Heather Bouley
Why Am I Doing Mission Year?
For those of you who don’t know, my name is Heather Bouley. I just graduated in May from the University of Virginia and I am very happy that I’ll spend next year doing Mission Year. I first heard about Mission Year in 8th grade from the founder Bart Campolo; I wanted to quit middle school and go right then. Alas, they don’t accept 8th graders. But now it’s actually happening!
I am so excited about doing Mission Year because it captures my interests and passions. Since elementary school I’ve loved going on short term mission trips and serving the communities I’m in. In college I became interested in studying the historical and current causes of poverty in America. And throughout my life God has enraptured me with his love, his word and his redemptive kingdom. I think that God will teach me a ridiculous amount over this next year and will certainly use this year to guide me in whatever comes next. I don’t see Mission Year as something to put off “real life” for one more year, but something that is crucial to really living life right now.
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…
Heather Bouley's Blog
One Year / Jul 10, 03:28 PM
It’s been awhile since I’ve found myself on a non-Monday sitting at a computer with internet. And I am SO happy to be here. I’m working at camp right now, but they asked me to cover the phones while all the kids went skating. No problem. The last time I blogged I was teaching PE. I feel like that was about 200 years ago. Needless to say, lots has happened in 200 years. But for the last 3ish weeks I’ve been working with Desire Street Ministries and St. Roch Community Church Day Camp. I love it. It’s what a summer camp should be like, lots of free play and field trips.
Even though I’ll be leaving New Orleans in a few weeks life still feels very normal. We’re doing the same stuff, hanging out with the same people, arguing over the same things, getting up at the same time. Every once and awhile I’ll think about the change that’s coming sometimes it makes me excited and sometimes it makes me sad. There’s a list of things I love about where I am and what I’m doing. But I think one of the things that makes the list so long is that the time frame is limited. I’ve seized so many opportunities this year because I knew I only had one year to live on Music Street, go to First Pilgrims Baptist Church, be with my roommates, volunteer wherever I was volunteering, experience New Orleans. Now that I only have a few more weeks I’m still trying to live fully present in my life here. I’m trying to make my list of loves alittle longer and alittle deeper. I have no doubt it will happen.
You want me to teach PE??? / May 22, 12:59 PM
About three or four weeks ago I became the PE Teacher at First Pilgrims Christian Academy. Can I tell you how weird this is? Very. I was the girl who stood in the outfield during softball watching the ball land right next me and expecting someone else to come get it. So this new development is slightly hilarious. The first week or two were ridiculous. Well, the younger kids were good. They are easy to entertain. One day I declared we were having food day and we pretended that we were spaghetti. What does that look like? Stand straight and very still. And then I drop you into boiling water and you become loose and dance around until everyone winds up in a pile on the middle of the plate. They started to ask me where the meatballs were so after a couple plates of spaghetti we added in some meatballs. So funny. The older kids weren’t quite as easy to entertain, but recently I’ve been having a lot of fun with them. We played kickball yesterday and it was probably the best game of kickball I’ve ever played in my life (yeah, I haven’t played too many good games of kickball). They followed the rules and listened to me and learned some stuff and had fun. Pretty darn incredible. Let this be an affirmation that God can certainly work in our weaknesses…for real yo.
Brea's Praline Cake / Apr 8, 02:01 PM
On Sunday I hung out with my next door neighbor Brea. She had a cake mix that she really wanted to make so we baked together. We faced a slight problem, though. We didn’t have any icing. Thankfully, my resourceful roommate looked up some make icing from scratch recipes (I forgot you could do that) and we made this awesome glaze/icing from butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. It just so happens that these are basically the same ingredients you use to make pralines. It tasted like we dumped a batch of pralines overtop of the white cake and it was marvelous.
Praline Icing
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
a splash of vanilla
Cook in a sauce pan until it thickens and pour it over the cake while it’s still warm.
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Out of the Silent Planet / Mar 10, 01:57 PM
Last week I stole Bre’s book Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. It’s the first book in his space triology and it’s fantastic. I’m basically in love with C.S. Lewis. He takes all the details of life that are too hard for me to put into words and captures them perfectly. He also comforts me by his assurance that love and life are overwhelmingly bigger then hate and death. I love that after I read his books I feel a little closer to knowing God.
If you haven’t gone through the “I must read everything C.S. Lewis ever wrote” phase of life then I encourage you to go through it. And if you don’t have time for everything then just make sure you hit up Mere Christianity because it’s amazing.
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A kinda long personal essay / Feb 19, 11:37 AM
I realized it in high school. I was diseased just like everyone else – I had the “I Can’t Wait Until Friday” Syndrome. The syndrome gave me, my friends, and the rest of America permission to whine and complain about our present lives while we wished and hoped for Friday to show up like some knight in shining armor. Standing around our lockers the syndrome provoked such uplifting conversation as “I have too much homework” and “I don’t want to go to swim practice” and “my teacher is driving me crazy” and “I can’t wait until Friday”. They syndrome is an American gift to all citizens. I grew up watching TGIF every Friday night. Week after week “Thank God it’s Friday” flashed across the screen, burning the words into my brain. But at some point in high school I got tired of complaining (or maybe I just got tired of hearing other people complain). I suddenly understood it was a heinous lie that the only day of the week I could ever enjoy was Friday (and maybe Saturday too). How could we not realize that when we constantly wished for Friday that we were wishing our lives away? I was telling my life, “No life. You can’t be enjoyable today. Today is reserved for pouting. If you want to be happy, if you want to be fulfilled, wait until Friday.” Did you ever realize, though, that Friday isn’t ever THAT good? If anything, it’s kind of worse be cause there are such high expectations for the 24 hour period. Usually I sat at home in teenage misery wondering who I could call to go do something with me.
So I started a campaign with my friends. We were not allowed to wish for Friday. We had to live our lives in the now. Whenever we caught one another groaning in our desire for the end of the week we’d remind each other to appreciate and live for today. In this manner we battled our syndrome and beat it out of our lives.
I’d like to say the battle is over, but the syndrome takes on new forms in my life. At one point it was “I Can’t Wait Until I have a Boyfriend”, “I Can’t Wait Until Graduation”, “I Can’t Wait Until I Finish Final Exams”, “I Can’t Wait Until Summer”, “I Can’t Wait Until My Paycheck”, “I Can’t Wait Until Mission Year”, “I Can’t Wait Until Christmas Break”. It’s absolutely absurd. Can I ever live my life without wishing to be at a different point then where I am now? Why am I constantly looking towards events, people, experiences, achievements to fulfill me and finally make me satisfied? I learned a long time ago that God is the only one who can satisfy my restless soul and yet I keep forgetting that He is what I need. I mean, I came to Mission Year expecting some type of ultimate fulfillment, but sometimes it’s still so easy to feel empty. How can that be? Because it’s not Mission Year that is going to fill me up – it is God that must fill me up. I can not be filled by Friday, by marriage, by a career or by doing good. I can only be filled by the love of God. I can only be satisfied when I look towards Christ.
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.”~The Apostle Paul
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