Serving in my Hometown

written by Holly Andersen

      I grew up in Stockton.  I went to school in Stockton Unified through high school, attempted to play many sports, took music lessons for a whole host of instruments and attended St. Andrew's Lutheran Church since birth.  I was blessed to have a loving, supportive immediate family, extended family in town/near by, and a circle of friends and friend's parents who served as mentors for me as I grew up.  I had people who poured into my life, who showed me love, loyalty, and put up with my opinionated, stubborn self. After high school I left California to attend Valparaiso University in Indiana with the aim of working in a church.  From Indiana I ventured to the Pacific Northwest and worked both at an outdoor ministry camp and later as a Music Director for a congregation in Lacey, Washington.  After seven years away from living in Stockton full time I returned to serve in my home congregation.  

   The streets and many faces were familiar and yet, many streets, places, and faces were new.  I found myself in a congregation where the mission of God, His desire to reconcile and restore all of creation to himself, was most important.  I also found myself in a congregation where people were longing to understand how they could possibly live out that mission in their own lives; a classic case of "We understand that there is a mission and that we are part of it" paired with" but we aren't sure what that means for our own daily lives or don't know how to live in out where we are at right now".
   
   Strangely enough I found myself in a similar position.  Working for a congregation can sometimes make it difficult to have time to really get involved outside of that congregation and it's ministries.  As a staff member I realized that not everyone could be involved in everything going on at St. Andrew's and so it was important for the people of St. Andrew's to know how to live out their faith in Christ both when they were surrounded by other believers serving the community together (think The Park Ministry, Good Shepherd, MOPS, TeenMOPS/POPS, etc.) but also when they were out "on their own" - at work, at the dinner table, at the gym, at the grocery store, walking down the street, etc. - because that is where living the mission of God in daily life happens.

   It is the second part of that realization, the importance of serving when "on my own" out in the community, that led me to focus on finding a way to get connected to people and places apart from ministries directly related to St. Andrew's.   As I considered where I might want to serve I immediately thought about my interests (pretty much everything) and where I might be best able to use the gifts and talents I have been given by God.  Well, as anyone who is interested in just about everything will tell you, it is hard to decide where you want to get involved when everything seems like an option.  I initially signed up to be a volunteer in the city's Victim Witness program but due to an error on my part ended up not being able to do so - and it wasn't even an "apply again next year" situation, it was a "you're not going to be able to do this ever" kind of situation.  I felt really bad, especially since it was my error that led to that outcome.  I expressed my disappointment to a couple of friends who had been hearing me talk about my desire to get involved in the community in some way.  I felt kind of stuck, not sure where to go next when one of those same friends mentioned that St. Mary's Dining Room was looking for volunteers in their social services department.  I didn't know exactly what that would entail or if I would even be able to help (I knew nothing about what services were available in Stockton or how to get connected to those services) but I still felt I should check it out.

    When I initially met with the Social Services Director I was up front in communicating that I was pretty much in the dark about what social services were available in Stockton and that I wasn't really sure if I was the best person for the position.  She indicated that what was most important was having a willingness to listen and be there for people when they come in and are looking for assistance.  One part of St. Mary's mission is to restore human dignity to those they serve.  Taking the time to listen and to be present with a person when they are going through a difficult situation is one way that we show people that they are valuable, that they are worth our time and energy.  This is true of anyone, whether they are homeless or not.  Having the desire and the ability to listen was more important than knowing about every service available (and there are many); that is something I could learn on the job.  So, I signed up.  Since March of 2013 I have spent Tuesday mornings meeting with clients, both long-term clients, and walk-ins who I may see only once.  In the year and a half I have been serving there I have indeed learned a great deal about what services are available for people who are coming from a variety of different life circumstances.   Of everything that I have learned about San Joaquin County, the city of Stockton, Social Security, WorkNet, homelessness, and St. Mary's Dining Room there is one aspect of serving others that has been invaluable: if I am going to serve anyone I need to listen first and talk second.  

