The Gift of Giving

The Bellflower Christmas Toy Store is just one way we are able to love our Bellflower neighbors. Toys are donated and low income families are able to purchase them as Christmas presents for their children. We were able to help bless approximately 200 families this year at our Christmas Toy Store. We thank everyone that donated gifts, gave a monetary donation, and donated their time to serve their Bellflower neighbors. I’m impressed on how much more organized it gets, we receive bigger and better donations, and that more people are interested in volunteering each year. Bellflower residents are great at loving their neighbors in need. I am thankful to be a part of this event and I always look forward to the next one.

By April Mardueño

Dominic and Desarie

It would be easy to write off Dominic and Desarie. Former drug users, unemployed, kids in the system, etc. It would be easy to access their problems, do our best to help, and then send them on their way. It would be easy to look at them as projects, instead of people.

It would be easy… but it would be wrong.

Dominic and Desarie are not simply the sum of their life choices. They are not statistics. They are people created in God’s image, and thus they are endowed with gifts and abilities that we don’t always acknowledge.

It’s been so fun to watch them grow in the past few months. They have jumped in wherever they can, and have quickly become our most consistent volunteers. Desarie answers the phones when April has to run errands, they do chores around our office, bring tamales for our staff, and even act as informal case managers for their friends in need.

Last week I overheard a desperate sounding women come to the front desk looking for food. Before she had even finishing speaking, Dominic quickly came to her side and said, “I know where you can get food. I’ll take you there myself.”  He then walked her down to his church to see about getting her some food.

When I thanked him later for his act of kindness, he replied that because he knows what it’s like to feel desperate, and he just wants to give back and help others in the same situation.

Dominic and Desarie have taught me that if we wait to solve our own brokenness before reaching out to others, we’ll be waiting forever. God calls us to give in spite of our own weakness and poverty. In fact, he often USES our own brokenness to meet others in their time of need.

I’m glad we didn’t write off Dominic and Desarie, and I’m excited to see how God continues to use them in Bellflower.

The Bellflower Community Christmas Store

One of the things we are thankful for this holiday season is the Bellflower Community Christmas Store. The Bellflower Community Christmas Store invites people from the community who find Christmas to be a time of financial strain to come and buy gifts for their children at 80-90% off retail value. All gifts are priced at $5 or less, and all proceeds go directly back into the community via Kingdom Causes Bellflower and Rosewood Church.

Our goal this year is to collect over 700 gifts for the store...so we need your help! Please donate gifts of at least $10 value at our office, 16429 Bellflower Blvd. Bellflower, CA 90706 or at Rosewood Church 10115 Rose St. Bellflower, CA 90706.

The last day to donate gifts for the Community Christmas Store is December 13, 2013.

We also need volunteers to help run the store as well as wrapping the gifts!

For more information contact:

Denise Tamminga  (562)804-4778  or  dtamminga@rosewoodchurch.com

Abbey Nishimoto  (562)804-2189  or  admin@kcbellflower.org

Items That Are Popular:

Skateboards

Scooters

MP3 players

Cameras

Electronics

Boom Boxes

Hair Straighteners

Blow Dryers

Good Quality Sports Equipment

Curling Irons

Make-up Kits

Princess & Superhero Items

Hot Wheels

Watches

Baby Dolls & Barbies

Movie Passes

Gift Cards (iTunes, Forever 21, Game Stop)

CCDA Conference

In September, the Kingdom Causes Bellflower staff was blessed to attend the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference in New Orleans. This annual gathering of 2,500 community ministry practitioners provided our team with a chance to learn and glean new ideas from other incredible ministries from across the country. CCDA was started by my hero John Perkins in order to encourage, train and equip people who are engaged in Christian ministry with the poor.  Next year the conference will be held in North Carolina…I’d love to take you along!

-Ryan VerWys

Love Our City 2013

Last Saturday we hosted the first “Love Our City” training at Kingdom Causes. It was encouraging to see about 25 Christians gather together to learn and discuss how we can best care for our neighbors and our city. Some of the topics we covered were:

• How to love your next door neighbors
• How to love your homeless neighbors
• How you can love Bellflower with your wallet
• How we can love Bellflower by challenging broken systems

Some of my favorite moments from the training were hearing how people are already engaging with their neighborhoods, and seeing people make commitments to make small but significant changes in their lives.

