This week is really calm, but I'm being very productive and I love it! I've learned that I work best when I have a list of tasks to do and I can do them as I please, and when I get them done I feel really good about myself. That's some knowledge I should take back to school with me. Basically, what this week consists of, is getting things ready for our community carnival on Saturday.

So yesterday after some laundry, which was much needed, Jennifer and I went to the church and the area around it to put up some posters and flyers about Saturday. Another thing that I have learned is that even though South Carolina is hot and humid, 93 degrees is hot. It's even more hot when I don't wear shorts, however, I value respecting the culture of the neighborhood and being respected by men on the street more than I value not sweating as much. So it's okay. While walking, we prayed that God would lead us to the places we could spread the news about this carnival. We walked around and I noticed a convenience store type place that Jennifer referred to as "the beer store". After a few seconds of discussion of whether or not we should post a flyer there, we decided that we weren't necessarily trying to attract Christians to this event. We're trying to reach out to the community and tell people about the Gospel. We walk in and there is a man standing at the counter talking to the cashier while we ask if we can post the poster. He asked if he could have a flyer and asked how much it would cost and we told him that everything was free. His reaction? "Shut up! I'll be there with my kids!" How awesome is God?! We almost didn't go in there, and now hopefully he'll come and bring his kids!

As we were in the same shopping center, Jennifer's flip flop broke, so we went into "Dollar Land" to see if they had a cheap pair of shoes for her since the pavement was so hot. We were about half way in the store when we realized that we both left our wallets back at the church, and we were just about to leave when the guy said that we could have the shoes because it was a hot day and what else were we going to do? When we went back to pay him he only would take a dollar. What a sweet blessing in such a crazy city.

So that was yesterday. Today consisted of dying salt for a craft for Kid's Club and painting cans for the carnival! It's so obvious that God wants me to work with children, because it takes a special kind of person to want to paint cans and dye salt all day. He makes things like that obvious to me sometimes and I love it.

So tonight at the kid's club, I was sitting on the bench while the kid's were playing dodgeball at the end, and a Polish woman from the neighborhood came and sat down on the other side of the bench. She asked me if the kid's coming up to me were mine, which cracked me up since she thought I was 15, and it started off a pretty good conversation. We talked about me and we talked about her and her family. She helped me understand why there is so much dispute between the Polish and the Latin American communities. The Polish community, generally, are very close minded when it comes to different cultures and even other ethnicities. She said the Mexican families have too many children and they're all too loud and she seemed a little racist against African Americans. She was not a mean woman, though. She's very sweet. That's just how she views the world, and that's so crazy to think about.

When I told her that I'm studying to be a teacher, she acted like I was a little crazy. I mean, I guess it is a little crazy. Being around crazy children all day and not getting paid that much would be crazy if you didn't enjoy being around children and seeing them learn something new. Sometimes I feel like my major/career choice/calling is the "easy route". There are so many people I know that want to go into business and the medical field, so teaching seems like one of those easy things that any one could do. When I talk to people like the woman tonight, though, who talk about how they could never deal with that many children all the time, I know that I'm where I need to be. God's already shown me ways that I can incorporate my love for children and helping them learn things with sharing Jesus with them. When I think about what I talked about with that woman, it seems like it was a little unpleasant. You would think that I would be annoyed or upset, but I am currently filled with joy that I was able to have that conversation. We didn't talk about God a lot, but I was able to have a good conversation with someone I didn't know or have any kind of connection to. God showed me how easy it truly is to just talk to people. I'm definitely going to be praying for her and that God might change her view towards her neighbors, but also that I might be able to talk to her again. Maybe next time we can talk more about spiritual things. 

So much has happened this week! I've had my fair share of public transportation experience by now. I've ridden the "EL" downtown and to Wicker Park a couple of times, but never alone. I don't think I ever want to have that experience. I've ridden the bus BY MYSELF! I didn't die, nor did I get anything stolen from me. Basically, it was a success. I've also learned that walking miles at a time really isn't that bad if you're on a mission. Walking is fun and nice when it isn't one of those days where it's super cold. That's the funny thing about Chicago spring time. There are days when it's around 60 degrees, and I'm freezing. Then it gets to the 90s and it's really hot, but I think the main reason I'm so hot then is because I'm wearing capris instead of shorts. Culture is a strange concept, I've come to find. People just don't wear shorts here. Forgetting the fact that they would be a lot cooler when it gets hot if they wore them.

Something else that happened this week was I helped with the kid's club again. I did the games and crafts this week, and I learned that these kids love a good relay. You know those over under games everyone used to do on field day? These kid's loved it! It's good to know that my childhood filled me with wonderful ideas on how to entertain children of all ages. Speaking of, we're getting things ready for our carnival!! It's so exciting and we're going to have so many fun games and it's going to be fun and awesome and yeah. I would tell you to come, but I can almost guarantee that you're not in the Chicago area.

This week I also went "evangelizing" with Greg and Amy from LABC. We went out to a nearby park and talked to a couple of people. Unfortunately, I didn't do a whole lot of the talking. It was so awesome to be a part of it though! Something I realized as Greg spoke to people, though, is that he knew what to say to things that I didn't. He could just come up with analogies that explained everything, that I could never have come up with. I think that's why I can talk to children more easily than adults when it comes to that stuff. I know how to talk to them and I feel like I can get on their level a bit more easily than I can someone who used to be involved in gang activity and is 8 years older than I am. I guess that means talking to adults about Jesus intimidates me. Yep, I think that about sums it up.

