Nicaragua was our shortest country on our route. We only spent two weeks there but in that time I still received a lot of valuable wisdom. The first four days was LDW (leadership development weekend) which is basically just a long weekend off for the squad to rest and go on some adventures. The main purpose for Nicaragua was PVT (parent vision trip). It’s when the parents of all the racers are invited out onto the field for a week to do ministry with their children. It’s a super cool opportunity and even though my parents unfortunately couldn’t make it out I still had an amazing eye opening experience because of it.
During the week the parents are with us the squad splits into two groups. The first is the group with parents. They go off and do whatever ministry is needed in the specific community. The other group of racers are the orphans and usually they would do a different ministry. Since we had just gotten to Nicaragua though we didn’t have a ministry set up for us so the orphans and I were given the opportunity to do ATL (ask the Lord). It’s a very fluid form of ministry where we just go out and find all new ways to share the word of God.
I had the opportunity to get involved in the skate community for a week and skate with all the local kids in Granada. It was a ton of fun not having any real structure and just being able to go out and make my own ministry. Just being able to hangout and share stories and testimonies of the race with these kids led to some super interesting conversations about faith. It was so awesome telling these guys about all the healings and miracles from the last 6 months and how it all stemmed from having faith that it would happen. It was really refreshing to feel like an equal amongst a group that I was sharing the Lord with too. All of Asia it felt like we were on some pedestal just because we were first world missionaries. These guys just saw me as a regular person and because of that I feel like our conversations were so much more free flowing and natural.
My group of orphans also had the chance to repaint a school for special needs children one day as well as hangout and do arts and crafts with them. That was a blast and it was so beautiful to see the people running the school light up when we just randomly rolled in asking to serve them for a day. ATL is an incredible opportunity and I hope they continue to allow future routes to do it on the race.
On the fourth day of PVT the squad came back together as one group for dinner and worship. It gave the orphans on the squad a chance to hangout with the parents and be poured into. It was very humbling to be accepted by so many parents in such a short amount of time. Being able to observe and just be in the presence of this scenario showed me a lot about the impact we as grown up children can have on all you stuck in your ways adults. That’s not a diss or whatever I just think it’s pretty easy for you older folk to be caught off guard with how much wisdom we’ve all picked up these past nine months.
Our generation is often viewed as a generation of internet addicted antisocial screw ups who aren’t going to amount to much. I would like to clarify that though it may look like that sometimes it is not at all the case. My generation is a generation of free-formed thinkers. Risk takers who are willing to step out of formation and chase after what the Lord is calling them to. Yeah it may mean not being the most financially stable at times but what we lack in money we make up for in Faith. I’m not just talking about racers either my generation is going through a spiritual awakening and it’s incredible. Students and young adults are coming together in community and finding new and unique ways to invoke the kingdom, time and time again leaving me humbled.
PVT gave me the opportunity to see what it looks like to have a strong relationship with family. It showed me to always love the people closest to you unconditionally. It also gave me confidence that no matter how big a problem might be that the Lord can fix it. Many parents during this week trip experienced so much growth, most of which stemmed from the children pushing them to be open minded and steadfast in faith. It was overall just a humbling experience to watch some of the parents do a complete 180 on their viewpoint of religion in the course of 5 days.
