Economics and Racist Cops

This week has again been nice and steady although definitely busy as always. The somewhat consistency of my schedule over the last few weeks has been nice. We haven’t had groups for a couple weeks, which allows me to spend some good time investing into everything else I am involved in out here such as the after school program and church. I have been continuing to work on the pre-visit video for CSM. I am struggling to find working on this video exciting but I have to keep reminding myself that it is making it easier for groups to come experience the city and grow from it. Although I know it is an important video I am finding myself much more mentally and spiritually invested into the work at BARM, the after school program. Although I don’t think it is bad to be invested into BARM I don’t want to lose heart for my work with CSM. Pray that I will have renewed energy to invest into my work with CSM as well as BARM. Below are a few pictures I snapped of the after school program. They limit photography because not all of the students have permission to get their picture taken. Since they don't allow it I haven't been taking pictures but 

The name of the after school program is the King's Club. This painting is in the main room right when you walk in.

Homework Time!

Preston jumped in and tried to ruin my picture but actually ended up making it through his cuteness.

After I worked with one of the teens at BARM named Adieba on one essay for her to get into this summer program, she asked me for more help with a few others. I enjoy helping other people with schoolwork in general but especially with papers. Although I am no essay writing expert I enjoy the piecing together of words and the discovering of information to support an idea. As we worked together this week on two more essays I found that one was about Macro Economics. I had to read the prompt several times to understand exactly what she was to be writing about. Helping her with this well was way over my head. Although it was over my head I knew exactly who could help us with this, my brother. As an economics and finance major about to graduate I knew he would know exactly what the best argument would be. I texted Jake and asked him if he could look over the prompt and talk to me about it. I knew he would look over it because that’s the kind of guy he is, but I had no idea he would be as invested in it and happy to do it as he was. He texted me back right away saying he was really looking forward to looking over it. I sent him an email with the prompt to have him look over it and he sent me a long email back saying how happy he was to see God using some of his knowledge on economics in this unique way. The next day him and I talked on the phone about it for almost an hour where he filled me with a multitude of thoughts and ideas regarding the essay. I then brought the notes I took from our conversation to Adieba to help her develop her arguments.  He offered to look over her essay once she has a draft going and he said I could call him anytime if I have any other questions about it. I am so thankful to Jake for being the man of God that he is and for being so willing to go out of his way to help this girl. Jake, you are truly an amazing person and I feel so blessed to have you in my life. I love you!

            I was just amazed by how God can work through relationships and connect people in such amazing ways. My brother’s enthusiasm to serve in this way was such a testament to me. Even though I asked him incredibly last minute to help someone he would never meet, he still trusted God to use his efforts and made himself available.  I also thought it was just incredibly awesome that God used his knowledge from school through my calling for this year. I was also just reminded of how great relationships in general are. If it wasn’t for me and my brother’s great relationships I wouldn’t have been able to serve and meet Adieba’s needs as well. Relationships are not just great because people are fun, but they also help further the kingdom and this is an example of that. I was just amazed by God’s ability to connect our strengths and knowledge together in the best way possible through relationships to serve Him and meet the needs of others.

            I have been continuing to work with Adieba throughout the week and we have gotten together a couple times this week to work outside of BARM. I have loved just investing into her life even more. She is an amazing beautiful hard working sophomore girl that I feel so blessed to know. Although she is already opening up to me more and more I hope that by investing into her school life that eventually our relationship can grow even more to where she feels comfortable coming to me about anything.

Tuesday night I experienced racial profiling in a way I had only heard about but had never actually felt first hand. Every Tuesday, one of the after school program staff named Jesse and I take some of the high school students to a church youth group at the church Jesse attends. I have enjoyed getting involved in the youth group and feel that it has allowed me to connect on a deeper level with the youth at the after school program. On the way home from youth group I was driving 4 students from BARM (the after school program) home to Richmond. My seats were filled with three African American students and one Mexican. As we pulled up to a stoplight near one of the student’s houses in Richmond there was a cop in the lane over from us. As soon as we pulled up to the light the police officer began to shine his spotlight on us. The entire drive I driving incredibly carefully, we weren’t listening to music super loud (just a little jamming), and all the students had their seat belts on. As we turned the corner the cop continued to follow us and shine his spotlight on us as we were driving. When I pulled over to let one of the students out in front of his house, the cop pulled up behind us and put his lights on. When the cop came up to my car he didn’t even come up to my side of the car. He approached the car on the passenger’s side of the vehicle and didn’t even ask for any of my information. He asked if everyone had their seatbelts on but didn’t even try to accuse me of doing anything illegal while driving. He continued to question the group of students in the car and didn’t even look at me. When I spoke up and explained to him that I was simply taking these students home from a church youth group he asked, “Is that really all that is going on here?” I quickly answered “yes” and he headed back to his car. After he left I continued to take the students home.

