DAY TWO!

Today has been AWESOME!

This morning the team got up and enjoyed a delightful contintental breakfast at the Heart of Chicago motel and spent a little bit of time reading through I Thessalonians 1 & 2. Each morning we will spend time together reading the Bible and talking through what we're learning. It seems to be a pretty good way to start off the day!

We then headed off to Lathrop Homes, which is a government owned property that houses hundreds of residents. Many of these residents have ended up here becuase of life circumstances and family issues that have put them in a position where they couldn't provide for their family with "regular" housing. We are partnering with Service Connector which is connected to Chicago's human resources department. They have case managers that work with the residents and then connect with us to let us know what needs done and where it needs done.

We split up into three teams and started tackling our list of apartments! Some residents were in need of a little extra help cleaning up their apartment while some needed some extensive cleaning! Students were great at helping the residents feel loved and valued as they were working away! And from what I hear several teams had the opportunity of meeting some cockroaches!

The team that I was with worked with a lady named Carol who has 5 children aged 12-18 and you can tell that they mean the world to her and like most moms she would do anything for her kids. She had a LOT of clutter in her apartment that ranged from shoes to piles of clothes and bikes and more clothes and papers and more clothes. It was difficult for our team to all be in one room because of the lack of space. Loretta, Blake, Whitney, Tailore and Halley got to work helping Carol sort through stuff, deciding what was needing to be tossed and what could be donated to help others. Even though Carol had so little in her life, she still wanted to give what she had to help others! Myself, Cory, Grant and Chris tackled the bathroom and entryway. We cleaned every inch of the bathroom and knew we did a good job when the kids came home and said how they had never, ever seen the window sill that clean. We wrapped up the bathroom and entry way with a fresh coat of paint. The girls later tackled cleaning the kitchen with Carol and then we ended the afternoon with a coat of paint for the kitchen too.

Jeff, Cody, Scott, Austin, Sarah, Nikki, Valerie, Peyton, Kelsey and Becky started the day off doing some extensive cleaning to help out a gentleman who was in danger of losing his apartment if he couldn't get things turned around. They worked extremely hard and got it done before lunch. In the afternoon they tackled another cleaning project in which they also did some painting.

Dave, Hayden, Josh, Tyler, Carole, Kirsten, Kira, Olivia and Gabby tackled some of the lighter cleaning projects and were able to get two completly cleaned before lunch. The residents had intended for help only cleaning one or two rooms, but Carole wouldn't have any of that and they took on a bunch more. In the afternoon they continued on and helped clean up a couple more apartments.

We're off to dinner in a little bit so that's all for now! Jeff will be posting some pictures from today a little bit later on!

Photo's from Day One

Team photo at GCC before departure.

Enjoying Chai and Chess at the South Asain Friendship Center/Bookstore.

A little down time before heading out.

Learning about muslim and hindu culture in the United States.
Lunch at Sher-A-Punjab...spicey!

HELLOOOO CHICAGO!

So, we are officially here in Chicago and we're off to a great start! We got into town and got right to it! We worked pretty hard this morning, not in the typical manual labor sense of work, but in the expanding your mind-look at the world kind of work!

We came to the South Asian Friendship Center, which is a ministry to the Muslim/Hindu culture of Chicago. They offer English training to immigrants as well as a bookstore that offers reading materials explaining the Christian faith as well as Bibles and other books translated into Arabic. Mark spent some time with us helping us understand the Muslim, Hindu and Seik religions and explaining the influence that these religions have over other countries on the other side of the world. Everyone was asking questions and getting involved and learning a lot!!

After a little education we headed out to Little India for lunch at an Indian Buffet! Everybody tried different things and for the most part everybody enjoyed the meal and helped themselves to several returns to the buffet especially when we hit the Indian desserts. After that we explored Devon street in Little India and learned more as we shopped in some unique stores and interacted with people that are in many ways very different than us, but at the core they matter to Jesus as much as we do!

More to come later...

AND WE'RE OFF! ALMOST...

Tonight the CHICAG07 team met and got things packed up and ready to rock for the mission trip! We went over the details while enjoying some dinner from our friends at Moe's!

And then it was off to the first task as a team...loading the truck/trailer with all the furniture donations!!! Thanks to everyone that helped get things together for the furniture donations and a special thanks to Mr. Patton and Mr. Stoub for lending us their packing expertise!

Tomorrow morning we're off to Chicago and we'll be trying to make regular posts every evening to recap the day's events! Please leave comments of encouragement and support for the team as we're on mission!

In a few short hours we're off to sweet home CHICAGO!!!

You can also follow along with the high school team that is in Mexico right now serving and loving and showing other people south of the border that they matter. Click HERE and you can follow along with their blog!

How's it going?

Hey Chicago team!

Just wanted to throw out several reminders to help you guys and gals out!

Next team meeting is in a couple weeks, Sunday July 1 from 3-5 pm at GCC.
Remember that$175 is due July 1st. We will have a report ready for you that will let you know where you are at and then the remainder of the trip will be due by July 23rd, the date of the trip. If you have money that you've earned or have saved up for the trip, go ahead and turn it in by mailing it in with one of the pre-addressed labels or dropping it by the church with John Keim's/Student Missions on the envelope. It is best that you turn in all you have before the July 1st meeting to have the most accurate update.

Keep on working! Keep on raising support! Keep on praying! Keep on preparing! July 23rd will be here before you know it!

SECOND SATURDAY

Hey Team! Corey here, with some advice...Second Saturday is this week and not only would it be cool for us to come together as a team, but also to help sift through Ted's "Trash 2 Treasure" stuff at Feed the Children.
It's this Saturday, (6/9) and we meet at GCC at 8am!

Hope to see you there! It will be "Bueno"

Corey

NEXT TEAM MEETING THIS SUNDAY!

Hey CHICAG07 team, we wanted to remind you that the next CHICAG07 meeting is this Sunday, the 3rd, from 3-5 pm at GCC.
This Sunday, we'll have financial updates for you on the support that has come in as well as spending some time together as a team and talking about the trip.

Final travel details, itineraries, packing lists and all the emergency contact/last minute information will be handed out at the July 1st Meeting.

Remember to bring your journals and your folders! And remember to take a few minutes before Sunday and look back through your journal of the last three weeks and revisit your thoughts on Philippians 2:3-11 and consider the question "Now What?" After reading and rereading that passage for the last three weeks, through what you've learned and observed, how are you going to be different, how is this trip going to be different because of what you've read. We'll see you on Sunday!
PS-We won't have a meal this time since it's in the afternoon, but we'll have some drinks!