All Moved In

My roommates and I had a wonderful week moving into our new apartment! Since the base will be getting quite a few large teams this year and no room on the base they decided to rent off-base housing for some of the staff members! We're really excited to have a place of our own for now. Some days it was just plain hard living at work. And this way we have a home to open up to our girls here. All three of us have hospitality on our hearts and are really excited to entertain guests. In fact there are going to be quite a few girls sleeping on our floor while the teams are here.

One of my favorite YWAM teachers was speaking on the WISE school this week. Since I'm staffing this school I had the privilege of hearing a week of her teaching again and I was so blessed. God has really spoken to me about resting in Him and fully living in faith. So I've been challenged in most of the areas of my life this week, in such a gentle way. God's challenges are completely out of love and a tender heart. I love learning more about His heart and character. My desire for the Bible is growing so much as well right now. I would love to spend some time, a year or so, studying the Bible. It's my double edged sword and I want to make it as sharp as possible.

The base finally has hot water! I'm really excited for everyone that lives at the base because cold showers are pretty miserable! As for our apartment we're still showering in cold water. Our water heater is broken I believe but it should be fixed soon. Our maintenance guys are very generous with their time and are working on whenever they can. We're so blessed to have running water though, I think about the families around here that live in little shacks with no running water and I see how blessed I am. I'm made to praise God and He is taking care of me and I will praise Him evermore.

Love and Blessings.

Pushed and Pulled

I love being pushed to my limits by God. When He stretches me to lengths I didn't know were possible something inside of me just feels so satisfied, no matter what is actually happening around me. I'm learning what it means to simply abide in God. When everything else is so frustrating or so confusing He is so at peace. Which means I am at peace when I am abiding in Him. There's a deepness to just "being" with God that I'm just seeing now. When everything else seems shallow or pointless, He is deep and meaningful. I am so undeserving of Him. I can't help but smile and be amazed at the thought of who He is and what He has done. It brings such a somberness at the same time. That's the fullness of God though right? He's not either...He's both tears and smiles. On to work for the day.

Never Too Young

"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth.
Jeremiah 1:6-9

It's interesting staffing a school with students older and more "experienced" than I am. I'm learning about God's anointing and that it doesn't matter how old or how much experience we have if God has called us to a position of leadership. He has placed the anointing and taken us through preparation for this exact time. It is definitely a process to learn this lesson. It becomes hard to not be discouraged being the youngest person involved with the school with the least amount of years in mission work. How exciting to know that God is preparing me in this area and that it will be something He uses in the future. There's definitely hope at the end of this little tunnel here.

Hanging in There

Faith is what keeps me hanging on to the things God has called me to do when everything gets hard. God calls us to go out on a limb and take risks for Him, to believe He will do the impossible. It seems, as I'm moving farther out the limb is getting shorter. I can see that I'm about to fall off but God keeps telling me to move farther from the cliff and trust Him. It's a beautiful thing to trust God with your life. The closer to falling I get the more God has room to move and really be glorified! How exciting to know that God is being glorified through me! The fact that He is preparing me to glorify Him even more blows my mind...as His daughter He is going to use me to facilitate His glory...what an honor we have as His children.

I had the blessing of going home the week before Christmas! It was so good to be with my family and friends during the holiday season; baking cookies, drinking coffee, and just spending time together. It still seems surreal that I was just home 2 weeks ago. It brought a new reality of how life is going to be while I'm on the mission field. Though it's hard to be away from home it is so much sweeter when we're all reunited. Right now I still have a week of vacation left this year and the plan is to go home soon after my nephew arrives from Guatemala! This will be the sweetest trip home yet. We're still not sure when that's going to be yet but I'm excited to find out!

WISE School started on Monday! Our first students, Ben and Ashley, came in to Mazatlan on Friday and another student, Christian, just arrived to the bus station now. There are only 4 students that will be attending WISE school this year and it's going to be awesome. The smaller the school, the more time we can spend with each student. Though it's hard for us logistically, we believe there's a reason this starting school is so small and so unique! I'm excited to see where God takes us as staff and how this school forms into something new and refreshing for YWAM Mazatlan and YWAM Mexico as a whole. I'm so blessed to be a part of something that 's going to be so big for so many people.

Keep me updated on how you guys are doing as well. I love letters and emails. :-)

Love you all,


Tasha