Author: Danny, Site Director for Kaleo Missions in Portland. To submit a story or a photo for our Kaleo Missions blog, email blog@kaleomissions.org.

As the summer draws to a close I’m taking this chance to reflect back on the year that as passed with Kaleo. In my time as Portland’s Site Director I’ve watched both spring break and summer months double with incoming groups, some returners and some new, but through all the growth and change one things has remained a constant, God’s faithfulness to the people of Portland.

Growing up in Portland and living here now I get the luxury of interacting with the ministries and communities we serve through the year, and with that luxury comes great joy. Joy from seeing that God is working within the lives of so many people here, in so many ways.

Through my years with Kaleo I’ve got a chance to know three members specifically from the Union Gospel Mission’s Life Change program, which is a 3-year Christ centered recovery program. These three men I’ve seen are a testament to God’s redemptive power in the lives of people in the world, and that away from Jesus there is no true redemption. To make a long story short these three men have come to graduate from the program during my time of knowing them, one getting married, and the other two finding new ways to incorporate themselves into a new way of life side by side with Jesus.

These kinds of stories are my encouragement to our groups of past and groups to come. These three men’s journey was far longer than a week-long mission trip, or our entire summer season. Their journeys were ones that took time, over years of Christ working in them and the lives of those around them.

So for those who plan to come and those who’ve already passed through remember, true life change, true redemption takes place only with Jesus, and usually over time. Take the things you’ve learned here in Portland, San Diego or New Orleans and put them into play in your own lives.

The saddest moment for me is watching groups cry as they say farewell to the city and the relationships formed through it, but my challenge and I believe our call is to wipe those tears to clear our eyes to see the opportunities already in front of us, and once we do that the tears we cry will not be ones of sorrow, but tears of celebration as we watch Jesus work within the lives of those we live with in community.