    This might seem obvious (I know that I've heard a saying that reminds us that we have two ears and one mouth so we should be listening twice as much as week speak) but let me explain.  I have never been homeless.  I have good relationships with my family, and friends that I treasure.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to get an education. I have a job.  I am healthy.  I have faith in a God that gives me hope for the restoration of everything around me.  These are what make up the foundation of my life experiences and greatly impact how I look at and see the world around me.  More often than not this is not where the people who I am serving and working with are coming from.  It would be easy to listen to their concerns and give them a response that would, at it's most basic level, communicate, "Just do what I would do and you'll be fine".  It is much easier to speak from our own life experiences, after all they are what we know best, than to really understand someone else's.  What if a client has a chronic illness?  What if they don't have family or friends looking out for them?  What if their family and friends are actually bad influences, who are they to turn to for support and encouragement while they are looking for work/housing/a place to feel valued and loved?  

   I've learned that I need to listen first and talk second because I need to understand who the person is sitting across the room from me and find a way to support them and walk them through making life changing steps that they are able to sustain based on where they are coming from not from where I am coming from.  This kind of listening requires suspending personal judgement - something that is difficult for us all in any and all circumstances in life.  It requires asking different questions and getting to know a person in a different way than we are used to.  Volunteering at St. Mary's has changed my life, in ways that I can see and I am sure in many ways that I have yet begun to fully understand.  It has helped me to see my own position at St. Andrew's and how I live out my own faith differently as well.  

   Too often I have had the sense that I need to know everything about something, or be skilled in order to serve or be of help.  (How often have I used the excuse of not feeling like I know enough to not step out in faith to where God might be guiding me?  Too often).  But through what I have learned at St. Mary's I feel like God has given me just a little glimpse of what it means to trust and follow him.  Back in 2013 it would have been all too easy to say "I don't know anything about the social services in Stockton so I wouldn't be any good at that" and not even make an effort to get more information.  BUT part of living out our faith is learning that we aren't always going to have the answers or necessarily be highly skilled  for something to which God has called us.  AND, in realizing the importance of listening I feel that I've also learned, for me at least, that when I feel really prepared for something or feel like I know all the answers I focus on what I'm doing in a situation rather than what God is doing in that same situation.  I depend on myself rather than on God.  I trust myself rather than placing my trust in God.  

  As I continue to serve at St. Mary's, to grow in my own faith and understanding of who God is shaping me to be, I continue to learn what it means to look first to God, to trust in him working in my life, relationships, and community.  It too requires more listening than talking.    

God's peace to you!

A Statement of Faith

Written by Michaella Mariani who confirmed her faith this past June.  She will enter high school this month.

       Hi, I am Michaella Mariani. I believe that God is the only God and without him

there would be less hope in the world for those who believe strongly in him. Without God in my life I wouldn’t have hope or reliance. When I see the cross I think of how an innocent person such as Jesus could die on the cross for our sins. He died on the cross for us to live an eternal life. He encourages us to learn from our mistakes and our sins.

        My mother helps me by encouraging me to stay connected to this church and I plan to repay her by continuing to make her proud of me. For me and the people my age the hardest things to deal with right now is bullying and judgment. Bullying happens so much. It brings darkness on the victims. Judgment is really common these days and I believe that no one should be judged for being themselves.

        God can use me to help others by helping me stand up to the shameful bullies and by telling those who judge others by telling them that everyone has their flaws even if others think they’re “perfect.” When I am confirmed I wish to help my church and my community and make my community a better place.

        I plan to stay close with the awesome friends I’ve made over the years by keeping in touch with them. I will stay close to God’s family by going to church no matter where I am in the world. I plan to listen to God’s word by reading the Bible, praying every night, and attending church.

