Portland, Oregon, a place near and dear to my heart. Near
because for the last 10 years I have been only 30 minutes away and dear for one
particular reason: Portland is AWESOME. Maybe I’m bias because I am a Northwest
girl through and through BUT I think you would find many, many people who feel
similarly. Not only is Portland beautiful and offers the outdoor adventurer
constant places for exploration but it also offers places for readers, coffee
drinkers, Chaco wearers, and self- proclaimed “foodies” alike. And maybe you
are reading this and hate all of those things and that’s okay because Portland
has something for you too, I promise. Even if its something a little weird like
creating Pokémon characters into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because haven’t
you heard…Keep Portland Weird!
Okay so now you are convinced right? Portland is wonderful.
But why am I spending my summer there? Well, during this last school year I had
the opportunity to apply for a summer mission’s opportunity with the North
American Mission Board. After being accepted to the program and being asked to
serve in a Northwest city, something in my heart felt uneasy. I spent time in
prayer as well as talking to my parents full of wisdom and friends full of
encouragement and advice. Before I finished my freshman year at Washington
State University I felt confident God was calling me home for the summer and
declined the NAMB position. When I got home, I had the opportunity to aid my
Dad in preparing for his summer interns who would be spending 10 weeks engaging
and serving the city of Portland, the Generation Send group and the Portland
Parachute Project. While helping my Dad and talking to my parents, it became
clear that this was more than an opportunity to help my Dad but an opportunity
to fully participate in the experience. After a few emails and phone calls, I
became an official participant of the Portland Parachute Project.
For the next 9 weeks of the summer (I can’t believe I’ve
already had the joy of spending a week with these people) my team, a group of
11 other people, will live near the campus of Portland State University learning
what it looks like to form churches in Portland, serve and love people the way
Jesus would, and display to others what the church is suppose to be- a group of
broken, imperfect people who are wanting more of Jesus and are passionate about
loving others well so they will want more of Him to. This will be a time for
personal growth as I lean on Jesus for strength and a time to learn more about what
it looks like to serve people intentionally and sacrificially. A time of a
remembering that everything I do- whether working, eating, biking, reading, or
walking can be done for the glory of God. Each day there is opportunity to be
lead by the Spirit and I am so grateful to be apart of a program with structure
but also flexibility. At the end of the day, I believe I am called to live a
life on mission. A life where I leverage my every action for Jesus and a life
about identifying people on my journey, inviting them to participate with me,
investing in them as we walk together, and increasing our numbers so following
Jesus shifts from a ME thing to a WE thing.
I would love if you would pray for unity and peace between
myself and my team that we would continue to care for one another well, for the
people of Portland that they would feel known, loved, and cared for by our team
and most importantly by Jesus, and that we would keep our eyes on Him- the sustainer
of our lives. Feel free to email me at abby.beth@comcast.net
to talk about my experience and so I can have a chance to hear more about your
summer story and how I can pray for you!
With love,
Abby
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