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Monday Journals
Kelsie
Today was fantastically wonderful! Our group left early in the morning for the James Jordan boys and girls club. I was grouped with the six and seven year olds with Vanessa, Rebekah, and Shamean. The experiance was really cool and memorable. And then we worked at a “community kitchen”; and that experience was really eye opening. Lastly we ate at a Peruvian restaurant and it was delicious. Chicago is really wonderful. I can’t wait to see what god is going to show us throughout the next few days.
Nicole
Today was a very interesting day for me, we went to the boys and girls club and my group worked with the older students. They didn’t open up very much but that’s okay maybe they will warm up to us. Then we went to the soup kitchen and served people, which was a really great experience. Just seeing how grateful that we were there for us being there was nice. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
Kaileen
I really enjoyed today. I did not expect the Boys and Girls club to be so big! The kids are very cute. I will be working with a group called the Preps. They are 8 to 10 years old. They are very clingy, but adorable. Tonight we went to a soup kitchen and had lots of fun serving the people of Chicago. Our dinner was at a Peruvian restaurant. AMAZING!!! My favorite so far. I can’t wait for tomorrow. Just as a side note, I could use some prayer for energy. I’m very sleepy because of camp last week. Please pray that I will be able to catch up on my sleep.
Kristina
So far we’ve had a lot of new experiences. The city here is very different from the city in California. The buildings are almost entirely made of brick and the humidity makes a big contribution to the weather. Today it changed from having a random rainstorm to being sunny. Visiting the James Jordan Boys and Girls Club was very eye opening. A lot of the kids have already been exposed to poverty, violence, and many teen pregnancies. It’s almost like seeing homeless people is just normal for them. Playing with them and giving them piggy rides and tickling them really shows you how much they need the affection and attention. You can tell how much it does mean to them when you show them that you care even though they’ve never seen you. I’m excited to watch and see how our relationships will affect them.
The next big experience, especially for me, was going to the soup kitchen. It’s been a dream of mine to help out in one and today’s experience wasn’t what I had expected. I didn’t think there would be a long orientation beforehand (as for the boys and girls club), but when we started working I got to see how much they also appreciate our help. I loved bringing their food to the table and asking them how they were. It really made me feel like a waitress when I asked them what they wanted to drink.
I think it was good to see all the different types of people there are and I realized that soup kitchens aren’t only for the homeless, but also families that need to make their money go farther. I would definitely serve at one again.
I believe that each day of this trip will bring so many new things that we will continue to realize what God is teaching us far after we get back home. I’m ready to see what lies in store and I think that our group will learn a lot together.
P.S.I’m thinking of you guys back home and I love you.
Vanessa Coover
Wow! Today was amazing. I had an awesome time. We went to the Boys and Girls Club and I worked with the Cadets – they are the youngest age group, 6-7 year olds. We even had one 5 year old. They are so full of energy. They don’t run out of it. They are so cute, but the girls are so clingy and starving for attention. It made we wish I was more than one person so that all of the kids could get attention. I love little kids so much. My little kiddies that I babysit are clingy, but these kids are a different kind of clingy. I don’t know, it is hard to explain But our friend Bryant is very cool. He takes us around Chicago, and he works for CSM.
We went to the Good News Community Kitchen. They prefer to call it a kitchen rather than a soup kitchen, and oh my goodness me and Lauren got to wash dishes!!!! It was SOOO FUN! (so mommy if you want me to do the dishes, get a high tech cool sprayer faucet thing). Me, Lauren, and Cliffy, and our friend Panama was the one helping us. He was a ton of fun. I never knew dishes to be so fun to wash! (no mommy) Then we had Peruvian food. Its muy delicioso. It was so good, and I was really hungry. Then we locked Matt in the car. Munchkin I love you. Mommy and daddy, I love you too. And Frieda.
Love Vanessa
Wednesday's Journals
Kelsie
I asked God to help me grow as a stronger Christian, and he has. Each challenge he gives me is a blessing, for I get the chance to prosper. The Boys and Girls Club was really great we played tag for about thirty minutes before they got tired and then three seconds later they were off again. Tutoring was great as well; the little girl I was “tutoring” was five years old and could read quite well. And then we ate at an Ethiopian restraint. I was fantastic; just like the day!
Vancoover (matts nickname for me)
Today was very, very, very stressful and emotional even though it had nothing to do with missions work. The boys and girls club was fairly easy. We went to the movies and saw the Bee Movie. It was very good. The little kiddies loved it. And that’s whats its for. We went to the Chicago Christian Industrial Leauge. God has a sense of humor and im not sure I like it. There was this guy and his name was terry and he was “helping” me and lauren in the kitchen. He was one of the residents at the place we were at. He was very annoying and a nuisance. He was also very rude and he was making me very frustrated. The funny thing was that I prayed for patience this morning. Im not sure I like His sense of humor. Then we were heading to and Algerian restaurant and we had very emotional conversations. It made us all get closer together as a group. For those of you that know me, I don’t cry. And I was crying. I don’t normally cry.lauren you especially know this. So it was very emotional. But we still had fun. I love you guys!
Kelsie
Today was really interesting, because the littler kids and we volunteers went to the movies and watched the Bee Movie. It was cute and a good family movie. I also accomplished a personal goal about not getting to attached emotionally and focus more about what God wants me to do in their lives. Tonight we help in a kitchen serving food, washing dishes, preparation for the cooks, and what not. Over all this entire day was an amazing. Love you all at home.
