THE TRANSFORMATION

I will not be posting on this blog as much anymore until my next mission trips come around again. So far, the next one on the schedule is India in January. If you want to view posts on THE TRANSFORMATION visit our blog at koryandalison.blogspot.com.

Is this how you want your life to go?

Fear

After spending some time reflecting on some summer events including overseas missions, summer camp, Keller Park ministry, etc. I have found a very common theme come up. This common theme has come up among students, family, friends, and myself. I began to wonder why "Fear" has to control and grip us. I began to get upset that Satan deceives me and many others through this ugly tactic.

I wrote a poem to express some of my feelings concerning fear. It's really raw. Here it is:

Fear. An epidemic. It's contagious.

Those who have it go outrageous!

It controls you. It can mold you.

It basically tells you what not to do.

Fear is a sickness.

For many... it's our greatest weakness.

Fear is a wildfire.

The enemy's lies are the spark.

The lie creeps into our mind and heart;

And sparks a fire... a fear of being apart...

Being apart from family and friends,

Like we can control all of our ends.

We are not God.

But isn't it kind of odd,

We try to play the role of the creature of this universe.

Like we know what's best for our lives on this earth.

We know nothing so why do we try,

The only thing fear does is make us say good-bye...

Good-bye to true life...

Good-bye to God's will...

Lock me in a room and make me sit still.

Nothing will happen, good or bad.

The only thing is God will be sad.

Because we gave into fear and didn't fight back,

We gave ourselves our own heart attack.

The lies lead to worry... The worry to fear.

That paralyzes us from everything far and near.

We have two options when it comes to fear-

We give in and we die; or we fight and we fly!

Fear is just a big twisted lie.

God wants us to follow Him with all of our heart-

Even when the world says it's not smart.

Following God is not always attractive,

But Satan is telling us to be inactive.

He's telling us to get out of the game and sit on the side.

Satan is everyday, always, telling us to hide.

To hide from fear, disappointment, set backs, and pain-

This will only make things worse because we aren't in the game!

children...

No time to rest!

I would like to start out by saying that I am sorry for not posting more frequently. I am saying this in all honesty when I say that there is hardly any time to get to a computer. We are on the GO! Ever since Wednesday morning we have hardly even had time to breathe. The kids (and myself) are getting tired, but God has truly been renewing our strength daily. It has been neat to see the kids fight through extreme heat, minor sicknesses, and major fatigue. God has been good in restoring our strength while the kids are embracing every thing thrown their way and not complaining in the process.

A few nights ago Sam Borg (our project leader) spoke to us about spiritual warfare and it was extremely powerful! He talked about eating from the tree of life rather thant he tree of knowledge of good and evil. He talked about hating sin with righteous anger. He became vulnerable with us about his own life as he shared his burden to see people "stand up" and be warriors for Christ. He talked about the spiritual battle on our hands and how much power we have in Jesus Christ... if we acknowledge it and use it. Many kids began to recognize the spiritual battle all around us for the first time and accepted the challenge to fight off the enemy's attempts to "seek, kill, and destroy." Very powerful night!

VBS has pretty much finished and the kids ended on a strong note. It has been exciting to see how the little things have impacted the lives of our kids in supernatural ways. I am praying that many of our kids will bring these "life lessons" back with them as they dive into the sinful world surrounding them. Today was a day that helped in preparing them for that. We spent most of the day at the local park loving the people in very intentional ways. Each of the kids had an assignment. They had a list of specific questions that they needed to use in sparking spiritual conversations. It was probably very similar to DCGO but with a language barrier. Our team loved hundreds of more kids and many older adults which was very rewarding. The students were nervous heading into the day, but many left with rewarding results as many spiritual conversations took place.

There has been a lot of laughter, some tears, and many great experiences over the past week that have hopefully blessed the Dominican people and challenged us to take these experiences from here (DR) to there (Indiana).

Keep praying as this trip is far from over!

Comfort Zone

God has already stretched the kids out of their comfort zones in so many ways. It all started with an impromptu worship service at Pastor Quena’s house on Tuesday night. We were planning just relaxing and figuring out last minute VBS stuff and then all the sudden Quena had some visitors. For us leaders, the visitors looked like a perfect group of people to do some dramas, testimonies, and worship for. So, in the midst of some crazy chaos for about 5 minutes we told the kids to be ready to go! The kids were freaked! They didn’t have their drama supplies. They didn’t have their notes for testimonies. They hadn’t practiced enough to lead worship. What the kids saw as a very scary situation the leaders saw as a great opportunity to really stretch the kids. We prayed and the kids did awesome! So proud of how they took on the challenge without complaining and just pressed through. I didn’t know it at the time, but they passed the first of many more “comfort zone” challenges to come.

Little did I know that this Tuesday night would prepare them so well for the next day. The chaos and nervousness was just minuscule compared to the next day of VBS on Wednesday. Each of the three VBS sites had many more numbers than we (and Pastor Quena) anticipated. At the biggest site, Guanabano, we were planning on a large number of about 100 and had well over 160 kids!! The kids were loud and CRAZY! This can be intimidating when you ask 8 high school kids to take control with all these kids. The craziness was a common theme at all three sites! Even though our kids started the day a little shell-shocked they pressed through and all made big-time relationships with the kids. It was a common site to see one of our students completely covered in sweat with 30 little Dominicans literally climbing all over his or her back. It was a site that I could only look at and smile. These kids were getting the “real deal” VBS experience on the first day! Awesome!

Many of the kids did door-to-door evangelism Wednesday afternoon. This is something parents should definitely ask their students about. It was neat to see the kids struggle through awkward moments and conversations of God and Catholicism (most Dominicans are Catholic). This was a huge stretch for many of the kids because they were usually just at a loss for words. Overall, very good experience.

As you can see, this trip has already been loaded with uncomfortable, stretching situations. Keep praying for this as the kids are pressing through by trusting in nobody else but their Savior. Also pray for energy and enthusiasm as we fight the heat in another intense day of ministry.

Kids are doing great!

Kory

Ready and Waiting...

Sam (the "AIM" guy that is helping set all this up... fluent in Spanish) and I have been here in Moca, DR for the last few days gettings things all set up. We have worked on all the logistical side of things regarding VBS, door-to-door evangelism, street ministry, big out reach nights, bus pick ups, meals, hotel, etc. etc. etc. It has been exhausting working on all these "logistical" things, but it will be worth it when the kids get down here and we get to see how God transforms their lives in these few short days. Sam and I are ready for the kids to be here! We are excited about the ministry opportunities ahead of us. It is going to be an intense week as we will be on the GO from 6:30 a.m. until bedtime. Pray for energy and more energy! The people of the DR are very excited. We explained to some of them in church today that our kids are giving up summer break/vacation to come be with them. That is "abnormal" for the "normal" high school kid. I am very proud of our kids! I guess you could kind of call me a proud father... hey, that works perfect because it is Father's Day today! Pray for well executed travel as the kids leave tonight! Adios!

Happy Father's Day to all papas!

Kory