more pictures and some thoughts.

 ahh...chicago. at your finest. warm, sunny, calm.

 this is what trips are all about...catching people sleeping...seriously.

 again...

each time i go on a trip whether it's mission trip related or not i realize one thing. it's about the people. (or the food) but really, it's about the people. chicago was no different. god chose each of these 15 people to go on this journey. a long flight, trips in the van, working hard, eating, playing, sleeping, worshiping so we each could realize and value the relationships. it's amazing how each person comes as a separate person but at the end of the trip, we are one. we had one purpose, the same schedule, shared rooms...god knew what he was doing when he said, "it is not good for man to be alone..." (genesis 2:18).

this youth group was not alone. we bonded, we shared, we laughed, we cried. it was good not to be alone. i pray that we continue this. that we would continue to work together to serve, to share, to laugh, to cry...to be together so we can grow together. for it is good!

finally....pictures!

hey all. thanks for being patient! here are the first half of the pictures from the chicago trip! i will upload some more tomorrow...and hopefully the youth will add some of theirs!

Tired feet, full stomachs, and happy faces

Hi everyone! Gabby here writing my first post! Yay! Today was a wonderful day. We started the day by going downtown and went on a boat tour in the Chicago river. I was truly amazed at the beautiful city of chicago, especially the mouth dropping architecture of some buildings. We all got a little color from the tour(maybe a little red too). After that we explored the streets of chicago and got some lunch. Rachel, David, Lauren, Caitlyn and I decided to eat Mexican food and chose restaurant "Su Casa". We were all so shocked at how delicious the food was and thankful for smaller servings than the traditional huge plates :). After that we all headed back to our hotel to get ready but most importantly PHYSICALLY ready for the amazing deep dish pizza. All I gotta say is: I can barely breathe or move, BUT it was the most amazing pizza ever! I'm sure we all feel the same way. Good night youth group fans! Gabby

Kids and freedom.

Hello! Melanie here, and Janelle. We wanted to tell you a little bit more about what we did this past week. Instead of playing soccer when the kids visited on Wednesday, Janelle and I (and Lexi, I believe) played with sidewalk chalk with some of the girls. In particular, we played with Jasmine, who was probably about six or seven years old and was a delight to be around. We drew houses, cats, dogs, and monkeys. After every drawing was finished, Jasmine would trace over it to make it her drawing too. When we got bored of that, she decided to use the chalk dust to paint our faces. Why do we tell you all this? Admittedly, it's partially because Jasmine was overflowing with cuteness that just had to be shared. But these kinds of experiences with the kids also made us realize how important Restoration Ministries is, that it keeps adorable kids like Jasmine safe and entertained and gives them love. It made us more excited that we had spent that time organizing the craft closet because now Jasmine would have some more fun crafts to do. It was hard to leave those kids, even though we were all tired from playing. Hopefully, they'll remember us for a long time--I know we'll remember them! Melanie (that is, me) also wanted to talk about another of Pastor Zan's messages. This particular message went far past it's allotted time, but I can't say I resent that. For me, it was the most powerful of his sermons. He started by talking about God and Adam, then Eve, and then the Fall. He told of how, before the Fall, Adam greeted God joyfully, even ecstatically, and God greeted Adam the same way. He said that God was just as excited to see Adam as Adam was to see God. However, after the Fall, Adam hid from God. He was different than before, stained with guilt and fear and sin. Then came the cross. Zan said that God offered a sort of trade, taking Adam and Eve's (that is, humanity's) sin and giving them the holiness of Christ. Then that sin was nailed to the cross with Jesus. We were set free. All the chains binding us to our past, to our mistakes, to every time we've fallen or failed, have been broken. After telling us this, Zan invited us to form groups of three and tell each other that we had been set free. Then we gathered around the cross and Zan prayed over us as we committed or recommitted our lives to Jesus. It was, to put it simply, powerful. And it's not a message I'm likely to forget. 

Lots of words.

