I would first like to apologize for not writing or posting anything over the summer. It's been a whirlwind of events and emotions. I won't bore you with all the details, but I will tell you a few of the main things that has been going on in my life so you aren't completely in the dark.
Mental Health I've been struggling with depression since 7th grade(as far as I know) and it typically comes on strong around the holidays, but his last year was a lot different for me. It came on strong around the winter holidays again except this time it didn't leave it decided to linger. I was so frustrated I didn't know what to do. I decided to do the Daniel fast and quit vaping that helped for about two months and then just it didn't. After three month of sitting in the depression not really knowing what to do; fighting myself on weather or not I should go to the doctors for it. I finally decided to go to the doctors to talk to her about all that's going on. After 4 months of trying different medication and different doses of them and MANY mood swings my doctor and I were able to find a medication that works for me at least for now. The hope is that the medication will help balance the chemicals in my body and with in a year or so we will be able to take me off of them and the chemicals in my body will still know what to do without the help of the meds. Colorado At the end of June I drove back to Colorado to visit my friends up at the YWAM base in Cimarron. I was planning on only being there for two weeks but I ended up staying for a whole month.While I was there I got to help out in the kitchen; I learned how to make a lot of food that I never would of thought was possible to make by hand or that I could even make it myself. During that time I got to become really close with Desirae who is in charge of the kitchen. I also got to help out one of the families that live up there. I was able to help them by babysitting their 3 kids one of which was a newborn only 2 weeks old when I met him. Not going to lie it scared me at first because he's so tiny and I'd never taken care of a baby that young before. I would babysit during staff meeting so the mom and dad could both feel apart of the community at the same time. I got a really cool opportunity to help out at the YWAM booth at a christian festival. We talked to all kinds of people who were interested in what the base offers and got to listen and dance to some amazing christian bands. Japan Five month ago I sent my paperwork to Japan to get the visa process started. Back then I didn't realize how long it was going to take. OR I definitely wouldn't have procrastinated so much! It took 5 weeks to translate my paperwork, 9 weeks for immigration to process my papers, 1 week for the base to receive my COE( Certification Of Eligibility). Then a very early morning and only two hours of sleep my friends and I drove to the Japanese Consulate so I could FINALLY apply for my visa. At 3pm on August 15th I picked up my passport from the consulate with my VIISA inside!!! I OFFICIALLY have my 3 year religious visa!!! I am beyond thankful to everyone at the base that dealt with my paperwork and immigration for me I could not have done it without them. During this time of waiting I've really had to rely on God and give up the idea that I can control everything and that most of the time I can't help in certain situation and I need to trust God that He has put the perfect people in charge of the situation. Prayer points
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What a better way to start of the month of March than with Read Across America Day! If you didn't know the first day of March is Dr. Seuss birthday and the school that I work at celebrates it by dressing up as your favorite book character. When I found this out I immediately thought "hmm who is my favorite book character?" than started to giggle because I remembered "I don't read books." I than started to talk to one of my co-workers and we were talking about how the only book we read is the bible. Than a light bulb went off in my head; my church has all these costumes because we go the manger seen for Christmas. SO we dressed up as women of the bible! Ladies' Conference During the Ladies's Conference over 160 women gathered together to worship God and to hear his word's flow through the speaker. I would love to tell you everything I learned BUT I have 6 pages worth of notes and I doubt ya'll wanna read all that haha. So I'm just going to share a few of my favorite points or the ones that stood out the most to me.
The craziness of March This month was full of prayers being answered and an understanding of why God was telling me to wait. At the beginning of February I had to move back into my parents house after not living there for seven months. Now that may not seem like a long time, but it is long enough to get use to having your own place and your own grove to life. I had two offers by people in my church to move into their spare room free of rent, but I just felt God whisper "just wait till the end of month and stay at your parents till I say go". I'm not gonna lie I was frustrated with God but I listened to Him even though others didn't understand why I would pass up a free room and I didn't either; I waiting for Him to tell me"go". And (wait for it) at the end of February/ beginning of March when my mom and her friend where on my phone together discussing her friends grandma and how they are gonna have to get someone to live with her. My mom called me later that day and asked if I would do it and my first reaction was "that's scary I don't wanna wake up one morning and find her dead". The more I thought about it and was reassured that she was still pretty healthy and very independent (I would just be there to help her with the small things) I thought why not! It's an opportunity to move out and get paid! Who wouldn't want that opportunity. You maybe asking how did that make your March so crazy well on top of my regular job I now have had the opportunity to start babysitting these two boys everyday after school for two hours, than I have a family I babysit for two nights a weeks, I always babysit for a life group at my church every Tuesday night, and Thursdays I also babysit three kids while their mom goes grocery shopping. You may be asking how can you do all of that in a week. Well... I typically work my teaching job and babysit two families every day than go home to the lady i live with and spend a hour to two hours with her before I can go to bed and that doesn't include youth group and the church activities I'm involved it. It keeps me very busy and honestly there are some days where all I want to do is cancel all my jobs, but than God reminds me that He gave me these jobs for a reason. That reason could be to save money for Japan, but it might also be so I can show these kids what Jesus' love feels like. On a side note my friends and I took a drive to see the wild flowers because there is a super bloom going on here in California and I just wanna show you some of the cool photos my friend took of me. Japan If you are wondering what is going on in my heart with Japan; my heart beyond full and can't wait to be in the country again. Last Tuesday I sent out all of my paper work to the Osaka base( about 14 or more papers) through snail mall. Please be keep this in your prayers and that my papers don't get lost because this is all a long process. Prayer Needs
