Portland Sunday Visit

Cresentia Hinkle
November 14, 2005

Saturday, November 5th two STF sisters teams, Adonia's and Katarina's, arrived at the Portland, Oregon church. They were warmly welcomed by the youth worship team members and Regional Leader, Rev. Moonshik Kim. That evening the STF sisters joined in the worship team's practice of songs for the next day's service. Our teams already love to sing, and it was perfect for us to be able to join with the Portland Second Generation and learn new moves and songs! Everyone had a lot of fun and the sound was not only beautiful, but full of energy. The practice session also gave STFers a chance to bond with the Portland 2nd gen. That night many friendships were formed. One STFer, Shimyun Cotter, commented that, "I felt like they were people I had known my whole life and just hadn't seen in awhile."

That evening the STF sisters were invited to stay the night at the church center and the next morning joined the Portland 2nd gen. in doing Hoon Dok Hae. Later on, Ju and Satoshi San's teams arrived in time for the service.

Sunday, the STFers were graciously given the whole service time, by Rev. Kim to use as they liked; he had prepared a sermon, but when he heard that STF is coming he decided to give us the whole time. STF-USA director Roland Platt began the service by explaining a little bit about the STF program and showed the STF introduction video. The congregation seemed to really appreciate this. One 1st gen. mother, whose son participated in the STF program two years ago shared that, she was happy to see how much STF has developed and feels that parents will be more inspired to have their children participate in STF now.

After Roland Oppa spoke the STF teams offered a song to the congregation. The sisters teams preformed a two part chorus of, "You Raise Me Up". The brothers teams preformed a three part chorus of, "Amazing Grace". All the teams made tremendous effort to put all their heart into it, hoping to bring joy to the members of the congregation. One of the the 1st gen. mothers, Mrs. Dixon, commented that she wished she had brought her video camera because she would like all the 2nd gen to have the chance to be inspired by us.

Then came the testimonies. Testimonies were given by first year, Rebecca Araki and third year captain, Ju Seung. This part of the service seemed to have the greatest impact on the congregation. Through their testimonies, Rebecca especially reached out the 2nd gen and Ju to the 1st gen. Both of the testimonies were very moving and inspiring. While they were being given, I looked over at the Portland 2nd gen. and found they were totally focused and involved.

After the service we enjoyed a meal together with the congregation and got to socialize. It gave us the chance to get to know some of the members and make more personal relationships with them. During the meal, members of the congregation shared with STFers about their experiences with the service. Several 1st gen. expressed their enjoyment of the service and gratitude to STFers for further inspiring and supporting the 2nd gen. Several of the 2nd gen. shared that they were inspired to have us there and expressed a desire to attend STF someday. One sister said, she wished STF could be there every Sunday. Members of the congregation weren't the only ones being inspired though. STFers were inspired by the spirit of the Portland community and initiative of the 2nd gen to take ownership.

Wanting to give back to the church STF volunteered to clean and trim the yard and paint two rooms within the church center. STFers joyfully worked picking up trash, pulling weeds, trimming bushes, sanding, and painting.

Overall everyone seemed to have a great experience and we're really looking forward to going back soon again! for our next visit they invited us to visit the historical "first building" of our movement in America.

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