Hey, this is Erica, and I just have some stuff to add on to what Rachel said earlier. In addition to doing the floors and the inventory at the House, we also got the opportunity to organize for them. Some of the girls did an amazing job sorting through a crafts closet, a pantry was put back in order, and a library full of books was alphabetized. Even though a lot of it felt like such small, menial labor that wouldn't have much of an effect, the response we got from these little (in terms of overall effect, not so much in terms of time. These things took hours!) tasks was much more than we expected. I hope that all the things we did will help everything run a little smoother. The other thing that I wanted to mention was a little bit about our speaker for the trip. His name was Pastor Zan, and we learned so much from him. I think there's a picture of him posted somewhere on here(you can look if you like) He was from the New Jersey, so his preaching style was much different from what most of us are used to, but I think that the change just helped his message to come out stronger. He wasn't actually there on the first day, because he was delayed by a storm. He said that this was a sure sign that something good was going to happen in this trip because the devil tried to keep him from getting to us. He was very energetic, and we did a lot of shouting and clapping and raising of hands. On the first day he was teaching, he told us that we were all very special to God,despite of our pasts and our flaws and all the things that we have done wrong. God still wants us, and he can take away our shame and make us new in him. Pastor Zan was very passionate in telling us not to fall into the spirit that we are not good enough, that we are not anything important. He said that humans crave several things:strength, significance, recognition,and appreciation. Lack of these things is what leads to depression, self-harm, and suicide. But,since we matter to God, we don't have to want those things anymore. Through the Holy Spirit, we are give all the strength, significance, recognition, and appreciation that we require. We are special to God, and that is the most beautiful thing. That night, Zan had the leaders pray over us kids, praying that they would be a shield for us against all those things of the world that want to drag us down, that they would buoy us up, and be an example to us. Then, he instructed us to gather around our leaders to pray for them, to pray for the renewal of their energies in response to all the work and effort that they put into this trip, to pray that they also would not forget that God has chosen them. Our group ended up on the stage, since there wasn't quite enough room on the floor of the chapel, and I can say that most of us were teary-eyed. It was a powerful message to have all at once:that God cares so much that he gave us all that we need despite our so many failings(no matter how large) and that we have leaders who have given nearly everything for us to be there. I mean, Amy and Brandon even gave up Baby Parker to hang out with us! (okay, maybe that wasn't so hard, since maybe the were ready for a break, but still...!) And that wasn't the end of all the amazing messages. There were more days I cried in church here than not. Pastor Zan just had great things to say and a way of saying it that just spoke directly into our hearts. I wish I could tell you more, like what the other lessons were, but I've gone on much longer than I expected... Whoops! Suffice to say, we all worked hard and learned well!

Finished closet!!!

Erica mopping the pantry

Organizing one of the many storage lockers! 

Restoration Ministries

Hi! It's Rachel here and I want to tell you about the awesome ministry we got to work with for the past four days. We showed up at Trinity College on Sunday afternoon and after finding our rooms, dinner, and all that stuff, we headed down to worship with all of the other YG's working on the Chicago project. We worshiped, listened to a talk about the week's theme of "just be," and got our assignment for the week. Our YG would be working with Restoration Ministries. Restoration Ministries has many programs throughout the Chicagoland area including the Harvey House(a home for men recovering from various addictions), the Tabitha House(a similar type of home for women), a thrift store, and art building where kids come to learn arts from boxing to pottery. We mainly worked in the

Harvey

House. We cleaned the main worship/hangout room, organized classrooms for the after-school program, and took inventory of the canned food in the House's pantry(there were about 1500 cans of green beans). On wednesday most of the group stayed at the Harvey House to help re-finish the gym floor and sort moldy carrots while some others of us (including me) went to there art/boxing gallery to clean toilets, dust trophies, wash windows, sweep and mop floors, and clean drinking fountains. We met a few of the men living in the Harvey House including Dan who the "main guy who told us what to do everyday." Many of the men living in the Harvey house use talents they've learned in previous experiences (whether that be learning chess in jail or being a professional re-modeler) to make the house not only a comfortable place to live but also a safe place where kids can come to hang out after school. Most of what we did was pretty "behind the scenes" sort of stuff. But in Wednesday, Tanya, the woman in charge of all the kid's programs at the Harvey House invited the kids in the neighborhood to come hang out with us. We played color tag, soccer, and I got many bruises from throwing a football... I think it would help if I could catch better:) In our soccer game we played YG against kids; they beat us 9-7! It was really fun to see the kids all playing with each other and some of the men from the Harvey House joined in the game too... On their side:)

Last YU worship.

I am free to run. I am free to dance. I am free to live for you. I am free. I am free.