Bollinger
Our Plans for Next Year...
...Love God. Love People. Nothing Else Matters.
If you found your way to this page, you probably know that in September, we’ll be moving to a multi-cultural neighborhood in Atlanta, GA to join an urban ministry called Mission Year. We learned about Mission Year two years ago when a friend of ours from JBU (What’s up, Dorothy!) did the program in Oakland, CA. We have been prayerfully considering it since then and feel like this is what God is leading us into for at least this next year.
We are excited about stepping out into a new community and environment, learning to trust God in new ways, and devoting ourselves to lives of Love through meeting felt needs in our community and building relationships with our neighbors. We are hoping that the Lord will use our experiences and growth through the next year to guide us in our next steps (i.e. graduate program selection and future ministry).
Keep tuning in and we’ll keep posting!
Grace and Peace!
Brian and Annie
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Bollinger's Blog
Check out this article! Refugee youth at a Braves game / Jul 7, 12:59 PM
This week, some of the staff from our service site (World Relief) took a group of refugee youth to a Braves baseball game. A journalist from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution went along and wrote an article about the outing.
You can read the article and view the photos by going to www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/07/03/refugee_baseball.html
We know most of the kids featured, either from church or our apt. complex.. We are good friends with the Cuban family and go to church with the Moo sisters and…well, we know everyone except the brothers from Congo
Enjoy!
The Bollingers
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It's a small world: From Rwanda to Atlanta / May 29, 12:13 PM
One of our Burundian friends introduced us to a newly arrived refugee family at church this week. The new family is from Rwanda. Knowing this, I (Annie) showed off the only Kinyarwanda word I know “Murakoze” (thank you). This surprised and excited them, and we started to chat about the time I spent in East Africa during college. Come to find out, during my 10 days in Rwanda, I visited their home city! What are the odds of that?! I hope I can find some good pictures to show them. If any of you USPers are reading this, got anything from Butare? I won’t share their story here but it is incredible the way that God protected their family. Though they walked through the valley of the shadow of death each day on their journey from Rwanda to a country of refuge, they knew that God was with them. How small my troubles seem in comparison to theirs, yet God cares just as deeply and is just as able to provide for all of my needs. He’s got the whole world in His hands…
Made in China? / May 1, 10:12 AM
So a couple days ago I did an employment intake for a new refugee from China. Because he lives in the same apartment complex as we do, I offered to give him a ride home after work (also, he was really enjoyable to talk to and I wanted Annie to meet him). You see, he’s faced a lot of persecution, but is an intellectual who has taught English and Chinese to Chinese and American university students (respectively) as a professor in China for several years.
That being said, he and I sat down for tea in our living room when we got home and had a great and humorous conversation about my apparently striking semblance to a famous actor in China (I’ll try to find more out about that one!), the cuisine of his region in China (nothing like you will find at any restaurant here), the cost of living and food here (the cost of living is way more expensive here but foods like meat are WAY cheaper here?!).
Well before long we reached the subject of his several years spent in a Chinese prison, in a labor camp. He has such a pleasant and energetic manner that you would think he was telling you about his big backpacking trip up north! Anyway, he said, “Yes, we had to make lamps” (and he looked over at our little WalMart special and said) “Just like this one, (slight pause of inspection) even with this little thing sticking out the side!” “And we also made plastic flowers. You know ‘bouquets’?” I asked, “Like this?” pointing to the diverse little bouquet of Walmart flowers I’d bought for Annie to suffice for the three seasons I’d be missing out on while I was studying in Spain. He looked at them excitedly and laughed, “Yes, actually, they looked just like this kind.” So I decided to bravely turn over the lamp and there in big bold letters, taunting my consumer innocence was just what you would expect (hint: it didn’t say “Made in the USA”). He laughed, awkwardly, (I couldn’t summon any response) and said something to the effect of, “Ah, perhaps I made this one?”
And that was about it for the day’s really awkward international moments. But anyway, I thought it was still funny that I found an article in the newspaper later that day about the topic of work in prisons. It said that, in reality, the US imprisons more sheer numbers of people and employs more of those prisoners to manufacture things than even China (in spite of the size gap). Notably however, US prisoners generally work by CHOICE! Then I didn’t feel quite as awkward about the manufacturing part, but I still was frustrated by the thought that, while I know that MOST of those prisoners in US factories are getting something resembling a fair trial, people like my client and literally MILLIONS of others in China’s factory/prisons are there without even having been charged with anything resembling a crime (particularly religious prisoners) and certainly aren’t getting a fair trial.
Hope that proves more than cafeteria food for thought the next time you’re mulling over your purchases at your local store, whether it’s a big box store cutting costs or a mom and pop store trying to stay afloat with international wholesale. As always, I don’t have ultimate answers here for justice, but I hope it makes you think a bit.
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Safe from Tornado / Mar 19, 03:48 PM
Dear friends and family,
Thank you for your concern about the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta on Friday. Brian and I were at a friend’s home in Clarkston when it hit. We experienced a heavy thunderstorm, but no damage was done here. Praise God that our teammates, who had been enjoying their day off in downtown Atlanta, headed for the subway 10 minutes before the tornado hit and were safely in the underground train station.
We praise God that only 2 lives were lost to these unexpected storms throughout central Georgia.
Please pray for people whose homes and property have been damaged or destroyed by the tornado.
Grace and Peace,
Annie for the Bollingers
P.S. And thank you for your Happy Anniversary wishes!
The Mark of Love / Mar 10, 01:57 PM
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
THIS is what it takes in Clarkston. There are four boys in our neighborhood that Brian and I interact with on almost a daily basis. At ages 5, 8, 8, and 10 they are also four of the most challenging kids that we know. Their behavior tests us on a daily basis. What is the best way to respond when they demand things, ignore my correction, play the victim, ask the same question over and over? How do they need to be loved? How do they need to be disciplined? How do they need to be taught, whether manners, life skills, or multiplication?
We are so thankful for our teammates who discuss and think through these things with us. Our MY President’s wife, Mrs. Donna Barber, has also helped our team navigate some of these issues. She led a training session for us about working with inner-city children at the beginning of the year and it was a blessing to talk with her more recently about the specifics we face with the kids in our neighborhood.
It is so tempting to set boundaries that keep the kids out. It’s so easy to become frustrated and impatient, developing a ‘no’ spirit towards them. But the Lord is changing my heart for these children more and more. I no longer see them as the ‘bad, unruly, crazy’ kids. When they respond with anger, I see the feelings of rejection and disappointment underneath. And when they accomplish something, I get to see the joy and excitement in their eyes. We celebrate every victory: wearing shoes outside to play, following instructions, peaceful interactions, sharing with others.
Faith. Hope. Love. I once heard a pastor say “God loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.” It is this hope-filled Love that is changing me and changing my heart for these boys. And it is faith in the promise that God has begun a good work in these children and will be faithful to complete it that gives me courage to hope (Philippians 1:6). It is hope that enables me to see these boys in a way not defined by their ‘undesired’ behaviors.
Love is the greatest of these because it makes the others possible. Please pray for us, that we might leave the mark of Love upon these children.
