$10 of quarters spent today...

Today I spent a roll of quarters in 2 hours...

$1.00 for laundry detergent for the time of Chicago

$2.75 for a wash and dry

$1.25 for a used Cub's t-shirt

$0.75 for a grape Faygo pop...

$3.75 loaned to Bethany to buy Anneliese's wedding dress (future alterations to come)

$0.50 ridiculous Chicago tax

Mission Accomplished

Trust

Yesterday was a day of trust. In the morning, we were blindfolded and dropped off somewhere in Chicago and it was our task to find our way back. A man that we actually had never met, but he works with DOOR of Mennonite Mission Network came and picked us up. I knew that this was going to be a rough morning, when Team England got put in the back of the van. For those of you who have driven in Chicago or ridden with a local, the traffic moves at a fast rate with many swerves and turns. Imagine this blindfolded and in the back of a van with not as much air movement…I was doomed. The car sickness came…
What I learned most about this exercise, was not how to get back to where we started, but that trust is a big issue for me. I like to be in control, know where we are going, and watch the traffic when driving in a large city with lots of potential people who would want to run into me! Not only that, but I was trusting a man that I had met only moments earlier! But also it was trusting God to keep me safe. Trusting God with my life. That is what this next year of my life is going to be: trusting God to take care of me and use me in the ways that he wants to use me. I struggle with this, which was evident as we were driving and our driver was laying on the horn. I took off my blindfold to see what was going on, and saw a very large truck merging into our lane with nowhere for us to go! Trust. Trust in this man, and trust in God to keep us safe.
The funniest part was not even 10 seconds after we got dropped off, a lady stopped her car and rolled down her window and asked us for directions. I just walked over to her window and said, “ We actually just were blindfolded and dropped of here, so we honestly have no idea where we are. Sorry we can’t help…” Her face was priceless!
It was not hard to figure out where we were. We got on a bus and headed to the red line. We decided to use our free time buy stopping at Chinatown on the way back to JPUSA.
In the afternoon we got to do our first act of service in the city and we were so excited. We helped a JPUSA person, Anastasia pack backpacks with school supplies for the Leland House kids. Leland House in similar to a shelter where it houses families for a small amount of rent. I was told it was the basically the last step in coming out of homelessness before the real world. The neatest part was that the eight of us that went would get a basic description of the boy or girl we were filling the pack for and get to choose the colors and styles of materials for them. It was a lot of fun, we got it done quickly, and Anastasia was very thankful for us. It would have been a very long process if she were the only one!
Later that night Anastasia invited the girls of the group to go out to coffee at a little place called Dollop. I had heard from a previous RAD girl, Tiana, that this was the place to go and I was very excited not only to go to the recommended place, but to spend some time with some of the single girls at JPUSA. Besides Anastasia, we met Sara, Kim, and Hannah. It was a really great time of conversation about life, God working in us, and the work of JPUSA. The day definitely ended much better than it started….:)

