From Commissioning to Christmas

On Friday the 21st, my DTS class was commissioned for outreach. It’s a very exciting and special night on the base. After three months of looking……….tired, we take a nap, then we put on our very best outfits, hair and makeup, even jewelry to top it off. The night was led by my amazing school leader, Caleb Brownhill, he’s the red headed Aussie. We went over each school (DTS, Sports DTS, Bible School for the Nations, Community Counseling School, Art Evangelists School, Transformation School, and the Biblical Core Course) and each school had a couple minutes to share what the past three months have been like and testify to what God has done during the lecture phase. It was great to see what’s been happening in the schools, and there were lots of laughs. Caleb introduced each outreach team (there are about 12 teams leaving this week), and we gathered in our teams throughout the auditorium and people gathered around to pray for us. It was a powerful time!
Pictures of 1) the girls on my outreach team, from left to right: Charissa, Chanelle, Amerra, Robyn, Lindsey, Jessica)
2) Friends, from left to right, Robyn, Adam (outreach team leader), Amerra, and Pam (one of my amazing leaders)
3) Most of my DTS class
4) My and Caleb, my school leader and ........... hero!




Christmas came a few days later! The weather didn’t feel like Christmas, over 100 degrees and tank tops everywhere, but the stockings, good friends and lots of yummy food made it feel like Christmas to me. My outreach team met at one of our leaders house for breakfast (see picture), we opened stockings, and enjoyed spending the holiday together. From there I lay on my bed, took a little nap, and read the Christmas story during my quiet time. It was a great morning! The girls of 228 and got all dressed up for dinner (which is really lunch) and headed to the base. The auditorium had been transformed into a beautiful banquet hall, and we spent the afternoon eating, listening to some very special musicians entertain us (my outreach leader, Adam, played a few carols on his saxophone), and participating in the world’s longest gift exchange: 300 people, 300 gifts, and 3 hours of laughing, developing those all-important alliances, and enjoying family away from family. It was a special Christmas indeed!