I was hanging out in Portland around some of the old crowd I used to hang with where there was a lot of drinking and drug use going on. I found myself slipping back into my old ways of life. Like not having or making time for the Lord or praying and always coming up with reasons for not going to church. It was like to familiar and I could see how if I stayed around this situation, I would soon be right back to the life of self centeredness.

I decided to go into prayer and then right away God put it on my heart that I was in the wrong place. I went to the library and looked up homeless shelters in Oregon on the internet. The first one listed was the Astoria Rescue Mission. I finally went to church that Sunday. I talked to the pastor there who said: "Go to the Astoria Rescue Mission." Later that day I happened to run into an old friend that I had not seen for three or four years. After talking with him for awhile he said: "Why don’t you go to Astoria and see about the program. He had heard a lot of good things about their program." I had this desire to get into the word of God and be around other Christians. I came here to the Mission, praying all the way that Jesus would open the door to the program for me.

When I got to the Mission I had not eaten or slept for two days. I was hungry, cold, tired and hungry for the word of God. I knocked on the door and it was opened. Right away I thought of the scripture: "all I need is to knock and the door would be opened." Since then through the Mission and its program I grow spiritually closer to the Lord each day. I want to thank all the people here for their help.

God Bless this place.