Christ commanded His disciples to go into the world to make disciples, but challenged them to begin in Jerusalem, their own backyard. I’m excited to see how the participants at LOC 2013 will love the neighbors in the backyards of Bellflower!

If you missed the training, but are interested in bringing it to your church or organization, just shoot an email to anishimoto@kcbellflower.org.

Coming Together for Margaret's House

This summer I have been greatly encouraged by the story behind Margaret’s House and by witnessing the efforts of everyone coming together to make Margaret’s House a home. People’s selfless willingness to serve and help in any way possible has served as a testimony to the power and perfection of God’s plans.

One Saturday, I had the opportunity to help move furniture into Margaret’s House. Many of us caravanned from Downey with donations in tow, and I was overwhelmed when I heard the story of Margaret’s House retold to each new volunteer who had showed up to help.

This is one thing that has stood out to me the most this summer, and it is a lesson that was solidified as people met us at the house with truckloads of furniture they were ready to give, without knowing the purpose of Margaret’s House.  People are so willing to come together to help and sacrifice when a need is known, and the coming together of a community to meet the needs that were necessary to make Margaret’s House less of a thought and more of a reality has been incredible.

Hanging on the living room wall of Margaret’s House is a white canvas with the blueprints of the house, with thumbprints hanging above the house like balloons for every person who has walked into the house and made any contribution to its needs. This visual depiction of people coming together to meet needs in order to help their community is incredible.

It was exciting to see furniture inhabit the empty rooms and to picture families living in the loving space. I could imagine kids spending time in the upstairs loft and adults sitting together in community with visitors. It is heartening to know that this house will be a home for so many families in the years to come.

While the basic needs of Margaret’s House have been met (with furniture in the rooms), there are still several needs that we can all contribute to make Margaret’s House a home.
This includes:
Toys
Books
Movies for kids
Basic cleaning supplies
Safety gates

Thank you to everyone for your support, and please keep Margaret’s House in your prayers.

-Shannon Turner

The Latest Projects from GSI

Serve, Love, and Live... right where you are!

Coming into this summer, I was unsure if I would make much of an impact or learn much at all. However, it is amazing to see how God is working providentially in my life this summer to grow and equip me.

            God has been reinforcing in me the lesson of “Serve, love, and live right where you are.”  Our weekly intern meetings are not the only places I hear this message.  Just this past weekend when I went to an alumni day event in L.A. as part of a conference I went to over 3 years ago called Wheatstone. I was not expecting the theme of the day to coincide so perfectly with what I have been learning. The title and theme of the day conference was “Where are you?” and the main text for discussion was the book of Esther. Though His name is never mentioned, God’s providence is striking in this book.  He places Esther exactly where she needs to be so that she can act to save the people of Israel.

Esther 4:14 “¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
At the day conference we started the day with the Jeremiah 29 emphasizing verses 4-7  “⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  This was the exact passage that I heard David Feiser preach on at Neighborhood Christian Fellowship that Sunday morning.

As someone who has had an eye on the foreign land for some time, this bombardment and repetition of the message of “live well now, right where you are” has been changing my perspective and helping me look at my community with new eyes and has made me recognize further that God has good plans for my life, and even if they don’t line up where I had intended, they will still be the best.

            I thought that this summer could end up being a summer of preparation for this next semester, but I think it is actually a summer of equipping for the rest of my life.