            This situation enraged me for a number of reasons. First of all I was angry because it really upset some students and one in particular. I was mostly upset because this was the first time I had experienced racial profiling from cops for myself. I had heard people joke about getting a DWB (Driving While Black) ticket, but I liked to pretend that it wasn’t actually a reality. I can without a doubt say that this white cop would not have pulled me over had I been driving alone. It would have been easier to remain ignorant and believe that all police are sound thinking, nonracist individuals, but I am actually very glad that I got to experience this. I now feel great sympathy for individuals of different races that have to go through life with even law enforcement automatically judging them as being trouble. I was driving with some incredibly bright, gifted, strong, loving children of the King that are working so hard everyday to get out of the system of poverty that entangles so many. Although they are all great, respectful, non-troublemakers, they were still stereotyped by the color of their skin. I can’t imagine how frustrating that would be to have to deal with. I pray that eventually one-day people really won’t be prejudged by the color of their skin but will be viewed equally.

            This weekend I will be going up to Inverness, California for a women’s retreat with my church here in Oakland. I am incredibly excited to spend time with the women in my church surrounded by God’s beautiful creation in northern California. I am looking forward to the spiritual refreshment and growth that I hope to occur through this weekend. Pray that it would be a great weekend getaway for all of us. I leave for that tonight and will return on Sunday just in time for some Super Bowl madness! Go Niners! Thanks again to you all for keeping me in your prayers and for being interested in the ways God is working in and through me this year.

           

           

Happy New Year!

Hello all!

City Hall in San Francisco at Christmas-time 

I am sorry for how long it has been since my last blog post. I think this is a new low for me… Last I posted it was Christmas time and all the busyness and funness of Christmas was underway. Christmas at home was absolutely amazing. It was so great to see family and friends that I have missed. It was an incredibly busy week at home but that meant I got to do a lot of fun things and see a lot of wonderful people. I enjoyed all of the holiday festivities as well as getting to go snowboarding with my family in Michigan for a little family vacation. Thank you all for the wonderful memories and great times while I was home. Leaving Michigan knowing that I wouldn’t be back for a long while was one of the most difficult things that I have been through this entire time I have been in California.

            After leaving Michigan I didn’t get much time to be sad because I had to jump back into work with CSM right away. My flight got in at midnight on the 1^st and we had a group come the next day. This group of high school and college students was a super goofy fun group to lead. They left on Sunday morning and another group came that evening. The second group was a college group for Turlock California that was really great. It was a very busy turn around from Michigan, to the first group, to the second group with getting only a few hours in-between each thing. Needless to say I was very exhausted after the second group left and had a nice day of rest after they left.  

        On Sunday when the college group from Turlock had just arrived I had a really awesome challenging experience. We had eaten dinner and were starting the prayer tour in Civic Center. I was exhausted but ready to inform those in my group about some of the issues within the city of San Francisco. While I was beginning a woman came up to our group asking if we were doing some sort of prayer tour. When I answered yes she said she wanted to listen and stood slightly at a distance. I continued with the introduction to the park. As I continued she approached me specifically asking me about my shoes. I was wearing almost 10-year-old converse shoes and was confused why she was so interested in them. As she got closer she started to become very aggressive and threatened to hurt me. I was frozen. I was concerned for my personal safety because clearly this woman was under the influence of something and I wasn’t sure what she would do. Even more than my personal safety I didn’t know how to handle this situation with the group. My stomach flipped, my palms were sweating, and I was trembling. I brought the group to a different spot in the park to finish the prayer tour and thankfully the woman left us.

