US Soldier Guide Workshop, Gyeong-ju, South Korea 8/30/2024
The training was overall great. The material was helpful in the sense of getting to know other people. I learned that my suffering can help others learn and overcome.
___
I learned that the strangers I see every day have their own story and I can connect to them through those experiences. I was also reminded of many things God has done in my life and how he's been in all of the experiences I've had.
___
The speaker was very welcoming and encouraged others to be courageous themselves. God embraces our struggles in which we live in our faith to bring glory to His grace. This gave me insight in being open about my past traumas and the hope for redemption.
___
Following this training, I am now in a better position to open myself as a listener and also to not be afraid to hold back on my story to my brother and sister in Christ, for we are connected as one under his love, grace, and mercy. I can also spend more time reading the Bible to know the word more.
___
Thank you for all you have done for us. You gave us an out from the military for a few days. Much needed vacation and glad to spend it with Summit Initiative.
___
The training helped me reassess my life and reasons for why I stopped going to church. I am hopeful about the future and want to give my kids the opportunity to know God as I did at their age.
___
I learned that some of the people I need to cut off in life are most important to me. That I'm not the only one who has felt hardship in life and it's made me more comfortable with myself.
___
I am grateful that the Lord brought me to this place for this experience. It is very delightful that I am able to be here apart from Hovey.
___
I learned that everyone has a story and God can used someone's story to help others.
___
God will always do what’s best for us even if we don’t think it’s what’s best at the time. I’m very thankful for my life and my family and friends.
___
I learned about sympathizing with people more and what to say.
___
God is my lovely Father and I’m willing to abide in his love.
___
This is the best experience I had as a connection with us humans of Creation of God.
___
Throughout the event I learned how to share my testimony, what God did for me, and the life challenges that I overcome.
___
This program allowed me to open up to others such as strangers to not only share my story, but be a part of theirs as well. I learned how to reconnect with others and not worry about shame or judgment, revitalizing my communication skills that needs sharpening.
___
I have learned confidence in myself and full surrender to God. Put my full trust in him because he is all mighty, all knowing, and he has a plan for me and I should listen.
___
It was a time to examine my personal relationship with Christ and how my story plays out in God's bigger story for me.
___
This whole experience in general has been very eye opening for me and I definitely feel way closer to God than before. It also helped me realize that speaking to other people who are trying to connect with God or have a connection with God is definitely a very good thing for me because it allows me to see that He is there. The fact that I was able to share my story with other people and see that people have been through similar experiences definitely allow me to see what I needed. God wanted me to be here to see that He's always been there and that He has something He needs me to do, which is to trust in Him. I think that's one of the biggest things I got from this, is to trust Him, to allow Him to guide me and to confide in Him whenever I'm struggling, whenever I'm confused or I'm not sure what to do. Now I have to take this back home and share with my family.
___
I'm going home knowing that God speaks to me in some way. I'm going to open my heart. After coming here and seeing what you guys do and the way you've been able to teach us and express your own stories, it's definitely changed my mind, and helped me to reconnect to God. I've been very disconnected from Him for a long time now, and I wanted to find that connection and that experience with God again. Coming here and listening to your stories and the stories of my friends it's changed me. It's changed a lot in my heart, and it's brought a lot of memories back to me that I had forgotten. Seeing how God worked in me throughout my life, I just didn't know it at the time. It's helped me to be grateful for that and to start thinking of truly finding that deep personal connection to God like I used to have that I've been lacking for a long time now. I really am very grateful to God and to you for what you guys do. God bless.
___
I kind of blocked out prior experiences in church. I let those bad experiences be an excuse to separate ourselves to not bring my kids to church. Sharing my story kind of woke me up. I want my kids to have an experience like I had. It wasn't all bad, just pretty bad for me, but I did have some good experiences. This showed me that I need to put my faith in God that He can keep my kids from having a bad experience like I did.
