During the third week of March, a team came up from the University of North Georgia to serve with us in Portland; we lovingly dubbed the trip "Lewis and Clark Expedition 2014". I enjoyed serving alongside students from the campus ministry I had the opportunity to intern at last year. Definitely encouraged me to see GA friends!
The team was made up of five girls: Courtney (their fearless leader), Taylor, Katelyn, Stacey, and Katie. Here's a few pictures from their visit, as well as testimonies from two of the girls about how God work in their lives on the trip.
"I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend a week in Portland doing mission work. I truly think God is working in the North West. We were able to serve with serval different ministries during the week, including a homeless ministry called Night Strike, Portland State NCM, and a sweet lady named Kelly who organizes community mission projects. It was really neat to see how God was using each ministry in different ways to reach the people of Portland. One of my favorite things we did while in Portland was one of the projects we did with Kelly. We went to a laundry mat and paid for people's laundry and gave out free pizza, doughnuts, and drinks. During this time we were also able to talk to customers who came in. It was always such a blessing to see people's reactions when they realized that we would be paying for their laundry. That also gave us an opportunity to explain why were there. Through this trip, God really opened my eyes to how I could be serving and reaching people at home." -Katie
"In one week of being in Portland, I walked all over the city streets; rode the public transit with some interesting natives; found my way all over PSU putting up posters; touched the Pacific ocean; bonded with an amazing team of Christians from Washington; handed out PB&Js to the homeless; threw a party in a laundromat; and had the Lord break my heart with His over the children there. I can't accurately convey what being in the Northwest culture--specifically the "None" Zone--did for my perspective. Too many Christians believe that people who have never heard the name of Jesus (or know of the Bible) exist only outside of America. Unfortunately, Portland rightly earned the title of having the most people check off "none" in a religious survey. Even worse, the culture there has it to where even the politest stranger typically won't carry on a conversation with you. The entire week I found myself to be frustrated with southern Christian culture in that we have the privilege to talk to strangers, believers and not, and yet so many of us do not ever say a word to anyone new. It made me realize that nearly all the obstacles southerns face in sharing their beliefs were created by the culture itself--their comfort with familiarity contains the Gospel. And we need to change that. One week in Portland allowed me to see the need and the difficulties with reaching lost people there and simultaneously showed me the growing problem at home." -Taylor
(Below) On the team's last day in Portland, we invited them to go with a group of our students to the Coast. Haystack Rock didn't disappoint!
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