Parea PDX update

Hello! It has been a fascinating couple of months up here in Portland. Tisha and I are loving every minute of our experience here in the Rose City. It seems like everyday we are finding new and exciting opportunities to be involved in what God is doing up here in the Northwest. I would like to take a few minutes of your time to update you on some of the things that are going on.

About a week ago, Cory, Shelby, Tisha and I moved into a low-income housing apartment in NE Portland in what many locals might refer to as a "bad area." If you have spent anytime hanging out with us you will know that our heart is bring seeds of Christ's love into these so-called "bad areas." Our move from the Southeast area to our new home was, in our opinion, Divinely orchestrated. We had been pounding the streets, searching high and low, for a house that would be able to not only house our community but also house any "ministry" related ventures as well. We were looking for the perfect place to base our operations out of if you will. We had a couple of guidelines: the house needed to be in an impoverished and culturally diverse neighborhood and it had to be affordable. We stumbled upon the McCoy Village after almost loosing heart during our month-long search. Not only is this apartment complex in the exact middle of where we wanted to be, we are also surrounded by opportunities to love and nurture precious people in the name of our Lord. What a blessing!

We are in the beginning stages of developing some things that we feel could be very meaningful and beneficial to a lot of folks! Its very important to take slow, intentional steps when trying to become a part of a neighborhood, especially a neighborhood where there has been a lot of oppression and poverty. A lot of people do not trust us, we have to be able to show them love humbly and respectfully in order to be able to truly effective in gaining their trust. It's very exciting to see the connections that we have been beginning to make in the neighborhood just in the last couple of days! Stay tuned...

I (C.J.) also just returned from a trip to Nicaragua where I was able to minister and continue to build relationships with some very incredible people there. You may have heard of my desire to become a coffee farmer and to use a coffee farm to grow the Kingdom of God in various ways, this is one of the main reasons I went on this trip. I was able to search out and see a coffee farm that was for sale just to get a small feel for what the process would be to purchase, own and run a coffee farm in Nicaragua. It was an amazing experience! The team I was a part of literally had amazing adventures the whole time I was there including almost running out of diesel in the middle of no-where to getting in a very bad car accident! God truly protected us the whole time we were there!

We do have a couple of financial needs if you feel God is moving you to give financially. The first need is about $700.00 worth of bike tools. We have already started trying to fix bicycles for kids in the apartment complex. Unfortunately, we did not have the tools or the parts to fix a little girls bike already and we do not want to have to turn away anyone else because that would be very counter-productive. Please consider helping us out with this! Also, we need to start raising money to buy bulk foods like beans and rice that we will be able to use for feeding the hungry.

Thank you so much for taking a little time to read this update! I hope that God richly blesses you!