                    When we got back into the car the very first thing the group’s leader did was ask if someone could pray for that woman. Right away a few people offered to pray and we lifted this woman up in prayer. Although I was set out to teach this group about San Francisco they ended up being such an example to me. After that woman left I was incredibly angry with her. I had done absolutely nothing to her to deserve her threats. I was still shaken up a bit and I knew it was going to affect me throughout the prayer tour. When they lifted her up in prayer all the negative feelings I was filled with vanished. I pray for myself and for those I care about frequently but I rarely pray for those that upset me. God asks us to even pray for our enemies and I was reminded of this through the example of this group. It impacted me strongly and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to lead this group.  

            Since the hosting has slowed down I have been busy working on some other projects. It has been so nice to get back into a normal rhythm of life and to able to go to my church more consistently again has been awesome. I am currently working on a pre-visit video for CSM San Francisco. Normally we have group leaders that have never been on a CSM trip before come on a pre-visit. During this time we go over a lot of logistical issues as well as give them a tour of our housing site. We also take them out to lunch and show them around San Francisco and Oakland a little. This allows us to point out some of our ministry sites and give them a feel of what it’s like to be in the Tenderloin neighborhood for example. Although pre-visits are great they are also expensive. They are expensive on the group’s part because they have to pay for travel expenses and it is expensive on our part because we take them out to lunch every time. It is also can just take up a lot of time because we usually do one a month and they take most of the workday to do. Due to these reasons CSM has asked every city to put together a pre-visit video with all of this information so the leaders can simply watch the video and have a follow up phone call instead of spending all the time and money for an in person pre-visit. I have been assigned to do the pre-visit video. This is a big undertaking as there is a lot that goes into all of it, but I am getting somewhere and plugging pretty hard at it.

Recently at BARM, the after school program I have been working at, I have been talking about ways I could get more involved than I had been previously in 2012. I don’t want to just be another volunteer, but I want to actually be thinking of creative ways that I can actually impact the King’s Club with. I also want to be able to spend more time invested into BARM during the week when I am not actually at the King’s Club through planning and such.

                    My first idea was to create a vegetable garden with the flower boxes they have just sitting in the backyard. My hope is to be able to do the planting and care alongside some of the students. By having the garden I think it could create some maturity as they have to care for something other than themselves. The responsibility that it takes to grow plants could create growth in the students. I also just think the simple lesson of how to grow plants would be a cool thing for them to be able to experience. And hopefully we could actually eat something we grow eventually! I am really exciting about working this out and getting everything underway with this project. I plan to do the actual planting sometime in the near future. I will keep you all posted!

                   My other idea that I am in the process of working out is to start leading a teen girl’s bible time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have been spending more and more time with the youth and am definitely spending more time with the youth than the elementary now. On Wednesday one of their staff named Jesse talked to me about leading a talk that day on relationships after an incident that happened on Tuesday evening. With this being an issue talked about best in a split gender atmosphere and with it being one of my passions to discuss with girls it got me thinking. A few nights ago I talked to the director of the program, Marshelle, for a long time about my thoughts about the teen bible study and how I would love to be more invested into it. Marshelle loved the idea of splitting the girls and guys and was on board with everything I was thinking. I know Jesse has been working on what he wants to do with the teens for these next few months in bible study. I emailed Jesse last night about my thought and plan to talk to him on Tuesday when I am there next. From what Marshelle was saying it sounds like him and her have some different opinions on what the next few months will look like for the teen bible study, so I hope everything works out. I would love to have the complete freedom to do what I want with the girl’s on the days that I am there.

                    I am really excited about being able to be more invested in BARM for the next few months. I find myself getting so excited when I start thinking of new ways for me to be involved. I am also really excited to be able to spend even more time with the teens specifically since teens are really one of my passions. I am looking forward to where everything is going to go and where God is going to move. I pray that while I am getting more invested that I remain humble and dedicated to working for the Kingdom and not just for myself. I pray that if everything works out with the teen girl’s time that God will give me wisdom to know what to say when difficult topics come up. I also pray for wisdom on a daily basis with the teens to know what to say in the constant situations that come up that are difficult.  

