A week before Christmas!

Well it is a week before Christmas, time flies when your having fun...and being busy :) I apologize for the delay in this post, I had a classic case of procrastination. Okay, so I’m guessing you all want to know what has been going on since I got back from Haiti.

November 30-December 6

This week was about a couple different things: the life of Jesus and relinquishing our rights. Our speaker was Chet Ingram. I learned so much this week. First, I want to share with you about an experience I had that week. When I returned back from Haiti I was dealing with some spiritual warfare. I wanted to be filled with joy and be happy, but I was continually dealing with feeling sad and just not being in a good mood. On Wednesday morning the group prayed over me and for my attitude. After that I felt very free and at peace, it was amazing to see the power of prayer in my own life. That next day I woke up in a very good mood and even talking and making jokes at breakfast. This is a big surprise to even me who is in no way a morning person :)

During class I was learning about who I was putting on the throne in my life, who has control; God or me. I learned about what it means to be a Talmid (Disciple) of Jesus, and the cost that is involved (Defined in Luke 14). I also realized the difference between being transformed by Christ (being Christ-like) and just looking like Christ. Where is my heart attitude. Then we learned about relinquishing our rights. This means that we allow God to be in control. Things such as my “right” to stay in the U.S. the rest of my life, possibly going into missions, any anger or bitterness I think I deserve to keep, marriage/family, nice clothes, dreams, being near my family. These are all things I had to give to God, and if He chooses to allow me to be by my family or get married or any other thing then that will be awesome, but if He asks me to go into missions, then I need to be willing and ready to serve him wholeheartedly.

On Thursday Night, December 4, we had a night of giving. The purpose of the night was to ask God what he wanted us to give others on the base. This way we were able to bless people here and see first hand what it was like to receive things the God was putting on others hearts. I was asked to give away a pair of earrings which to some people would seem silly, but to me it was very difficult to remind myself that the things I have are not my own but Gods. Once I gave away the earrings I was able to go and give encouragement and just thank people for the encouragement they have given me and apologize for some words I had spoken to a few people. In return I was blessed with a couple of written notes of encouragement as well as verbal encouragement. Others in the group were asked to give away money, laptops, hugs, and more.

December 7-13

Our speaker cancelled this week and after much consideration the DTS staff decided we might get quite a lot out of a week on Relationships. So we watched videos created in the early 90’s with a speaker named Dean Sherman. He had a lot of good information that was still very relevant to today’s times. Crazy how something like this can not change much in about 15 years :) It was hilarious to see all the super awesome hair dos and choice in clothing. But seriously, the week was really good. I learned that almost every problem can be traced back to the root of relationships. I learned more about loving God as well as my neighbor (which includes everyone I come in contact will, everyone is my neighbor). The difference between being Prideful and being Humble. In this I learned about really being Honest and transparent with those that I am close to and that everyone, because they are made in the image of God has value.

Then Dean shared with us information about romantic relationships and the gift of attraction. He provided some terms from the bible that were immoral actions and that I had not really ever looked into; word like laciviousness, concupiscience, sensuality, defrauding, fornication, and adultery. These are words that most of us don’t go and try to define we just skim over and say, well it doesn’t sound like something I would do and then we just forget about it. We also spent part of one day learning about the relationships between parents and children and just families in general. All the information last week was good. It was difficult to watch videos but I survived it.

Outside of class we (the whole base) had a Christmas decorating night. We put up the Christmas tree, with my help the tree didn’t turn out too shabby :) We had hot coco and we decorated bags for our kids party on Saturday. On Saturday morning we had a Children’s Christmas festival. I was in charge of the Ping Pong Shoot Out. The kids had to try to get Ping Pong balls off of different bottles using a water gun. There were about four boys that kept coming back to play, trying to change the game up a little everytime :)

December 14-20

On Sunday we went to a Pentecostal type church called Speak the Word Ministries. They sang a song to welcome our group and we received a lot of hugs. They were very friendly. Definitely something different then the church we normally go to, St. Croix Christian Church. After church all but one of the students went into Christiansted to walk around the boardwalk and have lunch. It was a beautiful day, probably in the lower 80’s :) I hope all of you in the snow aren’t too jealous :) haha. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

This week we are learning about a Biblical Worldview. The week started off with our DTS director, Lori Rietema, teaching us about the Belief Tree. The roots are our belief system, the trunk is our values, the branches are our decisions (policies) and the fruit is our actions or behaviors. The rest of this week we have the base director, Mark Warner, teaching us on other religions/beliefs as well as the biblical worldview/beliefs. Next week we have just two days of class and then we have the rest of the week off, well except for base events. I’m excited though!

Many of you don’t know, but I have been having issues with my eyes since about the second week in Haiti. It has kind of been on and off, but for the most part, by eyes have felt like I have something consistently scrapping my eyeball or that there is something stuck in my eye lids. Well, today I finally allowed Lori to take me to the doctor to get it checked out. This meant going to the hospital to the ER. The doctor decided that I have Blepharitis, an infection of the eyelid. They prescribed some eye drops that are expensive and I’m not sure if my insurance will cover. So the pharmacist gave me some generic ones that only cost me $16 :) that in his opinion do the exact same thing. So hopefully, after I follow all the home care instructions my eyes should be healed in 2-4 weeks :) Until then, I can’t wear my contacts and I can’t wear makeup.

Wow, this is really long. Sorry, I just have a hard time summarizing :)

I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas and if you are traveling that you may stay safe.
Thank you all for your love and support!

Merry Christmas,

Kathy Beth Miersma