Praise and punches.

Birthdays, cars, frustration and visas.

I’m 23 now getting old..

First off I had a great birthday, it was just super. Food, family, laser tag, more food and good memoires.

I cannot wait to see what God has in store for this year to come.

Now down to business .

Let me say this I am not the most patient person ever. My mother kindly reminded (after I got out while the car was still moving) me to stay in the car with my seat belt buckled until the car has stopped.

To say the least I have been frustrated with trying to sell my car and waiting for my visa.

We will start with my visa. I applied July 3^rd. It is supposed to take 6 days on average. On July 7^th I got an e-mail requesting a copy of my High School diploma. Normally not a big problem, but I was homeschooled. It’s not impossible for homeschoolers to have diploma, there are plenty of home-schoolers with nice diplomas and pretty stickers in the corner.  

I was not one of those. Not fault to my parents, my mom probably tried to which my answer was most likely “Why kill a tree for a silly piece of paper” I just wasn’t interested in a piece of paper that told me I graduated. Australia feels different, they wanted a copy.

Bless my Dad, he made a diploma for me (no shiny stickers though) and we shot it right back to the Australian department of immigration, then we waited….and waited and waited..

 

In the mean time I was trying to sell my car. I love my car it has been good and faithful to my and journeys.

I’ll be honest I probably had the word out there for maybe 2 weeks, but when I was already exerting all my patience waiting for my visa those 2 weeks felt like a life time. I had lots of people interested asking questions but no one really wanted it. It ended up on craigslist. More waiting, but this time it wasn’t bad.

July 16^th I get an e-mail from craigslist; someone was interested in Luke (my car) and had also done a DTS! We decided to meet at Costco. I left a note for a family friend that I was leaving and if I wasn’t back by the time she got home then “maybe she should get worried”. I called my parents who were heading to Denver and told them I was meeting someone and would text them when the meeting was over; I don’t think my Mom was overly excited about this plan.

Kind of a fear of mine, meeting a stranger from the internet all alone. But hey I needed to sell my car and them seemed interested.

We met at Costco, and all I can say is WOW. This coupe is just a blessing and an answer to prayers. He took Luke for a quick drive around the lot and I chatted with his wife. He came back and said he would like the car and would give me my asking price! A HUGE blessing, so sweet and kind even are allowing me to give them the car this Saturday.

I called my parents and told them the good news and was full of praise.

Things were coming together. Now I just needed my visa. Ticket prices have been going up when I dare to look.

Still full of praise I was praying and thanking God for all he has provided, at the same time expressing my frustration with the delay in my visa.

I was full of so much praise but so much frustration at the same time.

My praise was expressed by dancing through the house and singing to our chickens, I’m not sure they enjoyed it or the neighbors, but God sure did!

My frustration was expressed by stuffing/punch my sleeping bag into its compression bag.

God and I worked it out and I felt better after my chat with him about the good and the bad.

 Back to the visa I had e-mailed the visa department a few days ago with no response. Today I decided to e-mail a staffer at Byron Bay just to see if they had any tips about my visa.  She was going to talk to a friend and get back to me.

BAM

Her friend was able to look my application up in a magic system and my Visa has been granted. I should get the official notification by tomorrow. I’m currently waiting for my parents to get back then book my plane ticket.

It’s getting real.

 God knows me inside and out,  my ups and downs and how many times I checked my e-mail to see if I’d gotten my visa. When I finally relinquished all my anxiety/fear/frustration and put my trust in him I had peace; A peace straight from heaven to my heart. Be at peace my child, I feed the birds of the sky. I have called you here I will make your path and provide for you.

When I put all my trust in my God and Father life is full of peace, it may not always be sunshine and butterflies but he sure does make AMAZING rainbows when its sprinkling.

Today was full of unexpected blessings which I am bubbling over with joy from.

P.S. I just watched the movie Soul Surfer. I really enjoyed it and if you are looking for something to watch give it a shot!

Laying down my pride.

PRIDE.

 Pride is a sneaky little thing. So sneaky I didn’t realize I had so much pride until God started opening my heart to see it. It hurts I never wanted to be pride filled, but I am so thankful that God has been showing me so that I can give my pride up to Him. He can come in and fill the now empty areas of my heart and I am full of much more life because of it!

I thought pride couldn’t hurt me physically, but I was wrong.

I got hurt at work, fairly bad. I began hurting in November of 2012. I told myself everyone else is hurting too, you can stick it out Katlin there are only a few months left in this costume. Then it got to the point where all of us girls were counting down the weeks 6 weeks, 5 weeks, 4 weeks..and so on. Girls started to drop out left and right. I kept telling myself you can do it, just finish out the time and you’ll be fine. The guests need you there aren’t enough left to fully staff, the company needs you they can’t fill shifts. Part of this was just having a strong work ethic, but the other part was pride. I didn’t want to have to admit that a pair of FAIRY wings had hurt me.

 I mean really FAIRY WINGS.

