Mission Trip Bay Area 2014

                   On a last minute opportunity, I was able to go with a few teens from my church (along with another local church) to go on a mission trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. Last year I was on a mission trip to San Francisco with one of my college classes. This opportunity was a longer trip. And we were able to work with more organizations that are making a huge impact on an area where homelessness isn't taken very seriously.
                   In Oakland we got to work with the Bay Area Rescue Mission on Monday and Tuesday. They have programs for the working poor and homeless and have a children's program to feed and educate children in a Christian environment while their parents are getting help for food or while they are at work. While there for two days, we played games with the kids, watched movies, played video games, helped them with their homework and reading and were able to bond with them. This part of the trip instilled in me the importance of my current ministry to children and how important it is for children to see the love of God, especially when their lives are tough.
                  On Monday evening we did a prayer tour of San Francisco and we got to see some pretty sad realities of people who are homeless and those who are classified as the "working poor."
                  Tuesday night we did a prayer tour of Oakland. Although I grew up only 2.5 hours from the Bay Area, I had actually never really seen Oakland. It was a place where you just didn't go. And as it turns out there are a lot of really great homeless people in Oakland (and San Francisco.)
                 On Wednesday morning we went around San Francisco and just talked with the homeless to get a feel for the area, to know what it was like to live there and to understand a bit about the things that they go through on a regular basis. My group met a woman named Barbara, she is a Christian and reminded us all of the importance of calling upon our Savior in every situation we are faced with.
                 On Wednesday afternoon we went to Saint Vincent's Day Home, which is a similar program to the Bay Are Rescue Mission, but it is state-run. And although we couldn't directly tell the children about God, we could still show the kids God's love by playing with them and helping their teachers teach them. My class was the 4-5 year olds. We spent 2 hours on the playground. One little four year old girl was nervous about the playground equipment. There was something that she wanted to do, that the other children were able to do, but she was scared. I was able to talk her through it, and she was able to successfully able to complete it! And then she did it again, and again, and again! (She must have done it 20+ times.) And each time she got faster and faster and was really excited that she was able to accomplish something she didn't think she was able to do.
                 On Thursday morning we went to Saint Anthony's which is an organization that has been helping to feed the homeless and the working poor since 1950. I was in the dining room the entire time, giving people their food and cleaning up the tables so those who walked in could have a clean place to sit and eat their food. I was proposed to by a very nice older black gentleman with a white afro. He had first asked me if I was married, when I said no, he asked if I could be his wife. We talked for a little while. And joked around. On my lunch break, I sat down and talked with a man who was homeless, but could speak 5 different languages and was part Middle-east and part Spanish. He could speak Arabic, English, Spanish, French and Italian. When it was time to leave I almost started to cry. I held back tears. Working with the homeless and the working poor has been a real treat for me and I know that God has also called me to work with these people as well and to show them how much God loves them.
                On Thursday afternoon we went to POH (Project Open Hand). Last year I also volunteered at POH. This organization is similar to Meals on Wheels, but they help those that Meals on Wheels doesn't help: the homeless, those who are bed ridden or those who cannot leave their homes, those with HIV/AIDS. They also have a grocery store/pantry for those who are well enough to buy their own food. We packaged hundreds of bags of oatmeal and granola. I still wonder who all received that food.....
                Also on Thursday, the group that we partnered with CSM (Center for Student Missions), we were given $10 per group to be able to help a homeless person or two with something that they really needed. We came across a few different people, but the one who sticks most in my mind is Paul (he also went by Buck). His wife was in and out of the hospital with MERSA and couldn't see her as much as he wanted to. He needed a new pair of shoes and something to keep him warmer at night. Our group went on a hunt for the closest thrift store. Couldn't find anything there, so they gave us directions for another. We must have walked almost 2 miles total looking for things for this man. We took a long time and we worried he might not have been back when we arrive back at the area we talked in, but we found him. We were able to find an almost new pair of shoes for him, plus a fleece jacket so we could wear it under his 49ers one. They were both in his favorite color blue. And he was tickled at that the shoes not only were in his color, but that they fit well and that the brand name "Beast" was the nickname his wife had for him. <3 a="" man.="" nbsp="" p="" such="" sweet="" very="">                Friday was our group's free day. I took that to go see some family I hadn't seen in a while and it was great to do a little catch up. (Although traveling, we got stuck in bad traffic, so my visit with my grandma was very short.)

               This trip reminded me of the importance of helping others and that although I do not have a lot either, I am still much richer than those that I was able to help this last week. I am going to look at volunteering at the Boise Food Bank and the Boise Rescue Mission. This trip also reminded me that we don't need to travel very far to be able to greatly impact an area that has a large homeless and poor population. And it doesn't take much to be able to help another person. 

Children's Minister

In just a little under two weeks (12 days), I will be introduced as the new Children's Minister at my church. This is my first real shot at leading ministry. I have been a part of several ministries since high school (Youth Group; Worship team at three churches; volunteering and helping teach kids ministry; church secretary), but this will be the first time that I will be the teacher, leader and mentor to a small, but great group of kids.