-Heidi Furlong

Waiting

There are these things called wait lists. We hear about them all the time in the homeless services world. There are wait lists for Section 8. Wait lists for permanent supportive housing. Wait lists for new buildings being opened up. The term is as common as is the concept of a homeless neighbor. But today the word wait list sounds different to me. Tony was on a wait list for housing. I met him last fall, when someone from a local health clinic called my work to alert us to the fact that their very sick patient was also homeless. Tony was very polite when I met him, laughing that he couldn’t see his tattered social security card without his glasses. You could tell he was probably handsome when he was younger. He told me his story, and we connected the dots. He was from Downey and regularly attended the homeless breakfasts at Calvary Bellflower. He had participated in the folk lift certification classes at Kingdom Causes, so he knew the office where I worked. He explained that he’d been homeless for the last two years, and that he was suffering from poor health; he had heart disease and cancer – specifically, brain tumors. The timing of our conversation was perfect. We had just received word that we were going to be able to receive a limited number of housing vouchers for homeless individuals who were also currently struggling with health issues. My meeting with Tony seemed providential. We immediately helped him to apply for housing, submitting his application within the week. We were elated at the possibility of being able to help a neighbor in need by ending his homelessness.  But then that dreaded word surfaced: wait list. These vouchers were supposed to materialize quickly, we were told, but likely as a result of sequestration, the process slowed. We counted Tony as one of the lucky ones; his application was submitted just before the door slammed shut. The answer for him, unlike so many others for whom we submitted, wasn’t “no”; it was “wait.” And waiting is better than nothing. …right? And so, Tony waited. He checked in with his case manager faithfully every week, to which we responded that we were still waiting. The excitement at the possibility of housing diminished, as we sent emails, made phone calls, and pushed on systems that did not give way. On August 8^th, 2013, while sleeping next to a friend, Tony died on the street of natural causes. He passed away quietly, resting on concrete. He was 51 years old. He was homeless. He was sick. He was on a wait list.

Waiting is an interesting thing. Sometimes we wait patiently, without perhaps even realizing we’re waiting – waiting for a change of luck, waiting for the seasons to change, waiting for life to perhaps get better. Mostly, I think, we wait impatiently. When will I lose that weight? When will I get that raise? When will I meet that special someone? My boss recently commented that perhaps we do not wait with enough anticipation, enough almost anguish for the arrival of what’s hoped for. He was referring to the stance of the church, waiting for its bridegroom Jesus to return. What should our waiting look like, he pondered? What would it look like to wait with hopeful anticipation, deeply desiring the arrival of something good for which we long? The conversation makes me reflect: what are the things that we are too impatient for – the fruits of change to be realized, things to be more comfortable for ourselves – and what things should we be more impatient to see come to fruition -  the arrival of justice in our cities, the realization of compassion in ourselves. Tony died waiting. I don’t know if he waited with patience, with hope, with dejection. And while he waited, we waited also. But did we wait in the right way? Did we pursue help for the helpless, to extent that we were able? I believe that we did. But what then, do we say, when all of our waiting, and all of his waiting, produces this result?

The only thing I can think of is a phrase that has never meant much to me before today: “Come Lord Jesus, come.” We are waiting for your Kingdom. And I know that next time I utter the prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” I’ll mean it even more than I did last time that I said it.

"I thought it would be like a soup kitchen"

When we hear the words of the Great Commission, to “go out and make disciples of all nations” Christians often overlook our own communities.

                  But there is a certain glamour attached to helping the homeless. There is a soup kitchen mentality that exists. Many believe that the best way to serve the homeless is to literally serve them.

                   But that is not necessarily what helping a homeless neighbor looks like. Any time we have an idea in our head of how helping someone will turn out, God will often remind us of how awfully small we are in comparison to the wonderful world he designed.

                  At my second community barbecue of the summer, the first one ever held in Downey, there was a picture in my head of what it would look like, although I knew that the results would be unpredictable.

                  But there were plenty of volunteers and the tables were lined with fresh, yummy food. So if I have volunteers, and if I have food, the homeless would just HAVE to come, right??

                  After 5:00 rolled around and people started to pack up and leave, a handful of homeless neighbors had come by. But the last thing I felt was disappointment.  Amazing things had happened in two hours. A group of people who would not normally spend a Friday afternoon together were able to enjoy each other’s company. A man who was struggling to get an ID who had never heard of Kingdom Causes Bellflower was interested in learning more about the opportunities that were available to him. People, both neighbors and volunteers, were able to reach out, build relationships with one another, and get a glimpse of God’s Kingdom in action.