            After all that writing I have pretty much filled you all in on the last few weeks in the life of Rachel. Sorry for the extreme length but it’s been quite a while so it’s only natural. Please be praying for all these projects and me over these next few weeks. Just be praying that they come to fruition in the way in which God intends them. Also I ask for you all to praying for my decisions regarding my future. I have been thinking a lot about returning to North Park in the fall. With these thoughts I have also considered transferring for the summer to CSM Chicago to do hosting instead of finishing here in the summer. This is all very early and therefore could very easily not end up working out. I think hosting in Chicago would be an awesome experience that would allow me to expand my knowledge and heart for the city. This would also give me an idea about the ministry sites in the area that I could hopefully partner with more long term. One of my favorite things about the apprenticeship so far has been being able to invest in the after school program I work at. I would absolutely love to be able to find a ministry in Chicago that I could invest myself into for the remainder of my schooling. Hosting in Chicago would also give me another entirely different perspective on ministry and specifically how CSM looks in a different city. I also just love the hosting that I have been able to do out here and I think it would be a really awesome experience in general to host exclusively this summer. Please pray for these decisions that God will have his will in them and that whatever ends up working out will be for His glory.  Thanks again for all your prayers and care. It is so wonderful to know how many people I have on my team praying and supporting me through this. I hope you all are doing well and would love to hear some ways I could be praying for you as well. 

Christmas @ The Club

I wanted to first let you all know that Preston, the little boy I had asked you all to be praying for, is doing much better. He has been at the King's Club almost every day and seems to finally be getting back to his loving little self. Thank you all so much for your prayer for him and his mom during this difficult time. We are so happy to have him back and without your prayer that may not have been the case, so thank you.

As the Christmas parties for the King’s Club (the after school program I work at) have been this week it has been a very busy week for me. After baking about 100 sugar cookies on Monday night for them to decorate at the party, I continued to be busy all week. I went in Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday early and stayed late for preparation for the parties. The elementary and teens had separate parties on different days and both were a lot of fun and went very well overall.

            Every week Kat and I meet with either our city director Jason or the two year apprentice Becky to spend time together and talk about what is going on in life. During our one-on-one this week, Becky and I talked about BARM and the differences between the teens and the elementary kids for a while. I have recently been spending a lot of time with the teens, but previously I spent very little time with them. I remember feeling guilty for not spending much time with the youth, since I have always loved teenagers. I felt like I was just choosing to spend more time with the elementary because they are easier to work with as they show affection more than the teens who are frequently hard to reach. The few times I did try to talk to the youth I was met with cold responses, pushing me even farther towards the elementary portion of the program.

            In the last few weeks after Jesse invited me to go to youth group with many of the teens, I have been developing relationships with the older students. I now am greeted with hugs from many of the girls, I get asked to play pool or other games with them, the guys mess with me, the girls will talk to me about different things going on in life, and we all joke around and have fun together. I noticed how much I really do feel that I am now a part of the teen group during the teen Christmas party. We spent a lot of time together as friends during the Christmas party. I also noticed that I was really being accepted when Marshelle was going around the room thanking everyone that helped put the party together and I received quite a few hollers and “We love you Rachel’s” particularly from the girls when she said my name. I also got very positive feedback from the students about the game that I led during the party and noticed their excitement when I decided to play one of the other games with them.

I am not saying all these different ways that I received positive feedback from the youth to try and act like I am really cool and popular now, but instead for it to be a testament of God’s greatness. Although I was very uncomfortable with it at first I think the fact that I waited to reach out to the youth was part of God’s perfect timing. The youth at the King’s Club are very hardhearted and closed off to many new people and to the world in many ways due to the variety of difficult circumstances they have been through. Many of them have faced off and on homeless since they were very young and as a result have been forced to relocate very frequently. People other than their parents, such as their grandparents or another family members, have raised many of them. If they are lucky enough to have a parent raising them it is never both parents. The realities so many of these youth face are so far beyond my understanding as I have always had such a strong support system. Due to their life experiences with abandonment they do not automatically trust people and in order to gain their respect and favor one must really work for it. I really do think that me fixing my attention at the beginning on the elementary rather than jumping right into the youth was a part of God’s plan. I think that by first showing my dedication to the King’s Club through my consistency with the elementary kids, I was laying the foundation and preparing the way for me to be able to invest in the youth and develop relationships with them. I wanted to jump right into relationships with the youth and through many different circumstances I kept getting pulled back into working with the younger kids. My original frustration was due to my lack of understanding God’s greater picture. God’s timing is perfect and through this I am reminded of that. I am also reminded how great God is and how small I am. There is no way that I could have known what God had in store for my involvement with the youth. As always, God had a perfect plan with perfect timing all along. I was just unable to recognize it because our ability as humans to process and see the great depths of God is so small. I am also very excited for what He has in store for this next year as I continue to work at the King’s Club. 

