7/22/10 Afternoon

            So, we had quesadillas for lunch!  They were DELICIOUS!!!!!!  Applause to group 4!  Next we began our VBS at about 1:00 but instead of doing a story about Joseph the kids learned about Gaza and The West Bank.  The missions team (who taught the lesson) (Heather, Joy, Kevin, and Cassie) did a fabulous job with the lesson despite their lack of people and practice.  The middle schoolers did a great job playing with the kids and helping with work projects! They weren’t afraid to get dirty whether it was washing dishes, working in the yard, or painting. They hung in there even though they were very tired. We loved hanging out with our little brothers ... awwwww… we’ll miss them SO MUCH! When we leave on Friday we’ll definitely miss the kids at VBS especially Caleb and Chelby. (Pastor Chad’s kids) It’s  been really amazing to see these little kids responding to God’s Word and it’s a big  blessing to know that God’s Word can reach even the smallest of us.  After VBS ended the painting projects continued along with spending time with kids (Megan has scars to prove it) at the park and making dinner. Applause to group 2!  While making dinner a couple of us got to share testimonies.  It was comforting to hear how God has transformed our friends’ lives and he never stops working.  Thank you Jesus! During this time sleeping beauty (Our very own Hannah Wills) was sleeping of course!  Also, Heather, Amber, Kevin, Luke, and Joy went to Jewel to get some last minute groceries.  So that was about it before dinner :)

Joy and Rachel signing off!

Morning 7/22/10

This morning after breakfast and devo, we went to paint some of the rooms upstairs by the sanctuary. Hannah and Rachel and I were in this little room with no windows to open and a small fan. It was really hot and stuffy, but I think we were having too much fun to care. Türe came in to help, and soon got involved in the paint fight that Hannah and me were having! It pretty much consisted of attacking each other with wet, paint covered paint rollers. I think Türe won, as Hannah and I are still covered in paint! We finished the room we were in, and moved on to finish another, just in time for lunch.

Megan Arntzen

Afternoon/Evening 7/21/10

            “You’re out! No it was on the line!!”  That’s what we kept hearing as kids played their favorite game called “4 Square.”  VBS (Vacation Bible School) was a really great experience.  One of my favorite parts of VBS was when we were doing the motions in a song and just watching every kid do every motion.  The kids really loved the songs and the motions.  When we were with the kids it was really eye opening to see how much they loved this camp.  This is probably the highlight of their summer.  One girl almost started to cry because she didn’t want to leave.  She made us promise to her that we were going to be back here tomorrow.  After VBS we got prepared for the Community Meal.  Which is a meal the church serves to the community every Wednesday night.  We served them hamburgers and hot dogs.  A lot of people showed up.  There were about 150-200 people!!!!  There was so many people we actually ran out of hamburgers.  It was a really great time.  After we got done with all of the cooking, serving, and cleaning up.  We played a game called, “Sardines.”  Which is when you hide with a partner somewhere in the church and people try to come and find you.  Once they find you they hide with you and you just keep going on and on until everybody has found you.   So I was partnered with Adam Harvey and we hid in a nursery on the third floor of the building.  There was a little house in the nursery and Adam hid in it.  It took a pretty long while before everybody found us.  Now I didn’t know that Adam was claustrophobic.  So I hadn’t noticed but Adam got so sweaty, tired and claustrophobic he kicked the roof and the side of the house off so he could get out.  That caused so much noise that everybody found us right away.  If you ever hide with someone don’t hide with Adam.  It was a really great first day and I’m so happy I came.  Keep praying for the high school people and Leaders because they look really tired and have worked really hard.

