Portland, Oregon

Portland, and the surrounding area, will the the first area that I pray for on this prayer journey. As I wrote in the post listing where I wanted to pray for, I saw a special once on MSNBC about the homeless youth of Portland, and the gangs, or "families" they are in so that they feel a sense of belonging, of importance. It was heart breaking to see stories with people who were my age (or even younger) who have spent the better part of their teenage lives on the streets. They make a living stealing, and dealing (I just made that term up, but I like it), and they have little to no hope of ever making something of themselves. The thing is, they are still young. That is not all they are capable of doing with their lives. Some of them still have families to go to home to, even, but its just pride, or fear, that keeps the from going back to them.

This month I want to get in touch with at least one church who is doing work in the city, showing love and acceptance to these teens, and to find out what they are doing, and how God is moving in the city. I also hope to find out for what, other than this homeless issue, the churches in the city need prayer for.

God of this City

Watch this video.

Potential Number 10

Not the 10th potential, but a potential idea for slot #10 (if you haven't, read the list below).

Ate dinner with Linda Marceau today, those of you at Riverside know who I am talking about. But for those of you that don't know, well, then I guess it is just a random name for you. We were talking about her idea, and before she even knew I had an opening and was taking suggestions for slot number 10. 

A friend of mine from Riverside and his wife are in the process of moving to Dominica. Different from the Dominican Republic, but I am not exactly sure how. Until he was bound to live there, I honestly thought it was the same place. He is going to be a missionary there while his wife is in school. When it comes down to it, thats the only information I have, but here is a link to his blog, which has a map of the country and some pictures and such. Now, mind you, its a personal blog as well, so along with stories of ministry, you may find stories about the Boston Red Sox (I know, I know, I don't understand why either). Miller Time

Also, Prague, Czech Republic. Axis led a group there this past spring, and I remember them talking about the trip, and how, even though the city is so beautiful, hardly anybody smiled. No smiling? Come on now, why not? Thats a potential for number 10 as well. 

From July 1

So today is July 3, and I was hoping to have this post up by July 1, but all excuses aside, it wasn't posted. 

Anyway, these are the different places I have decided on praying for so far, and why, if for any particular reason, I chose that area. Also, for most of the countries, unless I had a specific town I thought of, I just chose the capital city. This is something that I heard about from Travel The Road, a group of missionaries that took a year and a half backpacking and ministering to people in different countries, so unless I find something in a particular town, the capital is where I'll be praying about. 

(in no particular order)

1. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: I was a leader on a trip that Student Impact took here this past March, and it was such a great experience. Relationships have already been formed there, and I already know of a church and people I will be able to get in touch with there.

2. Portland, Oregon: I watched a MSNBC special on the homeless youth of Portland once, and it was so incredibly heart breaking to watch. Portland has one of the highest, if not the highest, percentages of homeless youth in America, and they are, like most homeless people, treated like crap by everyone they encounter. They are kids and teenagers, and still have so much time in their life to turn around and make something of themselves. They just needed to be given hope. 

3. Iganga, Uganda: Prior to moving to the Chicago area, I had been speaking with the people in charge of missions at my church in the San Antonio area about possibly spending an extended amount of time in Uganda following graduation from college. Iganga is a village that my church works a lot with, and there seems to be a lot going on there, including the recent drilling of a water well, and building a boys and girls orphanage (if i remember right). I chose Iganga because people from my church already have relationships built, so hopefully they could connect me. 

4. Jerusalem, Israel: Why would I not want to go here!? There is so much biblical history that that I don't even know where to start. There is so much spiritual activity in the area, not only among Christians, but among Jews and Muslims as well. I have a few friends who have gone on trips here, and heard nothing but incredible things. What better way to put myself in the context of some of the stories in the bible than actually being there?

5. New Dehli, India: For some reason, ever since I took social studies in elementary school, part of me has wanted to go to India. Not exactly sure why. I have a few friends who have gone to India for mission trips, or for working there for a little while and they have told me how great of an experience it was for them. Recently, friends of ours made friends with a guy that just moved here from India 3 months ago, and I have become friends with him as well. I remember the first time he came to Willow Creek a little over a month ago, he said it was his first time ever stepping foot inside of a church, and since then he has come nearly every Sunday. This guy is such a relational guy, so friendly, and so giving, and he is the first Indian I have ever known. After knowing his personality, I really want to go to India and learn more about the culture and the people.

