  Life Outside 'The Bubble' As most of you know I was extremely nervous two weeks ago about the mission trip to Chicago that I took last week. I had spoken with interns and prepared myself as much as possible, but I don't think I could have prepared myself enough for such an incredible experience. This was my first out of state mission trip, and it was a doozy. We left Friday and arrived in Chicago on Saturday.
Saturday consisted of unpacking, opening celebration, and finding our crew. Sunday was a get to know your crew day. We were grouped with another church from Oxford, Mississippi and we worked with Armitage Baptist, one of the largest churches in Chicago. Sunday was the day we went to a park and played sports... And invented sports. (Quarball) Then all the planning and preperation that we had done since June came to use on Monday. That's when the culture shock happened. Monday was a slow day for our team because we only had three kids that spoke minimal English and their mother who only spoke Spanish. Day two, what an incredible leap of faith. We went from three kids to 41, including parents. That was when I really saw God starting to move. I got to know some really cool, whacky kids and got to see what kind of life these kids grow up in.
They grow up in such a different life style. Gangs hang out on their streets, homeless people sleep on their doorsteps, and some are even abused. There was one girl that I fear is an abused child. She was the sweetest girl, but was so scared and cautious. Her mother was very strict and very mean. As her mother left she yelled at her on how to sit properly. She really touched my heart because that was when I realized what kind of city we were dealing with, this wasn't your momma's mission trip, this was real and it was serious. Tuesday night was the night that we had nothing planned so our group went downtown. We then split up into smaller groups so that we could go where we pleased. Dave, Seth, and Grant were in my group. We decided to eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. We didn't leave their until 8:45 and we had to be back at the subway at 9:30.
We didn't have time to go to Virgin Records, which was what I had been looking forward to for quite some time, I was rather pissed and was rather exhausted so I retired for the night at 10:30. Lights out was at eleven. We had a smaller number of kids on Wednesday, mainly because some were going to a birthday party or doctor's appointment. So it was somewhat of a recovery day for some because quite a few were still tired. We got to get to know more kids though which was awesome. Some kids that came Tuesday brought a friend or an older brother so that was good. Then Thursday was our emotional farewell. I am extremely proud of Chandler Kellog because he was not afraid to talk to kids and ended up bringing a young man to Christ.
One of the ministers from Armitage visited our site because his kids were there and he ended up talking to Chandler, Matt, and I and we prayed with Matt and he accepted Christ as his savior. Chandler is a great example of ministering because he was not afraid to talk to Matt and talk about the bible whilst playing football or what not. This was all together an incredible experience. The worship time that we had at night was good only because we were able to reflect on the day and really see what God was doing and that made worship such an uplifting time for me.
I didn't neccesarily like the speaker but I still enjoyed his rather basic sermons. I learned more stuff from myself and from prayer. As I said before, Wednesday night was the cry night. Our group went up on the roof of the circular dormitory that we stayed in and shared all that God was doing. I ended up talking to God really in depth and just thanking Him for so much stuff. I began to cry when I realized how perfect His plan was. I realized that everything that went on this week was perfect and happened exactly how it needed to. Nothing should have changed. I realized that our church on every block town needs to be like that because we then go out to the unchurched cities and minister to them because we know Christ, but they don't. And if we weren't the expensive churched out town that we are there wouldn't be anyone to go out to Chicago. That's when I began to breakdown. I didn't care who was around me anymore, I didn't care how typical christian it was. Everyone needs a good cry and a good hug. I thank urlLink Karyn for being there for me and praying for me. She was the shoulder I needed, she didn't ask questions she just knew that I needed someone to cry on.
It's amazing how God moves. So, in conclusion: God is amazing. I don't think there is anyway to denie the existence of God after such an incredible experience such as that. If you did not go on this mission trip, and go to BBC, I encourage you to think and pray about it and prepare yourself to go on the next one. If we don't go to Chicago though I will have to beat Jay... In the name of Christ of course. Until next time. Photographs provided by urlLink Seth Worley and urlLink Darrel Girardier . 
