Boldly Bless Winter 2023 

Boldly Bless Week 1 

A woman developed a beautiful friendship with her mail carrier. This woman became disabled after a horrific accident, she is living on her own and living exactly within her means. The mail carrier began to check in on this woman regularly and discovered that the woman’s kitchen sink, bath tub and toilet were not working. She came in with her husband to try and repair it, but the work was beyond them and required professional help. They brought in a plumber who gave a quote, but it was above what they could help with and what the woman could afford.

The mail carrier is connected with Crossroads community and nominated her for a blessing. After praying through our nominations, we felt God lead us to bless this woman and to take care of this very real need for her.

Boldly Bless Week 2

We purchased a special electric rickshaw tricycle for a family in our community. We were made aware of a remarkable a little girl in our community, who has some developmental delays and mobility restrictions. She was recently diagnosed with leukemia last year, and she beat it, and we found out that her family would want nothing more than for her to experience the joys of childhood by being able to ride on a bike. This bike will be a blessing for the whole family with all the special features that it has and we are so excited for this girl to experience the joy of riding on a bike.

Boldly Bless Week 3 

The first is a family who has 3 kids and just had a brand new baby a couple of months ago. The husband has his own business, but work is slow this time of year, and their neighbor who loved them dearly and sees them like family nominated them to get help paying their rent for January so they wouldn’t fall behind and so they could enjoy Christmas without worrying about next month!

The second is for an elderly couple. The wife called our church offices to ask for prayer over her husband. They both have some health restrictions they are working through. Her husband specifically is pretty sick, and going through a bout of depression. Because of the cost of their medication and some procedures, she shared she wasn’t sure how they were going to make rent next month. When we heard about their story, we decided to cover their rent in January, and this woman was so overjoyed! She gave us a list of things they can cover health wise because we are covering their January rent.

The third is a woman who takes care of her son full time, he endured a traumatic brain injury a while back. We were made aware that her stove blew up after Thanksgiving! And because of where she lives, the stove is a specialty stove and needs to be ordered custom sized. We heard about it and decided to bless this mom and son by fully replacing her stove!

The fourth is family what serves here in our church.  This family is incredible, but this year they’ve been hit with issue after issues, and they’ve been able to handle these problems financially. But then this last week their washer and dryer went out. While they were able to get the problem patched, the mechanic shared that it won’t hold long and that they will need to replace both of these machines. We heard about this and felt led to replace both of these appliances for them!

Boldly Bless Week 4

We blessed five families for our Boldly Bless finale. They are a mix of different needs. Two of them are car repairs for single parents. One of them a single dad who was recently housed after being homeless and he has a good job but just can’t afford to not have his car to keep his job. We are also caring for young woman whose mother is in the hospital and she needs help keeping up bills while her mother is in the hospital. And lastly, we are going to be helping someone pay delinquent taxes. The IRS reached out to him and let him know that there was a mistake on his taxes from a few years ago and that he owes $1000. He went ahead and Agreed to pay it but then was hit with a $9000 bill because of penalties and late fees. We are helping contribute a good chunk of that to help pay down the debt.

Thank you church for giving your $1 more! Together we got to bless 10 families this Boldly Bless season. Celebrate the Blessings with us!

Boldly Bless Spring 2023 

Sunday, March 5th

The first is a family whose father was diagnosed with cancer 19 years ago. He had to have brain surgery several years ago from the cancer and continues to this day receiving treatment for this cancer.  Then 2 years ago, they were on vacation in Hawaii and the father was in a body surfing accident that has left him paralyzed from the neck down.  He was the soul breadwinner for his wife and three boys.  He has been unable to work since this accident.  His wife now works seven days a week at Loma Linda hospital on the night shift so that she can take the dad to his therapy sessions during the day. Their three boys are in college and support their mom and dad as much as they can.  We felt God leading us to bless this family by covering their mortgage payment for March to give them some reprieve as the father just recently has found a way to work again, and we got to make that payment today!

The second is a woman who lost her family and all her possessions last year during the fairview fires. She has been recovering from her own injuries. She found a place to stay and move into, and we want to help her start off great. We are going to be covering her first month’s rent, and also help get her some essential items for her place, primarily a bed set.

Sunday, March 12th

This week we were made aware of two people in our church who are struggling financially. Both are are super active and faithful in serving in the church, and we felt God lead us to take care of them this week.

