It was one of those slow-motion moments when I saw my mom through the window. A huge smile broke across my face and I ran (literally ran) inside to her hotel lobby to give her the biggest hug! Then, we walked into the restaurant where my dad was, and I snuck up behind him and tried to tackle him with a bear hug. It was such a sweet moment to finally see my parents again.
Back in March my parents came to visit me for almost a week in Thailand! After almost eight months without seeing them, it was SUCH a blessing to explore a bit of the world with them, to show them things I had learned from the year so far, and to invite them into my crazy lifestyle (even if only for a few days).
We got to play with elephants, try new and various foods, wander through night markets, sit poolside and enjoy happy hour at our hotel, see incredible theatrical productions, and get lost in giant shopping malls… It was a BLAST. Thailand is FULL of adventure and beauty, and having an opportunity to experience these things with family was priceless.
HOWEVER.
The best parts for me actually came from walking them through my favorite things I had learned so far on The World Race. I picked certain lessons from each part of The World Race, and I shared them with my mom & dad.
We started with the seven spiritual pathways I had learned about at training camp: naturalist, activist, student, experiential, spiritual, aesthetic, and relational.
From Chile, I learned a lot about worship as I stayed with professional musicians, and so I showed my parents this video (if YOU haven’t seen it, take a moment to watch it): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gdFnGumjANo&feature=youtu.be
https://youtu.be/gdFnGumjANo
From Peru, I shared with them some Myers-Briggs activities. We each took the time to learn our personality type indicator, and then our car models from those. We got to share a really deep conversation from that, talking about how each of us flourish (and what it looks like when we are operating well), and how each of us fall (and what it looks like when we are not operating as we should). It gave us clearer insight on how to best love each other in the good times AND in the bad.
From Ecuador, I learned a lot about seeing aspects of our Creator in the beauty of creation, and so my parents and I went to a beautiful park in Thailand, and spent time just soaking in the beauty.
From Colombia, I had done an activity where I drew my worth. It’s incredibly powerful to sit down and consider, and then draw out, the unchanging parts of your value. My parents and I sat down and drew out who we were. It was awesome.
From Rwanda, I had learned a lot about relational community… and so my parents and I had intentional dinners together with great conversations.
From many points I learned about the art of listening prayer. My parents and I took an afternoon to practice that. My mom ending up giving a note of encouragement to a stranger. My dad wrote a note to his mother. What a powerful moment both of those things were.
From Malaysia, I got to share with my parents the same lesson I had shared with my squad: a crash course on major world religions! We took over a conference room for a couple hours, and I taught them what I knew about Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Animism, Mormonism, & Confucianism.
Overall, I got to share so much with my parents, and I truly enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with them. One of the sweetest (& funniest moments) of the whole time was when they read their blessings over me. What a week!
Oh, and I also want to give an honorable mention to my sister who did not come to Thailand, but did pick my parents up from the airport when they got back from their trip with this hilarious sign:
