Dear Nestor UMC family,

I am very excited to join your worshiping community.  I can’t wait to get to know all of you!  Here is a little about me.

I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles.  I moved to San Diego when I was 19 to go to San Diego State University.  I worked for Turpin & Rattan Engineering in Pasadena and was able to transfer to their San Diego office so I could work my way through school. I.  I worked there for 19 years, maintaining, and eventually building computers for business and for AutoCAD.   I received a bachelor’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Information Systems. 

I met my husband, Karl, in San Diego and decided it was a good place to stay.

 We have three adult children.  Kyle is our oldest.  He is an archaeologist and works for AECOM in San Diego.  Kayleen is our middle child, she is working on her master’s in epidemiology at UC Irvine.  Our youngest is Kelly, she is a musician, vocals, guitar, and keyboard.  She also loves children and is currently a camp counselor at the Camp Fire camp in Balboa Park. Yes, all of our names begin with K.  It didn’t start on purpose, but it felt weird to stop at 3 K’s.  It made choosing names for the girls much easier.

My husband works at Turpin & Rattan Engineering, but his passion is disaster recovery.  He went on an UMCOR trip to Mississippi after Katrina and he was hooked.  He’s gone on trips at least once a year ever since.  Locally, he led the recovery effort in Vista after the Lilac fire, as well as Alpine and the Valley fire in Jamul. 

I did not grow up going to church.  After I had my first two children, I realized I needed something bigger than myself to help me through parenthood, and life.  I decided to try the church where my kids went to preschool.  That was San Carlos United Methodist Church and that was over 20 years ago.  Almost as soon as I started attending, I felt called to do more.  I started singing in the choir and then multiple choirs.  I was hired as the Membership Secretary.  When the church decided to hire a Director of Children’s Ministry, I jumped at the chance.  I ran Sunday School, Parent’s Morning Out and Vacation Bible School for ten years. 

As my children grew up, I got the nudge to start seminary.  Claremont School of Theology had just started the hybrid program, which made going to school possible for me.  One week a semester I stayed in Claremont for intensive study and then the rest of the course work was done online.  Seminary has been both a challenge and a precious gift.  I have enjoyed the theological courses as well as the interreligious and cultural studies.  I finally graduated with my MDIV last year.

I did an internship at Christ Ministry Center in Normal Heights.  Rev. Dr. Bill Jenkins has modeled that facility after Matthew 25 35:37. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.”  Working at that center broadened my idea of what church can be. 

I spent the last two years working ½ time at Linda Vista United Methodist Church.  I worked there for about eight months before the pandemic lock down.  Thankfully between my experience in children’s ministry and my computer background I was able to provide a weekly video worship service.  I made a point to reach out to the community to see how our church could help.  We volunteered distributing food at the local community center.  When things started to open up, we offered our parking lot for Zumba and weeknight rehearsals for Ballet Folkorico.

I am excited to see what we can do together!

In Christ,

Pastor Kim Ports