The first is someone who attends Crossroads and serves faithfully. He is has seen God show up for him in several areas of his life, including gaining 50% custody of his kids recently. But he has struggles financially. He is on a fixed income, and is very limited in this area. Even struggling, he’s kept God first in his finances. We were able to assess his needs and discovered that he is using credit cards to stay afloat. He recently had to repair his car and put the repairs on his credit card, legal fees and grocery bills are adding to his debt, too. If you give $1 more, we will be able to help pay off some of his debt, and we will also connect him with our food pantry (project hope) for weekly groceries.

The second man is someone who serves in almost every ministry here. In October he made a job transition and it’s been very tough with very low pay. The business isn’t doing well. He’s been paying one bill or the other the last few months. He’s had family help keep him afloat by contributing to his bills but as of December they no longer can help. He is behind on February and March’s mortgage, and if you give $1 more, we are going to catch him up and make him current on his mortgage!

Sunday, March 19th

2 blessings:

1st for a mom of 6 ages 10-1 year old. In 2020 she had an medical issue during labor that caused paralysis. Due to lack of family support and her medical condition, CPS became involved and she had the 5 older kids removed from her custody. She became homeless following her medical issue. She is able to walk now, but has some mobility issues. Her baby also has a medical condition. She was housed very recently in a 2 bedroom apartment with help from resources . She has custody of the 2 younger kids. She needs to prove she has beds for the children to move on to next step of 50/50 custody. She sleeps on the floor in the living room since the 3 boys will have one room and 3 girls will share the other. Biggest need- 2-triple bunk beds, 3 mattresses ( she has 3 twins already, & a sofa sleeper for herself. She also would like 2 dressers for the kids and a small one for herself.

2nd: A man in our church, his father has cancer in his one remaining lung. His dad was recently moved out of a skilled nursing home last week onto hospice at home. No one lives with him but his wife & she’s not able to take care of him, she needs help herself. He & his only brother had to move in with them at their home full time. They share the caregiving responsibilities. His dad is unable to go to the bathroom by himself, he can sit but cannot walk at this time. This is leaving this man physically & mentally tired, as it’s prevented him from being able to work, which means he is without income as he continues to care for his father. Financial provision to help him cover living costs, groceries, and necessary expenses.

Sunday, March 26th

A family is going through hard times back to back and just can’t seem to catch a break. They recently had their house flood. They are on a set income and still trying to catch up from previous medical bills. The mother has cancer and needs some medical equipment that is crucial to her treatment which they can’t afford. They have fallen really behind. They can’t keep putting things on credit cards as they will never be able to pay them off. They are just trying to catch up a little.

The 1st thing we would like to pay for is the phototherapy equipment that is crucial for the mom’s mycosis fungoides (T-cell lymphoma) cancer treatment. Her doctor has been trying to get this for her since June 2022. Her insurance finally approved. Unfortunately they will only pay 80% of this equipment which leaves her with the remaining balance of $1,179.80. The company in which I will be getting this equipment from will not allow her to pay this in payments. It needs to be all paid off before they will ship.

Secondly, we would like to pay off their home deductible of $5,000. On January 26 they had an upstairs flood which caused a lot of damage. The bedroom, bathroom, daughters bedroom, living room, and kitchen were all affected. As we stated before they are a family that is on a set income and being a large family they tend to live paycheck to paycheck, so this is not something they can afford to pay out-of-pocket.

Sunday, April 2nd 

Repair a car for a veteran that has PTSD. He just got a job, but has an unreliable car and often uses Uber to work. We will be repairing his car for him.

A single dad of 3 had a stroke and lost his wife and business. He has fallen behind on his payments for his phone and utilities. We are paying all his past due bills and rent as he gets back on his feet.

Sunday, April 9th

A couple in our church, the husband passed away, just a short while after they got married. Noe and Craig got to be with them and baptize him before he passed. We will to help them pay the mortuary and funeral costs. No one is ever truly prepared when a loved one passes away, we want to do what we can to help the family grieve and walk through this mourning period together.