                                                                    -Cody Albrecht

Morning 7/21/10

            This morning we have a great breakfast. Very delicious, props to the group that made it. :) After breakfast the junior high students arrived, that was very exciting.  We had a job of painting to do upstairs in their baptismal changing rooms. These rooms haven’t been used in a very long time, so consequentially they were very dirty. The one that Sarah, Jenni, Noelle, and I were in had to ventilation.  They windows were stuck closed and it was a fairly small room. We painted for such a long time; we almost got the entire room done. It was super hot and we all were super sweaty, but it was a great time and a great opportunity to serve the church. I was covered in paint from head to toe, but didn’t have time to clean off before VBS. The only thing I was able to clean was my face, but during VBS all the kids in my group were asking me why I had paint all over me. I did get to clean off before the community meal at night. I am leaving a day early because I have another trip to go one, but I have had such an amazing time pushing myself to keep going this year. It was totally different than the missions trip last year, but equally as exciting and HOT. That’s all, bye! ^_^

Evening of 7/20/10

            YES, LORD! That’s a line from one of the songs we have sung at VBS, and I think it really says a lot about the attitude on this trip. Everybody has been working so hard, and the fact that it is all for the Lord makes it so much more worthwhile. We did a lot of yard work today, and it was the perfect day for it. Before lunch we weeded and trimmed. We filled 10 or more huge heavy duty bags full of weeds and trimmings (but mostly weeds). After that was VBS. I had so much fun with the kids today during craft time (I’m one of the craft ladies). We made sculptures of things in the Joseph story out of sand clay that Amber skillfully made. We asked the younger kids what sounds different animals made during some down time and had the older kids walk like Egyptians. There is a little boy named Christain, and we couldn’t figure out why he didn’t quite seem to understand us. Eventually we discovered that he speaks Spanish. He is the sweetest little boy, and I really wish that I could speak more Spanish than I do. Luckily, Noelle Bruce and Nicole Fish are amazing Spanish speakers. Afterwards we had dinner and my group (group 4) had clean up duty. Stefan and I finished up the last few dishes, and I can safely say that it was the most fun I have ever had doing dishes. Although, I will never do it again :P. Once dinner was finished everyone pitched in and we spread about three layers of mulch on every single flower bed. It was fun, but very messy work. It actually started to rain while we were working, which helped clean off some of the mulch dust and dirt. Since we were all extremely dirty, there was a mad rush to the few showers. The girls actually get 20 minutes in the boy’s showers because there are 2 of those, and only one girls’. After that we went to Starbucks! I’m generally not a coffee drinker, but I decided to get some anyways J. We either drank our coffee at Starbucks or took it across the street to Borders. I, being the book lover that I am, took mine to Borders. We immediately went to the religion section, and seriously took over. Everyone was looking at some awesome books and I really wanted to buy one, until I learned that over half of the books Heather already owned. Thus, The Library of Heather was born. We came back and played ultimate Frisbee, except that Nicole and I sat out. We had the most amazing conversation about faith and God. Thanks to her, I feel that something really clicked in me. I was praying and I really felt it deep in my heart, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Thank you God, for giving me Nicole!

            Otherwise, this trip is absolutely FANTASTIC! I in no way regret coming, and it has held so much meaning for me. I really hope that everyone else gets the chance to experience something like I did.

            -Hannah Wills!