I heard a group of volunteers discussing their disappointment by their less than warm and fuzzy hearts.

One muttered, “I thought it would be like a soup kitchen.”

The other day a friend of mine was at an event where samples were being given, and when he had more free samples than he could bear, he offered a homeless man on the street a bag of pretzels. The man turned the pretzels down, and my friend recalled he felt insulted that the man would not take his free pretzels, “when he didn’t know where his next meal would come from.”

We have this stereotype of homelessness. Hungry. Dirty. Drunkards and Druggies. And we have preconceptions of what “helping” them looks like.

Like any stereotype, these characteristics do at times apply, but there is no reason to justify mistreatment, judgment, or complete apathy because someone seems to fit into a certain group of people. Nor does it validate our self-righteous attitudes when we set out to help those who are homeless.

                  The volunteers at the barbecue and my friend at the street event exhibit this mentality that they are doing those who are homeless a favor through hand outs and pity.

                  When our “good deeds” don’t turn out the way we expect, we often feel disappointed and discouraged. But oftentimes our good deeds are not what are needed by the community.  It might take creativity and good listening to truly understand what is needed of you to build God’s Kingdom, but when we listen and are aware of one another through building relationships first to even begin to understand a need, amazing things can happen in a community.

It is crucial to remain not only humble and selfless but to remain flexible, and understand that God has a plan for the Kingdom that we cannot even begin to comprehend.

 -Shannon Turner

Reflection on MoneySmarts Class

The longer I serve Kingdom Causes, it seems the more I have to learn and discover! These past weeks have been filled with ups and downs, positive experiences and learning experiences. Today, I wish to share with you all about one particular blessing I have been fortunate enough to have experienced.

Over the course of three weeks, I was able to teach four lessons about Financial Literacy to some of the members of Kingdom Causes Fatherhood program. The Fatherhood program here at Kingdom Causes gives dads the skills they need to be involved in their children’s lives. One aspect of the program involves financial literacy classes, which I led this summer. During the classes, I was able to meet five outstanding men, whose interest in the subject, kindness towards me, and overall positive spirit made teaching the classes a highlight for me this summer.

Though the class was all about finances and monetary topics, I found that talking to these men about their lives and hearing their stories was infinitely more rewarding to me than knowing that they ended the course with the tools they needed to become financially stable.  Each of the men had a completely different story and background, yet they had a positive outlook towards their future and their hope was encouraging.

One of the men, Bali, had come from Nigeria to the States, and since my dad grew up very near to where Bali was from, I was able to really connect with him. Wayne was so much fun to be around, and was always laughing and cracking jokes. Mark kept things moving and provided some great examples to go along with what we were learning that day. John was someone who never failed to ask an unexpected question and really challenge everyone to think hard about practical application for the day’s lesson. Another man, named Renaldo, was from the Philippines. Renaldo is an extraordinary artist! He was always doodling on the side of his paper, and I noticed that his drawings were really quite incredible. I mentioned this to him after class one day, and he grinned, told me to wait for a minute, and then disappeared. Soon after, he reappeared carrying two cardboard boxes. The boxes, when turned around, were covered in beautiful paintings. The paintings had symbols on them which, Renaldo explained, were words in Tagalog, the Filipino language. The words said “Jesus” and “worship” in his language. He explained that he used old cardboard boxes and leftover paint he had found to create the paintings. I was overwhelmed that he would create these paintings and then use them to bless me so richly.  Each of these men were warmed my heart and made me excited to go and teach this class, and I will always be thankful for the opportunity I had to work with them.

As I continue on in this internship, I hope to keep my eyes open to what God might continue to teach me and how He might grow me over the course of this summer. Thank you all for your prayer support!! 

-Michelle Cok

Summer Fun at KCB!

We had so much fun and excitement in and around our office this past week! Check out a few of our pictures from the Amazing Race!

The Role of a Church in Community

Awareness is the First Step

This week as I was reading Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life by Robert Lupton, I was really hit by how the local church population has changed so drastically over the past decades.  Thinking back to when local neighborhood was the primary social environment, the church was always a benefit to the local community because all the members were part of the local community and wanted to see it grow.  Now almost all churches have become commuter churches and people drive from miles away to come and have no invested interest in the local community.