Boldly Bless Winter 2022

Sunday, 27th and Wednesday, 30th

Nid grew up in a village in the rural country. She was married young to a very abusive man who was an alcoholic. Any time he drank he would brutally abuse her and her sister. She knew eventually he would start beating on their 3 children, so one morning she took them and abruptly left. We met Nid through a good friend who owned a salon in Pattaya. The  salon owner let us know Nid was in need of an education because of the domestic violent situation. We heard her story and accepted her as a student in the beauty program. When she was at SL, every day at lunch she would crochet. She would make hats and beanies. She said it helped calm her thoughts. When the lockdown happened we started Sew Free. I called her first to ask if she would come and teach the women who were displaced in the lockdown. She said “I’ll be there tomorrow morning to help!” While Nid went to get yarn and crochet hooks, I went with a small outreach team to the red light district and we came across hundreds of women who were locked out of their brothels due to covid. We invited all the ones we met to come and learn to knit and crochet and we’d pay them for every hat we made. These were all women in their 40s 50a and 60s. Nid was so welcoming and kind to them. She was patient and allowed them to make as many mistakes as they needed to. After 3 months, we saw there was no immediate end to the pandemic so we made this program permanent and hired Nid as a staff member. She has trained more than 20 women and helped grow the sewing program exponentially. She has baptized 6 of the students and studies the Bible with the every morning. Now the women in the sewing program are leading others to Jesus, including many of their family members. In May, Nid was in a horrible motorcycle accident and almost died. There was a farmer and a store owner who saw and ran to help her. She broke her leg in 3 spots, fractured her foot, and had huge road rash wounds all over her body, including her face. She still has scars from this accident. The doctor who treated her said she would need surgery. She couldn’t afford it. I told her SL would pay for half of it so she started to save. I asked her a month ago when her surgery was because we had the money already set aside for her. She said she didn’t want the surgery anymore. Her oldest son is now 16 and ready to start prep classes for university. The cost of his tuition is what she saved for her surgery. She chose to not have surgery so her son could begin his pre-university classes. He will be the first person in their whole family to graduate jr high, high school, and college. Nid is 33, but walks like she is 90 and it takes her 10 minutes to walk 2 flights of stairs. She said she has no problem walking like this for the rest of her life if it means her son gets to graduate university. Because of you, we are able to pay for her surgery, her salary while she recovers, and pay the cost of the school for her son! 

Sunday, December 4th, and Wednesday, December 7th

We blessed two families in need this week- the first is a family of 6 and they just got into an apartment after living in their car for a few months. They hit some tough circumstances in life, and it was so cool to see them persevere and get into an apartment! Now they need help furnishing their apartment, and getting ready for Christmas! We would love to help get them some furniture pieces they need, like a crib, and also help them make Christmas special for their kids by getting them a tree, decorations and gifts! The second family is part of our Crossroads family. It is a couple that serves faithfully every week, but the wife has an autoimmune disease and she is currently hospitalized. The husband is her caretaker and he is missing work right now because he is staying by her side. We helped pay their monthly bills the next 2 months as they navigate this difficult season.

Sunday, December 11th-25th

We partner with an organization in Kenya called Missions of Hope International, MOHI, and they let us know that Marsabit County in Northern Kenya is suffering the worst drought in 40 years. It is in this county that we work with two remote villages, Olturot and Namarei, and many of you recently began sponsoring a child in one of these two villages.  These villages are in the middle of nowhere, I mean literally nowhere, and this past summer we got to send our first ever team to do ministry here. This drought has completely diminished these village’s water supplies and food supplies. MOHI took a health survey in these two villages and discovered 92% of  households go to sleep hungry and specifically in Olturot, 81% of households were classified as severely hungry. Over 100 students in the schools are severely malnourished. When we heard about this and researched this drought, we knew we couldn’t sit by with our comforts all around us while our people in Kenya are actually starving. We partnered with MOHI to send food baskets home with the kids from the school which would feed a family of 6 for up to 3 weeks.

Week 03.31 & 04.03

We heard about a young man who rear ended someone. The damage to the car he hit was pretty minimal, but the damage to his car was substantial. He has liability insurance, so his insurance doesn’t cover any of the repairs for his car, or a rental car. He has been living in his car from when this pandemic hit and he uses his 24 hour fitness membership to fulfill his hygiene needs. He has a job and is working on saving up for an apartment, but his car is everything to him. When we heard about the accident and the repairs needed, we were able to cover the full cost of the repairs and a rental car for him too!We also heard about a single mom who has a two-month-old and, unfortunately due to insurance issues, ended up with $12,000 in medical bills from her delivery. For years she has cared for her brother and sister and even her mom. Now that she’s a mom she need someone to care for her. We were able to use the rest of Boldly Bless funds to help her reduce her debt and be able to care for her and her daughter and the rest of her family.We were able to cover these two big blessings because we have someone in church who matched our Boldly Bless amount this week!