6. San Jose, Costa Rica: My sister went to Costa Rica in high school, and we had a student from there come stay at our house. From what I have seen of the area it looks like an incredible place. The reason, though, that I chose Costa Rica is because I was thinking about countries in or near South America, and one day I found a video of a worship song that one of my friends brothers wrote, who is the worship leader for Axis, done in spanish. I asked him who did the video, and he said "its a band from Costa Rica dude! Crazy huh?" Since this song has been in my head almost non-stop since I first heard it, I decided, why not Costa Rica?

7. Cape Town, South Africa: There was a mission trip led here with Student Impact this past year as well. I have had, and currently have, many friends who have gone on mission trips here, and when I heard about the poverty, the brokenness, and the lonely children there, again, my heart broke. This morning on one of the morning news shows, there was a children's choir from South Africa that sang, and I believe, if I remember correctly, they are all orphans. Also, last year at Willow, the South African Children's Choir came and sang at a service. It was INCREDIBLE. So moving, and so sad to know that each of the singers had lost one or more parents to death, and that there are thousands more children in the same situation who feel hopeless. 

8. South America: I don't even know where, but I would like to go somewhere near the Amazon. I thought about South America partly because of the movie End of the Spear, which is the story of missionaries who go to bring the Gospel to a remote tribe who hasn't ever had connections with the outside world. The thing that has drawn me to South America, I think, is the remoteness of so many areas. Not that I would be necessarily going there, but, you never know.

9. Mexico City, Mexico: Again, friends have gone to Mexico on mission trips, good things said. Also, it touches Texas, so that is a plus (only joking, but really, it does touch Texas). I have been working on my spanish again recently, as well as a few Sundays ago I went to Casa De Luz, which is the spanish service at Willow Creek. I have been trying to surround myself with spanish if I can, not only to pick it up and be able to speak it when I go back to Texas, but also because it opens up the opportunity for relationships to be built with others who do not speak english. 

10. Not sure: what do you all think? Seriously, I am leaving a piece of this whole thing up to you.  Include why you chose that. 

10. 

Months/Countries

I had been hoping to come up with 12 different countries to pray for over the next 12 months, with 1 country being focused on intensely each month. However, as I am going through my list of countries I have so far in my mind, as well as other potentials to pray about, I have around 8-10 that I really feel like investing time and prayers in, and after that I feel like I am just trying to add random ones to make the final number 12. I am thinking about the following plan instead: 10 months/countries to pray for, which would last from July 2008 through April 2009. Then, following the time praying for each country I would take one final month to LISTEN to God, while reflecting on everything I had prayed and learned about over the previous 10 months. Hopefully by the end of May I would have decided on a country, which would then leave 40 days to raise support. 

Supposing this plan were carried out completely, and everything works out the way this roughly says it should, the departure time would be between mid- and late-July, 2009.

Does this make sense? 11 months of prayer, and about 1 month (plus a few extra days) for support raising.

A plan, journey, and adventure that, at that point, will have been 1 year in the making.

Jake's Back

pray for it. 

Intro/Idea

Jake and Schwab (or whoever else reading this). This is an idea that I thought of today while thinking about what I want to do after school next summer. After talking to both of you at different times in the past. I'm not saying that I think you NEED to do it with me, but I thought it would be cool since we had talked about doing Africa in the summer of 2009.

Lately Mexico and the DR have been on my mind. That, as well as how cool it would be to go to places like Uganda, or India, or China, or Oregon/Washington for ministry and such. 

I want to take the next 12 months to pray about what to do next summer, taking a different mission field to pray and learn about each month. This would include learning about culture, statistics, location/history, needs, organizations and missions already in place, where God is moving, and whatever else we can find.

Following the year of praying, I then want to decide on a final location on where God may be leading me (or, us), and begin support raising. here is where the name comes in: 12 months to pray, then forty days to raise $4000 (a piece if need be) to cover mission costs. May need a bit more, may need a bit less, but that seems like a decent amount to set as a goal.