        I will spread God’s love by helping others through the hard times in their lives. I will spread his love by caring for them when their hopes give up. I will spread his love by bringing them trust and support when they need it. I will spread his love by filling other’s hearts with love.

         I will serve my family and my closest friends by being a good, caring person towards all. I will serve the world by traveling to other countries to help those in need. I will help them through hunger and thirst. In God’s world I will bring peace and justice by standing up for myself and others especially. I believe that our world is full of hatred and needs to be united and embrace diversity.

         I am willing to devote myself into God’s ways and give my time to help the world through the church and my future job. The calling in my life hasn’t come to me yet but I look forward to him calling me to it. Thank you.

Why Pray?

WHY PRAY?        

            My name is Angel Weber, and I have been a special education teacher in public education for  15 years. Holly asked me to share how prayer has impacted my life and my role as a teacher.

            To be very honest, it has only been about the last 2 years that prayer has become such a large part of my profession and my life.  Being part of the public education system, I have always struggled with my inability, in my profession, to outwardly and directly show and teach about Jesus. I found so much joy in teaching Sunday school and being part of Vacation Bible School and youth retreats and I wanted so much for the students I teach at school to have exposure to those same experiences. I often felt guilty for not pursuing a vocation in Christian education where I could outwardly and directly teach about Jesus.

            Since I have been coming to St. Andrew’s, I am so grateful to have been connected with and surrounded by wonderful, caring, and fun people. I have come to realize that I absolutely can outwardly and directly teach about Jesus through every little thing I do and say and in every interaction I have. I am more inspired than ever before to be an outward Christian that teaches about Jesus through the little things and even more importantly through the prayers I offer up.

            Prayer has become an important part of how I do my job because it seems like the one thing I can do to control such an out of control, frustrating situation. In my short 15 years of public education, I have experienced layoff notices, budget cuts, school board meetings, schools closing, educational lawsuits, common core, students with unreasonable parents, student deaths, teacher deaths, the list goes on and on…and none of these things are in my control. Prayer offers some semblance of control. Well, really...the sense of passing it off to the person who is really in charge...our loving Lord and God.

            Prayer has also impacted how I interact and care for the students and families I interact with. It has helped me to see them as people, as individuals with their own stories and paths, and as children of God. Many of the students I have worked with have been victims of poverty, neglect, emotional, and physical abuse.  Prayer seems to give me the comfort of knowing that they are in God’s hand and that there is a plan, and that I am just a small part of it; it has helped me to not be so judgmental and less frustrated…most of the time.

            The weekly connection card has been huge part of the increasing role of prayer in my life. It is so comforting to know that other people are praying… I pray for many of the students I work with. I pray for their home life and for them to feel the presence of Jesus. That they will know that Jesus loves them, and that the Lord will give them strength to overcome whatever challenges they endure. I pray for school board members, superintendents and principals that their decisions will be wise and of good intentions. I pray for fellow teachers that they might overcome their own personal challenges, and seek to build connections with kids. That they might have the understanding of what a profound affect their everyday interactions have on the students they work with.           

            I feel strengthened in the Lord when I pray. I feel confident that I can face the challenges that God has planned for me. Prayer has helped me be more patient and wise in my decisions, and I cannot help but feel the power of His will in the choices I make.

God is at Work, Even in the Public School

 Written and Submitted by Laura Moore

I hadn’t planned on becoming a teacher when I started attending college.  My mother was a preschool teacher; I had absolutely no desire to go down that same road.  Yet, it’s so obvious to me now how God places just the right people in our lives to help shape us and guide us down the path we were meant to follow. 

As part of a Psychology class during my first year of college, I chose to do service hours working with an Autistic boy, Wesley, instead of writing a research paper (yes, I find it funny how God can use my lack of interest in writing to shape my future).  Spending time with Wesley, a Kindergarten student at the time, opened my eyes to the fact that I enjoyed working with children and how rewarding that time felt to me.  I decided I wanted to become a teacher.