Week 03.24 and 03.28

We discovered two women who are undergoing tremendous difficulty in their homes right now. One woman’s husband is fighting for his life in the hospital. He has leukemia. His wife doesn’t work and they have 5 kids. In caring for her family, they got behind on many of their bills and are facing a 60 day notice. Another woman’s husband is stuck in Mexico. His paperwork to be a resident in the states was halted in the midst of Covid and he has been unable to make it back to care for his family. His wife works and is supporting her 4 kids and her husband who is in Mexico, but she has also fallen behind on her bills and is struggling to stay afloat. We were able to call these women and tell them we are covering their past due bills!

Week 03.17 & 03.21

We found out about 6 families in our community who are what we call “hidden homeless.” While they may not be out on the streets, these families are without a home and are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and to provide for their basic needs. Many people living in the motels have been there for years, unable to save enough for or even find affordable housing. We were able to hand deliver gift baskets filled with laundry detergent, basic hygiene items, gift cards to restaurants, snacks, and blankets. And we also surprised them by covering 2 weeks to 1 month of their stay at the motels. This will hopefully help them get ahead so they can get out of the motel and find a more permanent living situation.

Week 03.10 & 03.14

This week for Boldly Bless we blessed a family who was hit pretty hard during this pandemic. A woman in our church struggles with her health. She was diagnosed with a disease and goes for treatment M-F, but recently got covid and an infection. Prior and during her being sick, her and her husband were in debt over $50k. Last year they were able to pay off ALL their debt. She was very proud of that until she got covid and the infection which resulted in a lot of ER visits and hospital stays. Her husband is the sole financial provider and he was laid off due to covid. He just got his job back but is an “on call” employee. She sold her car to help pay back bills, but it was not enough and they are overwhelmed with medical bills. We were able to not only Boldly Bless her, but we have a donor who gave us almost a “match” of our boldly bless and we were able to cover a significant chunk of her medical bills, alleviating a lot of financial stress on this couple.

Week 03.03 and 03.07

This week we blessed a family in our Spanish Ministry. The husband got Covid and it hit him hard. He ended up passing away at the end of February, leaving behind a wife and 2 kids. He was the sole provider for his family and a was a key volunteer in our Spanish ministry. Pastor Noe let us know of the need and we were able to pay the full cost at Thomas Miller Mortuary, we are also covering March rent for the family, and someone else from our church heard the story and will be covering April’s rent for the family. Another person heard this story and will be paying May’s rent for this family. Listen to our phone call with his wife here.

Week 02.24 & 02.28

This week we set out to Boldly Bless several families, but we were met with a wall the first 4 blessings we tried to do. Knowing God was redirecting us, we prayed and God opened doors for us to bless 4 other families:

Two of the blessings went to single moms who, due to covid, are struggling to stay afloat this season. One of the moms was just laid off from her job. She worked in hospitality and has 5 kids. Her employer was forced to close down due to covid and had to do massive layoffs. With unemployment backed up, she feared how she was going to cover her March rent. We were able to bless her by paying her March rent.

The second mom has 3 kids and is in the hospital now from an infection. Her kids will be returning to in person school, but she does not have the means to get them prepared for school. We are blessing her and her kids with a shopping spree to get them the clothing and materials needed!

The third family we blessed is in Arizona. Unable to afford rent in CA anymore, the family relocated to AZ and has been hit with several setbacks since they moved. The husband still works in CA and commutes from AZ to CA. One of the kids had an accident and was rushed to the emergency room, they had to put down their family dog, and they lost a grandparent to covid. They really just needed a break so we blessed them with paying March rent, an Amazon gift card for some of their basic needs, and help paying the ambulance bill.

And lastly, we came across a couple in our church where the wife is ill and in pain. We wanted to bless them with a weekend getaway at the beach for a time of rest and relaxation, but because she is in constant pain, they aren’t able to travel anywhere. Feeling led to bless this family in some way, we were able to send them restaurant certificates for them to have some nice meals together from the comfort of their home.

This week felt like Jesus feeding the five thousand. Where we originally saw no feasible blessings, God opened up other doors and allowed us to spread the blessing enough to cover these 4 families.