i would like to introduce you to my friend jamie johns. this is his website (see picture) http://www.hamoreh.org . i think you should check it out. jamie was a professor of mine during my stay at hbu. this man has an absolute love for africa. please visit his website and click on the blog tab at the top. spend some time reading his blogs and i am sure you will be blessed. it is good to see the things that Jesus is doing.

now for another update. on august 10th i left on vacation with kimbs family. we are currently in portland oregon. oregon is pretty cool. i know that in houston they are fighting temperatures of like 99 degrees with a heat index of around 107. here we are dealing with temperatures of like 70 degrees with heat indexes around….70 degrees. its awesome. i really like portland. it is a city of hippies. alot of people riding bikes, vespas, etc, instead of cars. it is very encouraging to see people who are doing what they can for the environment. it seems to me like portland is a very green city. i love it. but today we went and picked berries at a farm market. it was pretty rad. i have gotten coffee a couple times at free trade coffee shops. and later this week we will be going to a farmers market. so i am kinda getting a feeling of what it would be like to live with the earth in mind. its pretty cool. i see from staying here this week that at home we are doing a pretty bad job at taking care of the earth. i want to do a good job. i want to live with the earth in mind. i.e. ride a bike to work instead of driving my car. it will save me some money but it will also cut down on emissions, etc.

talking with kimberly on our walk home from the nickel arcade today we were talking about if we could live in portland, etc. from this conversation we got on the topic of witnessing. how it is so easy to witness to people in other countries but here in the states if you mention the name Jesus, peoples ears close. i brought up the fact that here in the states, b/c of the fact that peoples ears close you really have to focus on your lives. making sure that your lives match what you say you believe. this is because people can go around with their ears closed but they can’t go around with their eyes closed. when people see you living your life differently that will cause them to wonder and then it is simple to preach the gospel, even if their ears were closed.

i want to live my life better and in a way that people can know that i follow Christ.