Pre-PVT:
9 months is a long time to be away from home for a fresh high school graduate. Hard? Yes and no. Yes because I have to abandon everything I know and love at home and traveling the world isn’t easy with the different cultures and everything.
No because God is with me and giving me the strength to be gone, but also I’m always busy with something. There are so many people around like all the time to talk to, play cards with, or do anything with.
I’ve been on the World Race for 6 months now, which is crazy to think about. The most recent, popular Squad W conversations are PVT, when we go home, and food we miss, crave and plan to eat when we get home. Part of the reason we have these conversations is because we are in the middle of Africa and don’t have a lot to talk about since we’re always together doing things on the base. If you’re wondering what PVT is, you’re in luck. That is the topic of this blog! PVT is Parent Vision Trip.
So what is a Parent Vision Trip? Try to guess… I’ll give you a hint, it involves parents. XD
PVT is an amazing experience and opportunity parents of racers have to see their racer before the race is over and also a chance for them to jump in and join racers in ministry. For the World Race Gap Year, PVT is in the 7th month of the race. The location of PVT is different for different squads since all 6 gap year squads are in different countries. PVT lasts a week. My squad’s PVT is a few days after we arrive in Thailand.
Adventures in Missions sends an email to racers on their third or fourth month on the race and that email has all the information on PVT and gives the racers the option to invite their parents. Each racer can decide if they want their parents to come to PVT. If the racer decides to invite their parents, they tell Adventures in Missions to send an invitation email to their parents. The racer provides them with emails and names of their parents. Once that email is sent to the parents, there is an application for them to fill out. After the application, they have to have a phone call interview with one of the staff. After that they have to pay for the things they’ll do with us on the mission field and buy plane tickets.
First of all, Thailand I’ve heard is so very beautiful, second of all, it seems like a great place for PVT! I know for a fact the squad is excited and I can’t even imagine how excited all the parents going are. PVT is the chance parents have to not only see their young adult, child, loved one, however you see it, but it’s the chance for them to experience some of the things we world racers do for 9 months. They can get a taste of living missionally whether or not that is how the parents normally live life.
I for one am very excited for PVT because I’m excited to catch up with my family (well, my parents and text/call my brother) after 3 months of no communication but even more importantly, seeing my parents again for the first time in 6ish months. This has by far been the longest time I’ve been away from home and my amazing parents. Not to make it seem one sided but I think it’s been harder on them with me being gone than it has for me. I’m surrounded by new people, new places. My parents are in the same place I left, learning to do things without me around. For some parents it might be a relief that their kid is out of the house because maybe they never really left home before and they wanted them. I know I didn’t leave home much when I was home. I’m a home body. I love staying home on a Friday night to watch movies and eat pizza with my family, so for my parents it’s pretty different at home without me.
I’m looking forward to seeing my mom and running to hug her, probably with tears in my eyes. I know for a fact that my mom will cry when she sees and hugs me for the first time in 6 months. Also hugging my dad for the first time in 6 months. Gosh I can but can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like. I’m so excited to see my parents and tell them about everything that God has been teaching me the past 3 months in Africa with no connection at all.
Post-PVT:
Where to start on how PVT went… I don’t want to write too much from this week because I don’t want to A, make this blog super super long and B, I don’t want to give too much information. I will be honest with you, I cried when I saw my mom run from the other side of the street to hug me. It was a bitter sweet moment for us for sure.
PVT was absolutely amazing! I probably talked my parents ears off at times from all the stories I have to tell them. My mom came with a list of questions she had to ask me so she wouldn’t forget them so throughout the week she asked them and I answered. She had some good questions for me too! For example, one of her questions was, “What has been a struggle for you on the race?” She practically knew my answer asking. My answer was the social aspect of the race. I had never experienced community living, never had roommates, never spent 24/7 with people that, at the beginning, I had not much clue who they were. I was very overwhelmed with the amount of people on my squad and of course my squad is the biggest squad of all the gap year squads traveling the world.
I was able to share what God has revealed about my future after the race to my parents, which was really good. (stay tuned, blog about what life will look like after the race is coming soon!) My parents were able to catch me up on some things going on at home. They even brought me a whole bunch of letters and gifts from home which was really sweet. I loved receiving new things and also being able to give them things to take home for me so I don’t have to carry it anymore. I gave them full journals, books, shirts I didn’t want anymore but wanted later on, and my eno that I only used when I was in Guatemala. Even though it doesn’t sound like much, it makes a big difference in the weight of my bag! So shout out to them for that!