City Highlight

Every month one of the cities CSM is located in does a city highlight for others to read. This month I got the privilege of writing one for the San Francisco Bay Area. I wrote a revised version of my earlier post about Trey from the Salvation Army. Since I have pretty much already posted it on here I won't include mine. As I was reading through some of the old ones I came across one written in July 2011 by one of our previous city staff named Heather. I thought it was really interesting so I wanted to include it for all of you to read. Enjoy =) If you want to read more city highlights from San Francisco and other cities here is a link to the archive on city highlights! http://csm.org/cityhighlightmain.php

“…They may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3b

The city of Oakland got its name from the many oak trees that covered the area. But when you hear of Oakland today, you don’t really think of it as a righteous place full of splendor. You think of murder, gangs, thugs, homeless, prostitutes, and the like. Oakland has frequently been on the list of top ten most dangerous cities in both California and the nation. From an outsider’s point of view, there aren’t many things that Oakland can boast about. Most people who aren’t from Oakland only pass through it to get to San Francisco or Berkeley. Oakland is a dangerous place. One site where we send our groups, called the St. Vincent’s Day Home, is a daycare center for children ages 2-5. The neighborhood where it’s located is one of the most dangerous in Oakland. At this day home, they practice not only fire and earthquake drills, but also for drive-by shootings. The children there know when the teacher yells “drop” to drop to the floor. This is their reality.

Another area where we do ministry is the Tenderloin in San Francisco. Within the 20 block area, there are extremely high levels of visible drug-use, prostitution, assault, murders and theft. On the first block of the Tenderloin, Turk St, crime is 35 times more likely to happen than it is anywhere else in San Francisco. That same block has a crime rate 8 times higher than any other block in the Tenderloin. Another site we partner with, Project Open Hand, delivers hot meals to residents in the SRO’s of the Tenderloin. We walk through the streets of this crime-infested area everyday with mostly suburban students, delivering meals in run-down buildings to residents we don’t know. Although this may be the most anxiety-causing activity for some, its rewards generally allow some to forget about how dangerous the place is.

I think that’s why I’ve grown to love the Bay Area – the rewards. Are we not called to the dark and gritty areas, to the places where God is needed the most? In these places of darkness, evidence of God is clear. It’s tough being on the streets, seeing the same faces and knowing their situations haven’t changed. However, the hope we have is in God’s redemption. Oakland is not too far out of the reach of God’s redemption. The Tenderloin is not too far out of the reach of God’s healing. There is a reason God has placed us in this city and has called each group here to serve. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” Isaiah 52:7.

-Heather Olson, CSM San Francisco Bay Area City Staff

Prayers for Preston

Hi everyone! Today while I was at the after school program I was informed that one of our kiddos is pretty sick. Preston was born super premature and has heart problems his entire life. He had open heart surgery a few years ago and was admitted into the hospital this morning because he was having more heart problems. I don't know all the details but I do know that he is pretty sick. Preston is in 3rd grade and is such an adorable loving kid. Preston and his mother, who is only in her young 20s, have been living in the shelter for a little while now. I just ask you to pray for Preston's health as well as for his mother. Not only is the thought of the possibility of losing your son scary enough, but they are totally unable to afford the medical care he needs right now. If I have learned anything from this year I have definitely learned about the power of prayer so I thank you for lifting Preston and his mother up in prayer during this difficult time.

Oh Snap! Snapshots here!

If you didn't get time to read the super long update here is some pictures to fill you in on a little bit of what these last few weeks have loved like. Enjoy! 

My thrilling Friday nights include making brownies
 in a toaster oven... while wearing a turkey hat. 

 Philadelphia:

All of the apprentices from the various cities.
Oh how I love these folk

Just standing with a beautiful American artifact

'Merica!

Philadelphia City Hall

My gluten-free Philly cheese steak sandwich... it was mighty good. Allergies can't hold me back!

More of all of us apprentices posing together at the Catalyst conference

Home:

My best friend and I posing in front of our beautifully decorated Christmas tree

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!