Hoorah I'm Still Alive!

Hello all! I wanted to start by apologizing for not writing on here in so long. I am sure you were all thinking I got caught on a runaway trolley and died or something. You can rest assured know I am alive and well. It has just been a very busy last couple of weeks. I am going to give you a quick update on everything going on in life.

Some of the wonderful apprentices from the
various cities in front of the LOVE statue in Philly!

            Over two weeks ago now, starting on the 12^th of November I was in Philadelphia for an apprentice conference. All of the apprentices from the various city sites such as L.A, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Nashville, New York, and of course San Francisco, all met up in the city of Brotherly Love for some training and fellowship time. I had such an amazing time getting to learn more about all of the other cities God is moving in through CSM. It was also really cool to get to experience the city of Philadelphia up close and personal. We spent most of our time during the day sharing and training for our year with CSM. In the evenings all of the apprentices would stay up into the wee hours of the night talking and laughing together. On Thursday we also all went to a Catalyst one day conference. Catalyst focused mainly on mega church leadership, but there were definitely things I could pull away from it that had to do with CSM. My favorite part of this time in Philly was just getting to spend time with 12 other awesome people that are in the same life situation as me in many ways. Although we are all pretty different we had such a great time together and still enjoy keeping up contact with one another.

            After flying back from Philly late Thursday, we hosted a group very soon after. The group came mid day on Sunday and was here until Wednesday morning. This group was relatively easy and was enjoyable to have. I had a hard time not being distracted from the group because I knew that as soon as they left I was going to be going home for Thanksgiving. Becky, Kat and I all hosted our own service group because there were 30 junior high students. My service group went to the childcare place in West Oakland called St. Vincent’s Day Home that I have talked a little about in previous updates. They also went to the Salvation Army Service Center where we did various projects to help them prepare for Christmas. My group also went to the San Francisco Food Bank where they sorted through pounds of oranges that will be distributed to organizations all around the city. All of the groups also did city search. City Search is the activity in which the group goes out in groups of about 4 to explore the city. They get only 2 dollars for lunch and are supposed to spend the remainder of the 4 hours getting to know some of the homeless individuals on the streets. There is a couple of other activities they can do in order to gain a greater understanding of the complexities of living on the streets. 

All of the runners in the Rey family ready to go.
Jake and I dressed in our best with our turkey hats!

                As soon as the group left on Wednesday morning I was off to the airport. After a lengthy flight I arrived safely in Michigan. Right off the bat it was so exciting to get picked up by my parents, brother, and of course my favorite 3-year-old Robert. After not nearly enough sleep we left at 6am (3am my time) to go run the Detroit Turkey Trot. Although I wasn’t in great shape I finished and was very proud of my brother and dad who also finished the 10K alongside me. After the race we watched the parade together and headed off to go eat some turkey. It was so great to be surrounded by such great family and be able to have some awesome conversations with some of the people I care about most. After Thanksgiving it was still so great being home and spend more time with people. It was great to be able to see some of my friends that I have missed and to be able to spend more time with my family. It was also so fun just to be able to be home for all of the Christmas preparation festivities such as cutting down and decorating the Christmas tree. I have been so blessed to have such a wonderful fun family! To everyone I saw while I was home, it was such a blessing to be able to spend time with you. If I wasn’t able to see you over Thanksgiving, I am sad I missed you and hope I am able to see you while I am home for Christmas!

Our lovely group from this last weekend.

