I think it is Wednesday :)

Hello Team Chicago!
Thank you much for your prayers and comments. If you are having trouble commenting and want to send a little message to the team, you can email me at mkwarder@mac.com.

What an amazing day we had!!

We start each day on the bus at 7:30am and head to the Sunshine office for breakfast. From there the different work teams head out to their sites.

Some of the guys from the work crew spent the day hanging doors in the new church. They worked hard and long and are being a great help to Pastor Brad. The other group completed canvassing the neighborhood inviting kids to the VBS and served at another church in the area cleaning and doing odd jobs and little service projects.

The Sports camp kids took a group of kids to the museum of science and technology.

The New Beginnings VBS continued to be with the kids, they helped clean up the church taking care of our mounds of garbage (what troopers)! Tristy is even teaching piano lessons. You have to be creative when their is no working piano but she made it work!

The gardening crew is working so hard - out in the sun - it was a beautiful day but hot hot hot! They are working at two sites and are incredibly hard, joyful workers. Here are a few pictures of one of the sites where they are painting among other gardening tasks.

After work projects we headed downtown for the meal share with members of the homeless community. Your kids were bold and humble and kind. Here are a few words from them about their experience.

"The meal share was sweet, to listen to the person and their stories. It made me feel like in the future I want to talk to other homeless people and try to have relationship with them in Minneapolis because they are in need of help and I can do that and others can do that. This experience made me see that many of them work together but they are still separated. One word that describes it, amazing." - Austin

"Yesterday was really an eye opener. Although our man didn't speak very much I think he enjoyed the company of being with others. But when there was some silence, I would look around at the people walking by and they would look down on him. It really bothered me because why did they have the right to look down on him. We are all made in God's image. But then I thought, well I have probably done that too back at home. It was a cool experience because I think we all may be guilty of that but we are all God's children and we should love one another.Now I have a whole new perspective on the homeless. I always thought that they brought it upon themselves but now I know that I don't know their stories and there are many reasons they could be in that situation. It was a really cool experience." - Natalie

There are many more stories. Please ask your kids to share with you what happened but even more - what God has taught them and how they are changed. Our conversations have been awesome!

I will share a bit from my experience. Kari Halling, Eric Swenson and I met a man named Robert. We sat on the side of a building and shared a meal and talked. He grew up in the church and so we were able to engage in some great conversations about the Lord. He even grew up in the neighborhood where we are staying. When it was time for us to leave I gave him a few dollars for dinner and he held onto my hand and said, "people don't think that I am human. They think that I can't feel". We were able to shake his hand and put a hand on his shoulder and tell him that we see him and that we see that he is made in the image of God and he is loved. It was powerful for us to be reminded that when we walk by and look away out of our own discomfort and misunderstanding, they see it and they feel it and we communicate something that does not extend God's love. We told him about the church we were at and like a great mom Kari had him repeat the name of the church and told them that they would be expecting him. God is good and we are believing for a better future for Robert and all the people that we met. Will you pray for that with us?

Amazingly enough, it doesn't end there! We had a great dinner and went back 'home' for worship (Kari Nelson and Tristy have been leading which has been really neat). Joel spoke last night on Micah 6:8 and how that applies to poverty. He taught us about the 3 reasons for poverty (sin in the world/tragedy, personal sin and oppression/other people's sin)and we dove in to what it means to be oppressed and what that looks like in this community. It was a history lesson complemented by the stories of personal experience and how the Bible has an answer for God's people. Micah 6:8 addresses them all. (act justly - oppression, love mercy - tragedy, walk humbly - discipleship & forgiveness of sins).

Lastly, we had a special opportunity to step in to the church choir rehearsal. Now this was a rehearsal but when they rehearse, they worship. We listened to the worship leader as she encouraged them to stretch themselves in worship to lead others into the presence of God. A powerful word for sure but then they sang and worshiped and we were able to experience God through them...it was powerful!
Here is what one student said...

"The gospel choir was really great to listen to because you could tell that they were just worshiping from their heart and just doing all they could to give God the glory. During that time I thought that this is how we should worship in church. Not just sing the songs but to really mean it. I got a different mind set on what it means to really worship. God is our audience of one." -- Jack

Whew! What a day! We had some time to be together and the kids were lights out by 11:30pm. A great day and a refreshing night. They are up and out there ready for ministry.

Thanks for your prayers. Everyone is feeling good. We ask for prayers for continued good health and safety. For the people we met yesterday to have seen Jesus in us and for his provision for them. Thank you!

Today we have our EL experience and more teaching from Joel.

More tomorrow! Keep those notes coming.

Love and blessings to you from the south side!

Kelli, for all