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Cambodian villagers, Hullop, center with short hair ... ( Courtesy of Tatum Yonts )

Life can change on a dime and the journey is full of twists and brambles, simple joys and things nearly impossible to dream.
Tatum Yonts is 21. Smart and kind, she is unafraid to talk about the things that others might shy away from. The oldest daughter in her family, Tatum has a brother Jonathan who is 24, her sister Casia is 19, Peter is 18 and Timothy is 15. Her parents are Tisa and Dan. The family moved to Pacifica from San Francisco when Tatum was five.
"I have such a wonderful family," Yonts said. "I am really blessed." Home-schooled, when Yonts was 13, and taking some classes at Alma Heights in Pacifica, she ended up in the hospital. She'd overdosed on muscle relaxers.
"After the hospital, I went to a psychiatric hospital for about a month," Yonts said, "and then to Montana." She came back, she dropped out of school, and she traveled. She returned home officially when she was nineteen.
"At 20, I was kind-of at rock bottom," Yonts said. "Basically I had been asking God to show up for me, to show me that He cared." Yonts said that God showed up on Valentine's Day, 2011, while she was in the theater watching the Walt Disney film, "Tangled." "I went from being hopeless, dark and depressed to being full of life and joy all while sitting in the movie theater," Yonts laughed. "He completely changed me in that moment and I have been different ever since." Yonts said she listened, and when she heard the inner call to go to Discipleship Training School (DTS) in France, she followed. ("One Thing" DTS is part of Youth With A Mission Bridges of Life.) It turns out her best friend Jessie also discovered DTS was in her plans as well. The two saved their money and off they went to Southern France for an intense, three month discipleship training course which then sends students out into the world to teach.