How It All Began...

A question I am often asked is “Why in the world would you take two weeks of your life and spend it in a foreign country with a bunch of TEENAGERS??? You must be CRAZY!!” My answer is simple – “It’s because I love it!!!” I consider it an incredible privilege to be the leader of this trip to the Dominican Republic every January. It is truly the highlight of my year!!

At the end of high school in 1990, I felt God’s “call” on my life to go to the mission field. So, I did what I thought was logical in order to “follow the call.” I went to Cedarville College, studied Spanish and worked hard to prepare myself to go. Graduating four years later, I was ready to go where the Lord would lead me…and I was EXCITED!!! God was faithful and He lead me just as He promised….right into a high school classroom as a Spanish teacher!! “Wait a minute!! What??? Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? Did I get my wires crossed?? Excuse me, God?? Did I misunderstand You somehow?” God was silent on that one for a while except to encourage me to continue to be faithful to serve Him where He had lead me – a high school classroom – trusting Him all the way. “Well, okay. I don’t get it. But I’ll do it, Lord. But, are you sure about this…”

Little did I realize, God was at work the whole time. I taught Spanish at Dayton Christian High School for six years (1995-2001) – all the while wondering how I missed what God was trying to tell me when I thought I heard His “call.” In the middle of my teaching years, I finally got it...

It happened at the end of my first trip with an organization out of Ashland, Ohio called "Partner In Christ" in 1999. Looking out the window of a Dominican bus as we were driving to the airport to fly home, I reflected on what my team and I had just experienced for two weeks in the DR. That’s when I got it!! God had brought me full circle – and I hadn’t even realized it!! I was doing exactly what I felt He had “called” me to do way back in 1990!!! I was on the mission field – only it wasn’t the way that I had planned.

You see, what I thought was a “wrong turn” was actually one of God’s “stepping stones” to prepare me to do what He had in mind all along. I didn’t “get it” because I thought “the plan” was simply to minister to the people who actually lived in the foreign country. But that was too limited for God. He had bigger and better things in mind! All this time, God had me “in training” for what was to come. I developed a love for the Hispanic people. I learned how to understand their culture. I learned to be proficient in the Spanish language. I developed a burden for ministry. I learned to love young people. When I saw it all fitting together on that first trip to the DR, I finally saw what God was doing and how He had brought me full circle!! I was not just ministering to the Hispanic people – but I was also directly ministering to high schoolers, teaching them to minister as well. “Wow, God!! That’s a much better plan for me than what I had in my mind way back in 1990!! I guess You really DO know what you are doing!!!” :)

This brings me to the present. The Lord lead me out of the high school classroom back in 2001 and in the direction of some interesting “stepping stones” in my journey, one of which included being a Spanish interpreter for a local insurance company. I am blessed that even while being away from Dayton Christian in a teaching capacity, God allowed me to continue to serve Him through this mission trip. Though I didn’t realize it, He was using that time to refine my Spanish skills and to teach me more about discipleship…so that He would eventually lead me right back to the classroom at DCHS in August of 2008!! I’m so excited to be able to lead this trip with Partners in Christ – working together with Dayton Christian School in Dayton, OH and Logos Christian School in Santo Domingo, DR. People often comment and find it “strange” that I actually like (and look forward to) spending two weeks in a cabin in the mountains of the Dominican Republic with teenagers!! Well, call me crazy but my answer to them is always the same – “It’s because I love it…and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!!!”

~Miss Allison Stolar