In my opinion, the new look to churches is not inherently bad, it is only when we, the congregation, stop caring about the local community and only go to the church area to go to church does it become evil.  My church, for example, does outreach programing, which is a vital part of the church without a doubt, but it is clear throughout the Bible (Ezekiel 16:49-50, Matthew 25:34-40, etc.), that we should be providing for the physical needs of, first the church members, then the community.  We have, with some success, been able to provide for the church, but we rarely look out to see what our community needs, and I know this is a trend in many churches.

The first step and what I’m calling you to do to fix this is to be aware.  Don’t just drive to church and then drive home after.  Look around in the community and find out the needs of the area.  Start filling those needs, both physical and spiritual.  We are called to love, serve, and provide for those in need, so let’s start by becoming aware of how we can love, serve, and provide Biblically and practically.

-Joseph Nishimoto

Meet Our Interns: Michelle!

It was like a treasure hunt. An exciting, eye-opening, full-of-possibilities kind of treasure hunt. This is the best way I can think of to describe an exercise that Terri Larson had myself and other interns/community fellows participate in during training at Kingdom Causes Bellflower this past week. This particular exercise had each of us name nine of our “gifts” – three topics we are knowledgeable about (Head Treasures), three skills we have (Hand Treasures), and three issues/people groups we are passionate about (Heart Treasures). The treasure hunt came into play when we were asked to share our treasures with other interns/community fellows. It was so amazing to learn what each other was gifted in, and also to discover similar gifts in other.

                  Before I get too much further, let me introduce myself. I’m Michelle Cok, a summer intern at Kingdom Causes. A little about me – I am nineteen, and I attend California Baptist University in Riverside. I love camping and hiking, traveling, reading, being with friends and family, and doing what I can to further God’s kingdom, hence this internship! I have always been familiar with the city of Bellflower, having attended church in this city my entire life, and having gone to Valley Christian Schools my whole life.  I am passionate about this city and all the potential it has!

                  As I struggle to know what to include in this blog, I’ve decided to view it as a way for me to keep myself accountable throughout this summer. Maybe in this way, it will be a tool for me, as well as for all who read it. To that end, I’m going to describe what I hope to accomplish this summer, what my goals are, and how I hope to grow as well. I have some main projects that I’ll be working on and I’m really very excited about them.

The first project includes teaching a “MoneySmarts” financial literacy class to the men involved in Kingdom Causes Fatherhood program. The goal for this class is to help the dads feel confident in their finances and also to encourage them to get back on their feet and become successful. I’ll teach four sessions, in which I’ll be working with the men to go over banking, saving, investing, etc. My overall hope is to have the men, at the end of the class, come up with a solid plan to get themselves back on track.

My second project revolves around the “National Night Out” events.  These events are nation-wide and the goal is to encourage neighborhoods to get out of their homes, bond with one another, and feel safer in their own neighborhoods. I’m hoping to get about four of these events together, with the help of some of our community fellows.

My other projects include teaching E.S.L classes, helping with financial programs for residents at Margaret’s House, and helping with general bookkeeping here at K.C. Besides these projects, I really hope to make sure I help others discover their “treasures” and gifts and help them to foster growth within themselves. I hope you will all keep these goals in your prayers, and I will do my best to keep you all updated with what’s going on with them.J I encourage you to think about your own treasures, and maybe conduct your own treasure hunt with those you come into contact with, and see what you can all accomplish in your neighborhood and community!

                  

Intern Intro: Heidi

         

  “Why aren’t you going on a mission trip somewhere overseas this summer if that’s something you’re passionate about?”

            This question, just weeks before summer break, really threw me for a loop.  As a college student studying to become a math teacher, open to teaching wherever God leads – be it overseas, inner-city, poverty, undesirable areas – all I could respond with was, “Well, I’ve got this internship in my hometown working with the community this summer with an organization I’ve been connected with for a while.”

