Life Right Now

I've sat down to write a post about 4 times since the last post and just can't muster up the right words for what has been going on the last while. Today I am going to succeed in my attempt, I have to because I hate that I haven't been communicating very well. So here it goes.

My positions at base have been growing considerably and it's been a stretching experience. With my role as WISE school staff I've had the chance to lead the school and stand in for the leader quite a few times when his other jobs have called him to duty. It's been amazing to see the students grow. Though all of them are older than I am it's been such an evident process that God is taking them through and I am so proud of them for embracing what God has for them no matter how hard it can be. One of the highlights is that we got to work with a skate team that came down from Canada. These kids were awesome and even though they didn't all believe in God they still wanted to serve. We got to go to an orphanage with them and went out with them to work with Remnant (our skate ministry on base). Working with the development department has been interesting as well. Though the database that I am supposed to be working on is not up yet, I have found myself busy with other details of the group. We get to help turn this base into the full potential it has. We are planning promotional tours and dinners on the base to raise the support that we need and bring more students in. It's a really exciting department to be a part of because we get to be creative and visionary and see the fruit of our work. WISE school ends in 1 week and I'm not sure what else I will be asked to do.

The last month or so I have been going in and out of being really sick. Then last week I finally had enough and decided I needed to go to the doctor. I got tested and they found a couple different bacteria in my blood. It's normal for this area but I'm not used to it and I possibly let it go for too long because I have been out for a week now. I'm on an antibiotic, doxycyclin, to kill the bacteria but it is very strong and causing some exhaustion. I should be back to normal soon. I'm hoping at least because I am sick of laying in bed.

God is moving so much in Mazatlan right now. We have about 25 youth from the city staying at our base right now because they want to reach their city. During Semana Santa (Holy Week), this week, we are training the youth for a couple days and going with them to reach their city. I haven't been able to make it to the activities this week but I did make it to a worship session the other night and these kids are really excited about God! They really want to seek after Him and what He has for their city. It's such a huge praise to see them stand up like this. One of our main visions is to see the Mexicans leading Mexicans to reach Mexico. It gets me so excited to see it happen.

There are some things that I want to ask you to pray with me about.
1. Next year. My commitment to YWAM Maz is up in August and I need to decide whether I will be committing to another year or if I will be moving on to another project. I just want hear God on this because He knows what's best, sometimes it is just hard to hear Him on my own because my own desires can be so strong.
2. Health. For me and my friends, and for Mazatlan. There seems to be an outbreak in the city right now and lots of people are getting sick.
3. Finances. I'm still behind in some of my finances due to a school that I did when I first got here.
4. Homesickness. I have been really homesick the last while. I think it mostly has to do with being sick and wanting to be comfortable. But I also really miss my family right now, I can't wait until I come home to visit!

Thank you all for your prayers and being interested in what God's doing in my life.
Love you all,
Tasha

Deep Breath

Tonight was my first deep breath since well...about 2 weeks ago. This past week our Carnaval outreach started. We saw many people come to know Jesus as their Savior and it was just so amazing! God was really moving in ways I've never seen before. But now that all the preparation, work, and clean up is done I can take a deep breath. We get the next couple days off. What a blessing. But back to Carnaval outreach. We had 5 ministries within our outreach; a cafe, beauty salon, Remnant (skate ministry), evangelism team, and intercession team. Our cafe and beauty salon ministries were completely free and a way to bless the people we wanted to share God's love with. Remnant really flew this week with more skaters showing up than ever and holding the biggest skate competition in Mazatlan! That's what you call setting the pace for the world. Our evangelism team went into the actual festival of Carnaval every night always coming back with great stories of God's glory and people asking to know Jesus. Then there is our intercession team. I helped lead the intercession team this year and it was so great! God led us into the festival multiple times among many other places to pray over the people going into the gates and partying. He really guided our prayers and spoke to us so clearly.

I'm realizing what God is calling me to right now. I'm realizing that God has called me to be ready and willing to go anywhere anytime but to also view this as a permanent calling until He says otherwise. That is just how my life is and I think it's just going to always be that way. I think this is a good lifestyle for me since one of my main strengths is adaptability. Pretty much I just love to move around a lot...most of you know that already. At the same time it's hard viewing everything as a permanent calling, it's definitely stretching.

It's intriguing to me to see pieces to my life puzzle being put together or random pieces being revealed. I'm really just blown away by the things God is placing in front of my. I'm back to feeling as though I have the world at my fingertips but with a whole new perspective that focuses more on the reality side. It's not just a dream, God has called me to travel the World to share His heart and I have every intention of doing that.

One last note from the week. There is nothing that can melt my heart like the laughter of a child. Last night we had tacos to give to those that had given their lives to Christ this week and a family came in very scared and timid. I got to sit with them after worship and their 2 little children just blessed my heart so deeply. There was such fear in their eyes but such longing to be touched. I got to play with their son and to hear him laugh just touched my heart so overwhelmingly. What a blessing to impart into a child's life just by playing with them, tickling them, holding them, and just being a kid with them.

Love and Blessings.

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

Moving Forward

Life seems to be accelerating its speed at high rates. Everything is moving faster and more responsibility seems to be coming every second...I love it. It has been pretty hard the last few weeks but I believe it's God stretching me. This is a season of preparation and strengthening for seasons to come. My faith is growing and pushing forward. God is giving me a joy through every tough situation and really showing His faithfulness in every move. I'm also really learning how to wait on Him in every decision I make. He needs to be the source of everything I do and He has to take everything else out before He can be that source, it's quite the painful process at times. I just mean that He is taking the time to get rid of the selfish part of me, that part that wants to do things my way instead of His way.

We went to a conference in Pachuca 2 weeks ago. It was so great to see other parts of Mexico, it's so beautiful here. I love the hills covered in houses. So amazing. The conference itself was so good. We got to connect with the bases of YWAM Mexico and really see unity come into play. As a whole YWAM Mexico has a heart to plant a base in Mexico City so we went there for a ministry day. I really fell in love with the city. I expected it to be completely crowded and feel really unsafe but I didn't for one second, in fact I would love to go back. I truly hope I can get more opportunities to go back and be a part of what God is doing there. Especially with the human trafficking there, it's really huge and there are a lot of kidnappings that happen...it's exactly where my heart is at. I'm realizing God has made me a fighter. For so long I've seen myself as a wimpy girl but wow, God has made me to fight for injustices and that is exactly what I plan on doing...now, I just need to wait on God to hear how He wants me to do that. How awesome though.

Hopefully I can put some pictures on here in the next month or so.

Love you all,

Tasha

Prayer Requests:

• Wisdom in everything (work, life, relationships)
• Plans for the future
• Finances are a little short right now
• WISE School (it's in less than 2 months!!!)
• Health (I've been better than I was but I'm still fighting to stay healthy pretty often)