07 Jul Summer LINK Seattle
Greetings from the Seattleites!!!
Our first week in Seattle has ended and we have seen God work in some mighty ways already. Brock and Ben picked us (Katelin, Jamie, Crystal, Jordan, and Christina) up at the airport on Thursday, June 26, to go meet with Pastor Warren and Sarah Schuster from Essential Church for dinner in Factoria. We talked about the coming summer and ministry opportunities that each of us will have in our 6 week stay. We had a time of sweet fellowship and prayer before heading to our home- the Purple Door.
Let me start by saying the Purple Door is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It is a mix of camp goes to college with a little hominess thrown in. The PD serves as a home for some on missions and even a few who attend the University of Washington for school. The community and Christian living here are so refreshing as Seattle is an otherwise very spiritually dark place. We all share responsibilities with the other missions teams like cooking, cleaning, and leading worship in a group together on Tuesdays. One of the ?mottos? hanging up on a bulletin board says, ?Doing life together?. Praise the Lord that we have the opportunity to experience this throughout the summer!
The Lord has allowed us to move two families this week. First, we helped move the Mainards into their new home, which is now closer to where Essential Church meets for worship. Our second move was rather spontaneous. Jenny, a 17 year-old, who the Seattle team met last year, was moving out of her apartment on Monday and asked if we could help she and her mother pack things into their storage unit. The Lord allowed us to demonstrate love of Christ towards them by helping for about 3 hours. Jenny attends one of the local high schools in Bellevue and her mother works at Jubilee Reach. We are unsure about her and her mother?s spiritual state but, they agreed to come with us to the fireworks show in downtown Bellevue as well as church Sunday! Our team is so excited to be able to reach out to this family.
Essential Church meets at the local Boys and Girls Club in Bellevue. This past Sunday was the launch of having 2 services! This is such a blessing to those who serve in the church and have varying work schedules so they too can worship our Savior and hear the Word of God. Brock and Ben both played in the worship service-Brock on the cajon and Ben on the banjo. We girls helped teach the 1st through 6th grade and took care of the nursery babies. Our team was totally immersed into full ministry the very first service! Praise the Lord for His provision and allowance for each of us to be used at Essential Church.
The rest of the week we planned for the upcoming Love Bellevue events. Everyone on our team has been assigned different leadership roles from sports camps to block parties. This summer will be a time of growing and learning as a whole and individually as we serve the community of Seattle, WA.
Special thanks to Josh Davis driving some team members to the airport and thank you to everyone who has financially and prayerfully supported us thus far. We are looking forward to what the Lord is going to do through us and Essential Church!
By: Christina Gibson