            As I listened to friends talk about their plans to teach in India, serve in Peru, or work in Tanzania, I seriously questioned my choice to stay local this summer.  Didn’t I need experience in other countries?  Shouldn’t I have given more thought to other summer options overseas?  What was I actually passionate about?  Was I taking the easy way out by staying home?

            It wasn’t until our second day with Kingdom Causes during the opening prayer that my anxieties about making the best decision for my summer subsided.

            I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.  Job 42:2

            Throughout this past semester, God has proved himself to me over and over.  Each time I piled too much onto my plate, He provided a way out for me; 6 times assignments were ‘coincidentally’ postponed when I was overloaded with work, and as I almost daily posted Facebook status requesting prayers for tests that I had not studied enough for, results came in where the expected ‘C’ was actually an ‘A’ or one of the highest grades in the class.  Time and time again, God’s providence was made clear to me.  Yet even after a semester of miracles, I still questioned His plan for me.

I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.  Job 42:2

At our orientation multiple waves of chills affirmed that God had put me in the best place for me this summer.  The truths about His Kingdom and the excited young people around me inspired and renewed a passionate spirit within me.  When Terri asked us at the end of the training to think of one practical thing we could take away, I chuckled to myself. Throughout the morning as ideas raced through my mind, I had already written down around 10 applications for myself.  Many of these applications reaching further than this single summer internship.
            In one week God already proved His faithfulness to me by showing me that this summer is going to be a summer of learning and equipping for the future in many areas of my life, not just some resume-building internship to give me more ‘job-experience’.  I have already been blessed and inspired by the community of people this internship has placed me in.  God truly is good, and I am excited to create with kids in an art class, build relationships with the elderly at the Friendship Manor, and grow from whatever else God presents me with this summer.

Intern Intro: Joseph!

When I first interacted with Kingdom Causes, I never imagined me fitting into an organization like it.  The staff seemed extra-extroverted and were good conversationalists, of which I am neither.  But after applying for the summer internship and working closely with the people involved in Kingdom Causes, I can see that this is an organization I can not only work for, but also become a part of over this summer.

My name is Joseph Nishimoto, and I am a twenty year old studying accounting and business administration at Grace College in Indiana and will graduate spring 2014.  I think God is vastly underrated in my life and in almost everyone else’s I meet, and relying on God as the ultimate authority and Jesus’ death is the ONLY thing you can rely on for salvation. I am starting to become an advocate for entrepreneurship, but mostly I advocate for hard work and discipline.  I have lived in Lakewood since I was one and I enjoy the beach, volleyball, and playing most sports, and anything nerdy I will probably be into (e.g. accounting, video games, comic books, etc.).  Although I’ve been behind in politics lately, I am libertarian in political view, (which is why I enjoy Good Soil Industries, a virtually self-sufficient social organization!).  I am the summer intern working mostly with Good Soil Industries to help streamline and better organize this side of Kingdom Causes.

I love to learn, and I’ve been doing a lot of it over the course of the few weeks I’ve been at KCB. Everything from specific skills, like how to use accounting software, to more indistinct skills, like conversing with people that I have few areas of common ground.  Each learning experience is exciting and encouraging.  One of the more specific learning experiences was last Thursday when we learned about asset based community development.  In a nutshell, asset based community development, or ABCD, is developing what is inside of a community instead of injecting an outsiders view into a community.  Basically, instead of trying to go into a community and tell it what it needs, allow the community to figure out what it needs and then use its own resources and skills to achieve it. 

On the whole, the training was good, but I did have two questions after mulling the information over.  The first one I had to ask myself is: does this fit into my calling as a Christian?  And of course, it seems like it does, but I think the ABCD way of thinking has to be filtered because many communities aren’t Christ focused, which is fine, but then some of their perceived needs will be out of step with Christianity and people empowering the community must evaluate if they will support the changes that the people want.  The second was, “why isn’t the body of Christ using their assets to better further the kingdom of God?”  Knowing the church’s strengths and skills is invaluable to progress and growth and this has been ignored for far too long.  To start to remedy this, I have begun talking to the elders at my church and will discuss it with my pastor to see if/when we can collaborate and start mining our congregation for skills.

