Week 2, Day 3

SURPRISE!!!

  

We had an awesome day yesterday, which clearly you can tell by the above selfie!  (Full disclosure: I did not ask permission to post the above photo, but since it was taken while the students were using my iPad and they didn't warn me they left it, I feel justified in its reuse.  Feel free to tell Michael, Brooke and Megan how great they looked on the blog, as I won't be telling them I left it here either!)

After breakfast in the morning we split into three separate groups to do our work for the day.  One group went to First Presbyterian Church in Hyde Park.  While there, they helped the members of the congregation with a ton of outdoor work around the church.  They helped to weed an mulch their gardens, and then they even stayed longer to clear out the overgrowth near a fence on the property. 

The second group went to work with a group called Casa Central.  Casa Central is an organization for service focusing on Hispanic people groups in Chicago.  Our students went to work specifically with their Casa Infantil location, which is an early learning and Head Start center with 2-5 year old children.  Our students got to spend the morning reading and talking and playing with their students, and it was a really great experience for everyone together.

Our third and last group went to the west side of the city on the pink line to serve at Working Bikes, an organization that receives donated bikes and either rehabs them to sell them or ships them to places or countries where they can be used as a main mode of transportation.  We were lucky enough to be there on the one day of the month where they had a shipping box there and we got to help them prep bikes to fill it.  We took off the pedals and loosened the handlebars so that they could maximize the number of bikes that could fit in a shipment (about 500 bikes per month!).

In the evening, our third small group led us in worship together, talking about facing our fears when it comes to living our lives.  Michael and Claudia shared with us their powerful personal stories about fear, and then the group led us in an exercise to show how many of our fears are shared and not something that we're dealing with alone -- even if we sometimes feel like it.  We ended the night with a song and prayer circle together.

We're feeling very blessed about the week we've had so far, and we can't wait to see what's in store for us in our last few days together.  Please continue praying that our experiences this week would push us to grow together in faith, and that we would continue that pursuit for growth upon returning home this weekend.

Peace,

High School Mission Week 2