Monday, July 27, 2009

Portland Day-1

"Wow! What a day we've had here in Portland. We arrived at exactly 11:15am and we unloaded all of our donations we had for the Rootcellar. That included bibles, backpacks, clothing, toys and even gift bags for the staff here. We had a quick lunch, and then we loaded up the rootcellars van with a huge barbecue grill, hamburgers, hotdogs, rolls, games and crafts and headed down to the local park.

On the way, kids in the neighborhood recognized the van and when we got down there it wasn't long before the park started filling up with kids of all ages. We set up the grill and proceeded to cook a massive amount of hamburgers and hotdogs. But, we were not alone. The North Deering Alliance Church were there conducting their own outreach program and were only to glad to help us out with ours. Peggy Hinnman, the Rootcellar's Missions Coordinator, told us that they would be doing an outreach program all over the city for the duration of the summer. So, new friends were made, and for me, old acquaintances were re-established. But, the most joyous part of my day was watching the rest of team actively participate in everything we were asked to do.

Instead of hesitating they jumped right in from the start. It was particularly interesting to see our kids, Mattie, Hannah, Marcel and Jesse interact with the other kids they heard so much about. They, like their parents, jumped in feet first. They helped with the arts & crafts, the parachute games and Mattie Klouse plays a mean game of soccer!! As for myself, I enjoyed every aspect of our first day here. It was a joy to come back here to Portland and it was just plain 'ole fun to be with the kids again. One more thing; This year's team is awwwwesome!

David