Street Preachers and "Sandwich board" guys???

Lucas and I found a place!  We are going to be living in Tigard...so from our new place to my office is only going to be about 4.5 miles!  We get to move in the last weekend in October!  Thank you for your prayers for us to find a place.  We're looking forward to having a place to ourselves and Jack can rejoin our "family!" :-)

This week has been going alright.  Things in the office are settling down and everyone is really starting to hit their groove in what they are doing.  This week I've been doing a lot of work with the conferences that we are planning for the next couple months.  I have been working a lot with the GNW "Wiki" page to help increase the communication around the region.  It has really been awesome to see how little things like updating a wiki page can bring ease to our staff members.  I have also been stretched this week in making phone calls and reservations for meals for almost 50 people.  I know that with time things like that will become easier, even for someone as introverted as I am. 

I was able to go back out on campus these past two weeks (I took off one week because that was the day my grandpa passed away and I didn't think it could really handle being on campus).  In the past two weeks I have seen a lot of really awesome things happen.  I have been blessed to have really amazing conversations with students at the PSU campus. I'm hoping that I will be able to reconnect with some of those people and hopefully be able to share more with them about the wonderful gift of Grace!  Today, in fact, I was able to be a part of a conversation with a girl who was very interested in Jewish culture and wants to move to Israel to become a Jew.  It was very interesting to have a conversation about who she thought Jesus was and her views on salvation.  I wish that we were able to speak with her longer but we couldn't, however, we were able to share the Gospel with her, even though she didn't decide to accept it.

One thing that PSU has is it's fair share of are street preachers and "sandwich board" guys.  Today both were on campus.  The "sandwich board" guy came first.  His sign read "God is Angry at the Sinner" and he walked around among the people sitting in the Park Blocks yelling at them.  This became a distraction as we were trying to share with people in the same area.  Then after a little while, two street preachers came and ended up standing right behind us yelling to the people.  I would have to say, some of their illustrations were quite clever (although they were the same ones from the last time they were there) but I'm not really sure about their presentation. 

I don't know, what is your opinion? Do you think that people who yell at people (even if it is the gospel) are reaching people?

Campus Crusade reached out to the Miners in Chile!

If you watched any of the Chilean Miners being pulled from the cave, you may have noticed that many were wearing tan shirts.  Those shirts were from Campus Crusade for Christ!

For more information, check out this link: The story behind the ChileanMiners Jesus t-shirts.

It's really awesome to see how big the ministry of Campus Crusade is!
Lets continue to keep the miners and their families in prayer as they now rejoin each other after being apart so long.

My Hero

This week has been a very sad one for me and my family.  Early Wednesday morning (around 2:30am), my mom called me to tell me that my Grandpa was in the hospital and then a half hour later she called me to tell me that he was gone.  My grandpa and I had a very special relationship.  We were each others Heroes.  We called each other this because we went to Silver Falls State Park many many years ago.  I was holding his and when I slipped, and he caught me.  I looked up at him and said, "Grandpa, you're my Hero!"  A little while later on our walk, he "slipped" as well and I caught him and he in return said, "Katie, you're my Hero!"  Ever since then he's has truly been my hero.

Not only was my grandpa my hero, but he was an amazing and wonderful man of God.  His dream and desire was that everyone would come to know Jesus as their personal savior.  He was an amazing husband of 62 years, father of 4 children, grandfather and great-grandfather.  I know that he is now farming his orchard in Heaven with Jesus, and I can't wait until we get to pick tangerines and go for walks again, only this time with the Lord as well.

Please be praying for my family as we miss my grandpa's presence here on earth.  We will be traveling to San Diego for a Celebration of Life on the 23rd.

The Lord has really blessed me through this, with an amazing group of people around me to help me through this time.  One of my co-workers reminded me of this with me on Wednesday, Hebrews 12:1-3:

  ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

 I know my Grandpa is in that great cloud of witnesses!

Homeless...Well, Kind of....

As of early this morning, Lucas and I moved out of our place in Philomath, but still don't really have a place to call home here in Portland.  This has made for a very interesting day today.  We spent all weekend moving our belongings from our duplex to a storage unit not far from our place in Philomath.  It took several weekends of moving things to get our place cleared out, but at about 5am we put the last load into storage and then when we left for work (with in 2 hours of finishing) we took the last remaining things with us; neither of us really slept at all last night.  It is very strange to not really have a place to call home.  Lucas and I are trusting that the Lord will provide a place that fits our lifestyle (ie, will let us have a dog) and works for both of our commutes.

However, last week, things went really well in the office.  I was able to help out in several areas around the office including working on things for the CruConference this December!  Last Wednesday, the interns went to PSU with the PDX Cru team and got to share with some students for a while.  I was able to have a conversation with a guy named Alex.  We spoke for about 45 minutes about what he believes and I was even able to talk about the Gospel with him!  After we went sharing we spent some time as a group and connected as a team about reaching the people of Portland.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day in Portland, which helped with everything.

A View of part of the PSU campus from the 5th floor.

Later that evening, we went to University of Portland for a weekly meeting called Fish.  It was fun to watch so many students come together to Worship and have great fellowship.  We are hoping to be able to help out with that ministry as well.  We're just waiting to see how that Lord wants to use us in the PDX Cru ministry. 

As for now, please pray that Lucas and I will be able to find a place soon.