Overall, ABCD training was the tip of the iceberg of my training these weeks and I have enjoyed every second of it.  My coworkers, including the GSI guys and fellow interns, are all amazing people and I am excited to have this time to have good conversations with them and get to know them even more.

Introducing Shannon Turner!

Shannon Turner, KCB summer intern

I would consider myself an opportunist, not in a negative sense, but in the “kid who went on every school field trip” sense.  I thoroughly enjoy new experiences because they involve new people, new places, and new opportunities from which I can learn and grow.

When I was 16, I was given the opportunity to travel to El Recreo, Ecuador on a mission trip with four others from my church. While there, we stayed at a local church whose congregation was doing amazing things in the city. One of these things include outreach to a local community known as “The Invasion”,  a section of the city that is made up of people who are refugees through many different circumstances, but all live in similarly styled homes, made up of scrap materials and built on stilts to protect from constant flooding. While there, I helped lay a few bricks for a new church building being put in place, but I got to see so much more! Among many other incredible things, I saw puppet shows that teenagers held for the children living in The Invasion; I saw true joy come from such a sparse area, and as I was 16 and had never been out of the country, nor my comfort zone, before, this setting was engrained into my mind as the image of poverty.

However, as I traveled to Magdalena, Guatemala the next summer, I learned that poverty is not constrained to an image of meagerness. My experiences in Guatemala showed me that although poverty is an issue that is not necessarily easily seen, for the closeness of the family unit, the importance of spirituality, and the hope in God’s promise promotes strength and unity within the towns. In Guatemala, I was able to work with child sponsorship; this allowed me to visit schools as well as the homes of sponsored children. Being able to spend time with these children, whether it was celebrating a month’s worth of birthdays or entertaining them as they awaited dental extractions, I was able to see that the children in Guatemala were no different than the children I babysit at church.

After I returned home from Guatemala last summer, the lack of polar differences between the issues addressed in places such as Ecuador and Guatemala to those in my own city and those surrounding—homelessness, poverty, broken relationships, grief, etc.—made me question, if we are sending teams to different countries, who is working locally to build God’s Kingdom?

Meanwhile, I had been volunteering at Food Help Ministries in Downey for three years, and the neighbors I met and shared stories with drove my passion for not only being able to understand the underlying causes of homelessness in such a culture of excess,  but to know how to reach out to those who are not necessarily embraced with welcoming arms by Christians.

I stumbled upon Kingdom Causes Bellflower serendipitously. A few months ago, someone asked what my plans were for this summer. When I replied, I’m not sure, he encouraged me to apply for an internship position. After a little research, my opportunist nature kicked in, and, while I was unsure  if I would even be chosen, I figured, “Why not?”. Yet, one week into my summer as a volunteer KCB Intern, I have already learned more than I could have ever imagined. I am so grateful for this opportunity, for I know that being surrounded by genuine followers of Christ who have passions for what they do has already encouraged and inspired me to grow in my walk with God as well as to remember that my internship is not focused on all of the great tasks that I can accomplish. Rather, I know that God will be molding my heart this summer, and I am truly excited about learning as much and listening as much as I possibly can in the coming weeks. 

Community Fellows Wrap Up

I nervously glanced at my watch. 1:45pm.The flyer I painstakingly made said the party started at 1pm. I looked around my living room. Bare as an empty desert. I swear I saw a tumbleweed roll on through. Would they come? I got a few phone calls and texts the day before. Surely somebody would have shown up by now!

This was it. The culmination of our fellows year. Laura and I planned a block party and invited all the neighbors we met over the past 11 months it all came down to this. At 2:15pm when I wanted to give up hope and about ready to drown my sorrows eating all the hamburgers I grilled, I heard a knock at the door.

It was Linda and her daughter, neighbors a couple doors down. My interactions with them had been few over the past couple months, but I was grateful that someone showed up!

The first couple of minutes were painful. The awkward silences. Trying to find something to get natural conversation going. But one thing I learned this year is to embrace the awkwardness and push through. As time went on, more neighbors showed up. And little by little I felt less anxious. Less anxiety about connecting neighbors to one another. It was happening. Naturally.