Note from 7/20/10

Wow! This has definitely been an awesome experience so far! One of the things that I love most about this area of Chicago is how ethnically diverse it is, and I have had several chances to appreciate that today. This morning while we were weeding around the church property, three teenage girls, with another woman following behind them and looking quite confused, approached me and asked me if I attend West Ridge Church. After I explained to them that I was here for a missions trip, they informed me that they had found this woman wandering around a street near the church and had brought her to West Ridge hoping that someone could understand her and lead her to wherever she needed to go.  The poor woman only spoke Romanian and understood only a few words of English. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I stayed with her and the three girls hoping that the pastor of West Ridge would arrive and be able to tell us where the church that she was looking for would be. (We had guessed that she was looking for a church from the few Romanian words that she spoke that sounded similar to English). After a little while, the Worship Leader of West Ridge arrived at the church and we told her about the situation. She made a few calls to Pastor Chad (the Pastor at West Ridge), in hopes of getting the number of West Ridge’s Romanian Youth Leader. We weren’t able to reach anyone, so we decided to walk with her to where we thought might be the destination that she needed.  We walked for about an hour attempting to communicate with the woman and ease her stress. The only words that we could understand from her were “Sorry, no English,” which she said quite often and with the most helpless look on her face that it broke my heart. We eventually tried going to Walgreens to see if we could find anyone to translate for us, but the only two employees they had who could speak Romanian were not working today. I felt so sorry for the woman because she had most likely been walking for hours, and probably felt an enormous amount of frustration at not being able to communicate with us. We eventually decided to walk back to West Ridge and see if we could help her. As Brittany (the Worship Leader) got the number of the Romanian Youth Leader from West Ridge’s Administrator, Amy, I sat with the woman and got her a glass of water. The Youth Leader was able to translate for us, and Brittany was able to drive her to where she needed to go.  I also got the privilege of speaking with a Russian man while we searched for someone who spoke Romanian and the opportunity to practice my Spanish-speaking skills with a few kids who came to the VBS and did not understand English.  Although it was frustrating at times to try and communicate with people you can’t understand, I feel like God showed me his heart for people of all cultures and backgrounds today and that I can serve them and help them in small ways. Love has no language barrier :)

-Nicole Fish

Morning/Afternoon of 7/20/10

Wow. What a trip this has been already, in every good way possible, of course. This morning we helped weed out all of the gardens around the church. Luckily, it was very cool, cloudy, and breezy, so the work wasn’t as difficult as yesterday. I got scratched up a ton from having to pick vines and prickly weeds out of huge bushes, but I’m proud of my scars. They show that I worked hard. ^_^ Something very interesting and exciting to me was meeting the homeless Muslim that lives outside of the church building. Let me explain that, haha. Pastor Chad told us that there is a homeless person living outside of the building, so be careful not to mess with his stuff when we are out there weeding. Well, while we were out there he actually woke up and to all of our surprises he welcomed conversation with us. I didn’t catch everything, but Cassie, Türe, and Corbin had a nice talk with him. He seemed like a really nice man, and since he is Muslim he was very clean. Also, he had his own camera and took a group photo of us. And I must say that his beard was rather splendid. It was a very awesome thing to see, plus I got to serve the church by weeding their much-needed gardens. ^_^ I cannot wait to see what God is going to do on this trip through us. I have had emotional breakdowns already, but I know that I can make it the rest of these days.  :)

       -Hannah Baker

Evening of 7/19/10

Okay, so this was like the first really day of being here at the church (says me!) and it has already been a blast!  SO, after VBS Ture took Jenni, Rachel, and me to the store to get food for Josh to eat.  The food was rice, strawberries, cheese, lunch meat, then we also had to get water bottles and cups.  Ture looked up how to get to the Jewel and asked me to read the directions off to him.  Well, I couldn’t figure out how to scroll down on his phone so I gave it over to Rachel.  She could use his phone; HOWEVER, she didn’t know how to read the directions!  We got lost trying to find the store.  Ture was scary (not really)!  It was so funny though because he kept saying that he was going to kick us out of the car.  Jenni and I were dragged into it because we were laughing and making comments about it.  A trip that should have taken about 30 minutes ended up being an hour longer!  Great stuff right there!  We thought that everyone ate without us because of how long it took; however, the cooking team took long enough that we got back in time. YEAH!  Dinner was really good (thank you Hannah Wills)! 

We went to a ice cream shop and had ice cream all over us (or me and Megan had ice cream all over us).   Nicole, Joy, Megan, and I were playing cheerleader (I don’t cheerlead, YUCK) while Heather was trust falling ON us.  When we got back to the church, us high school kids did Nicole’s devo while the leaders were in a meeting. 