Daniel Fast
As I mentioned in my first newsletter I began my year fully immersed into the Daniel Fast. Through the three weeks I learned that this fast is nearly impossible without a community supporting you and most importantly God. With people in my church doing this fast along side me it allowed us to grow into so much more than friends, but into a family that nearly had dinner together for a week and a half (may not sound like a long time, but that was half of the fast). Making sure each other were getting enough food and not starving and laughing at each other at our weird cravings for foods that we normally wouldn't want to eat; we got to experience what God was doing in each others hearts during the day and learning to challenge each other in our times with God. Being vulnerable with each other was definitely something God was showing us how important that is to be able to grow not just as individuals, but also as friends and a community. During my personal times with God He had put two things on my heart. 1) Stop feeling awkward and just talk about GOD where ever: coffee shop, school, work, grocery store, walking around town, car ride etc. it doesn't just need to take place at church or youth group. God is everywhere so why not talk about him everywhere you go! 2) Get involved into peoples lives( not drama but living life together), investing time and having them realize there is someone out there who truly cares about them and their walk with God. God has especially put it on my heart to spend time with the girls at my youth group, through my walk with Jesus I have benefited immensely when people have taken their time to sit down with me over time and pour into my life and just lived life with me. So God is calling me to do the same with these girls. The Struggle is Real Life Group First off, thank you all for your consistent prayers. This life group would not have been able to happen without your support and encouragement. During this 7 week life group the author gives us a topic every week about what the studies all have in common. She goes over; Life is a choice-choose wisely, The struggle starts the story, At just the right time-Jesus, The past impacts but does not define my future,Wisdom takes work-and it's worth it. This is not a fluffy book it's about our struggles and not just the 'light cute' ones, but the struggles that we don't normally talk about or try really hard not to think about. She challenges us to dig in to them with God and ask Him to reveal them to us. She states that these hurts and struggles that have happened were not apart of God's plans for us, BUT He will choose to help us through them and show us that there is glory at the end of it all. The more we realize that these struggles don't define our future you will be able heal from them and walk into the future God has for us. Teacher Tatum Being called Miss. Van Horn by my students may never get old. Knowing that I get to go to work and being able to love on them: may that be giving them movement breaks, reminding them to use their manners, reading the questions and writing their answers while they tell me what to write, reading them a book, helping them learn new sounds and words... the list can go on and one. You may ask well doesn't that get tiring? My answer to that is yes, doesn't your job get tiring, but I just have to remind myself that this is what God had called me to at this moment in my life and pray for God to refill me of patience. If I don't live my life through the passions I have than life would be meaningless and boring. I get the opportunity to show these kids God's love for them through reading for them and laughing at their not so silly jokes as we talk from one class to the next. I wouldn't change that for anything because it's what makes my days better. Winter Camp You may have heard or saw through social media that winter camp was cancelled. With this news came a lot of emotions and tears. My church has being going to Sugar Pine for 30+ years and has never cancelled camp before, so this was a first. The camp had called our senior pastor a few days before we were to leave for camp and said that the road very unsafe to dive on, so they decided to cancel it. With that news all the pastors that were involved with camp and were going to send students felt it on their heart that something still needed to happened and couldn't let everyone's hard work from the fundraisers and excitement go to waste.They explained to us staff that God had put it on their heart and was wanting to show these kids that He can show up anywhere not just at camp. In less than 24 hours the pastors got about a full day of camp together. Friday night and Saturday morning we gathered at North County Christian Fellowship for worship, God Squad 'New Crew' danced six dances all together, and Pastor Jeremy from the Bridge(he was going to speak at winter camp) was able to crunch three nights worth of talking into about two hours of talking hah. He emphasized on the story of Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4). In this story it talks about how Jesus( a Jew) took a route that Jewish people didn't take because they did not want to be around the Samaritan people, BUT Jesus choose to take this route because He knew He would meet a woman that needed to meet him. He didn't judge her for her past doings or for her race but instead loved her for who she was. She had never experienced that before and went back to tell everyone in town what had happened t her. Jeremy told this story to emphasize that God will break all cultural bounders to meet you where you are in life and will love you for who you no matter what you have done. BUT the most exciting event that happened out of the two days is that when we had an alter call at least one girl from my youth group stood up and walked up to the front in front of everyone to accept that Lord! Now that is worth two months of fundraising and late nights at the church to get everything ready. Everything is worth it to be able to see someone accept the Lord. What is coming next/Prayer Points!!!!
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AuthorTatum Van Horn Archives
November 2019
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