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.