The whole week they were in Thailand with me we had a schedule. We did a rotation with ministry with parents, we had set meal times, we had worship at the same time every night, and we even had a set adventure day to do something fun as families. We did have a lot of free time each day as well. I spent just about every possible hour of each day with my parents. Going a full on 6 months without seeing your parents will do that to ya.
The whole week was a bit strange to be honest. I went 6 months without my parents, growing up, learning about myself and about God, experiencing new cultures, and really just becoming a woman of God and then my parents are there and I could tell I have changed in some ways because of reactions to things that I used to react to differently. I’m not really sure why it took my parents coming to make me see it but I’m glad I saw it. It was hard in that having my parents around made me think of who I used to be and I went back to a few old habits temporarily because they were around and reminded me of home and who I used to be. It was quite the experience to be the new me in front of my parents who haven’t seen me in 6 months. I was happy to let them in and see my relationship with my team. My sisters. They really got to witness our bond created over 6 months of just straight being together all the time. I was able to see my parents make new friends with my squad mates parents, we would all go do fun things during our free time with their new friends and my squad mates. I also was really just friends with my parents. They treated me like such an adult, which was quite different but felt good.
I’m very thankful for this amazing opportunity we had to spend a week together in Thailand getting to catch up and hang out.
My mom’s journey with PVT:
I wanted to do something a bit different and attach a guest blog to a blog that I wrote, so I hope you enjoy reading the 2 in 1! I asked my mom to write a guest blog about PVT and kind of left it open for her to say whatever she wanted to say so here it is!
Joining my daughter in Thailand for a parent vision trip was a wonderful experience. I’ve never traveled that far, so it was exciting to be in what felt like a whole new world! I’ve never been on a plane for 15 hours at a time, never been to Asia, never had to pack for 2 weeks in a carry-on bag (a miracle in itself) and I feel like I’ve conquered something!
It was so great to meet all of her teammates, although I felt like I already knew them from seeing all the pictures and following all of their blogs! What an amazing group of young adults! They impressed me so much, Hannah included! They have traveled the world together and have bonded with each other and it’s a beautiful thing to see. I love how the Lord has linked them together for such a time as this…
I think being able to see them function together was my favorite part of the trip. We got to see where they are living, what they are able to do for ministry, who their connections are there, and just a general peek into their lives as missionaries.
We were able to work closely with a coffee shop that’s connected to and now owns the place where the kids are staying. I was so impressed by them and the atmosphere they have created. We got to dream with them a little about the potential there is for expanding and rearranging their space and all that they could do, which was fun! Some of us were asked to help put together more bunk beds for the kids, which are solid wood and very heavy! Other parts of ministry included painting rooms in a family house, and chatting with monks at a Buddhist temple we visited.
Something about this trip that I really enjoyed was how we were able to be engaged in practical and spiritual ministry but also had time for fun with other parents and also good one on one time with our kids. We were able to just spend time with her after being apart for so long, which did this Mama heart some good!! We were able to write a blessing and pray with her, which was a sweet time together. She’s adjusted and happy, and more confident than when she left, which was so good to see! I can see the Lords faithfulness in her life, and the way He is speaking to her, and her obedience and surrender to Him, which, as a parent you always hope and pray for, but to see it playing out right in front of you is so amazing! I’m SO proud of her, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids for her to travel the world with, and I’m so thankful that she is experiencing this!
Being able to have the opportunity to go and experience life with your child in another country and culture is a once in a lifetime thing, and something I’m so grateful for! It showed me that the church truly is the people, and it doesn’t matter what background they have, when you come together for a common purpose and goal, God is glorified and lasting relationships are formed. Community is something we lack as a society, and after witnessing it firsthand with Hannah and her teammates, I know it’s not lost. God wants us to slow down and pay attention to the people around us, that He’s put in our lives, and it doesn’t matter if they do things the same way that we do, we are called to love them.
I’ve also learned that He’s teaching me to trust Him with my kids. I say as a mom that yes, I trust the Lord with them, but this is when the rubber meets the road, when my child is halfway across the world and I have no control over what she is doing or where she is going…but God knows, and He has her in His ever-loving hand. I have to let go for Him to do what He needs to in her life, and although it’s been a hard transition, it’s been good for both her and I!
I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed this trip…from the special God moments, to the sweet, wonderful time with Hannah, to the awesome people that we connected with (parents included) to the fun things we did, like the singing van rides and feeding and bathing elephants! It was a joy to be a part, and I will treasure these people and memories forever!
