UPDATE: wow. i am bad at this blogging thing.

If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn't live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God's grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn't care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just. -tim keller.

Chicago!

I have been here five weeks. WOW. It has gone by extremely fast, but in some ways I feel like I have been here forever. I love this city. The architecture. The unique parks & fun things. The food. 

Most of all, I love the people. (I know that was cheesy and you could probably tell that was coming...)

Honestly, I haven't written on this here blog because I don't know how to write this down wisely. I am still learning a lot and I don't want to write down words that I might see as kind of foolish later. Or that someone else with greater knowledge or experience would read offensively. 

And I know that I can't fully put into words what I have learned because most of it has been done through intense teachings that result in a changed worldview as I have experienced the city.

I'll try to stick with just pictures and brief explanations of what is going on for now :) 

The roomie & me at Navy Pier!

I wrapped up my great trip with my mom and sister. They dropped me off and got to meet my excellent roommate Christina. She really has been so wonderful on this trip. We have found a lot of similarities and we have been super compatible roommates. It's too perfect, really. (Hopefully this isn't one sided... Christina...) 

Our first week felt extremely long. It was a lot of information and we were taking in countless environments. Chicago is divided into over seventy neighborhoods, each one with its own culture. They are pretty segregated when it comes to race, socioeconomic status, and nationality. The city literally transforms block to block. You will be walking in a pretty and populated area, then all of sudden things get sketchy... then the next block is different once again. 

Here's Life Inner City (who I am here with) works with churches and ministries to meet their needs. So it isn't necessarily our organization tackling a project, but us being sent out to help these churches and ministries with whatever they need. And that looks different everywhere. It also includes them sending us to places where we can learn and gather more knowledge about cross-cultural ministry. 

Team: Me, Naomi, Jessica, Hannah, & Felicia

My team is wonderful. I am with four other girls (women?) who are each unique and have taught me a lot. These are the people I am going to sites with every week, which means we share similar struggles and frustrations, but that comes with the opportunity to consistently encourage each other. 

Week 1: My team with our masterpiece, and the VBS director, Victoria

Week Two: Our team helped Edgewater Baptist Church prepare for their VBS. The church is in the Northside and is extremely diverse. The week involved a lot of gardening, cleaning, and crafting. I loved the staff there. They were genuine people whose main goal was to share the love of Christ with kids. It didn't seem forced or ritualistic. Other teams from HLIC have gone and helped with the VBS and they absolutely love what is going on there. It was cool to be a part of the preparation stages and then hear how well everything is going. 

Week Three:  We mostly worked with Salvation Army's Mobile Outreach Team. We traveled with them to hand out soup and bread and make new friends. The truck travels with two counselors that can assist clients with rehabilitation and figuring out financial situations. Most of the time my team was hanging out with Gil and BJ, who drove the truck and managed it all. BJ, for all his silence, had a heart of gold. And Gil was both charming and hilarious. He loves to tell people his story and how God has worked in his life. On Wednesday they treated us to to some Puerto Rican food and good conversation. Every human should eat sweet plantains at least once a day. It was hard to say goodbye to these people!

Yvette, Me, Naomi, Gil, Felicia, & Jessica 

These past couple weeks have been wonderful as well, but if I wrote about them now it wouldn't do it justice. I didn't realize how much I actually had to share until I started writing! I have another early morning tomorrow, otherwise I could write for hours. Tomorrow will be a hard day as I leave some beautiful children behind.

Thanks for reading this and for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for us!

Pretty, right?

My discipler, Brittnee