Little India

Today we were given the assignment of experiencing a culture. We were handed directions to get to a neighborhood and told to spend the day there, along with answering some basic questions about the culture. We needed to find out what culture we were being put in, what do these people do for fun, what is important to them, and things like that. On our journey to the location we were debating what culture we could possibly be going in. We discussed whether it could be a British influenced community, but soon figured out that we were going into a India/ Pakistani part of Chicago. It was officially named, Little Italy and was located at Devon and Western. In Bradford, England where my team is going, many immigrants from Pakistan make up the majority of the population, so we were introduced to the culture.
The first thing that we noticed when we got there was that none of the shops were open yet and it was 10:30! That is a late start in my opinion... We walked to the park to use up some time until they finally opened at 11:00. Immediately, I was wanting to collect some Indian fabric to add to my collection so we did go into many shops looking for the right bargain. Most of the stuff was very expensive and it took a lot of persuading to find any types of remnants or small pieces of fabric. At times during the day, it made me wonder whether we were getting the same price as other people because things were not marked. Seemed a little fishy in my opinion! We stopped by a salon and saw a sign for henna tattoos and once we researched a bit they seemed ridiculously awesomely priced! you could get your whole hand covered for $10. To get the full experience of henna tattoos, Team England decided to get them! We picked out design and the process started. The young girl (who looked 13 but was actually 20) did not speak much English. She had been in the States for 2 years she said. At times, we had no idea what we were getting on our hand/arms.  Leigh went first and we had this great idea that we wanted to write Team England on some part of our design.  Our artist did not know who to spell England, so when we were saying the letters out loud we got to the "G" and hesitated for a few seconds before writing a lower-case "j", ending with the result of "Enjland". Personally it was one of the best things and although this will stay on Leigh's hand for a few weeks it is a fun story for us. Also our designs kept getting bigger, with more detail and we didn't know if this was because of the language gap or the fact that once it was done they could really charge whatever they wanted. Needless to say, all of ours went up in price to  $15 and $20. But still worth it in out eyes. 
We ate lunch at a place called Usmania, a Pakistani restaurant. It was not busy because of it being Ramadan, which is when people of the Muslim faith fast during the daytime. It was obvious that us three girls were not of the Muslim faith. Luckily, some places were still open. We found a very helpful man, who we could actually understand who talked with us about the community life and the importance of mixing the different cultures and working together as one. He informed us that the community has Indians, Pakistani, and Jewish people all in a short distance. They have 2 parades a year. One for India's and Pakistan's independence day. To eat, Leigh got the chicken biryani and Bethany and I shared another chicken dish that was suppose to be the most mild one on the menu. We all each got a mango shake that was surprisingly warm. Yum..... the funny part was that every place we went to today we ended up getting more than we were trying to get, but then also having to pay for it. We got an extra mango shake and we also got a large plate of food we might not have ordered. This also might have been because of the fact that our waiter, Baboo was VERY hard to understand. He asked where we were from and he was very excited that Leigh was from Florida. Apparently he wants to visit there because even though, we could barely understand him, he asked Leigh for her phone number and address in Florida to come visit. :) Later he did come back and ask Bethany and me for our phone numbers JUST IN CASE he would happen to want to come to Kansas or Iowa! ha! Leigh was nice enough to give her phone number, but managed to come up with an excuse not to give her address. Oh! and the food by the way, was not mild- it was so spicy that Bethany and I were dying of heat and Leigh was just fine and laughing at us! We got the last laugh though when we were waiting to cross the street and Leigh starting screaming and freaking out because a bee was bothering her. She was screeching and people were staring at us, while Bethany and I just laughed. (Of course while trying to help her!)
During the afternoon, Bethany and I found a nice piece of fabric that we liked and we found a place to find some sweets. They were interesting to say the least. The kind that were the most popular according to the girl working tasted like syrup soaked pancakes. We have not acquired a taste for them yet...

Overall the day was so very interesting and a lot of fun!

The Navy Pier / Psalm 30

After days of saying, " I need to remember to put that in my blog..." I am finally trying to catch up with what has been happening here in Chicago. Yesterday morning we were giving Psalm 30 to read in three different locations around the city.

Psalm 30

I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave, you spared me from going down into the pit.

Sing to the Lord, you saints of his, praise his holy name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime, weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken". O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm, but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.

To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy. What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit. Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

First we went to a little hidden park in a community north of us, then we read it in one of the EL stations (elevated train), and lastly we read it actually in the Bank of America Building downtown. It was very interesting to reflect on the surroundings and what part of the verse stuck out in each location. While we were downtown we decided to get a joint bank account for when we are in England and we were so proud that we each ended up with cards! Not only that, but we all got library cards too! We might have made it back a few minutes late, but we got a lot done! 

Later that night, the group decided to go down to the Navy Pier to watch fireworks and explore the area. After a somewhat long walk we made it to the pier and enjoyed the free activities.  A couple of lucky people even got to go on some of the rides by being in the right places at the right time. The weather was beautiful and we had a really great night!

Chicago!

So...I have been in Chicago for over 2 days now, and my feet already hurt. The RAD group is staying with Jesus People a.k.a. JPUSA (pronounced- Jay-Poo-Za) in the neighborhood of Uptown. Jesus People is a community living house. They have between 400 and 500 people and live as a big family. They own businesses that many of the people work at and the rest work around the building as cooks, janitors and other odd jobs. The money is pooled together to buy food and other essentials. It is a very interesting way to live. They say that it is like living and working with everyone from your church; some people you get along with really well and others test your patience.
In the past few days we have been exploring the area and finding our way around Chicago. We are very close to the lake and have been there a few times during some free time. The "England Team" is made up of three girls- Bethany is from Iowa and Leigh is from Florida. I love them already! I think that we are going to make a great team! Somehow we have found ourselves in a "who's awesomer" contest with team Bolivia, and I am pretty sure we are winning.