After getting married, moving to San Diego and then to Oregon, I finished school and became a first grade teacher.  In May of this year I completed my fourteenth year of teaching first grade for Tracy Unified School District. I would love to say how awesome I have been at praying for my students and school all of these years; but that would be misleading.  Honestly, most of the first ten years of teaching, I felt like I spent all of my time working to keep my head above water and crying out to God for help (quite often).

During the 2012-2013 school year I had the great privilege of teaching the sweetest class of first grade students.  They were a quirky bunch, each with their own very distinctive personalities.  One of my students was a precious little girl named Conchita, known to her family as Kiki.  Conchita was very small for her age, but feisty.  She made friends wherever she went and loved to have others push her on the swings.  In October, it became obvious to her family that Conchita, who had been born with a heart defect, was in need of another heart surgery.  Her health failed and she went in and out of the hospital; she was even approved to be placed on the list for a heart transplant.  This little girl, who had the biggest, most loving heart of any child I had ever met, needed a new heart.   

It was during this challenging time that I truly turned to God in prayer.  I didn’t understand why something so tragic was happening to this wonderful family, but Lord, what could I do to help?  So I did my best during this time to be a support for the family.  Our class donated gifts and money for the family to help make their Christmas special.  My son Dustin and I were able to visit with Conchita and her family in the hospital the day after Christmas.  I got the call from Conchita’s mom less than two weeks later that her precious daughter had passed away. 

Telling my class of 30 first graders that their friend had died was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do; I spent a lot of time in prayer the night before and that morning.  Despite the fact that I could not verbally reassure my first graders that Conchita was now in the arms of Jesus, I felt his presence in Room 6 on that day.  The students and I found comfort in helping Conchita’s family.  Thankfully, I had become close to Conchita’s family that year and was able to share with them my faith through emails, notes and visits.

It was last summer that God truly put it on my heart to start a Bible study for teachers at my school.  I had seen a friend of mine struggle with health and family issues and Bible study seemed like the perfect way to offer support and hope.  I had no idea when we started reading Why Pray? together in the fall of 2013 how God was using this group to reach out to more than just one of us.  Out of the seven of us in the group (three of which did not attend a church), we all needed support and prayer for different reasons:  one was suffering from health issues, several others family problems, another was in the process of buying her first home, still another’s daughter had a difficult time giving birth and recovering from it and I was having an extremely hard time with one of my students.  Taking time to gather together, study and pray was exactly what we all needed. 

I’m not going to lie to you, last school year was a complete challenge to me as a teacher.  There were days that I just wanted to quit.  I had a student that had major behavioral issues that challenged me from the first week of school until the very last day.  Yet, God surrounded me with a wonderful support group of teachers, family, and the students in my Bethel class to listen, give me advice and pray for me.

As I look forward to the upcoming school year which starts in August, I am certain that God will be at work.  My goal is to turn to Him in prayer for the students in my class, for my fellow teachers and for our school.  I may not be able to get up and teach my students about Jesus with words, but I can be His hands and feet; even in the public school system!

Ever ask yourself the question: How should I pray?  Here is but one example among many.  There are the prayers written by 8th grader Cameron Wagner to share with the congregation the day he confirmed his faith along with our other 8th graders in worship.

Please bow your heads with me in prayer…

·     God you are our protector, friend and loving creator, we thank you for this.

·     Thank you for having a relationship with us, listening to all of our prayers and for our blessings and health.

·     Thank you for all of our mentors, our friends and families and for the many people you put into our lives.

·     We ask that you please give us the strength to spread our faith, and to be loving to people we are around each day.

·     As we go out of here today, please keep us away from the Devil’s grasp and from our daily temptations.

·     Thank you for always forgiving us for our many mistakes

·     Lastly, protect our 8^th grade group as we proceed through our high school years and help our faith to grow.

