During this past week, our REAP team hosted 95 participants in the AIM Gap Year (D) Parent Vision Trip (PVT). This is an experience where the parents of the Gap Year (9 month trip to 3 countries for persons aged 18-22) participants are able to join them on the field, 6 months into the journey, for 5 days. They are able to experience ministry alongside their children and hopefully connect on a different level as the participants have grown spiritually during the first part of their journey.
This endeavor is a large undertaking for our small team, and admittedly utterly exhausting. However, I would say that it is also undoubtedly worth every bit of effort that goes into it. Being able to share our hearts and give people a glimpse into our vision in this place is a blessing, and their response is so encouraging to us.
If the perspective of even one person is changed then I count the undertaking a success. If the experience results in action that directly benefits our ministry and the community that we serve and invest so much of hearts into . . . that is a Bonus Blessing.
As this trip has concluded, I wanted to share (as promised in my most recent newsletter) a piece that I wrote about a participant in a previous PVT (February 2015). This article describes one man’s story of how the PVT impacted him and our ministry (REAP) in a powerful way.
I pray that a similar story will result from this recent PVT.
Randy Hobbs
When Randy Hobbs traveled to Nicaragua in February 2015 to be a part of the Parent Vision Trip for the Gap B Squad, he had no idea of the impact that it would have on his life. He was just a regular guy from Knoxville, TN who wanted to go and visit his daughter that had been out on the mission field for 6 months. If he could do some good for the people while he was there then that would be a bonus.
Randy had participated in a short-term mission trip in the US, but had never been a part of an international trip. This was his first time stepping into something like this so he didn’t quite know what to expect.
This Parent Vision Trip was serving in Granada, Nicaragua with REAP Granada www.reapgranada.com, one of AIM’s partner ministries. The way Randy tells it is that when he met Scott and Jennifer Esposito on the first day, heard their vision, and saw their enthusiasm behind the vision, it “rocked his world.”
Randy was able to be a part of several of REAP’s ministries during that trip, but the one that had the most significant impact for him was working alongside local workers to dig the footer for a new wing that a local church was adding to accommodate their growing children’s ministry. It wasn’t because of what he brought to the table, though he did have skills applicable to the work, but how that experience broadened his perspective. He recalls his first thought when he arrived at the work site, which he shared with his daughter, was that they could just rent a “ditch witch” and get the job done more efficiently. He also recalls that his daughter looked him square in the eye and said, “then the three guys working with you would be out of work and their families would have no food.” He had never thought of it that way, and it hit him hard, and his approach to working with these men changed instantly. He was impacted greatly by the relational experience of working alongside the Nicaraguan workers and his heart broke for the children of that community.
He left Nicaragua after that trip wanting to do more, knowing he could and would do more, but not knowing yet what that would look like. Throughout the next few months he received the e-mail newsletter from REAP and God kept tugging at his heart and telling him that he needed to return and use his skills to benefit this ministry and community that had captured his heart. One year later, he did just that.
In January 2016, Randy returned to Nicaragua and worked with REAP Granada, alongside another group of local workers, to put in an irrigation system on the ministry property. He was able to use his skills to train the local Nicaraguan workers and oversee the project. He was also able to witness the first well being put on the land.
Randy’s return was a tremendous blessing to the ministry because they had been praying for someone to come and help to finish this much needed project. This irrigation system serves over 1200 trees on the property that were previously being watered by hand on a daily basis.
Randy found that the PVT was a “game changer” for him. He was able to connect with his daughter in a new way through this shared experience. He connected with another father who became a trusted and valued friend that continues to speak truth into his life today. He gained a new perspective on ministry and his role in it and was prompted to do something about it . . . and he did. His return to REAP was as significant his life as his first trip, and he plans to return.
This is one man’s story of his PVT experience. What will yours be?
