Bridgetown

I just got back from the most amazing, eye-opening weekend in Portland, Oregon. It's Sunday night and I hadn't showered since Thursday...and I'm pretty sure I showered then, maybe not since Wednesday. Ahh sick I know.

To start things off we went to the Medical Teams International exibit. It was so heart-wrentching. They basically send pallats of supplies/and volunteers to places in need across the world (they also were quite involved in Katrina cleanup). Great way to kick things off for the weekend. Oh, Mom you might look into their organization...could be good stuff. They like their volunteers to have medical training.


We slept on the floor at a church in downtown Portland that started the "Bridgetown" ministry. They have an event called Night Strike on Fridays. It's their main outreach to the homeless. What they do is take all the volunteers who show up (sometimes they get 200-300, but had about 50 while we were there) and they go to the Burnside Bridge on Friday nights & take a meal, wash peoples' feet, cut peoples' hair, etc.. and completely serve the homeless. It's amazing. We went to their stomping grounds. Really, people were sleeping in the cold, on the ground. I even saw a drug exchange. It was so intense. So real. I was in their world.

I volunteered to cut hair. : ) It was splendid. I was swinging the cape around peoples' necks right and left for 2 solid hours. Jeff cut hair too (he cut's his sons). I conversed with about half of the people in only spanish. So nice to cater to their needs AND speak their language. I asked one older mexican man if he'd had dinner yet & what they were serving. (Jeff and I hadn't eaten since lunch & it was now 10pm.) Cool to offer that to God as well...just to say that I'd rather be doing this than make my tummy comfy. One 20ish man had...well I hoped with all my heart it was dandriff. Mhmm. The real deal. When we had first gotten to the bridge, swarming with homeless people, our crew was uhh quite overwhelmed, moving fast, setting things up, and not making eye contact with the locals...but by the end of the night we were friends with the homeless. Talking naturally and not at all frightened. The last one I talked to was drunk and kept asking how he was going to see me again/for my number. That was not cool. But everyone else was hah, surprisingly pleasant-ish.

Yesterday morning we walked the streets asking the homeless if they'd like a cup of coffee or hot cocoa (from thermoses we were carrying) and/or a doughnut (from a stellar local place called Voodoo Doughnuts which has bubble gum, oreo, fruit loop, banana peanut butter and so on doughnuts). They were so greatful. One remarked to his comrads, "Look, these people love something.." when he saw our smiling faces approaching. One asked me if I was 20, after I affirmed he said, "Man, you are a WOMAAN!" That was awkward & Trever made some jokes with me afterward, "Yeees, and you are a man, glad we got that established." One guy told us an awesome story of a dream he had. He saw tons of beautiful hills and valleys, and on the tallest one, a crowd of people were singing the most glorious song he's ever heard. Then whenever he woke up, he'd try to write it down, but as soon as he picked up a pencil, he forgot. He asked God to make him able to play the guitar while he was on his death bed...then as soon as he picked up that guitar, he played the song from his dream. Ooo shivers! That was amazing. One street sweeper worker guy I talked to said he'd been out of prison for 7 months and was there for 15 years. At a complete loss for words I said, "How's life been since then?"

Everyone in Portland smokes.

Later Saturday we went to a low income appartment housing complex in Gresham (considered the ghetto apparently). There we met David and Josh, both 22. They were laborers- legit guys doing God's work... STP salt of the earth style guys. I stood at a table David and handed out free Panera loaves/bagels/muffins to people. We both sorta speak Spanish (which over half of the residents spoke) and that came in sooo handy. Those guys have organized a weekly dinner in the complex office. The rest of the crew went door to door handing out invites to that. It was so encouraging to see them practically loving their neighbors. They'd moved in there deliberately and were intentionally putting an effort into showing their neighbors God's love and acceptance and interest in our lives. While David was talking to us up in his apartment Trever kept nodding off. err..

This morning's church service included lots of feedback (aMeNs) from the congregation towards the african american preacher. Wowy. Then we drove back and here I am. Oh. And on the drive back we stopped at the most gorgeous cascading waterfall I've ever seen. It was SO high. God is just so infinitely beautiful and untouchable. I saw it and just kept saying/thinking "holy crap." In retrospect, I had the holy part right. : )

Hallelujah. I want to love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. And then I want to love my neighbors as myself. It isn't nearly as complicated as we make it. People are all hurting. Sometimes their pain is obvious. If they are curled up on the cement against a brick building, we can perceive their needs. But everyone has needs for fellowship/accountability/friendship/someone who cares that we can meet. We just have to find ways to be creative in our efforts to learn their needs...take them to coffee or something.

I learned so much and I am endlessly grateful for this weekend. I'm excited to find ways to put into practice.