Missions in December

As we bring 2011 to a close, Holy Trinity - led by the children - has some 'mission' ...


The 4th /5th Graders have decorated the Angel Tree - complete with gift wishes from the residents of Compass Cascade Women's Shelter (transitional housing for women).  Come and pick and 'angel' and purchase a sweater or gift card. Please bring the gifts back to HTLC by December 11th (wrapped and with the Angel tag attached).

We are also collecting 38 hats and scarves.  You can knit or crochet them, or shop for them!! Kathy has wrapping materials available.

Sunday, December 4th is the Confirmation Bake Sale!  Be prepared to purchase yummy things knowing that the proceeds will be sent to "Home Safe" a new transitional housing ministry of Compass Housing Alliance.  Our donation will provide fees for children to participate in extra curricular and/or sports activities that they could not otherwise afford. 
Thanks to our local Thrivent chapter (East King County) for providing matching funds. Goal is $500 - so please be generous!

Mission: Feed our community helpers!

Mission: Thank our community helpers!!

South End Fire Department

Check out all these happy faces! Our last summer 'mission' was to thank the local fire and police by making and delivering dinner. Thanks to our grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, we could shop and prepare a feast for our firefighters and police officers.

This was going to be the 'counselor project' during VBS but shifted to a congregation effort.  THANKS to Laurie, Lou, Doris, Brita and Kari - the fabulous intergenerational crew who cooked and delivered:

                                                               Chicken Piccata

                Fettuccini Alfredo                  Caesar Salad

Lemon Bars                                                        Chocolate/Peanut Butter chip cookies

All put together into baskets (thanks Beth!) and delivered ... 

The chefs showed off their skills in the kitchen and we had a blast delivering to the South End Fire Department, North End Fire Department and the Mercer Island Police Station.  Hope they all enjoyed it as much as we did preparing!!

Thanks to a great crew and a fun project!! Thanks, again, Thrivent!! (www.thrivent.com)

North End Fire Department                                         MI Police Department

Women on a Mission ~ completed!

So, Internet connections at Trinity, Gresham were non-existant…so daily student blogging was impossible. But, do not fear! I will be filling you in on our week ‘women on a mission’ right now!

Tuesday had our combined crew of Trinity / Holy Trinity students making lunches – 60 lunches, in fact. Peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, apples and oranges, juice, trail mix, rice krispies treats. The group was so concerned about not having enough that they packed a bag of all the ‘extras’ to have on hand.

Lunches packed – off we went to IKEA. We had budgeted money to assist the organizations that we were serving at and we needed to purchase ‘new home kits’ items to give to Raphael House the next day. 2 teams each with a list; $100 for each team, ½ hour to shop --- GO! Our girls did a great job of picking things out and staying in budget  Reward? Meatballs at IKEA for lunch!

We parked at Union Station in Portland and started walking – 60 lunches in tow. It didn’t take long to find people who were hungry. The lunches were gone , along with the additional supplies in 30 minutes.
Wednesday, we did yard work at Raphael House ~ a refuge for women and children escaping domestic violence situations. 13 people were able to pull weeds, trim bushes, cut back overgrown plants, prune roses and clean it all up.

Then, it was off to downtown Portland for a little fun – lunch at a food truck (which Portland is becoming world famous for) and some retail therapy at Pioneer Place and Powells books.

Thursday was service close to ‘home’. Trinity Lutheran in Gresham owns and operates a food pantry and soup kitchen called Zarepaths’ Kitchen. Our kids organized items at the food bank, and served lunch. Zarepath’s Kitchen sets up tables and chairs, people are then served food at their table (lunch, beverages and dessert). It is such a dignified way to help. We were surprised at the number of families coming in for food. Because this is operated out of a home, there is a backyard with playground equipment. Our group took time to clean out trash and then wash down all the playground stuff.

Did we have fun? Duh! We went swimming at Mt. Hood Community College’s pool (which was also our shower opportunity) two evenings. Great facility and water aerobics class :)

We had dinner at Gustavs’ in Portland, got froyo on Main Street, we had a picnic in the park, Tacos at the Elks Lodge, we checked out Ft. Vancouver and Hudson’s Bay High (Kathy’s high school), rode the carousel at Jantzen Beach, watched movies. We were spoiled by the “Genesis” group – with dinner on Tuesday and all-night fun on Thursday.