Today we went errands running, and in the process, we got things to decorate the welcome table at the church! It's set up so that there is coffee and some kind of snacky something on the table, but it wasn't very pretty. Now that can no longer be said because we made it beautiful and it's amazing!

At the tail end of all things exciting, JENNAH HAD HER BABY! I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but the pastor's wife, Jennah, was very VERY pregnant when I got here. She had the handsome Joshua Lamon "Rock" Thomas on Thursday morning! I got to see him this morning and he was precious. He was crying a lot, but I mean he's a baby, so it's kind of to be expected.

P.S. Apparently people here think I'm funny, which is fantastic, because a lot of times I find myself funny and no one else does. I say things, sometimes, though, that I don't expect to be so funny, but apparently the fact that I say something so blatantly obvious is funny. so... that's good :) lol.

Prayer requests: Incoming mission teams coming in soon, Jennah and Viju/Thomas as they recover, Viviya (their daughter) as she gets used to not being the only child, kid's in the bible club on Tuesday nights, and Lani- one of the guys we talked to at the park. 

I've officially been in Illinois a week! It's been amazing so far, and totally crazy. After training was over I moved into my apartment which is great. I have a room all to myself which is great, but it's right underneath the stairs which makes me feel a little like Harry Potter. I got to walk around the neighborhood I live in and got some general information. I live in Avondale which is a neighborhood in Chicago that is mainly Polish and Latin American. I used to think that the days of immigrants who didn't speak English were over, but being here only a week I know that to be false. We had a kid's bible club in the park on Tuesday night and there were children speaking Spanish and Polish to each other which was so interesting to see. We're going through the wordless book which basically is a story including the colors in the salvation bracelet. This week we went over the Gold color which talks about Heaven. We told them about how there are mansions made of gold and how Jesus lives up there and one of the children asked "How much did he have to pay to get there?" What a crazy awesome question! In a neighborhood where families don't have a whole lot of money the cost of things is very important, and it allowed us to lead into how Jesus had to give everything, but we get in for free. The rest of the week I've spent at the pastor's house next to the church with his wife. We work so well together and she is so sweet! The pastor is Indian, so there's a lot of culture around me which is amazing! On Wednesday night I was able to meet some of the church members at the Prayer meeting/Bible study. Then yesterday afternoon/last night I met up with some of the other summer missionaries I met at orientation and went to downtown Chicago which was amazing! The city is such a great place to be if you have the right shoes :) Seriously, though, I love it. Something that's come to my attention though is that I'm ridiculously selfish. One of my goals for the summer is to witness to 10 people, and I haven't even started! I'm so scared for absolutely no reason and I'm putting my comfort over the advancement of the Gospel! My prayer is that God would lead me to to situations where it would be very clear I'm supposed to witness to them, and not only that, but for Him to give me a spirit of boldness so that I will be able to do His work. I'm not here for me, I'm here for Him.

So prayer requests: that God would lead me into Christ-sharing conversations, that I would have the wisdom and boldness to lead those conversations, the Avondale neighborhood, Jennah- that baby Joshua would enter the world soon, and the city of Chicago- which is so so lost. 

I'm in Illinois!
 My first plane ride was a success. I didn't die (obviously) and there was really only a little turbulance, so it just felt like a roller coaster. The plane was much smaller than I anticipated, because it was an express plane, so there were only three seats per row, the there was an aisle separating the first seat the the other two seats. As soon as I got into the O'Harre airport I realized how small GSP is. I went to the wrong baggage claim at first, which doesn't surprise me at all. I finally found where I needed to go and went from Terminal 1 to 3, because apparently I was the only person arriving from Terminal 1. Once I met up with the rest of the summer missionaries, we went to lunch and I had my first REAL Chicago style pizza experience. I had been to Uno before, but for some reason I don't really count that.
  Now I'm in Streator, which is in the middle of no where basically. We're here for training and tomorrow we all head out to our respective sites. I knew that Chicago was a huge city, but what I didn't realize is that outside of Chicago there's nothing. It's like I'm travelling through South Carolina, because there are field everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean... EVERYWHERE! It's cool, though, to see something completely unexpected.
   While we're training, I'm spending time with other missionaries that are spending their summers in Illinois. Most of us are in the same general area so we will definitely be getting together in the city over the summer and spending some down time with each other. I am so excited! Everything has been amazing so far. It's kind of like how at the beginning of college, no one really knows each other so you're all forced to make friends with each other. It's so encouraging to be with people my same age who have the same passion I do. I'm the only missionary from South Carolina, but we're all basically from the South, which is pretty awesome.
   Once I'm in Chicago, I'll give another update on how things are going, but I just wanted to make sure people knew I was alive and well :)

p.s. I found out the other day that Illinois is one of the most unchurched states in the nation. No wonder God has me here this summer.

Prayer requests: Safe travelling for tomorrow into the city, for the people of Chicago, and that we would all be open and flexible to whatever God has planned for us this summer.