___
I'm very appreciative of this because it puts a different twist on my traditional experience, like coming to like a Bible study and things of that nature. I liked how we delved into what God is trying to say to us and being prompted to ask those questions. Being able to reflect on someone else's story lets us know there is strength in all of our weaknesses. We're being restored by God from our past. I really appreciated how we were able to connect. We're able to see that God's presence is everywhere. Being able to see that and come under one house with so many other different faces and strangers is an experience that I know I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.
___
I want to say thank you for Summit. I'm looking forward to letting this experience sit. I am very grateful for the journey God is leading me through. Sometimes I fail to understand what He has in store, sometimes I don't trust it. I'm not forgiving of myself enough. I'm not thankful for myself enough. But being here has brought a wonderful view of myself.
___
I wrote down some things I hadn't thought of in years. We are students of life. Thinking back, you're always learning and finding new ways of thinking about things. One thing that was brought up yesterday was saying that we shouldn't depend on our spouse to make us happy 100% of the time. My wife is having to deal with my three crazy kids. One of them a little bit like me. She has her own things to do with my kids back home. I should rely on myself to make myself happy and really get myself out there instead of being isolated. You're always learning. There's always something you need to learn every day.
___
Thank you, God, and thank you to Summit family for giving us this great experience and showing us a little different side of Korea. I'm an “improver.” My entire life I try to be better at something, try to be in a better financial situation, try to be better physically, try to be better spiritually. I love the idea of learning new things to develop myself spiritually, because this is something that you don't often see.
___
I learned how to respond after hearing somebody's story. After hearing my friend's story yesterday, who I have known for a little bit, I didn't know something that happened to him. After learning these techniques, I was able to respond to him and try to relate to him. Later we were able to come together and reprieve, pray, and using these techniques. I'm going to take it with me down the road for my wife, my family, even in my work. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
___
Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to come together and to not only learn about each other, but also learn about how we can better ourselves, how we can go out there and help each other out as Christians, as part of our mission. The biggest thing that happened to me during Summit was talking to my family and my wife. I was not listening enough to her. And I realized after she talked to me that maybe I should open myself to listening to what she was saying. After I realized that, I prayed and asked God to strengthen me. About my family. He came to my head and said, “Remember where you are.” You are in a new environment so go out there and ask someone to pray with me. And God pushed me go out and ask. After praying together, I felt so much better. I said, you know what? God thinks that I'm going to be better now. I'm so thankful that God pushed me to ask for help in prayer. Whatever you're going through, reach out to someone.
___
Thank you to the team for this event. The first time I heard about this retreat it though it would be about fellowship, communion, and prayer. So that's what I was expecting. This was a new experience for me, which I'm very grateful of. One thing I learned is the proper response to the ways we have been hurt. The forgiveness part. I'm always trying to improve, to be a better person, to represent Jesus everywhere I go. One of the biggest challenges is to guard our heart because out of there are real issues of life. I want to draw people near Jesus. This is my assignment. I won't be able to achieve it if my heart is heavy. I must have a light heart which is able to love everyone no matter who you are. This is a big takeaway for me because I had a different way of applying forgiveness. Sometime I had to set boundary. But now I found out that this is not the way. I instead have to let it go completely and still fellowship with the same people. This is one thing that I am really grateful for.
God put in my heart that the same hands that were nailed on the cross are the same arms ready to welcome everybody. There is a love waiting for us. We have to come to that love and embrace it and live it. This is life. I have story, but I'm so grateful for my new life. I used to be very bad. I messed up. This is not life. Life is in Christ. We have to come in Christ, live that bright life. Say those who look to Him are radiant and their faces shall never be covered for shame. I know how it is to be young, to enjoy life. It’s good, but it's not good. The real life, the real enjoyment is in Christ. We have happiness in Christ. We have peace in Christ. We have joy in Christ. Thank you.