Great trip – great group. Home safely.

Monday @ My Father's House

Suri speaking (with an assist from Loreal) !!! Today (Monday) we went to, “My Father’s House,” no, not my dad’s house, “My Father’s House.” Haha.  As we headed there, our van had a party in the front seat and kicked it in the back seat. 

As we arrived to “My Father’s House” a man in a red shirt lead us dutifully to a room on the third floor that served as a classroom for parenting classes and other classes that the residents were required to take while at “My Father’s House.” After we gathered our tools we assigned jobs; taping, mudding, painting, and moving furniture.  First, we had to move the books off the book shelves and then we had to move the bookshelves away from the wall so we could paint behind it; accomplish our mission!!! :D  Disregarding a couple of instigators who decided that their jobs were not entertaining enough and proceeded to paint humans instead (or themselves in my case), everything went smoothly and within no time (in reality it took two hours) we had finished the room.  To our relief there was more to do! An identical room one floor under us. YAY! Everyone fell back into their jobs, and Kelsey and I decided to completely paint one of Loréal’s arms.  I was more effective due to the oversized roller I was irresponsibly given. 

After we were done painting we headed downstairs to the main floor to take a bathroom break before we left to go to a park and have a picnic.  At the park we raced to the swings and had a joyous time frolicking in the open fields.  Oh it was such a lovely day.  I then remembered that I had cupcakes (it was my birthday on Saturday).  I casually shoved an entire cupcake into my mouth and chocked in front of some horrified bystanders, thankfully I survived to write this blogJ. 

I need to rush this last part because we are making sandwiches right now for our Smile Project but that will be discussed in full at a later date.  Well we went to the pool, had a needed shower and went back to the church to watch a movie. Peace out bros…

Women on a Mission

Road trip to Portland = success!  The 'women on a mission' team arrived in Gresham at 4 pm, unpacked and headed into Portland for worship.  Augustana Lutheran church in Portland was our stop, for their 4th service of the day, the Jazz Service.  The trip in was energetic --- the car was determined to make every other passenger on Hwy. 84 SMILE and WAVE!

Augustana is a beautiful church, loaded with impressive stained glass. The music, performed by very talented local jazz musicians, was fabulous.  And a lot of the music was contemporary songs; "At 17", "Let it Be" ... that were woven into the fabric of the sermon. The people were warm and welcoming...
It will come as no surprise that Nicole stepped up to read one of the lessons, all the ladies rang the church bell, the congregation sang 'Happy Birthday' to Suri. 
We headed to Gustav's for dinner...a local favorite of mine...and feasted on the 'delights of rich food' (which Nicole read about in worship :)  )...

Then to the grocery store for breakfast and lunch supplies, then back to Trinity to talk, read a little from our Bibles about the widow of Zarepath, a bit of veggie tales and ...sleep.

Monday, cleaning and painting an apartment at 'My Father's House' for a new family to move in! Wait until you see the 'pink glove crew' in action!

Girl Power in Portland!

Our high school mission trip 2011 is a road trip to Portland, OR.  We are partnering with Trinity, Gresham and working with some great organizations that help women and children.

First - we worship! We will be attending a jazz worship service at Augustana Lutheran in downtown Portland. We are all looking forward to hearing the joyful noises !!

We will be cleaning an apartment for new residents, handing out food, serving lunch and doing yard work. We will be gathering 'new home supplies' to donate, this will welcome a family into their new home. And we will have some fun :)  It IS the home of tax-free shopping, we will explore University of Portland and Fort Vancouver.

There will be daily blog updates on this mission blog - so follow our adventures July 31- Aug. 5th!!

Peace

We like a mission!

Thanks to Barbara, Laurie, Lou, Cosmo, Suri, Jan & Ken for continuing the 'mission' all week! And to Doug and Mary for all the equipment and truck :)
We painted a family room...we moved furniture...we striped the parking lot of a neighbors church...we delivered bikes (to Bike Works ... check them out at http://www.bikeworks.org/) ...we re-arranged and cleaned out at 'home' (HTLC) and at our neighbors.  A good week of work!

Again, thanks to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (www.thrivent.com) for their support of our 'good works' :)

Then, we celebrated ... the sun came out, the grills lit up and we shared food and fun.

Thanks to all who made this 'Mission@Home' a productive and fun  week.

Now, it's July and the sun is out. Relax and enjoy God's creation ...