God works on our hearts as we do his work

This is Caitlyn’s dad, David. She asked me to write a guest blog for her. This made me feel at first very honored, and then somewhat intimidated. She’s a good writer. She’s been overseas for 8 months.
I thought “What will I write? Will she like it? Will I have something good to say and will people find it interesting? Do I have a good topic for a World Race blog?”  But I said I’d do it, so here goes and I guess we’ll find out the answers.

About 19 months ago, as Caitlyn was starting her senior year in high school, we went on a fall color trip to Lake Tahoe. She told me that on the way up, she had to do a phone interview for this mission program with an organization I’d never heard of. I asked some questions, but didn’t get much info. So I did what I could, asked the questions I could ask, as did Cari, my wife, we prayed, and life went on. Fast forward to September, 2018, and we are sitting in a hotel room near Atlanta, and I am telling my daughter that although the idea of a parent mission trip sounds great, its unlikely our finances will support us coming to Africa.

But the invitation came, and, just about a month ago, Cari and I found ourselves getting on and off a series of jets, then a bus, and winding up in a place called Manzini, which is a small town in Eswatini, in southeastern Africa. We were part of a larger group of parents, all there to see our “Racers” and experience a small taste of what they had been doing for the past 7 months on 3 different continents. What followed was a joyous reunion with a lot of tears and hugs, followed by five days of shared meals, family time, worship and field work.

We got to know our fellow parents, some of the other young people who had just been names to us, see some pieces of Eswatini and the people who live there, and help out in a small way with the mission work. And in re-connecting with our “children”, who are now capable young adults, we got glimpses of the ways in which they’ve grown and matured. 

Eswatini is beautiful but poor, and has a terrible problem with HIV, which has cut a deadly swath through the population. There are a lot of orphans, and a lot of extended families with missing parents. The Racers are working at Care Points, which are places established by Adventures in Missions, run by local people, where children can come, get a meal, get some love, and take some food home to their families. There is singing, dancing, play time, and interaction with caring adults. We visited two Care Points. At the first one, there were a lot of kids in their school uniforms, and the mood and scene was pretty upbeat. But the second one, where Caitlyn goes everyday, was in a hotter, more barren part of the country, and there were more small children, the atmosphere more gritty. I found myself somewhat overwhelmed by it, and impressed at the Racers, who go to work there day after day, pouring energy and love into these kids.

We also spent a day planting fruit trees. As a child, my grandparents on both sides owned orchards, so planting trees is something that resonates with me. These trees are an early step in a plan to build a learning center for locals to come, spend time learning self-sufficiency skills that will help them and their country. AIM has a program that identifies promising young people, and helps them get an education with skills they can use to better themselves and their country. The learning center will extend that idea. 

I came away from Eswatini amazed by the dedication and love of the people I met. I was charmed by the locals. I came away with a sense of hope for the future of the country. I came away impressed and awed by our young people And I was struck by the common bond we all shared because of a decision made by a young adult from each one of our families. I’m sure if we looked, we could have found things to divide us. Different churches, different states, politics, economic circumstances, whatever. We seem to find that all too easy. We need to find a way to hush those divisive voices, to focus on the good we can do when we work together.

One last thought: Relative to the time and money, could I have done more by just writing a check? Maybe if you reduce the experience to how much work I did versus what I spent to get there. But that’s not the whole picture. Someone asked my about the trip, and I told them it was like dropping a rock off a cliff into a lake. There was a pause, a big splash, and the ripples are still expanding. I don’t yet know how far those ripples will go.