When I signed up for the race we were supposed to be here for 3 months, but somehow that turned into 12 days. Getting there we had a 12 hour layover in Chicago so we got to spend the day there. This was the first time being stateside in 7 months and it was crazy. Chicago is such a fun city. Good wifi, toilets that can flush toilet paper, Chick fil a, ect. On the way from Chicago to Nicaragua after I ate American food for the first time I threw up in the aisle of the plane which is kinda funny.
For a lot of those 12 days we really blended into the classic white American tourist stereotype. It was common to see white people; either spring breakers or short term missionaries, and it was nice to not feel like the only white people on the continent. 12 days in 1 country is by far the shortest amount of time we’ve done ministry at. I used to have bitterness in my heart towards the term short term missionary. For some reason society told me that short term missionaries did more bad than good. I even thought that I, being on the field for 9 months, was better than the people that only went out for a week. But I learned to appreciate the entire body of christ if that makes sense. I’ll always back them up because at the end of the day their following the Lord’s commands and they’re showing truth to the people they work with and that’s something to celebrate.
I got really off topic. Anyways, Nicaragua was our Parent Vision Trip (PVT). My mom came down for a week and got to do ministry with my squad. We also just got our new teams. So being close to home, being with family, and just meeting our new family added up to a lot. We lived separate from the rest of our squad on this property. We tented and the parents got bunk beds. Our ministry covered the whole spectrum: manual labor, intercessory prayer, and relational ministry. I’m so glad our parents go to get a small taste of what we did.
I think my favorite part about it was seeing them adjust to living like a racer. Things like no AC and sharing a room with strangers were new and challenging i’m sure but watching them try it out was special. Also for the parents that haven’t been involved in either their faith or their kids, to see them choose to step into that was so beautiful. To see my mom choose to go into this week with optimism was so cool and I know it has impact and importance.
I’m so excited to be back with my parents. Being away from them has really opened my heart to a season of thankfulness towards them. I really am so lucky to have such good parents.
I’m so thankful for this week for not only getting closer to not only my mom, but the parents of my brother and sisters i’ve been doing life with for the past 7 months.