___
There have been times where I struggled with religion. Maybe I was a Christian and I've been deployed numerous times. I’ve done two tours. I've seen some things. I've done some things that you know, that's a different story. My background in religion has always been a struggle, mainly for survivors guilt coming home and dealing with the reality and aspects of what it's like to try to integrate back after being away for so long. Dealing with suicide bombs and stuff like that. It really messes you up in a different aspect. But here at Summit, I was having conversations and starting feeling like I was moving toward church. I question it sometimes because I don't understand but I told my wife I had some different responses. It helped me understand religion a little bit better, helped me get closer to God a lot better. I feel like moving forward. When soldiers come to me again and ask me and talk to me about their life, I know how to respond better by giving stories of how I deal with my problems. Now I know how to help them feel more comfortable opening up rather than just trying to figure out what else I can say. I feel like now I’m looking to God, through the eyes of Jesus and God's eyes. At the end of the day, we are all the same.
___
This event changed my mindset because when God does something for me, I don't want to give my testimony wrong. Now I know how powerful my testimony is. Many people are going through the same thing I've been through. My testimony can give them the strength. My testimony can help them to not give up.
___
Thank you to the Summit team and everyone that helped to make this a possibility. As a chaplain, sometimes you're always in the front trying to say something, even when you don't have anything to say. As we were preparing for this workshop, I was asking the Lord to minister to me in a different way where I'm in the back. Somebody had said that we are always students and that the day you finish learning, you’re dying. I think that life resonates through Summit because we are filled not only with words, but with the Spirit. God is calling us to a life of relationship, not just a religion, not just something we do because we have to do. When we talk about religion, it's not about rules and revelations. The deeper our relationship is with Christ, the more we realize that it's not about rules, but it's about making sure that our relationship is right, our relationship is good. I'm communicating with my Father and he's communicating with me. The best part of our relationship is that we don't only get to talk to God. He talks to us. He will bring me to places where I can drink when I'm thirsty, I can be satisfied when I'm hungry. When life has taken so much out of me that I can still be with the Shepherd, glean from Him, receive from Him. I'd like to encourage all of us to go back to that relationship. Sometimes when you go so far away, it is difficult to want to come back because you think that you are so messed up. But God is calling us all back to a relationship. As we do that we will grow. Scripture tells us that if we tell the truth in love we will grow in all things. My desire and prayer for all of us is that God will help us to grow in this relationship that we find ourselves in. Thank you again for this opportunity.
___
I learned that the strangers I see every day have their own story and I can connect to them through those experiences. I was also reminded of many things God has done in my life and how he's been in all of the experiences I've had.
___
The speaker was very welcoming and encouraged others to be courageous themselves. God embraces our struggles in which we live in our faith to bring glory to His grace. This gave me insight in being open about my past traumas and the hope for redemption.
___
Following this training, I am now in a better position to open myself as a listener and also to not be afraid to hold back on my story to my brother and sister in Christ, for we are connected as one under his love, grace, and mercy. I can also spend more time reading the Bible to know the word more.
___
Thank you for all you have done for us. You gave us an out from the military for a few days. Much needed vacation and glad to spend it with Summit Initiative.
___
The training helped me reassess my life and reasons for why I stopped going to church. I am hopeful about the future and want to give my kids the opportunity to know God as I did at their age.
___
I learned that some of the people I need to cut off in life are most important to me. That I'm not the only one who has felt hardship in life and it's made me more comfortable with myself.
___
I am grateful that the Lord brought me to this place for this experience. It is very delightful that I am able to be here apart from Hovey.
___
I learned that everyone has a story and God can used someone's story to help others.
___
God will always do what’s best for us even if we don’t think it’s what’s best at the time. I’m very thankful for my life and my family and friends.
___
I learned about sympathizing with people more and what to say.
___
God is my lovely Father and I’m willing to abide in his love.
___
This is the best experience I had as a connection with us humans of Creation of God.
___
Throughout the event I learned how to share my testimony, what God did for me, and the life challenges that I overcome.
___
This program allowed me to open up to others such as strangers to not only share my story, but be a part of theirs as well. I learned how to reconnect with others and not worry about shame or judgment, revitalizing my communication skills that needs sharpening.
___
I have learned confidence in myself and full surrender to God. Put my full trust in him because he is all mighty, all knowing, and he has a plan for me and I should listen.
