Leaving an Impact on Chicago... June 24

OK, so today was QUITE the day for Team Central...we woke up at 8 am and it is now 2:30 am...and the students are just crawling into their beds. So, taking a lesson from the blog writing book of Eric Miller and Phil Roberts...this entry will not be the typical Team Central entry. We will return to the regularly scheduled blog tomorrow.

For now...some highlights from our best day yet:

* We spent the morning working in an rough neighborhood in downtown Chicago. The students split up into three groups...one group read with and tutored elementary school children at a local ministry...one group went to a nearby park to pick up trash, weed planters and connect with the people who were hanging out...and the last group went to feed our sack lunches to the homeless.

* Tahj and Amanda both stated that their experience working with the children at the center was both eye opening and heart breaking. They were shocked to hear of how much the students have witnessed in their young lives and how different their daily fears are from the fears of the children in our home towns. Fears of gang fights, dying, abandonment...that neighborhood is in need of Jesus big time! The students reading at the center were able to plant the seed of Jesus' love and we pray that more seeds will continue to drop on those young lives.

* Hillary and Khryi partnered together to clean the neighborhood park. There was a daycamp out for their daily recess on the playground and these two OBers took the initiative to sit down with a group of children and talk to them about Jesus. They said that the kids were asking good questions and they were able to have a solid discussion about God and His love for us. Jenna was also able to talk with a little boy about Jesus. All of the students at the park did an awesome job persevering through the intense heat to serve others.

* Matt W. and Stacie F., two of our fearless leaders, took a group of students to feed lunches to the homeless. We had packed lunches for ourselves and then, practicing ob flexibility, we decided to hand those lunches out instead. Matt and Stacie were able to model sharing their faith for the students. Blake and Drew did an amazing job reaching out to the homeless and sharing the love of Christ with them. Brian S. could not stop talking about the thrill he had leading a man he met to the Lord. Heaven was rejoicing with us as God's kingdom grew a little bit bigger today. We pray that those we came in contact with today will continue to follow after Him and will seek out churches and mentors in their areas.

* While doing some manual labor at the ministry center downtown, Kelsey went out of her way to sit and talk with a little girl for what seemed like hours. The girl was so captivated by our love for Jesus and was FULL of questions. Kelsey talked to her about sin, Jesus dying on the cross, salvation, eternity, the trinity and a plethora of other things. At the end of the conversation, the little girl prayed to ask Jesus to be her Lord and Savior. At 11 years old, she was eager to learn more about Jesus and took books home from the ministry center to read about God's love for her.

* The students grabbed lunch downtown since all 34 of our sack lunches had been handed out.

* Tonight was the last night of soccer camp. Once again, Heaven rejoiced today as Amanda prayed with one of the campers to ask Jesus into their heart. Three people joined God's family today and Team Central was blessed to be a part of the harvest!

* Matt led a teaching time on "How to Study the Bible" and taught the students how to...well, study the Bible.

* We packed up and left our first church to head back to Indiana. Mt. Prospect Bible Church was incredible to us...the food was delicious...the staff was friendly...they went out of their way to make sure our needs were met and we seriously could not have asked for a better first stop!

* We drove and drove and drove some more...all the way back to CE National where we immediately lost an hour due to the time change...awesome!

* We unloaded the luggage and quickly got ready for bed...the girls were just unrolling their sleeping bags when the boys ambushed the room and started the most epic pillow fight of the century. True story. Some boys were held captive and a rescue mission had to be staged for their release. Where do they get all this energy??!?!

We had an awesome day...God was at work and we were blessed to be used by Him. What a way to start off our summer!!

From Winona Lake, Indiana...Goodnight!