Hey everyone,

SO SORRY I have not been able to update yet. We have been staying in a place without internet access for the last couple days. We move into our dorms tomorrow so I will have access in my room from tomorrow on...

I have a lot to write but before I do, here are some things that you need to know so I don't have to explain it more than once:

*HLIC - "Here's Life Inner City" is the ministry I am working for. It serves children and families in inner cities all over the country.

*There are 9 of us on staff, and on Thursday (June 7th) 20 students arrive from campuses all over the country to participate in their Summer Project (what I did in NYC last summer)

*Marc and Sandy are the directors, so if I talk about them, that is who they are. Alos, T is kind of like a director as well.

*The other student-staff members are: Tim, Sarah, Janine, Regina, and Beth.

*The Agape Center is where the girls have been staying since Thursday. It is the main building that HLIC uses in Chicago. It is a church and community center located on the South side of Chicago.

Alright...here is what I have been up to:

Thursday: The train to Chicago was pretty boring. Before I boarded the train I had a minor freak out when I was told there would be no baggage check service on the train. That meant I had to carry my two huge rolling suitcases and a stuffed backpack on and off the train by myself. I kept remembering how awful trecking through LaGuardia in NYC was in that situation. Thankfully though, people were much nicer here in the midwest! Before I even boarded the train, 3 people offered to help me.

I imagine it being more fun traveling with someone, but me, myself, and I just sat there. The sat in front of a guy from Flint to Battle Creek who talked on the phone the ENTIRE time about the dreams he has "erasing from the earth the dude that called his baby's mama ugly." It was terrible! Anyway, I arrived in Chicago on time and was picked up by Beth. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the directors house making lasagna and chatting with Sandy. Her and Marc used to be foster parents so that got me all fired up talking about that, among other things.

Around 4, the rest of the team arrived and we did intros and ate dinner. We spend the rest of the evening getting to know each other at the Cheesecake Factory...which was awesome! It is beneath the Hancock Tower downtown, so we walked around for a while after that. Chicago is a beautiful city. The buildings...to put it lightly...rule. They are so cool just to look at! Some people think nature is cool being God's creation and all that, but for me, looking at architecture in the city displays the power of God to me in an awesome way.

By that time, I had been awake for 19+ hours and was ready to crash.

Friday: Came too soon. We spent the entire day (9am till 7pm) in the Agape Center going over details of project, etc and being trained on all kinds of things. It went by pretty fast but there are no windows in the center. We walked out after 7 to head downtown for a while and didn't realize it had been raining all day. We were taking pics in Millenium Park when the skies opened and dumped a whole lot of water on us cutting our night short. Oh well...we have 6 weeks.

Saturday: More meetings in the morning and afternoon. We had lunch at Panera then planned action group. I am leading an action group with Beth, consisting of five students. We will meet on Mondays once the students get here and its basically just a bible study + hang out time. After that we had Chicago-style pizza at Marc and Sandy's and just played games and hung out all evening.

Sunday (today): We attended church in the south suburbs of the city. It was a small church called New Life Christian Fellowship. It was really fun, like all African American churches I have been too. We were greeted with hugs and welcomes and it felt really cool to witness such a great community that was so friendly towards guests. After service we went to the Dixie Kitchen, a southern, cajun-food restaurant. I got chicken (surprise, surprise...) I am not sitting at Panera again becuause they have wireless. Tonight we are watching a documentary about racial unity and probably going to bed early. We are all super tired and have a long day of moving into the dorms tomorrow.

We are staying at the Illinois Institute of Technology. It's cool because we are closer to the downtown there, actually directly across the street from Cellular Field (where the White Sox play!) I dont have a mailing address yet, but hopefully tomorrow I will have one for those of you that want it.

That's all for now, I'm going to spend some time calling some people I have yet to talk to (aka: JEN WHO NEVER ANSWERS HER PHONE!)

Thanks for your support and prayer, I think it is going to be a great summer!