll be home that week sometime!)
