After hosting 16 parents in Thailand, a 24 hour travel day to Cambodia, a 4-day debrief and team changes (more to come on my new team in a future blog!), I have finally found time to share the incredible week that my mom and I had in Thailand – so amazing that she decided to stay an extra week in the country! But I’m getting ahead of myself…
The purpose of the Parent Vision Trip is to not just be reunited with our parents but to give them a glimpse of life on the field. In order to give our parents a taste of the past eight months in just five days, it required activities, ministry, teachings and events every hour of each day. Needless to say, it was a busy few days – probably the busiest week I’ve experienced on the Race so far! But it was so good: my mom and I had new, deep and intimate conversations and understanding of each other, new laughs and memories created, new lifelong friendships established with other parents and simply time to spend together.
So here is the week I spent with my Mom through pictures… enjoy!
Day 1
Fun fact: I got to see my mom first J As I was walking to the hotel with a squad mate the morning before we’d be reunited with our parents, wondering if my mom would even make it on time based on a text I received, I look in the lobby and see that all too familiar face – it was mom!!
Day 2
Something really awesome about PVT is that it was run by the Racers ourselves! We led worship, teachings, discussions and walked our parents through ministry; the program was put in our hands to give our parents the most authentic Racer experience. Each morning, we presented worship and a teaching covering a variety of different topics. While I don’t have pictures of these teachings, if you’re interested in hearing my squad mates drop some wisdom on Spiritual Warfare, feedback and identity, let me know and I can get you a recording!
In the afternoon and evening, we went into the Red Light District of Chang Mai (pictured above) and covered the streets in prayer – it was the first time my mom did a prayer walk and she did SO well! It was an incredible opportunity to spend time with each other and experience a darker part of Thailand together, while also bringing joy to women that needed it.
This is Coptor. If you know me and my mom, you know we’re suckers for small white dogs. After crossing the street to meet this little guy, his owner, a woman named Mimi who worked at a massage shop, let us hold him, gave us a place to sit and a fan blowing right on us (talk about hospitality!) and engaged in very friendly conversation with us. Although we had to head back as we were running late, we left seeing a new glimmer in her eye, a memory I’m excited to share with my mom.
After a long day of ministry, it was time for Mom to engage in another favorite past time of the World Race: cuddle puddles!
Day 3
What does a morning off mean? A trip to the Chiang Mai zoo!
In the afternoon our parents and I were able to decide what ministry we wanted to participate in – my mom and 3 other families went to the slums of Chang Mai to play with the kids! They painted our nails, played guitar with us, played soccer and ate snacks we provided. It brought joy to my heart to see my mom love these little kids the way that she loved me as a child.
In the evening we dressed up and went to a Thai Cultural dinner! This was an experience that most Racers don’t get to experience as it’s a little out of our price range so to see this side of the culture was a treat. Again, if you know my mom, you can probably imagine the mesmerized look on her face the second the performance began.
And here’s the family of Racers and parents that we formed over the week!
Day 4
In the morning my mom and I decided to do something we on the Race call ATL or Ask the Lord. So that’s just what we did; we asked the Lord what He wanted our plan for the morning to be and my mom saw us walking towards the mountains. Having only this to go off of, we started walking and ultimately were led to have a conversation with each other that brought so much restoration to our relationship; it’s amazing to see how God can move mountains and lead us just where we need to be!
In the afternoon we went to the oldest temple in Chang Mai and participated in monk chats! Due to sensitivity of the culture, we don’t have pictures of the monks themselves but we did have some amazing conversations learning about the religion and encouraging these men in pursuing their dreams (the one we talked to the most wants to be a computer engineer!)
One of Chang Mai’s claim to fame is the Night Market… so in the evening, we explored the night market, bought matching elephant pants (obviously) and got fish pedicures! Yes, it’s as ticklish as it sounds but was completely worth it to see mom squirming right next to me; and we were even asked to be featured on Dutch television!
Day 5
For our last full day together, we all crossed something off our elephants: playing with elephants! This was by far the most incredible experience of the week, possibly of the Race. I will go on the record in saying elephants are my new favorite animal (besides dogs) – they are SO friendly, funny and have cute little personalities!
Fun fact: this is Anna and Josie. Anna is one of my closest friends on the Race and we Parent Trapped our moms. We strategically put them in the same hotel room so they could become best friends and sure enough, it worked!! These women were a tremendous blessing throughout the week and it was a great joy to form our own little family throughout the week.
After fun at the elephant sanctuary, we spent our final afternoon at the botanical garden; with two florists in our midst, it was a must see destination. And after all the years of being dragged around gardens and antique shops with my mom, I will say that for the first time, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
If you’ve never been to a foreign country before, it is common to hold a celebrity status where strangers will ask to take pictures with you because you’re white (it probably didn’t help that we were matching). This is the first time my mom saw this happen and thought it was pretty comical.
Day 6
And before we knew it, it was time for our parents to leave – it went by WAY too quickly. With one final afternoon together, we opted for one last adventure at the 3D interactive art museum! The museum was fun but the takeaway memory was the tourist we met Sabrin from China who the most energy of anybody I’ve ever met. She (literally) pulled us by the arm through the museum, taking every picture together, calling my mom grandma (kudos to mom for taking this with grace and humor) and constantly laughed as we laughed right alongside her.
Mom’s feelings towards leaving me.
I’m happy to share that she had such a great time that my mom stayed in Thailand an extra week by herself simply to explore! She is currently traveling back to the States and likely getting ready to plan her next trip. Thank you to everybody who helped make this incredible reunion happen – it truly was the trip of a lifetime.
PS From now on my blog titles will be in the style of Friends episodes. Time to add some spice.