But they did hurt me and I was getting worse and worse every day. It got to the point where I couldn’t hug the guests, I could BARLEY sign an autograph, I could just stand on set in near tears because of the pain. At home I couldn’t lift a tee-shirt, I fell over multiple times getting dressed because the pain/numbness was so great I would collapse on the ground(now I know where they get the  saying pride comes before a fall). But I wouldn’t admit that I could not work anymore, or function outside of work either. Then finally January 21^st (yes, I started hurting in November I was stupid) I said enough I can’t do this anymore with tears in my eyes I went to the Doctor on site. I’m still recovering to this day from that injury, which probably wouldn’t have been as bad if I had not been so prideful and refused to admit I needed help. When people ask what happened I have to lay my pride down each time and tell them a pair of fairy wings broke my back. I’m beginning to get to the point where I can laugh at myself and how foolish I was.

The best part about all this is GOD. God has been so good and faithful the entire time. He was gentle about revealing my heart to me. He has been showing me where I need to give more to Him; never forcing me to do anything but guiding me, showing me the way, leading me into a relationship much deeper with him. 

What does this have to do with missions?

Part of the journey was to leave Disney and become a full time missionary.

SCARY.

A full time missionary.

I’ve had a job since I was 12. I love to work. It’s a struggle with pride. I like to be able to pay for myself, not have to ask others for money.

Surprise Katlin! Full time missionaries don’t get paychecks.

 I have to ask friends, colleges, family for support. I am having to lay down my pride and ask for support. Not an easy thing for me, but once again God has been gracious with me. I cannot express how thankful I am to my heavenly Father and how he just wants the best for me!

Right now I have 20/860$ monthly support needed.

I have to lay down my pride and ask you for help and support.  5, 10, 20 dollars any amount will help!

If 42 people commit 21 dollars or if 80 people commit 11 dollars I will reach my goal. Nothing is too small; you will be blessed for helping HIS kingdom.

You all are my friends and family I want to keep you up to date on what is going on in my heart and what God is doing; Also because I need people who will partner with me on this journey. I need people will who commit to praying for me and the work I will be doing with YWAM. I need people who will financially support me. I have to lay down my pride and admit that I cannot do this without you. I know that God will provide, I am trusting that he will provide. If you partner with me through prayers or through monthly support it will be a huge blessing to me! I believe that those who would like to partner with me in anyway will be blessed as well! Without your support I would not be able to go. If you would like to commit to a monthly gift or a onetime donation you may do so here:

World Outreach Ministries

The fastest way is to make an Online Donation-- and select Katlin Gillott from the list. The system can process USA & International cards. You can also set up automatic monthly Gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option. Or simply mail your check to: World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate for Katlin Gillott #244.

All donations are tax deductible also :)

 

I pray that everyone has a great day!

My visa is still pending, after that gets approved I will buy my ticket to Australia. If you could please pray for a decent priced ticket, and that my visa will get approved soon I would be very thankful.

 

Love,

Katlin N Gillott

Prep.

Where to start.

I have made it home to Colorado where I will be for 4 weeks before I leave to go to Australia. My Mum flew out from Colorado and then we had a mini road trip back home. Let’s just say I’ve seen enough of my car that I am ok taking a break from diving right now. Before we drove from California to Colorado I went on a mini road trip of my own to visit family/ DTS family up north. It was a great trip and am so thankful for the time that I got with each and every person I was able to see. On the way to Colorado my Mum and I stopped in Indio to visit our cousin and see her at work. She is a teacher for deaf and hard of hearing kids. It was a blast! I *tried* to teach them phonics/reading…not an easy task with these children but I enjoyed it VERY much. You all know I LOVE heat I just love it! I am sad that I will be leaving a beautiful summer here in America and going to winter in Australia but I will survive. I bring heat up because it was 122 in Indio! My poor cousin and Mum were melting. Next we stopped in Arizona to visit dear friends that really are family. Guess what!! It got to 124; what did I do in that crazy heat? Well I stayed outside in it for 5 hours with my best friend! Needless to say we were a little warm when we finally came inside. Next we drove to New Mexico and stopped over night in Santa Fe to rest up and then finished out journey home the next morning. It was been a very busy last couple weeks, even just being home has been filled with things to take care of. Since getting home I have applied for 1 of 2 visas’ I will be using in Australia, sent out for a FBI background check, filled out more paper work and trees that sometimes I wonder if missionaries are the reason for de-forestation; with still more paper work to come.  Not everything is rainbows and butterflies though. It was hard to leave my friends and family in California and will be hard to leave my family here as well, but I know that this is where God has called me and will give me peace in my heart to say goodbye.  My support is not where I would like it to be with less than a month away from leaving. Right now my monthly support total is 20 out of 880 dollars. I am trying my best not to get discouraged but to trust God and that he will provide. I’m currently trying to sell my car as a way to help raise funds and hopefully pay for my ticket to Australia. There is a quick summary of what’s going on as I begin this journey. As always feel free to e-mail and call or snail mail J. If you have questions about what I’ll be doing ask me! Or have a prayer request I’d love to pray for you. Some prayer point s right now are
                That I can get everything straightened out and I don’t feel like a chicken with it’s head cut off.

                For monthly prayer partners and for monthly supports.

                That I can enjoy this time with my family that I know will be so precious to me once I leave.

 

Blessings!
Katlin

P.S. - if you want to support my ministry, the fastest way is to make an Online Donation via www.WorldOutreach.org/donations -- and select Katlin Gillott from the list. The system can process USA & International cards. You can also set up automatic monthly Gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option. Or simply mail your check to: World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate for Katlin Gillott #244.