Tuesday Recap

Hey everyone! We officially kicked off the Chicago 2010 Mission Trip! Nicole here and I have the privilege of telling you all about the amazing first day we had. Throughout our team meetings and all the preparation for this trip one of our main focuses was on the amount of flexibility our team has. Flexibility, when it comes to changes in the schedule and just anything different that could happen on a mission’s trip. Ironically enough that was the first challenge we were faced with as a team. We were possibly supposed to start on a work project today but things were changed on the bus ride to the city. Our leader, Jordan, announced that we would be walking around the city feeding the homeless today instead. The team handled it perfectly, no one complained or questioned the change, and everyone just went with it and was excited to start!
Once we arrived in the city we parked the bus and got off to start making lunches. Each person made three bags, one for themselves; with a sandwich, chips, cookies and water and then two other bags with two sandwiches, chips, cookies and water. After we ate our lunches we split up into our small groups and were each assigned a few streets inside the city. An adult male was also assigned to each group for safety purposes.
Although I wasn’t with every group today we debriefed at the end and talked about all of our experiences. One of the biggest things that were consistent in each group was the surprise at the amount of faith in some of the people on the street. The team was moved by each person’s attitudes and encouragement. It was wonderful to see not only our team giving out love and encouragement but also receiving it by the people we met today. Another thing that was very evident in every group today was the willingness by the students to walk up to a total stranger on the street, give them a meal and pray for them. But our students were phenomenal! They jumped right in and gave it everything they had, and I know that’s one thing as a leadership team, we were all very impressed with.
After spending a wonderful, life changing day talking with people downtown, we headed back on the bus for the hotel. Everything went great with our check in to our hotel. We had a little free time to swim, relax and hangout before heading to dinner. After dinner, we got together one last time for the night to debrief on the day and talk about what God was doing so far in us and through us. Right now we are all tucked safely in our beds preparing our bodies, hearts and minds for all the amazing things God has in store for us tomorrow! So until then, goodnight!