What I Learned at PVT (Parent Vision Trip)

First off, what is PVT? It stands for Parent Vision Trip, and is where parents are invited to come to the field and get a glimpse of what the World Race is like. Our squad’s PVT was Month 7, in Romania. Unfortunately, my parents decided not to come, and I will admit, I was super bummed. I now see how God used that time, and I learned some things that I wouldn’t have if my parents had been there. I trust God’s timing, and it will make seeing my parents in a few months that much sweeter.

Leading up to PVT, in addition to being bummed that my parents weren’t coming, there was some miscommunication about the logistics of PVT, what people that didn’t have parents would be doing, our host’s expectations, etc. As squad leaders, RJ and I were being pulled into conversations and being asked questions by squadmates, which led to confusion and frustration.

All of this to say, in the week leading up to PVT, I had a very bad attitude. I was dreading PVT, and really wished I could just skip the week and head straight to Bulgaria. Even though I was so excited for my squadmates to get to see their parents and have them experience ministry, I knew it would be bittersweet since I wouldn’t get to participate in anything. Our role was simply to serve the parents and our squad.

One morning, I woke up in a particularly bad mood. I have been reading through the Minor Prophets, and that day, my quiet time revolved around Jonah 4. I grew up hearing the story of Jonah and the Whale, but I never realized until very recently that there is a lot more to the story!

Sparknotes version: God sends Jonah to Ninevah to warn them about the coming judgment of the Lord. Jonah refuses, runs the opposite direction, and ends up on a boat. God sends a storm, the sailors throw Jonah overboard, and he is swallowed by a whale. While in the whale, he repents and decides to obey God. The whale spits him up, and he goes to Ninevah, shares God’s message, and the whole city repents and turns to God. Sounds great right? Well Jonah is pissed, because he wanted Ninevah to be destroyed. Then as he is sulking, God sends him a plant for shade, then sends a worm to eat the plant. Jonah is then mad about the plant dying, to which God responds that he has no right to be mad, because it is just a plant, and how much more upset should Jonah be about the people of Ninevah dying.

I always thought that Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah because he was afraid. But it turns out that he didn’t want to warn them and give them a chance to repent, because he knew God was merciful and he wanted them to be destroyed! Talk about selfish!

As I was reading this, I was instantly convicted. I was acting just like Jonah! Things didn’t work out like I planned – my parents didn’t come to PVT, I was stuck doing dishes and serving food, communication hadn’t been the best, etc. And instead of following God’s prompting and trying to find what he was teaching me, I turned to negativity and complaining. RJ and I have had an amazing WR experience. We have had awesome hosts, cool ministry opportunities, gotten to do every adventure day, and been surrounded by amazing squadmates. I realized that this was the first time on the race that things were not going my way. I was more concerned about my comfort and my expectations, and I was not truly surrendering my circumstances to God and having a servant heart.

After that morning, I repented for my bad attitude and prayed that God would truly change my heart. When you ask God for something, he shows up. I woke up the next morning ready to serve, ready to welcome the parents, and overall excited about the week to come. And man, I was so blessed by PVT. I was able to interact with several parents, who loved me like I was their own. I was able to do 28474736272 dishes, and have fun laughing and singing with my team as we worked. We were blessed to stay with a missionary family where we had privacy and got to invest in his sweet family.

I still wish that my parents would have gotten the chance to come to Romania and experience the World Race firsthand. That was such a cool experience for my squadmates, and I loved witnessing the changes in understanding and relationships. However, I know there was purpose in them not coming, and I got to check my heart and fix my eyes on God more than ever before.

The morning serve team: Jaivie, Meg, myself, and RJ