After traveling from country to country for the past 7 months and only talking to our families through spotty wifi; our parents got to join us for a week on the mission field. Parent Vision Trip is a week when the parents of World Racer get to join their children on their journey of “life on the field”. This trip was the first mission trip for many of our parents; which was the case for mine.
Most racer will have either one or two parents with them during Parent Vision Trip, but I had the pleasure of introducing three parents to the missions life. My Father, my Step-Mother and my Biological Mother. Good thing my family is pretty cool and they are all friends! (Praise Jesus!)
Before I get to the fun stuff, here is a quick back story…or just a small description of what living and ministry looked like for Racer and Parents:
Parent Vision Trip was held in Nicaragua for our squad. We all… I repeat..ALL! Parents and racer ALL stayed together at a local Firefighter Academy. So there you have it, over 100 people all staying in one location with only about 4 or 5 working showers, no air-conditioning, multiple personalities and either a bunk bed or the ground (the racer got the ground). Yup, the parents got to experience true World Race living. We worked with a local ministry that created a schedule for where our teams would be doing ministry each day. There was farm work, construction, evangelism and prayer walking and two feeding programs for underprivileged children. After the two and a half days of ministry we had some fun adventure time with our parents.
I have asked my parents to send a short recap blog expressing their experience on the mission field for the first time. Enjoy!
“Before going to PVT I was just excited to see and spend some time with my Son Dylan. When we arrived in Nicaragua, I was amazed just on the road trip from the airport to the fire training center where we stayed for the week. In just the small amount of time we spent there, it really made me open my eyes to all the work God is doing in our children. I got to see how much Dylan has grown not only in his Faith and Spiritual beliefs but as a man. I was able to not only see how much Dylan has humbled himself from his Pride as a man. Dylan was able to help me humble myself from my Pride. I was able to appreciate all the little learning experiences all the racers have to do on a daily bases. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of the PVT Nicaragua 2017”
– Father
“Traveling was quite unnerving for me, I don’t like to fly and on top of that I was going to another country. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, I saw some things that were overwhelming for me and some that pulled at my heart strings. But it was also a rewarding experience, if that makes any since. Just being there to lend a hand and to see some of the locals want us to pray for them was heartwarming. I am a caregiver by nature, I just want to help and or fix everything for everyone, I know that’s not my job, but if just being there and saying a prayer helps just one person then maybe God was working through us.. and.. well, me too. I would have to say, I so far haven’t heard God speak to me, maybe He has and I just haven’t realized it yet. I definitely see the lord working through Dylan, his passion and faith shine so bright.”
-Biological Mother (aka momma)
“Day 2 was our prayer walk. I wasn’t really shocked by the neighborhood or how the people lived; what I was so surprised by was the joy of the children and the openness of the people. See, I believe that as Americans, who have so much readily at our fingers; we assume that these people would be full of sadness and closed off, when in reality they were full of Joy, for that’s all they know and they were happy to talk to us, allow us to pray with them; they want to know Jesus. Us Americans, we are the sad ones and the ones closed off. We were raised that the more we have the “happier” we are and we assume if someone wants to pray for us or talk to us then they have a hidden agenda; that is sad. God showed me so much in these people and all I could do is pour out love, a love that didn’t come from me but came from Him. I had no idea how easy it would be to hold hands with these people, and just talk to them and pray with them. The dirtiness of some or the smell never even bothered me. I got to pray over a lady that is a diabetic and her foot was so infected and nasty, but God told me to grab her foot and pray over it anyway; which I obeyed. I prayed over several other people who the Lord gave me visions over and although it seemed to be for them, I believe I got so much more out of it then they did. It was truly a blessing for me as well.”
-Step Mother (mom)
There you have it! A parents thoughts of their first mission trip.
Stay tuned for more blogs to come…
Below is the link to a short video from PVT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSrQU8bw3vs
