Our Parent Vision Trip
The World Race got pretty real for me back in September as Laura and I travelled with Claire to the “Launch” event. It was there in Atlanta, removed from life’s busy routines and with clock to departure ticking down to its final hours, that we settled in to focus on learning the details about what lay ahead with this WR adventure. The thoroughly well prepared two day AIM program showered us with information, introduced us to staff, and gave us the chance to meet other racers and their families. Sessions and handouts armed us with the knowledge we would need to navigate the months of separation, and of course, incited some mild panic about areas where our preparation had fallen a little short. Some categories of Items are overpacked. A few items missing. No malaria pills! We make last minute gear adjustments. We also were told in one of the sessions about this thing called a Parent Vision Trip (a.k.a. PVT), where we might get an invitation down the road from our racer to come visit and experience their work in the field. The when and where was unknown and a pre-requisite number of parents would be needed to even make such a trip happen. I think I heard a speaker say mostly Moms go. This all sounded pretty vague, uncertain, and too far into the future to worry about. So I jot down a few notes about it and turned my focus back to the more pressing tasks at hand—the missing Malaria pills, and preparing for the good-byes.
Fast forward about 5 months to December to around the halfway point of Claire’s race. All is going well as we are adjusting to our new empty nest life with Claire gone when the PVT drops into the picture and starts to develop some clarity. We learn it will be in India, sometime in February. We are also told the racers will be considering if time with parents in the field will help or hinder their work, and if such a visit will fit with their spiritual development. In other words, we *might* get an invitation. Oh yeah, I remembered hearing about this back in September. We miss the heck out of Claire, so a chance to visit is very exciting. A few weeks pass and on one of our FaceTimes with Claire……drumroll please……we get her invitation. Thank you and Whew. Now we can start to consider this trip. I start a mental trip feasibility study and a pros and cons list. Top of the plus column—see Claire. Remote India—honestly not on my travel bucket list. Plus column, maybe combine the PVT with extended time for sight seeing, Taj Mahal. Negatives, cost and time away from work. I could go on but you get the idea. Laura was all in even before the “official” invite — I think she would have found a way to go without it. LOL. For me, this decision took more time. I’d be lying if I didn’t say at that point the scales looked pretty balanced, but I decided to commit to the trip.
A process is kicked off with AIM. Again, very well organized and replete with resources and information. Work begins on our applications, e-mails, conf calls, web portals to upload info, getting a Visa, etc. This time we’ll get the Malaria pills! Travel bookings. Preparations at home and work to be out of town for almost two weeks. Packing. And during all this, both anticipation and a little fear are building. So excited to see Claire, but going to remote India is a little daunting. More planning, packing, and finally getting on a plane.
So with all that as a backdrop, and after a very long journey, we arrive to India for our PVT. As the bus rolls in to the Trinity Seminary Compound, I see Claire for the first time in almost 6 long months. She has longer hair, and she’s wearing clothes I don’t recognize (we learn later that racers share, trade, and drop clothes and gear amongst each other). But the big Claire smile is there and it is such a comfort to see that big grin in person and to see her so happy. We get off the bus and reunite with our girl, and the hugs and joy from this reunion can’t be put into words. I will never forget how good those hugs felt. But as we expected, this trip is also about supporting the racers, their mission work, and briefly experiencing racer life. We get our room assignments and head off to get settled in. This is lesson number one — world race accommodations are basic and utilitarian in many of the communities they work. I was reminded in this visit that we have so many luxuries and simple life pleasures that we take for granted; reliable electric power, ubiquitous access to clean filtered water, hot water for bathing, air conditioning, and memory foam mattresses, just to name a few. I experienced the squatty potty, a cold bucket shower, and very limited WiFi. We shared a dorm style bathroom with 10 other racer parent couples. I slept on the bottom of a hard metal frame bunk bed set up with a thin mattress pad. We ate meals in a large tent. These are all World Race rites of passage, and we were duly initiated.
While we were blessed with some special time each day to reconnect with Claire, a big part of the PVT is experiencing the World race community. We opened and closed each day with fellowship, beautiful worship and racer testimonials. Time was also devoted each day to ministry. We went alongside with racers to visit schools and to support local ministries. We rolled up our sleeves to help with moving materials for two physical church building projects. We visited with local families where racers are building beautiful relationships. We supported and encouraged the local ministry partners. It was absolutely amazing to see the hard work, selflessness, and the emotional and spiritual maturity of this group of racers.
What a week! The time flew by. Nothing was quite what we planned or expected. We met some amazing young men and women with incredible courage to sacrifice, live and work outside their comfort zones for a significant part of their young lives. We were exposed to some amazing mission and service people. While I went primarily to see Claire, I was surprisingly blessed with some special connections with other racers and their parents. I am so grateful for the way the racers and staff love, support, and encourage each other. I saw God working in the World Race community and the partner missions they support. I saw that my little girl has grown up a lot in the last six months. While I will continue to pray for God’s safety and protection , I will worry less knowing she is together with a very special and mature WR squad and team family. Last but not least, I know most readers of this blog (if anyone got this far) are Claire’s supporters. I thought about many of you during the trip and want to say a closing word of Thanks for all of your prayers, love and support of Claire during this adventure.
Thank you to all the love and hospitality from the racers at the PVT, the Mountain tribe :-), and our wonderful PVT organizers and hosts. Adios and good luck to all the teams heading to Costa Rica!
-David and Laura
P.S. – Turns out eating community meals in a big, colorful, open air tent while meeting and sharing stories with new friends is pretty fun. Never got those Malaria pills and didn’t need them—fingers crossed Claire can make it 3 more months and say the same. We did have some Z-pacs and unfortunately, those did come in handy (yuck). Almost gave our Z-pacs away – so glad I didn’t (sorry Sam). And last but not least, got to stay a few days extra and see the Taj Mahal! So glad and blessed to have been a part of this PVT!