·     In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

How the Bible has impacted my life: Bonnie Centers

Submitted by Bonnie Centers, responding to the statement: "How the Bible has impacted my life."

Many years ago I didn’t feel I knew enough of the Bible and felt like a Christian hypocrite.   I knew I was a “good” person, but for some reason that wasn’t good enough.  I couldn’t justify my faith.  The Holy Spirit must have been in me because I knew I needed to change.  I took a two year Crossways class but having a young child at home, I didn’t put enough effort into the whole Bible narrative.  Don’t get me wrong, I learned the basics and received a sense of awe of our mighty Lord.  I knew I didn’t do justice to that Bible class so a couple years ago I thought I’d give it another try with Bethel, another two year course.  This time, I was able to keep myself accountable to all the reading involved.  By no means did I complete all the requirements of this course, but I gained tremendously by reading and attending every week.  This time, I began to understand what God had done and is still doing.  I have new meanings for love, compassion, forgiveness and praise.  My ultimate respect and love for our Lord grew and now realize my next step is to work on a deeper relationship with Him.

A Ministry of Prayer

Submitted by Rachelle Moreno who spent two weeks in Thailand with the Sending Place this past Winter.

         Going on a short-term mission trip is always frightening and fulfilling at the same time; there are so many unknowns that lie ahead on the journey. But isn't that true of life? Doing ministry in Thailand or here in Stockton or any other town it doesn’t matter.  We all have plans and agendas for our day, but are the God’s plans or ours? I've learned through this trip that we need to eagerly seek GODS plan through prayer.

         When we left for our trip generally we had a full agenda. We had our bible lessons prepared with all the crafts for the lesson ready. We had our devotions and daily activities all routed out.  But then we got to Thailand we realized GOD has a different agenda!!!  As we began to go through our planned itinerary we quickly saw our ministry transform into much more than teaching Bible lessons and giving devotions. Our trip turned into a ministry of prayer.

         We were welcomed to a school to teach bible lessons and the Principal and his wife were so warm, loving, and welcoming to us. We just assumed they were Christian. As they sat and ate lunch with us we learned that they were not believers. We asked if they would mind if we prayed with them that God would reveal himself and they quickly accepted. I wish I could say that they were instantly converted but I can say seeds were sown in their hearts. Another day we had planned a drive to a village but our host had asked that we go to a home and pray with a family. The father was addicted to alcohol. It was affecting his 2 older sons and he felt pressure from his friends to continue drinking and it was tearing his family apart. As we sat in their bamboo hut, we prayed with this family.

         After we sat talking with them and shared tea. I shared with our translator my own struggle with drugs and alcohol and how I had to break away from friendships to stay sober for my own well being. It was not a coincidence, our being there that day.  God was calling us to where he was already working in people’s live. I could relate to the struggles and the pain that family was experiencing. I left their home in tears and our translator who was also our driver was impacted by the experience as well. He wondered why I cried for them. Again, seeds were planted with him.

         I learned throughout our time that we needed to really listen to GOD and to the people to know how to help. We ended up being invited into several homes to pray with families.  When we would meet with the families we would listen to their needs.  Depending upon the situation we would pick up our Bibles to see how God’s Word spoke to the situation. It was so important to listen to the needs of those we prayed with to know how GOD would work through us

         Our host Siami whom lives her life to do this ministry in Thailand constantly seeks GOD through prayer. It was very encouraging and important to see the power of prayer through her ministry. It got me to thinking about one of the most loving things we can do for a person is to simply pray with them. I know for myself, the feeling that I get is so overwhelmingly grateful when someone takes time to pray with me. It's a very powerful thing.

         One of the things I have learned in returning to Stockton is that it doesn't matter if you’re in Thailand, Stockton, Lodi or Tracy, we need to listen first if we are going to speak Gods word into people's lives.  We all need to be reminded that we must first seek GOD and he will lead us and direct our paths to where he is ALREADY working.