Today was the last day of Summer Blast and our last day in Chicago. On Friday's at Summer Blast the kids go on a field trip. Today we went to the beach on 31st street with the kids. This I think was the best day by far of Summer Blast. The water was really cold but so refreshing because of all the heat. We swam, played football, and I also went and played basketball at a court that was nearby with some of the kids. That's all about we did today and now we have to pack so we can head out early tomorrow morning. So yeah that is what we did today.
- Nick
Friday, July 6, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Hey everyone, this is Morgan posting. We are about to close down our 6th day of Bridge Builders and I can't believe it's gone by this fast! Let me tell you 'bout the last two days.
Yesterday it was like 190 degrees outside (actually 103) for our Independence Day celebration here in Chicago. We started it off by working outside in that heat, sawing trees, smoothing dirt in a vacant lot, and setting a new fence post. The kids worked very hard, and thankfully we only had to work for a couple of hours before lunch.
Afterwards, we went back to the ministry center and did some cleaning, took showers, then left for downtown! Our mission was to find, order and eat Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza.
Mission Accomplished.
One student claims that "Chicago deep dish pizza is the best pizza." I heartily agree. But having all that pizza in our stomachs made the next part of our day a little uncomfortable. We decided to take a bus over to Navy Pier to watch fireworks, which was awesome. But you see, there are like 170,000 people in Chattanooga, and there were probably MORE than that in this one tiny area of Chicago last night! We were bumper to bumper, but not with cars...with people! Yet, the fireworks were very patriotic and awe inspiring and we celebrated in style!
Today was another day of working with kids, and then it was time for the "El Experience." No, that is not "The Experience" in Spanish. The El is the Elevated Train that runs all throughout Chicago, and our mission was to ride it from the south side to the north side and back. This takes about 2 hours to do. While on the train, we were tasked with talking to (but preferably listening to) anyone we might sit next to. For some, this was difficult because we often don't feel comfortable talking to strangers. But the students did a great job of stepping out of their comfort zones on this one. Some had pleasant conversations filled with small talk. Others listened to folks tell them all about the aliens that live among us or the way their wives like to nag them about wearing socks to bed. Seriously, you can't even make this stuff up!
Our night closed with a great lesson from Sean, who has been working with us all week here at Sunshine. We learned much about God's compassion and heart for the poor, as well as about how being a Christian does NOT mean we get to pick and choose when we follow Jesus. Rather, following Jesus is something that applies to every single facet of our lives, whether big or small.
That is all.
Yesterday it was like 190 degrees outside (actually 103) for our Independence Day celebration here in Chicago. We started it off by working outside in that heat, sawing trees, smoothing dirt in a vacant lot, and setting a new fence post. The kids worked very hard, and thankfully we only had to work for a couple of hours before lunch.
Afterwards, we went back to the ministry center and did some cleaning, took showers, then left for downtown! Our mission was to find, order and eat Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza.
Mission Accomplished.
One student claims that "Chicago deep dish pizza is the best pizza." I heartily agree. But having all that pizza in our stomachs made the next part of our day a little uncomfortable. We decided to take a bus over to Navy Pier to watch fireworks, which was awesome. But you see, there are like 170,000 people in Chattanooga, and there were probably MORE than that in this one tiny area of Chicago last night! We were bumper to bumper, but not with cars...with people! Yet, the fireworks were very patriotic and awe inspiring and we celebrated in style!
Today was another day of working with kids, and then it was time for the "El Experience." No, that is not "The Experience" in Spanish. The El is the Elevated Train that runs all throughout Chicago, and our mission was to ride it from the south side to the north side and back. This takes about 2 hours to do. While on the train, we were tasked with talking to (but preferably listening to) anyone we might sit next to. For some, this was difficult because we often don't feel comfortable talking to strangers. But the students did a great job of stepping out of their comfort zones on this one. Some had pleasant conversations filled with small talk. Others listened to folks tell them all about the aliens that live among us or the way their wives like to nag them about wearing socks to bed. Seriously, you can't even make this stuff up!
Our night closed with a great lesson from Sean, who has been working with us all week here at Sunshine. We learned much about God's compassion and heart for the poor, as well as about how being a Christian does NOT mean we get to pick and choose when we follow Jesus. Rather, following Jesus is something that applies to every single facet of our lives, whether big or small.
That is all.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Philip Christian Taylor Thompson
22:12pm
Day 1
We arrived Saturday a little after four and went to the John Hancock building and basked in the glorious view that is Chicago's sky line. When we were tired at looking at a bunch of concrete, we took a stroll Ed Debevic's to eat ( It's a restaurant with good food and intentionally bad service). Bishop started to follow our waitress around and she didn't really notice, and as we left she refused to take the gift of my phone number, poor girl must have been blind, which would explain her not being able to notice BISHOP. We came to sunshine and were welcomed with open arm. We got a tour, and dinner, and lots of sleep.
Day 2
We woke up at 8:30 and went to Christ Bible Church, it was an experience to say the least. They
sang us a welcome song, said lots of amens, and made us feel like we weren't even too out of place. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry, which was amazing. We ate tacos, did the P90X™Ab Ripper Workout, and happily fell asleep.
Day 3
Today we actually worked, the kids are a handful but fun nonetheless, were learning which ones to keep our eyes on. Well that's about it for now, so yeah.
Day 4
Today was the second day of Summer Blast, a VBS-type program for the neighborhood kids. After being relieved of duty at 12, we took the extra lunches we packed, as well as our own, to the downtown area to share lunches with homeless people. There were three groups that split up to share lunches, and each had their own...interesting stories. One group was told that "Pakistan" is directly translated as "terrorism", and that to go to heaven one must be 75% of themselves. Maybe 80%.
Yeah, we didnt get it either.
After sharing lunch we came back to Sunshine and played some intense games of BS and went to an awesome coffee shop.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Chicagoooooooo
Philip Christian Taylor Thompson
22:12pm
Day 1
We arrived Saturday a little after four and went to the John Hancock building and basked in the glorious view that is Chicago's sky line. When we were tired at looking at a bunch of concrete, we took a stroll Ed Debevic's to eat ( It's a restaurant with good food and intentionally bad service). Bishop started to follow our waitress around and she didn't really notice, and as we left she refused to take the gift of my phone number, poor girl must have been blind, which would explain her not being able to notice BISHOP. We came to sunshine and were welcomed with open arm. We got a tour, and dinner, and lots of sleep.
Day 2
We woke up at 8:30 and went to Christ Bible Church, it was an experience to say the least. They
sang us a welcome song, said lots of amens, and made us feel like we weren't even too out of place. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry, which was amazing. We ate tacos, did the P90X™Ab Ripper Workout, and happily fell asleep.
Day 3
Today we actually worked, the kids are a handful but fun nonetheless, were learning which ones to keep our eyes on. Well that's about it for now, so yeah.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)