Honduras, Thailand, and the Columbia Gorge

Vista House & Beacon Rock

Last weekend our church was visited by Victor a missionary national we support from Honduras. Victor has planted about 40 churches in the last 10 years, discipling their pastors. He ended up staying at my Dad and brother's house for the weekend while in town.

While Alison was busy at work, the four of us went to the top of Council Crest to enjoy the view of a clear day. We then headed downtown to Misohapi, a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant for some delicious Chicken Pad Thai! That was great...a couple of Americans at lunch with a Honduran ordering Thai food!

After that, we headed out to the Gorge and to Multnomah Falls. It wasn't a chilly day, but the closer we got to the water, the colder it got. I think it was a bit too cold for Victor.

It was a beautiful day! Watch the slideshow below, or click on it to view full screen pictures.

Bridgetown Prayer Walk

I've written about Bridgetown before here. Last Friday, I got to go down again and lead worship during the orientation time. It was a wonderful night and there were something like 140 volunteers there to feed, clothe, give haircuts, wash the feet of and eat with the homeless in our city.

A dream of Marshall—the director of Bridgetown—is to have groups of people minister now only under the bridge, but go out into the downtown area and pray for the city each Friday night.

This Friday was the first. I've been on a walk-a-bout before where we take hot chocolate and clean socks to the homeless living in other around downtown. But this prayer walk is "just that" described by Marshall. Praying and walking.

I was in a group of 5 people who walked about 2.5 miles while stopping at 9 pre-chosen locations to pray for 9 specific things:

1. For the protection of our team.
2. For the wisdom of the leaders of the city.
3. For those struggling with addiction.
4. For racial reconciliation.
5. For the police of our city.
6. For the other ministries already happening.
7. For those listening and preaching false religions.
8. For those who visit the city to see what God is doing.
9. For the struggling businesses in the area.

Of course we were encouraged to pray for whatever else we saw or to engage in conversations with people we see as we're walking.

Bridgetown can mobilize up to 80 people right now doing prayer walks that cover downtown. Marshall hopes that this ministry grows. If you've thought about serving with Bridgetown but have shied away at the thought of feeding the homeless, I'd encourage you to go on a prayer walk. Who knows what God will do?!

Protesting Geeks

As one who codes in HTML/XML, I found this quite amusing. Thanks to Marko.

Hot Eats, Cool Tr... Hot Eats

It's not often (if ever) I make a plug for food. But if you're in Tigard and looking for some lunch, go to Ole Ole. They have some of the best tacos around town! Pictured here is the chicken taco. They also have a great fish, asada, chorizzo, al pastor, and what I had today, the machaca taco. The machaca has shredded beef and egg...yes egg...very good. They also have good burritos, nachos, and dinner plates.

The only downside is that business seems to be slow. So please do what you can to support them so that my favorite lunch spot becomes a permanent fixture in our town. Our church staff is sure doing their best!

Winter Continues

Though I'm sans spouse this weekend, today is wonderful due to the unexpected snow.

I woke up expecting a normal day, but when I opened the windows saw about an inch of snow! I was going to lounge around the house in Alison's absence, but couldn't resist going for a drive. I headed to the local Starbucks for a triple grande caramel macchiato and brought my Oregonian so I could do the crossword puzzle...outside! It was astounding.

After leaving Starbucks, I decided to head around town a bit to see what the snowfall was like elsewhere. In Portland, elevation determines everything when it comes to how much snow you get. Like I said, we got about an inch at our apartment which is about 500 ft. above sea level. I drove down the hill to about 200 ft. and it was a slushy/rainy mix...boring.

So I decided to make the trek all the way up to Council Crest Park at over 1000 ft. I'm sure glad I did! There were over 2 inches of snow there along with couples, kids and dads sledding, snow man making, and photographing the white powder.

I did slip a bit, even in the Subaru, but it was worth the beauty. Alison is lucky she wasn't around. I made a snowball that would have undoubtedly hit her.

Youth Snowboarding Trip

Wow! There weren't may words to describe the beauty that was our snowboarding trip with the youth group on January 21st. Alison captured this incredible shot of Mt. Hood peeking over the hills on a cold, windy Monday.

Cold was right too...before the sun went down, it was 16 degrees with a wind chill of 0! But it was one of the most beautiful days I've seen on Mt. Hood. The great part about Ski Bowl...besides being the cheapest of the 3 major ski areas, is that on a clear day, when you ski down Ski Bowl's runs, you get a perfect view of Mt. Hood itself.

I tried to be a bit daring, and took my camera on three different runs so I could capture the amazing view. Feel free to view it below in the slide show, or follow the album link to see the larger images.

It will be worth your time!

Snowboarding 2008