Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. It has been a busy last few months. As of this weekend, we will have been in Portland for 3 months. It does not seem like we have been here that long but at the same time it already feels like home. We started our Bible study in our home several weeks ago and are continuing through the book of Titus. We started with our core team and have had a few visitors over the past few weeks. Trevor has been sharing the gospel with several of his co-workers at Peet's and some of them have visited our study. It has been amazing to see the fruit of his labor and see God work here in Portland.
Before we moved to Portland, we knew church and ministry as a whole would be very different. We didn't know how different or what it would entail. We just knew that it would be different than Camarillo. We love our home church, Calvary Nexus. It has been our home for so long and the people there are like family. We are so grateful for all the love and support we have received from them. In Camarillo, we were used to events such as Church at the Park and outreach concerts in the Energy Lounge. Calvary puts on amazing events that reach out to the community. People would come and enjoy and get saved. In Portland, it is very different. The majority of people here don't go to church and have no desire to be a part of if. Many have a negative view of the church especially because Portland has one of the highest gay and lesbian populations. We have learned that reaching these people here will be far different than we thought. We can't just throw an event in a park and expect people to come. Nothing is wrong with that in Camarillo- it works! People come! But here in Portland, we have realized our ministry will be more focused on building relationships with people we see everyday and engaging in deep conversations to get to the root of people's Vendetta's against the church. Everyone here has a cause. Last week there was a HUGE protest in a park across from our house protesting GMO and promoting peace. People all fight for something here in Portland. It will take time to engage them and serve them and love them just to warm them up to the idea of Jesus. The good thing about Portland is that people need Jesus. There is an evident spiritual darkness and heaviness here that we haven't experience before. We are excited and are also bracing ourselves to really dive in headfirst and love people and learn how to serve them.
Last month we had the opportunity to visit home for a few days. Our dear friends just had a baby and we wanted to do a quick visit. It was refreshing to be met by so many loving people at church- I wish we had had more time to visit and see everyone! But we were so overwhelmed with blessing by everyone we talked to. We are so thankful for your support and love and encouragement and even interest in what God is doing here in Portland. It refreshed us.
While I was home, after seeing some friends and family, I began just considering why we left. It was so good to be home. It felt like nothing had changed in some ways. While I was sitting alone in my car, I began to cry. Why did we have to leave? We love our family and friends so much. It would have been easier to just stay in Camarillo for the rest of our lives. Why did other people get to stay? Why did our best friends get to raise their kids with one another and we had to leave and go somewhere where we don't know anyone and try to build a community? It just didn't seem fair. As I prayed, I asked God all of these questions. I simply heard him ask me, "Is the Gospel worth it?" I began to consider Jesus and what He has done for us. I considered all the lost people in Portland and what our lives are really about. Are our lives about comfort and being around those we love? Is that really what our lives should be focused on? I realized that the importance of the Gospel and helping reach the lost far surpasses any comfort or pleasure we can have in this world. While comfort and family and being around loved ones are all good things, they fall in comparison to the importance of people receiving salvation. That is really why we are here: to share God's love with others and further the kingdom of God. So while I was upset and missed family and longed to be home again, I knew that we were doing what we were supposed to do. We were in God's will which is always the best place to be. I knew it was better to be in God's will than to be in a comfortable spot with loved ones but out of God's will. I knew that true peace and ultimate fulfillment would come from obeying and following God's call on our lives. So as we made the journey back to Portland, while I was sad and upset, I knew we were going to where we needed to be. And that gave me peace.
