Portland: Love Your Neighbor-hood

2 days ago on Tuesday me jerry an the rest of our group went into this guy chuck’s backyard an cut the majority of that jungle out, it was just pure awesomeness ;) and yesterday something bad happened with my best friend jess she logged off myspace, after she responded to my message on myspace an i started freaking out an thought she was mad at me that day an than i felt horrible cause i thought i did something wrong so i was depressed for a long time that day, until david, samrin, scott and ben told me that if you call her everyday to check up on her you must be a really good friend that made me smile, those 4 friends of mine told me also not to worry an that if she is mad at someone it was certainly not me an that made me even happier than when i got back to tom’s house where me an my group was staying, i got on myspace to check up on jess again an she was ok she was happy an she told me she could never get mad at her best friend an than i was happier :). i saw god in those 4 friends of mine that day an i have to say thank you david, ben, samrin and scott, you 4 have made me so much more confident that i am her bestest friend she will ever have an thank you once again guys :). Jess told me that im the only person she could never get mad at me an that me an her will always be best friends that will never change. i’m glad nothing bad happened when jess is happy i’m happy thats how it will always be. i’m glad for the friends that i have they helped me through the hard time i had yesterday i thank you all. i have a couple more people to thank thank you matt an thank you mike when my group left me behind you guys came an picked me up at the church than you so much :). I appreciate you guys letting me come on this trip an thank you,for informing me about this trip thank you so much i can’t thank you enough. Thank you so much ;) -James-

It is Thursday, June 17, and it has been a very good week. When I first got to Oregon from California with the group on Saturday, June 12. I was really excited to participate in the services to come. On Sunday we had spent the whole afternoon with our hosts and members of the Eastside Church of Christ. They were really friendly and kind. They showed great love to strangers and each others. Their love had helped motivated me to show my love. Monday came through along with the laundromats, clothes drive, and children ministry. I had taken part in laundromat. What we did was to show our love to the community. We offered to pay for the the cost of doing laundry. To wash and dry the clothes of strangers. We don’t actually wash clothes but pay for the costs of using the washing and drying machines. It was very awkward at first. I wasn’t sure how to start talking to the people at the laundromats, but I remembered a saying I heard the day before. It is “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” It is hard to talk to strangers but strangers are friend you haven’t met yet. We had used up almost all of our quarters and we were really happy on how the day had went. The next day we had some yard work to do. We split into two groups and headed of to different locations. Where I went can accurately be described as a jungle. There were vines and thorns everywhere. Hidden treasures such as a trampoline and bench. Creepy crawling insects. It was very intimidating when we got there. There was just no way we can clear out most if the plants there. There’s no use in being intimidated so we just went for it. By the time it started raining we had taken away three trees and a bunch or thorn plants. By that time it was pouring so we had to get out of the rain. I felt that we did a really good job. Well, I am writing too much so I will hasten this post. This week has been and amazing week. It has truly made me stronger as a whole. 

- Jerry Y.

Tuesday June 15, 2010 -

Today for breakfast, the group headed off to Jim & Patty’s Coffee, a coffee house located on Northeast Fremont Street. There is only one word to describe Jim & Paty’s: Awesome. The atmosphere, the coffee, the food, the serivce, and the people. Everything about this energetic, fun, and groovy place was awesome. Jim and Patty serve Stumptown coffee, a world renowned blend. Every drink availalbe is excellent, as well as every pastry and every sandwich. Jim and Patty work very hard to please their customers, and their work definitely shows through. Our entire group highly recomends this to anyone and everyone.

-Tylor Clark