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
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.
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.
Various Updates / Feb 5, 03:27 PM
I always wait too long to make a post and then have way too much to say! Thanks for being patient as blogging is new to us :)
In our January newsletter, we asked for prayers for my health. I had an MRI of my knee and a follow-up with the doctor I’ve been seeing. The MRI didn’t show any structural damage or torn cartilage which is great. This means no surgery is needed! However, it leaves us in a tough spot of not knowing exactly what’s wrong and therefore not being sure of how to proceed. We may try an orthopedic specialist for a shoe insert. Thank you for standing with us in this trying time.
Also, my chronic eye condition has been acting up. I saw a retinal specialist today, and by God’s grace, no further damage has been done to either eye (whew!). I’ll go back in June for a check-up.
Enough about health and this frail body that will be left behind when I go to be with my Heavenly Daddy for eternity.
This weekend, we celebrated the birthdays of our Team Captains Troy and Katrina with a lot of food and a lot of friends from the neighborhood. We had almost 30 guests! and most of those people are from two families.
Brian and I also got to spend time with a wonderful Iraqi family that we’ve gotten to know through World Relief. We are so thankful for their friendship and hope to keep building that relationship even though they live about 20 mins from us. We decided it would be unbelievably pathetic to let this relationship slip through the cracks b/c of the minor commute. And we are praising Jesus that the 20yr old has gotten a job—only part-time but a great first step towards self-sufficiency!
Prayer Requests:
-Grace for the 3 new cases World Relief received in January as
they mourn their losses, endure culture shock, and adapt and
integrate in their new home.
-That the other family members of our Iraqi friends would be
admitted to the U.S. soon and be kept safe in the mean time.
-For true Peace and God’s protection throughout our neighborhood
as there are relational tensions between some of our neighbors
and also woman was robbed late Sunday night.
Blessings
><>Annie<><
Another Day of Red Tape / Jan 28, 10:36 AM
Seeing as I have done a rather poor job of keeping ‘more recent updates’ available on the blog, I wanted to just give a little bit of a tale from my adventures today. They were normal experiences, but offer a good insight into the unusually mundane around here.
Last week one of my friends (and World Relief refugee clients) asked me to help him move his bed into his new apartment. I drove up at the same time he did (by taxi) and the cabby asked me to help him. The driver said my friend was trying to set an appointment with him to go to a hospital in one week but my friend didn’t know the address. So I told the cabby I’d find out where and took his number to set the appointment. I say all that to point out a persistent justice issue for our neighbors who are refugees: they are so confused by and scared of the public transportation system that they regularly will dish out 10 times as much of their precious little money to take a ride with a taxi driver who speaks their language (or something near to it like Swahili or maybe Arabic).
By their 3rd month here, refugees’ case workers can no longer transport them in the organizations’ vehicles (they’ve neither the time nor the funding); consequently, case workers train their clients to use MARTA (the public system) and pray they will take it to heart (insert Petition that reader consider volunteering to help a refugee near them, call me if want to know more). Many simply don’t or won’t use MARTA (often presuming that surely the caseworker is not serious and that they will continue to be chauffeured when they need to go somewhere). My friend is one of those who is simply afraid. Nonetheless, he has immunizations to continue to get so he isn’t kicked out of his job for falling behind and little to time to get them before he must be at the 3pm rendezvous for his vanpool to work 2nd shift at the chicken plant 1.5 hours north of here (the nearest living wage to be found). So I said I would go with him (notice I did not say I would drive him).
Fast forward to today… I met him and he asked if his friend (another one of our very sweet clients from his country who is a single mom with three kids under the age of four) could come with us. In Georgia, like many states, kids under 7 have to have carseats or you get a BIG fine. I acquiesced to his request, but used the carseats as my reason why we must take the bus (and not my car that was sitting right there). There’s no arguing when it comes to ditching the girl you potentially have a crush on:-) He decided that the bus would be just fine. And so we took the bus (which I conveniently had three passes for in my pocket). By the time we arrived there, he said, “You know, can you help me buy one of these bus passes, maybe for $20?” I said “Of course”, and now I just need to figure out how to teach him to read the maps! Praise the Lord for newfound courage and self-respect.
Of course that was the silver lining. The immunizations went just fine for him, but not so well for her. You see, she received a little piece of mail that she couldn’t really understand (heck, I have a degree I barely can read this stuff), and with her job (same plant, same shift) and three kids, she didn’t get around to giving it to her caseworker until after it was due (which, if it’s from the government, is usually less than one week). It was her Foodstamp and Medicaid renewal form. So while we are helping her to re-apply, she must now go through the entire application process (appointments and all) again rather than simply sending in a few photocopies of bills to update her record. More unfortunately for her, while we wait for those government applications to finish processing (many weeks), she will continue to get messages like she did today, “I’m sorry but only you (head of household gets lapse coverage) show as having coverage, none of your children have active accounts. You will not be able to get their shots.” The same scenario will play out when she goes to buy groceries; though with a job, it will not be as unbearable, because she’ll still have a few dollars to spend on food after she pays her rent and utilities.
As I saw it, it was not so much that the system was broken today. You see, she spent three hours taking the bus to the health department because she didn’t really believe that the clinic could possibly know her coverage had lapsed. In Africa, things just weren’t that connected. That is just acculturation.
No the brokenness happened before the notice arrived in my opinion. You see, as far as she could tell, it was just a piece of junk mail in an ocean of no money down auto deals, cash extensions, and free credit card offers with those little checks to tear off and deposit for free into your checking account (thank God most refugees don’t get an account right away so they don’t fall for that one!). If she had to send that junk mail back in, why is she so strongly encouraged by her caseworkers and more acculturated friends not to send all the rest in?
And there, I say, is where the real injustice lies. When businesses choose (notice I don’t say ‘when the government allows’) to prey on those who can’t read the fine print because they know the person can still sign on the X when the salesman sees a living lollipop walk in the door, there you find the injustice that is predatory lending and deceptive advertising. Of course, defining that is like defining pornography. As Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart said of “obscenity” with his trademark candor, “I know it when I see it.” And he’s unequivocally right. Perhaps their wouldn’t be a mortgage crisis, and even I daresay a recession on the horizon, if a few more lenders would say “No” to someone who was in no judicious place to enter into so much debt.
And perhaps that is where the solution lies: when we in our everyday lives and those in positions of decision truly exercise their judgment and ethics rather than “give-in” to what helps the bottom line because they can’t quite pin down why something is NOT right.
Still learning how the world works,
Brian
