{"id":599,"date":"2017-12-17T11:02:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T16:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/?p=599"},"modified":"2019-07-12T11:06:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T16:06:48","slug":"seasons-greetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/2017\/12\/17\/seasons-greetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Season’s Greetings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
We are so grateful for God’s gift<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

As we take time to celebrate our Savior\u2019s birth, we\u00a0reflect on the significance of God\u2019s greatest gift to mankind. We are so grateful to\u00a0the Lord\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0privilege we have\u00a0to walk in fellowship with Him, all because of the\u00a0birth of His Son, Jesus.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We are in the middle of our 6th<\/sup>\u00a0year\u00a0serving on staff at the Missionary Training Center in Missouri where we\u00a0help equip missionary candidates for life and ministry in cross-cultural settings.\u00a0Teaching classes, mentoring and\u00a0interacting with students,\u00a0providing resources for and\u00a0communicating with missionaries\u00a0world-wide\u00a0and\u00a0networking with others involved in family and\u00a0MK (missionary kid) ministries are some of the responsibilities that fill our days.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We have both been treating Lyme disease this past year.\u00a0After so many years of chronic Lyme, Melanie\u00a0still has a ways to go in healing, but\u00a0continues to see improvement with her treatment. John has done well with his treatment\u00a0and is feeling really good.\u00a0We thank the Lord that we have both gotten help and had improvement in our health, which enables us to better function in the things God has given us to do.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We are so blessed and thankful for our\u00a0growing\u00a0family.\u00a0Here is a quick update on all of our kids.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Charity<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0continues living and working in Chicago, IL. She still\u00a0has employment\u00a0as a nanny, although she had a change of families. This year she\u00a0has also become a\u00a0distributor\u00a0for a\u00a0cosmetics and skin care\u00a0company,\u00a0SeneGence,\u00a0which has been a stretching but good experience for her.\u00a0She has been treating Lyme disease over the past year and a half and has seen improvement,\u00a0although\u00a0still has\u00a0a lot of ups and downs with it\u00a0as her body tries to heal and recover from the damage to her body over the many years she had it for.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

BJ & Carissa<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0concluded their time in\u00a0Chicago when BJ\u00a0graduated\u00a0from Moody Bible Institute in\u00a0May.\u00a0Carissa\u00a0experienced some\u00a0major health crises and\u00a0was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome\u00a0in July. Their future ministry plans have been put on hold while they figure out her needs and get her stabilized, which is gradually happening.\u00a0They have settled in\u00a0Lynchburg,\u00a0Virginia,\u00a0where Carissa\u2019s parents and sister and family are,\u00a0and the Lord is opening up doors for ministry\u00a0there\u00a0with\u00a0their organization,\u00a0Chosen People Ministries. They are looking into adoption and we are\u00a0very eager\u00a0to find out\u00a0(sooner or later)\u00a0about their little one to come\u00a0that will be joining our family!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bethany & Zach<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em>Mason<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(3)\u00a0<\/em>& Evalynn<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(1 \u00bd)<\/em>\u00a0moved to Missouri in August and have been living with us while they transition.\u00a0Zach works remotely from home for the same IT\u00a0company,\u00a0AIR Technology Services,\u00a0in\u00a0Waukesha, WI,\u00a0that he worked for last year.\u00a0We love having them with us and\u00a0adore having little people in\u00a0our\u00a0house.\u00a0They are a joy!\u00a0And we are all\u00a0excited\u00a0to welcome\u00a0Baby #3 (a boy)\u00a0sometime\u00a0in March!\u00a0We count it a privilege to have these grandkids and their mommy and daddy with us for a season.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Josh & Sarah<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0completed their commitments as interns at the Bible school in Waukesha, WI, in May and moved off campus in June. They have continued working for the same bus company, First Student,\u00a0and Josh began\u00a0taking\u00a0college classes\u00a0for Mechanical Engineering\u00a0in September. We are thrilled\u00a0with them\u00a0that they are\u00a0expecting their first child\u00a0in July!\u00a0However,\u00a0Sarah has been quite sick, needing IV therapy for dehydration due to extreme nausea and vomiting.\u00a0We trust\u00a0she will be over the hump soon and will begin to enjoy the pregnancy experience.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We are thankful for the opportunity to walk in fellowship with Jesus even\u00a0in the midst of\u00a0challenges and difficulties\u00a0that\u00a0we and many friends and family members\u00a0are\u00a0going through.\u00a0We have so much to be thankful for and are so blessed!\u00a0As we look forward to the coming year,\u00a0we hope that\u00a0you\u00a0may\u00a0know and experience the peace and joy that\u00a0come\u00a0by\u00a0walking\u00a0with Him, no matter what you are going through.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we take time to celebrate our Savior\u2019s birth, we\u00a0reflect on the significance of God\u2019s greatest gift to mankind. We are so grateful to\u00a0the Lord\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0privilege we have\u00a0to walk in fellowship with Him, all because of the\u00a0birth of His Son, Jesus. We are in the middle of our 6th\u00a0year\u00a0serving on staff at the Missionary Training Center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[448],"class_list":{"0":"post-599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}