___
It was a time to examine my personal relationship with Christ and how my story plays out in God's bigger story for me.
___
This whole experience in general has been very eye opening for me and I definitely feel way closer to God than before. It also helped me realize that speaking to other people who are trying to connect with God or have a connection with God is definitely a very good thing for me because it allows me to see that He is there. The fact that I was able to share my story with other people and see that people have been through similar experiences definitely allow me to see what I needed. God wanted me to be here to see that He's always been there and that He has something He needs me to do, which is to trust in Him. I think that's one of the biggest things I got from this, is to trust Him, to allow Him to guide me and to confide in Him whenever I'm struggling, whenever I'm confused or I'm not sure what to do. Now I have to take this back home and share with my family.
___
I'm going home knowing that God speaks to me in some way. I'm going to open my heart. After coming here and seeing what you guys do and the way you've been able to teach us and express your own stories, it's definitely changed my mind, and helped me to reconnect to God. I've been very disconnected from Him for a long time now, and I wanted to find that connection and that experience with God again. Coming here and listening to your stories and the stories of my friends it's changed me. It's changed a lot in my heart, and it's brought a lot of memories back to me that I had forgotten. Seeing how God worked in me throughout my life, I just didn't know it at the time. It's helped me to be grateful for that and to start thinking of truly finding that deep personal connection to God like I used to have that I've been lacking for a long time now. I really am very grateful to God and to you for what you guys do. God bless.
___
I kind of blocked out prior experiences in church. I let those bad experiences be an excuse to separate ourselves to not bring my kids to church. Sharing my story kind of woke me up. I want my kids to have an experience like I had. It wasn't all bad, just pretty bad for me, but I did have some good experiences. This showed me that I need to put my faith in God that He can keep my kids from having a bad experience like I did.
___
I'm very appreciative of this because it puts a different twist on my traditional experience, like coming to like a Bible study and things of that nature. I liked how we delved into what God is trying to say to us and being prompted to ask those questions. Being able to reflect on someone else's story lets us know there is strength in all of our weaknesses. We're being restored by God from our past. I really appreciated how we were able to connect. We're able to see that God's presence is everywhere. Being able to see that and come under one house with so many other different faces and strangers is an experience that I know I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.
___
I want to say thank you for Summit. I'm looking forward to letting this experience sit. I am very grateful for the journey God is leading me through. Sometimes I fail to understand what He has in store, sometimes I don't trust it. I'm not forgiving of myself enough. I'm not thankful for myself enough. But being here has brought a wonderful view of myself.
___
I wrote down some things I hadn't thought of in years. We are students of life. Thinking back, you're always learning and finding new ways of thinking about things. One thing that was brought up yesterday was saying that we shouldn't depend on our spouse to make us happy 100% of the time. My wife is having to deal with my three crazy kids. One of them a little bit like me. She has her own things to do with my kids back home. I should rely on myself to make myself happy and really get myself out there instead of being isolated. You're always learning. There's always something you need to learn every day.
___
Thank you, God, and thank you to Summit family for giving us this great experience and showing us a little different side of Korea. I'm an “improver.” My entire life I try to be better at something, try to be in a better financial situation, try to be better physically, try to be better spiritually. I love the idea of learning new things to develop myself spiritually, because this is something that you don't often see.
___
I learned how to respond after hearing somebody's story. After hearing my friend's story yesterday, who I have known for a little bit, I didn't know something that happened to him. After learning these techniques, I was able to respond to him and try to relate to him. Later we were able to come together and reprieve, pray, and using these techniques. I'm going to take it with me down the road for my wife, my family, even in my work. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
___
Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to come together and to not only learn about each other, but also learn about how we can better ourselves, how we can go out there and help each other out as Christians, as part of our mission. The biggest thing that happened to me during Summit was talking to my family and my wife. I was not listening enough to her. And I realized after she talked to me that maybe I should open myself to listening to what she was saying. After I realized that, I prayed and asked God to strengthen me. About my family. He came to my head and said, “Remember where you are.” You are in a new environment so go out there and ask someone to pray with me. And God pushed me go out and ask. After praying together, I felt so much better. I said, you know what? God thinks that I'm going to be better now. I'm so thankful that God pushed me to ask for help in prayer. Whatever you're going through, reach out to someone.
