It has been a pretty busy three weeks! First was a week for Parent Vision Trip at Vision Nicaragua ministry. Next was a week of debrief with my squad in Granada. Then a six hour bus ride into Tegucigalpa, Honduras to meet our host for month nine. The Internet isn’t the greatest where we are, but I wanted to share a little on PVT. I might write a separate blog on Vision Nicaragua as well because there are so many good things to say about that ministry!
Parent Vision Trip (PVT) was such a good experience. It was jam-packed with activities & ministry, parents who have never experienced “race life,” and a wide range of emotions. For the first two mornings, we had about an hour of unstructured time with our parents and then an activity.
The first day we went into town. My mom and I walked around and told her this was pretty typical — these were the types of markets we shopped at for team food. Then we found ice cream — also pretty typical!
In the afternoons, we were all broken up into three teams. My team first went to a town called Bethel and met the beautiful people there. The next day, the parents REALLY got a feel for what we do on a daily basis. We were only told we needed to prepare a testimony and teaching, and we’d be praying. We also had crafts and tooth paste & brushes to hand out to kids.
My team of six racers and eight parents rolled up to the church, all of us in the back of a flat-bed truck with benches and side railings, and saw close to 100 children waiting for us. Okay — we got this! Start with songs. Play some games. Anyone have a skit ready in Spanish? Add a testimony and end with pipe-cleaner bracelets and bubbles. Done! Welcome to kids ministry on the Race!
My team did a great job, parents included, and the smiles of the children were evidence of that.
Our last day of ministry started with church in the morning. Ron, the Director of Vision Nicaragua, gave the teaching and we had the opportunity to sing a song, recite a Bible verse from memory, and help out in the children’s church. Most of the Spanish was translated and I think most of the parents (even racers) were thankful for that.
The afternoon looked a lot like the last one, except less children and add some fútbol and rain!
After dinner each night, the PVT organizers from AIM led a session to debrief the day. Depending on the night it was a pretty quick meeting or a few hours. We began with singing worship, then a few racers shared what God has been teaching them on the race. We talked about things we saw that day. We broke out between racers, moms and dads. We prayed over our parents. We received blessings from our parents. We hugged. We cried.
Having parents visit was such a blessing for each of us. Sure, they brought cute clothes that just happened to make it in our packs instead of their roller-bags; they brought peanut butter and chocolate. But we could have survived another three months without those.
We were blessed by inviting them into our lives for four short days. Lesa’s hashtag “and then it was normal” is reality — the Race has become “normal” to us and it wasn’t until someone from home was brought into it did we realize how much we’ve changed; how much we’ve grown.
We were given a glimpse of what going “home” will look like.
