Mission Log: Portland 2013

This is where to find all that's happening during the Mission Trip! Follow the adventures of Ethan, Kevin,
Riley, and Zach as they go out as representatives of our Lord from our congregation and youth group.
We start with a map of the various Mission Partners we are working with in Greater Portland.


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Keep checking back for photos, vids, stories, and more as the week progresses!
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Monday

We met up with Jacob, a social worker in Portland, who gave us a tour of the city, exposing us to the face of homelessness and poverty in various places and levels and how many ended up in those situations.

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Tuesday

Today we started our "real" work, heading into Vancouver to work with Friends of the Carpenter, a ministry of relationships with those in rehab, restoration, and homeless situations. We were able to tour the facility and help prepare a newsletter for 3500 ministry partners.

After FotC, we trekked into Portland to tour the Shanghai Tunnels. It's an important reminder that human trafficking is still a problem today...

After-dark found us at Voodoo Donut, where a long line, including traveling minstrels, entertained us until we finally enjoyed epic donuts.

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Wednesday morning we traveled south to Medical Teams, International's REAL. LIFE. ehxibit, which created scenes from 9 different conlict, poverty, or disaster areas in need. also of great importance was that we finally got to shower!

Our evening escapades found us on the MAX headed to ride the escalators at Lloyd Center. Dinner found us atop a double decker bus eating gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches at Grilled Cheese Grill.

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Thursday

We drove to Lift Urban Portland this morning to help with their community garden that provides fresh vegetables to seniors and those in need. Surprise: we also got to paint their pantry shelf!

After day in North, we grabbed dinner from the food carts and headed to Burnside for Nighstrike, a relational homeless ministry. Zach headed out with a group for prayer walk, Riley with another group handing out snacks and drinks, while Ethan and Kevin stayed under the Burnside Bridge to give haircuts to those needing them. Yes, haircuts. All had an incredible time.

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Friday

We went to Union Gospel Mission's Tigard site, where we were able to help sort and prepare items for sale through their Thrift store, where all sales went to help those supported by their programs around the Greater Portland area.

In the evening we took advantage of some down time and headed underground for 18 holes of blacklight, pirate-themed mini golf.

As a part of the My Night In A Box program we procured some cardboard and spent the night outside on cold pavement. Cardboard is not much of a cushion we discovered, and the Police don't like us sleeping in a church yard (but it worked out alright). 

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Saturday

Our last day found us up at dawn and heading to Burnside where we worked with the Portland Rescue Mission, serving breakfast to about 150 people, and then working on projects that would help PRM continue to serve the large homeless community of Portland.