Guest Blog by my Mom: Marcia Bednar
At the end of July I had the privilege of going on the Parent Vision Trip (PVT) to Quito, Ecuador. It was my opportunity to see Amanda and experience what she and the team of Racers have been experiencing. I was excited about going for 2 reasons: 1) I would get to see my daughter who I hadn’t seen for 6-1/2 months and 2) I was excited to be going on my 2nd mission trip within one year’s time. Both of these 2 reasons were significant to me. Once we arrived in Quito, during our orientation meeting, Pat Hunts Burrows, our Parent Team leader from Adventures in Missions, asked us to figure out why God brought us to Ecuador. She talked about how God was using our Racer Adults as “bait.” While I had never looked at Amanda as “bait” before, I knew this was significant. God had a bigger purpose than my being there just to see her.
I think it has to do with the little girl “Leslie” in the pictures below. 
I met her at the Eye Care Clinic at Pan De Vida where the Parents and Racers served at on the Saturday of our trip. We were to interact with the parents and children who came. Obviously for me there was a language barrier. For Amanda, not so much; she has been growing leaps & bounds in her Spanish speech and comprehension. We began to interact with this small group of children and their abuela. Leslie belonged to another who wasn’t nearby. Somehow Amanda drew her in and on her lap. First, she started singing songs quietly to her in Spanish. Then Amanda took out her well-traveled deck of cards and was playing these with Leslie. Not too much response from Leslie. When I pulled out the box of latex gloves I had brought with me on the trip and began blowing one up as a balloon, the transformation happened. There was incredible joy on her face that I will never forget. Love from Amanda, a latex glove balloon and playing with a mom transformed a little girl.
Swirling in my mind was my interaction with Leslie and Pat’s question: Why had God brought me here? I was reading a devotional from Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts” and came across this verse on day 2 entitled Choosing Grace: “His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory.” I Corinthians 2:7 NEB From that devotional Ann talks about how God has had a different purpose for us; to rename us and to return us to our truest selves and to heal our soul holes; His secret purpose: to return me to my full glory.
The reason that this and my other mission trip were significant is that for the majority of my life I have lived in fear of going on a mission trip. I was afraid of what God would call me to do and I never had the desire to go. I had too much fear and not enough faith; I was afraid to risk. Four years ago I took a class on missions that changed my perspective; God changed my heart, and finally, in one year, He brought me on 2 mission trips, both of which I was excited to be a part of. Through both experiences, I realized that my fear was bigger than reality, and I regret that is has taken me so long to learn this lesson of risk and faith, which brings about transformation.
As for the rest of the PVT, I loved meeting the other Racers and their parents; we also helped with a VBS at a local church and had some time to do some sightseeing (the Equator, an artisian market and historic Quito). Another highlight and first for me was seeing my daughter lead worship with some of the other racers; it was truly beautiful.
I am so glad that God used my daughter as bait! I am proud of the Racers that I met on this trip and their willingness to go and give up one year of their lives and risk and trust God. I love that God knows what tools to use to transform a person. For Leslie, it was songs, a deck of cards and latex glove balloons. For me; it was a missions class, my daughter and finally a little girl named Leslie to show me that transformation is possible: that He wants to return us to our full glory so that He in turn can be glorified. Only He knows what avenue will bring about the transformation that is possible.
