5th String of Chicago Updates! (Finally)

Okay, so I know it's been two weeks since my last post, but I have been insanely busy what with a team coming and all. Lame excuse, I know, I know, but still, it's true.
Last Monday a team from Omaha came for a missions trip, and they were amazing!! I loved them! I swear the pastor was OCD. YAY US!!
Tuesday we had our usual outreach in Ford Heights. There were 78 kids there. Just 78 kids alone. It was so exciting!! Anyway, we talked about friendship, and what a TRUE friend is supposed to be. We used David and Jonathan as an example. Jonathan was King Sauls's son, and heir to the throne of Israel, but was also David's best friend and knew that David was anointed by God to be king after Saul. But Jonathan fully accepted that (maybe he just knew that being king would have been horrible and didn't want to do it himself), and fought to help David get it. But the whole point of this lesson was to teach the kids that a true friend makes us stronger in relationships with parents, friends, and most importantly, God. Most (okay, all) of these kids have seen more than their share of heartache and heartbreak and really need TRUE friends to stick with them and build them up. We used a couple object lessons to get this point accross. First, we had one of the team members come up and stand with his arms out while one of the girls from the audience tried to put his arms down. Needless to say, this was pretty easy. But then we had another team member come up and link arms with him and then have the girl try and pry them apart. It didn't work, thus proving that it is MUCH harder to tear two people apart than it is to bring one down. Then we had two of the kids come up and had one stand on a chair and had her try and pull her friend up, and then we had the friend pull her down. It was easier to pull the friend down, of course, due to gravity. The kids all loved it. After the lesson and all of our games, the team came out and did a few human videos/pantomimes. They were great! And then they had some carnival games prepared for the kids. It was so amazing!!
Wednesday we went to The Hill, which is our Hispanic site (thank God we had some Spanish speaking people with the team! They were able to reach out to the parents so much better than we could). We did the same stuff, but then it stared to rain, and we had a couple of the team members come up and do one of their human videos to "Stand In the Rain" by Superchic[k], which was incredibly impacting while the rain was falling. The song also turned out to be one of the girls' testimonies. It was absolutely incredible.
Thursday was my birthday!! (Gifts and cards can still be sent to me at the church. Contact my mother for info. LOL) But we went to the outreach, and it was so amazing! I love seeing all these kids coming week after week, and being so hungry for it all. They love it! And that makes me love it all the more, too. We did all the same lessons and games and stuff. But I love to see the different reactions to everything. The diversity is so amazing. After the outreach, I went with my family into downtown Chicago. We walked around and dad and Erik got their pictures by a Lambourghini. Then we went to a restaurant that had amazing fries and stuff. Then we pretty much walked around, took a trolley to Navy Pier, walked out to the lakefront, then walked back because mom didn't feel good. But we stopped at the Mac store (despite Erik's protests), and used their free internet, which was amazing, and an excellent marketing and selling tool.
Friday we went and checked out the strip mall down the street from the church. I'm not sure what anyone got, but it was still fun. Then I suggested we go to Demitri's for lunch, and it was incredible. It's a little corner Greek restaurant that plays Oldies all day long. I love it!
Saturday was the homeless outreach at New Hope. People from Pastor Nathan's church donated a ton of clothes and then the team brought a bunch too. We had hot dogs, chips, and pop, along with free haircuts (I said that for a few hours straight). We had over 400 people come through. God is absolutely INCREDIBLE. Then the next day at church some of the families came back for service! There were 7 new kids in children's church! We were SO excited!!!!
Monday was our day off, and I pretty much layed around being a bum the whole morning, then went shopping with Priscilla, and came back and continued being a bum. GREAT times.
Tuesday we went to Ford Heights and had 108 kids this time! 108!!! We are still absolutely blown away. We are talking about Guardianship this week, and how we should be guardians of each other, and how God is the best guardian we could ever have. Priscilla and Alex and I are doing a skit about guardianship. We are portraying an abusive situation, and a friend/guardian protecting the victim. This skit really hits home for these kids. I hate thinking about these kids being in these situations. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! But God is there for all of these kids, and He's better than anything any of us could offer.
Today we went to the Hill, and didn't do the skit because it wouldn't really affect these kids as much as it would at the other sites. So we just did a few extra songs. They LOVE the songs, and I love seeing their enthusiasm!
I know I am not the most... faithful person when it comes to blogging, but I will write myself a note and keep it in plain sight, so maybe I'll blog more often.