___
Thank you to the team for this event. The first time I heard about this retreat it though it would be about fellowship, communion, and prayer. So that's what I was expecting. This was a new experience for me, which I'm very grateful of. One thing I learned is the proper response to the ways we have been hurt. The forgiveness part. I'm always trying to improve, to be a better person, to represent Jesus everywhere I go. One of the biggest challenges is to guard our heart because out of there are real issues of life. I want to draw people near Jesus. This is my assignment. I won't be able to achieve it if my heart is heavy. I must have a light heart which is able to love everyone no matter who you are. This is a big takeaway for me because I had a different way of applying forgiveness. Sometime I had to set boundary. But now I found out that this is not the way. I instead have to let it go completely and still fellowship with the same people. This is one thing that I am really grateful for.
God put in my heart that the same hands that were nailed on the cross are the same arms ready to welcome everybody. There is a love waiting for us. We have to come to that love and embrace it and live it. This is life. I have story, but I'm so grateful for my new life. I used to be very bad. I messed up. This is not life. Life is in Christ. We have to come in Christ, live that bright life. Say those who look to Him are radiant and their faces shall never be covered for shame. I know how it is to be young, to enjoy life. It’s good, but it's not good. The real life, the real enjoyment is in Christ. We have happiness in Christ. We have peace in Christ. We have joy in Christ. Thank you.
___
There have been times where I struggled with religion. Maybe I was a Christian and I've been deployed numerous times. I’ve done two tours. I've seen some things. I've done some things that you know, that's a different story. My background in religion has always been a struggle, mainly for survivors guilt coming home and dealing with the reality and aspects of what it's like to try to integrate back after being away for so long. Dealing with suicide bombs and stuff like that. It really messes you up in a different aspect. But here at Summit, I was having conversations and starting feeling like I was moving toward church. I question it sometimes because I don't understand but I told my wife I had some different responses. It helped me understand religion a little bit better, helped me get closer to God a lot better. I feel like moving forward. When soldiers come to me again and ask me and talk to me about their life, I know how to respond better by giving stories of how I deal with my problems. Now I know how to help them feel more comfortable opening up rather than just trying to figure out what else I can say. I feel like now I’m looking to God, through the eyes of Jesus and God's eyes. At the end of the day, we are all the same.
___
This event changed my mindset because when God does something for me, I don't want to give my testimony wrong. Now I know how powerful my testimony is. Many people are going through the same thing I've been through. My testimony can give them the strength. My testimony can help them to not give up.
___
Thank you to the Summit team and everyone that helped to make this a possibility. As a chaplain, sometimes you're always in the front trying to say something, even when you don't have anything to say. As we were preparing for this workshop, I was asking the Lord to minister to me in a different way where I'm in the back. Somebody had said that we are always students and that the day you finish learning, you’re dying. I think that life resonates through Summit because we are filled not only with words, but with the Spirit. God is calling us to a life of relationship, not just a religion, not just something we do because we have to do. When we talk about religion, it's not about rules and revelations. The deeper our relationship is with Christ, the more we realize that it's not about rules, but it's about making sure that our relationship is right, our relationship is good. I'm communicating with my Father and he's communicating with me. The best part of our relationship is that we don't only get to talk to God. He talks to us. He will bring me to places where I can drink when I'm thirsty, I can be satisfied when I'm hungry. When life has taken so much out of me that I can still be with the Shepherd, glean from Him, receive from Him. I'd like to encourage all of us to go back to that relationship. Sometimes when you go so far away, it is difficult to want to come back because you think that you are so messed up. But God is calling us all back to a relationship. As we do that we will grow. Scripture tells us that if we tell the truth in love we will grow in all things. My desire and prayer for all of us is that God will help us to grow in this relationship that we find ourselves in. Thank you again for this opportunity.