Purity Ceremony

This semester has been full of God's Grace and Blessings and one that tops them all this semester is the Purity Retreat I had the privilege to experience with my girls. Purity is a topic that for the most part is not an open topic here in the islands for discussion even among churches but, it is a topic I felt we should dive into. Karyn Sorenson who is one of our Faculty Members here at PIU was so awesome to step in and teach the girls on this topic. She is a counselor here at PIU and has much experience in this area and has gone through purity commitments with her own children as well. Last year around February we began a series of Purity talks with the girls and began praying about what God would have us do with the information we have been given. As we got into this semester and the girls began to seek the Lord's guidance in this area they approached me and asked if we could do the ceremony because they were ready to make their commitments to God. Karyn and her husband Eric were called by God to pastor a church in California so she was unable to join us this semester however, God provided a way for her to come out and while she was on island finishing up her class that she was teaching was also able to finish the Purity talks and host the Ceremony with the girls. So two weeks ago on Wednesday November 23, 2011 13 girls participated in the Purity Ceremony. Some were able to have their parents present and others had friends and sisters in Christ to witness their commitments. We gave the girls the task of writing their own commitments and were completely blown away by the depth and hard work they put into these. They were real and personal and reflected accurately what God was in fact doing in their lives. I personally have never witnessed anything like this and was completely intimidated by what they wrote. I didn't know what to expect at the ceremony and was blown away by the work of the holy Spirit in these girls lives. Below are some Pictures from the ceremony and I want to thank first of all God for all He has done in these beautiful daughters of His!!! Also I wanna say thank you to Karyn for giving of her time to come and minister to us and to those of you from Grace Baptist Church in Salado, Texas for sponsoring each girl's ring. Also to Joyce Owen, thank you for letting us crash your house last minute for our retreat!!! And to Meluat our professional photographer, we cannot thank you enough for your time and the great pictures you took for us!!!