I stepped back and saw my neighbors engaging with one another. Finding common ground with one another. Sharing their stories with one another. Laughing together. I kept pinching myself. Was this real life?!

After the incredible shindig, while walking with one of my neighbors to her home, she told me this, “That was fun, I always wanted to get to met the people around the neighborhood, I’m glad I went. Thanks for doing that.”

I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. This is just the beginning, I thought. The fruit is bearing.

The past 11 months have been a journey. My hope starting this fellows program last summer was that I would gain hands on experience learning how to practically live out what it means when Jesus commands us “to love our neighbor.” I came into Bellflower hoping to be an agent of God’s love in the Cedar Neighborhood. Little did I know my life would be turned upside down in radical ways in the next 11 months.

People ask me “What is the biggest thing you are taking away from this year?” I sit baffled. I learned so much! But the biggest thing?

My most AUTHENTIC ministry comes from my own brokenness.

The first 4 months of the fellows program were definitely the hardest. As I dealt with the transition of a moving to a new city, getting to know a new roommate, a new job, a new church, and new neighbors, I was dealing with my own personal brokenness in the midst of all this and trying to make sense of it all with God. I was learning to surrender and cling to God in ways that challenged and stretched me. I was broken and many times cried out to God “Lord how do I love those around me, when I feel so weak and fragile?”

But he provided. He showed me that my brokenness is universal. I began to see my neighbors with new eyes. I realized that while our poverty and brokenness may vary, its still brokenness. My commonality with my neighbors was my brokenness. Realizing this reconciled barriers between my neighbors and I. Barriers of class, race, age, sex, etc. Barriers that I subconsciously built in my mind. As these walls came down, I realized that the glimpse of God’s kingdom would not be seen in my neighborhood, if I saw myself as “savior” coming to “fix” those around me. God was already here and working. A total mind shift happened. Neighborhood revitalization through the gospel happens when I work with my neighbors rather than for them.

As my fellows year came to a close, I wrestled with what came next. Trying to think of my future while trying to remain present in the neighborhood was a challenge. I wrestled with the idea of whether or not God wanted me to stay in Bellflower, which had quickly become home for me or moving elsewhere. But in the past month, God affirmed his call for me to stay put. Whether it was through randomly running into neighbors at the Laundromat or the new neighbor who asked for me to pray for them because they saw me as someone who had the spirit of God within me. The voice of God telling me to stay was becoming more and more apparent. And that moment at our block party when I saw neighbors connecting with one another, and sharing life together? That was a complete confirmation that God wanted to continue to invest in my neighborhood. Because his work was just beginning and he wanted me to be a part of it. He has taught me what it means to keep my hand to the plow and be faithful to the harvest. So I am proud to say that I am staying put in the Cedar Street!

As I look back on this year, I am taking away so much. I feel more affirmed in God’s calling in my life. Through the challenges of this year, I have been stretched in my faith and my understanding of God and his deep love for me and his children. This year has shown me that developing relationships with my neighbors and embodying God’s love, grace, and mercy is what we’re called to do. We are to share our lives with one another. I can’t imagine living my life any other way. The foundation I have laid here in Bellflower, I will take with me wherever I go. I have also made life-giving relationships. My roommate Laura who I did not know prior to this year has quickly become a sister in Christ, a woman I deeply love and admire. A kind spirit that loves people well, I have enjoyed partnering with her, and learning how work together in our strengths and push each other in our weaknesses has been a true joy. I have also been blessed tremendously through the mentorship of my supervisor, Abbey. She definitely was my biggest cheerleader this year. Pushing me to go forward and pick myself up and lean on to Jesus when I was discouraged. She affirmed God’s goodness in me and embodied his love to me in so many ways. She rejoiced with me, she sat with me as I cried, helped me navigate through big questions this year. I am so thankful for her and the truths she has spoken into my life.

And last but not least. I am thankful for YOU. Thank you for your support. Whether you supported me financially, spiritually, etc. The moments that you prayed for me, encouraged me, provided for me. Thank you for walking this journey with me!  

In His Service,

Rachel A. De Los Reyes