Home Again!

Wow, what an amazing 5 months. Words cannot describe how much God has worked in my life, but as always, I will try my best.

I didn't have time to describe my last week of outreach, so I will start with that. During the last week we went to another area outside of Heredia in the mountains to do disaster relief from the earthquake that hit in early January. The area periodically still feels after shocks, which can be scary for the homes that are falling apart. Our group worked on two houses, at the house I was at the family's home fell completely down. With some support from family members, the government, and the community they had been able to put up a new house with materials that can shift in case of further earthquakes. This is cool because if another earthquake hits, then the house should be able to withstand the tremors. We helped with sifting sand for concrete, mixing heavy concrete, and pouring it for floors and outside walkways. We also pulled out nails from the wood of the old house that the family can then reuse or sell. The other house our group worked at they were taking down the second story of this house so that it would not fall on the neighbors house if another earthquake came. It was a tough week of hard work, but we all enjoyed it. On the last day (Wed) we were able to do an open air where we did all of our drama's and all of the students were able to give our testimonies. Then on Thursday we went to a Volcano and hiked through the rain forest, it was beautiful. In the evening we celebrated the end of outreach with a fancy dinner at Denny's :) It was delicious.

The last week in St. Croix. Our last week was geared toward debriefing our outreach, the DTS as a whole, and learning about Re-Entry back home. We had Jeremy West, a DTS leader from the Montana base, come to teach us and he really helped me process what I had learned. I was able to see how much God moved in my life throughout the last 5 months. I was also able to look back at what I had hoped to happen during DTS at the beginning of October to how God had fulfilled all I wanted and so much more. We had a nice dinner on Thursday night and then Graduation on Friday. It was very bittersweet to leave on Saturday Morning. I miss all the people in St. Croix, but it is nice to be back home again too.

DTS is an amazing time of self discovery, learning more about God, and more about the world around you. My time was invaluable and I am so glad that I decided to go. I am forever changed :) So here are a few things to summarize my experience over the last 5 months:

Self Discovery: I learned so much about my personality, who I am in Christ, and how God can use me, ME! I now have a greater confidence in who God made me to be and believe in my heart that my life has value and a purpose. He has given me a heart to serve others, and in serving others I can find a joy that comes only from Him! Over DTS I have slowly been able to get over my fear of what man thinks of me (for the most part anyway, everyday I have to remind myself of how I do not need to impress anyone, but to do all things to glorify my savior :). Discovering more about who I am is the best gift I have ever received. Thank you to God and to the staff and students in St. Croix for allowing God to use you to reveal this to me :D

Learning more about God: I learned so much about God, how he wants to and does speak to me directly, how he is trustworthy and will guide all my ways if I allow him to, and he is always by my side, never letting go of me. Our God is so big, so faithful and gracious, and so, oh so, loving that we cannot comprehend how amazing he really is, there is always going to be new revelations to receive about him :) God has shown me that in all things he will provide for our needs and sometimes there are things we would like to know, maybe about our futures or something else and he will show us, but it is always in his right timing, not in our own. Before DTS I would sometimes struggle with talking to God, I would feel like I was just talking to the air or the wall, but not anymore. GOD IS REAL! He sent his son Jesus to die on a cross for each one of us and it is so amazing. Now my prayer times are meaningful, it is conversation between myself and God and I love it :D

The world around me: The world is so big and yet it can seem so small. I have seen over the last 5 months how much people with so little live with such a joy and a heart of gratitude and it is because they have Jesus. I have seen the greedy and selfish, but I have also seen the gracious, hardworking, helpful, and joyful people of this world. People want to know about Jesus, they want to know about the only one that can truly bring life, we just need people to go out and share it with them. The harvest is ripe, but the workers are few. It was very hard to go into these areas and know that I might be the first person to tell someone about Jesus. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing experience to see someone want to run away from their old life into a new one with Christ, but why aren't there more people going around. In some areas, people were "Christians" and they went to church 1 or 2 times a year or they went every Sunday, but they did not truly know the fullness of life that Christ really has for them. There were many churches in these areas, but few seemed to be going out and evangelizing to these people. God also showed me that other cultures have some good food :) and values that are worth striving to have. The value of family was so apparent in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They truly care about their families :) as I hope to share how much my family means to me now that I am home.

This is only a brief summary of what God has done in me and through me throughout my DTS. I would love to share more with anyone who want to know more. I am open for questioning :)

A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of you for your love, encouragement and prayers while I have been away. You are all apart of the reason I am changed for the better today, so THANK YOU. I have appreciated all the emails, letters and cards, and the blog comments.

I hope to continue updating my blog every couple of weeks, so feel free to keep checking it :)

May God Bless you all!

Grace, Peace, and Love through Christ,

Kathy Beth Miersma