Since January, I have been getting to know the children better and I have been helping lead and leading some of the time in Children's Church. After some trial and error, I have come to discover that Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber and all their friends (from VeggieTales) have really helped engage their attention to how to live and be more Christlike. And it has been great to see them grow just in the time that I have been teaching. I am very excited for this new transition and blessed that this is how I start working in pastoral ministry. And after the children realized I was going to be their new teacher, they slowly became excited and now look forward to coming to Children's Church.

It will be exciting too to have three pastors at my church again. It has been great to work with our Youth/Associate Pastor and our Lead Pastor.

New Year, New Ministry?

2013 sure ended with a bang. Lots of emotions (good and bad) that dominated my year. A lot of great things happened: received my Local Pastor's license, went on my first mission trip, graduated from college and I moved twice. And not so good things happened: Went two months without knowing if I could stay in Idaho (because I wasn't finding enough work) and I bruised my shin bone (was on crutches for 3 weeks and in pain for 2 months).

Looking back there was so much emotion that it really feels like I survived 2013.

I will be

I don't know all the crazy and cool things I will be able to get into, but I know that it will be awesome!

Be blessed,
Cody Marie

Something Added to my Testimony

Some of you know my testimony very well, others just bits and pieces. I have never been good at telling everyone everything about my testimony because some parts I feel are so intimate to my feelings that I have a hard time opening up to some.

I think though, I have made it apparent to everyone that I once walked away from God. My great-grandmother Vesta was one of incredible faith in God and she suffered for months before she finally went to heaven. It was at the end of my 7th grade year that I decided to walk away from God. I didn't understand how He could let her suffer for as long as she did before he finally took her home.

Two days before she died, my parents, my twin and I went to go see her. She was existing in a body that no longer functioned. She was breathing and conscious, but that was all. She couldn't move, talk, and had to have oxygen to get enough. For a teenage girl who had always known her great-grandmother to be an independent woman, it was tough to take. It was too tough for me to take...

I had a hard time not crying when I saw her. I think everyone had a hard time. Vesta was one to read her Bible everyday, but she hadn't been able to read it on her own for over a month and a half. That day I got to read to her. I don't remember if I just picked something to read, or if I was told where my grandmother and grandfather had stopped in the book of Psalms, but I read Psalm 22-26. Four very hard to read King James Version chapters, but I made it through them.

Until this last Sunday (9/15/13) I never revisited those chapters. I always remember which ones I read to her, but I never reread them for myself. Sunday evening, our new pastor, started a series about Praying with the Psalms. And Psalm 22 was one that he read.

It was hard to explain (or contain) my emotions as he read that. I hadn't heard those words spoken aloud since the last time I read them 11 years ago. I was flooded with the idea and the notion (now that I understand better what actually happened to Vesta as she slowly passed from Earth to Heaven.) And this morning (9/18/13) I read all 4 of them together. These four Psalms are ones that I know was something she needed to hear. They aren't the most pretty Psalms (however the 23rd Psalm in the best known) and they talk about affliction and turmoil, but they also talk about love, grace and hope. The 22nd Psalm was something that our new Pastor took the time to explain in a way that I had never even heard or (or connected.)

In Jesus' time, the Old Testament was all they had for a Bible. It was Holy and most people knew the book of Psalms. When Jesus was hanging on the cross and He said, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" He wasn't asking a literal question (which was how I was taught growing up.) He was starting the 22nd Psalm, which starts out the exact same way. And I am sure that my grandmother was having some of the same feelings, being trapped inside her body that no longer worked.

Those four Psalms are now incredibly important in my testimony. I understand them better in a way that I have not before and it proves to me (again) that God is good. He takes the brokenhearted, the past, the bad stuff we have done (or that has been done to us) and He makes good things come from it.

God. Is. Amazing.

First Week of Work

I completed my first week of work as the Administrative Assistant for CB Deaf Ministry.
Although I have been volunteering for them since January of 2011, I have been much more involved in the entire ministry this past week. Working with my new boss has been incredible fun. We have been trying to catch up on the things that have been "on the back burner" as some would say.

This last week, between working at the ministry and my church I put in 31 hours.
31 hours! It has been so nice to have something to do. Maybe it's my ADHD, but not having a structured schedule has been hard for me. I at least now can have that structure and the responsibility I have missed since I graduate. (Yes, I can't believe I said that either!)

This morning while I was working, I met one of the Deaf pastors in Haiti on Skype. He was excited that I was helping Kathy with the ministry.
Also, today, we found out that our partner Deaf school in Uganda is in need of Sewing machines. They are $120 each! Last month I did a fundraiser for that school at my church--we raised $120 dollars! Their goal is 6 sewing machines. We have one down 5 to go!

Prayers are greatly encouraged so that we can continue doing what it is that we do.
Peace and Many blessings,
Cody Marie Bolton