crave mission trip to Portland

ironically enough a team of 11 and 12th graders, from the church i recently left staff, are currently on a mission trip to Portland, OR...where i am about to move. i love these students and the leaders with all my heart. follow their journey here.

there is one thing that they did that i respect them so much for. i don't know all the detail other than what i gather from their blogspot. i can't wait to get all the details when they get home.

what i do know is that they went to Portland so serve the street kids. if you are unaware, Portland has a population of about 1.5 million people with the largest number of street kids in the US. check out some other stats. the first day there...so it seems...the students of Crave first hit the streets to understand the audience they were about to reach out too. it seems they dressed up and participated in something called "street simulation." they put on clothes from the local shelter to look like homless teens. they then had tasks to preform...such as asking for x-amount of dollars, etc. the purpose of this was to know what these street kids go through just to understand them a little bit (and i emphasis little bit becasue there is no way to fully know where the are coming from...their abusive home history, their past around in the foster care system, their nights on the streets...no one evening could fully explain all that. what it can do is help a few prideful students from Albuquerque, NM humble themselves a bit to have a meaningful conversation or open ear with someone who feels unwanted...possibly change their live forever...so i pray).

please join me in praying for these guys till they get back in new mexico on Saturday, June 28th. join me in praying for them one week after as God continues to deal with them in for what they saw and experience. may they never be the same after experiencing the power of Holy Spirit.