            After coming home last Wednesday from Michigan, I had a few days to gather my thoughts before hosting again last weekend. We had a group that was a mix of middle school and high school students from Lodi, California come in on Friday evening and they were here until Sunday. On Friday night we just ate dinner and had the San Francisco prayer tour. On Saturday morning we packed over 200 bag lunches and brought them to an organization we work with called City Team in San Francisco. With the help of City Team we delivered these lunches to individuals living in the SRO Hotels and some individuals on the streets. Despite the fact that this was incredibly disorganized, I think it was a really great experience for the students to be able to go inside the SROs and experience first hand some of the realities of the streets of San Francisco. After this, the group went down to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a meet a need. During the meet a need activity the group gets $20 to spend to meet a need of someone they meet on the street. The main objective is for them to get to know someone on the street and for them to realize how easily they can help someone on the street wherever they go. After the meet a need activity we went to dinner at one of our Vietnamese restaurants and enjoyed some delicious Pho.  After dinner the group went back to the housing site in Oakland to play a game about justice. The rules to the game are complicated to explain but the purpose is to simulate the struggles and complications of the system and how oppressive and difficult poverty can be to overcome. Despite the rain that continued all weekend I never once heard the group complain. They were troopers and were a pretty easy group to have. Hosting is always so much fun because I get to hang out and be super goofy with young people all day. I really love hosting though because I feel like I am constantly seeing God work through the group while hosting. It is so great to see the light bulbs come on as the students and staff begin to grasp some of the complications that exist for those living in poverty. God is constantly moving in and through the groups as they serve the city and are blessed by the people they come in contact with. God is so big and actively moving here everyday.

            While the group was here we also had a girl named Kelsey shadowing us. Kelsey had applied and interviewed for a host position for this summer and possibly for the spring as well. Part of the hiring process involves a site visit for them to check out what it is like to actually be a host first hand. Kelsey was an awesome woman of God with a big heart for the city and has officially accepted a summer host position here in the Bay Area! We are all very excited to have her as a part of our team and see God work through her this summer!

            This week we have been working on delivering our Christmas gifts to many of our ministry sites. As an end of the year gift we are giving our ministry partners a card, a financial donation to their ministry, and a box of fudge. I spent much of Monday writing cards to the 19 ministry sites we are delivering gifts to. My hand was hurting quite bad afterwards! We are planning to deliver these gifts within the next couple of days. I am looking forward to getting to meet some of the people at the ministry sites that I have not had the opportunity to meet yet.  
  
              Yesterday I finally got to go back to the King’s Club at BARM, which is the after school program that I work at. It was so wonderful to get to see all of the kids again. I have missed their great hugs and smiling faces. It was so great to hear them yell worship songs as they worship their King with such joy and excitement. When I hear these kids sing I realize how dry our adult suburban worship can be sometimes. These kids don’t care about the way they sound or who is listening or watching them; they just call out in worship to their Creator. It is such a beautiful site to watch elementary age kids worship with everything in their body. No wonder Christ respected children and told the adults to act more like them! After BARM was over I got convinced to go to a youth group that many of the students go to with Brother Jesse who is one of the staff at BARM. I was recruited mainly because Jesse needed another person to drive students, but it ended up being so awesome. I had a really awesome conversation with one of the high school girls on the way and enjoyed spending time with all of them throughout the night. Since I have primarily been focusing on the elementary aged kids while at BARM, it was so awesome to be able to connect with some of the older girls as well. During our conversations I was reminded why I love youth so much. They are such beautiful young women of God that I really hope I get the chance to connect with more often.

            Wow again I have successfully written a super long update. I am sorry for how long it has been since my last update and for the short memoir that is this blog post as a result of how long it has been. Please pray for my sanity in these next few weeks. Things have been incredibly busy lately and I am definitely feeling the weight of some of this busyness. I have a lot to do before the year comes to a close and I have been missing the stability that existed before these last few weeks. I went to BARM for the first time in weeks yesterday and haven’t been able to go to my church in weeks due to being in Philly, Michigan, and hosting. Please pray for me that I will be able to fall back into the swing of things and get everything done that I need to over these next few weeks. Also please lift the King’s Club at BARM up in prayer. The head of the program has been very sick for the last week, and one of the other full time staff has been out because her mother is incredibly sick. Please pray for their health as well as the program that it will continue to run smoothly without these two very important ladies. I also ask you to pray for the families of these children I have grown to love. The holiday season can be very difficult for families in poverty, so I just ask you to pray for them that they will experience the joy and love of Christ particularly in this season. Thank you all for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers! Love you all to the moon and back!