Shamean
Apparently we lost my journal from Monday so when we find it; I’ll backtrack and fill it in. Yesterday definitely started with a massive game of tag. Of course Kelsie, after discovering how fast 6 and 7 year olds can be, volunteered me to be “it”. Thus, I spent a good 10 minutes or so chasing almost 20 people. And now I have a shin splint. Yup, I’m that out of shape. But all day today that shin splint has been reminding me of the fun we’ve had with the kids. Which always leads to thoughts about the joy we see in kids and the example they set for us. Faith like a child takes on a whole new meaning. They choose to trust us when they know we’re here just five short days. They demonstrate astounding resilience in the face of often difficult circumstances.
Speaking of resilience, we also tutored at Marillac House. I’m pretty sure the little guy I worked with has ADHD. The for-real, can’t sit still, way distractible but brilliant kind. It was quite the challenge. Yet he hung in there with me for most of the three hours we were there. It was awesome. Proud Missions trip mama moment: Miss Lucy asked if anyone likes challenges and would be willing to take on a more difficult student. Every hand went up, almost simultaneously, without the least bit of hesitation. These are phenomenal young women =)
After some rather delicious Ethiopian food, we called it a night. I admit that it was a super hard day. I am an introvert. 48+ hours surrounded by people, with very few quiet moments, had me way overwhelmed and just plain crabby. It was for sure a day of full reliance on God.
Today has been another fun morning. I’m past the crabbiness of yesterday and determined to find energy in Christ (not caffeine, though it’s tempting). We hung out with the kids this morning and saw the Bee Movie, which is so much funnier when you watch it with kids. It’s amazing what they laugh at = )
Alright, off for showers and another ministry site. More to tell later. To those of you who have been praying, and especially those who have checked up on me this week, thank you. I love you a ton and looking forward to sharing stories with you. Pray on = )
Chicago Journals Thursday
Shamean
So last night was what I like to call a barf night. You know, the heavy emotional night where everyone lets everything out amidst lots of tears and plenty of pain. It was a wonderful bonding time though and I was once again impressed at the ways these girls responded to a challenge and came together to support each other. I won’t go into much more of it now because that would take all night, but it was what the body of Christ is supposed to look like
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This morning was interesting. We had volunteers at the Club that were quite into “positive energy”, and “healing energy” and energy from the earth. It was a mess. A big one. I’ll leave you with that tantalizing detail and tell you the story later.
After that we had some down time, drove around the city, hit the beach, got rained on. It was awesome. Several hours later, we’re in the middle of a rather large thunderstorm and I’m loving it. Our God is a powerful God and his splendor fills the air. It’s beautiful = )
Thank you again for your faithfulness and prayers, they are making a difference as we all learn how to love people in a tangible way. Pray on = )
Wednesday
Nicole
This morning again we went to the boys and girls club it was such a better day with the kids, we played in the gym with them and really got to bond. I played basketball with this one kid named Jonathan and I won =] it was a lot of fun. Then we went to go tutor and got to read and play games with them which was hard at first but then we eventually got connected. The best part of my day was when I was playing with a girl at the tutor place and she comes up to me and says “I’m glad you were my tutor, and I said I’m not your tutor I’m your friend” and she had a really big smile on her face and I knew that really made her happy. I’m really excited to see what the next couple days brings us! Thank you for your prayers!
Thursday
Nicole
Last night was a real eye opener. Everyone got really emotional and it was really good to be honest because I know for me we all opened up to each other a lot more than we did before. I got in deep conversations and it felt like an actual family. Our girls in this group all are amazing and I love talking to all of them. Even Matt and Cliff =] God has really been working in me. So today we went and made pillows and quilts for kids at the hospital and it was an interesting experience. On a sad note I’m not really looking forward to saying goodbye to the kids tomorrow =( we had a guest speaker tonight and he was amazing. I really loved listening to him. So I’m having an excellent time and this was one of the best decisions I have made to come to come on this trip because I can see in myself that I have grown so much. Also, I had an amazing talk with cliff last night and he really helped me a lot, so cliff when you read this, thank you! =] and thank you everyone for your prayers!
Kelsie
These past few days there isn’t a “normal” day; so it is different every day. Today a group came to the Boys and Girls Club and the kids had a blast. We had to draw on a quilt for the people in the hospital. We all participated and it was surprisingly enjoyable. And then for lunch we volunteers had our usual sack lunch, but the kids had about 7 slices of pizza. For the rest of the day we went to the lake, not swimming, but taking pictures with gorgeous backgrounds. This last night we spent time worshiping God and then a guest speaker, really cool person, spoke to us. Miss you all, especially with all these thunder boomers!!!!
vancoover
Oh my goodness gracious. I have learned so much in the past 2 days and in the past 2 days I have grown closer to God and to all of my girlies. My girlies have taught me so much about everything. Matt and cliff are seriously amazing guys. They know how to handle us girls and join in our girlie conversations. Going back to last night it was very emotional. I think that there was a lot of pain in all of our lives and everybody was trying to carry everybody else’s burdens, amongst our own pain, which made it doubly hard. My favorite part of last night was that I made a list of the things that I want in a husband. I was talking to matt about it and it was just my favorite part. Matt and shamean are very wise and insightful about husbands and boys and such. And cliffy is just wise all together. Today was a learning experience. At the boys and girls club there was a group there that had the kiddies make quilts and pillows for kids in the hospital. There is nothing wrong with that but, they weren’t a Christian organization and why would they be doing it? I was just very confused as to why they would want to do that. Its kind of confusing if you weren’t hereto see it and stuff. And then we had worship tonight with all the other churches. I didn’t particularly like it. But that’s my opinion. I am sad that we are leaving the boys and girls club tomorrow. Thanks so much for praying for us. Keep praying for us! I love you!
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