After the devo Joy, Kevy, Corbin, and I played soccer in the basement.  Luke tried to play while on the ripstic, IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!  Well, soccer in the basement failed so we went up to the gym to play until the leaders got done.  We wanted the leaders to get done fast because we could play ultimate.  WELL, when they got done we couldn’t find the light-up Frisbee!  I think it was hiding in the Boys mess (stuff :P).  We got the Frisbee and went to the field across the street.

It was a epic game of ultimate.  I didn’t really play the whole time because Megan was guarding me (she was really good because I wanted to hurt her so she would get away) and I was trying to make her bored so she would stop guarding me.  Well, my team was down like 5 points.  When I finally got rid of Megan, my team decided that we had to step up and get back in the game.  We did! There were some epic passes which lead to epic catches!  I caught an awesome throw from Josh!  Joy turned into Sam Pimpo (meaning BEAST!).  Nicole didn’t kill anyone (she’s vicious).

I should get off now though.  I think I wrote too much.  We’re gonna hit the hay early tonight so I’m saying good night!

~Cassie :)               

Video Day 1

Check out our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheHouseofSTU 

7/19/10 Morning Post

I can’t believe it’s actually here. In a few hours, the kids are ACTUALLY gonna be here. I’m not quite sure how prepared we are, but I know that God can take care of it. I really know that he’s going to use us for spectacular things. Yesterday was particularly hard for me, because I have a knee problem, and get really bad headaches, and both of them were flaring up. But today, I’m feeling better and ready to teach some kids. I can’t even communicate my excitement for this. Even with the minimal sleep that I had, I’m bouncing off the walls. (not literally, though. I’m actually pretty calm, because of the whole no sleep thing. But on the inside. Hah.) That’s all for now. :)

<3Sarah. 

7/18/10 Night Blog

YAHHH! We arrived today and day one has been pretty awesome. We arrived and unpacked right away, and it went very efficiently because people are awesome workers. Then we ate dinner and after that we got to join the kids of the youth group here. First, we looked through the bible and looked at how God is our creator. Then we played an extremely hot game of cops and robbers. Half way through the game though I joined some people hiding in the air conditioned room. (one of two or three in the entire building). But now we are preparing for VBS  tomorrow, going over skits, music, crafts, etc. Hopefully we get in some Frisbee time too, and hopefully we can get to see Gods power through each other today and on this trip!!!!!

Getting Ready to Go!!

We are getting ready for CHUMP 2010 (CHUMP stands for CHicago Urban Missions Project).  There is a lot of excitement going on.  There are 8 return students and 8 new students.  We have had two meetings so far and there is one on Friday the 18th.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE S!  We are going to be reading through the book Jesus No Equal and really talking about what missions is and means according to Christ/the Bible.  On Monday there were some really great discussions going on.  I am seeing a lot of potential for in the students for being stretch and grown on the trip (and a lot of fun times!).  The kids also were asked to attend a backyard bible adventure (planned by Amber) as a training.  I think the kids will rock this out :)  Well that is all for now.

Heather (the planner)

Conflict and Forgiveness

Conflict and forgiveness, two very difficult things to deal with.  Although this is difficult, God has given us a strong standard in which to follow to guide us through these situations.  Have you ever sat down and discovered how it is you deal with conflict?  I choose the word discovered because often times our conflict resolution technique, whether positive or negative, is not cognitively known to us.  In order to be aware of how we deal with conflict we must go through a process of discovery.  How do you deal with conflict?  How should we deal with conflict?

 

Matthew 18:15-17

Matthew 6:14-15

Non-negotiable's

Rebellious People

Do you find yourself to be a rebellious person?  This may seem like a simple, and a bit ridiculous of a question because of our sinful nature.  However, Romans 6: 18 "...having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."  When thinking about this passage we have been set free from sin through Christ's death because of which we should be slaves of righteousness.  Are you a slave of righteousness?

Isaiah 30: 15-16

Romans 14: 13-23