Hey hey guys!
2 posts in one day? I might be going a little crazy...or doing anything to stay away from homework-you can decide ;)
Anyways...So, in the beginning of April I was presented this totally cool opportunity to help out my awesome friend, Carrie Rodgers, (she is the Student Ministries Director at Alive Ministries, a leader on my Young Life team at Jenison, and if you haven't met her, you probably should because she's awesome!) and out of the blue, and super randomly had mentioned needing an extra leader to go along with Alive's high school spring break mission trip. So me being, well me, I quickly monkeyed around with my schedule and 1 adult leader, 2 college leaders, 9 high schoolers, and 3 cars later...we were off!
I have been attending Alive for about 7 months now, it's such a fantastic place with great community and I love saying that I actually have a church home. But, I'm even more super proud to say that we were all apart of the first mission trip EVER with Alive, isn't that pretty awesome?!
Our team was in Chicago for 3 days. Our trip was through Young Life Expeditions, and led by the amazing Jan Mulder who has been on staff with Young Life for over 20 years! Jan kept us very busy with multiple organizations, we would have been lost with out her (literally-she knows the city like the back of her hand, and can parallel park like a pro!) Our first day we worked at World Vision- there we sorted through supplies donated from various companies so they can be sold at a discounted price for low income families. We also had the rest of the day to explore Chicago a bit! (I finally visited the bean!!!) The next day we worked at Jesse White Tumblers and basically did an organization overhaul of their office; sorting through boxes and boxes and boxes of jerseys and all of their supplies. We also spent some time with La Salle Street Young Life and helped them with their fundraiser to send kids to camp, by making flower pens out of duct tape! It was really neat to hang out and get to know some of the students and leaders serving in Chicago. The last day we did a little spring cleaning at La Salle Street Church , and dusted all of their pews and wood in their sanctuary and did some yard work around the church!
We definitely got to "experience" Chicago's culture a lot in 3 days. Christ's Vineyard CRC graciously hosted us. We ate lots and lots of different, good, super (not) healthy food...Cheesecake Factory, Chicago Pizza, Ed Debevic's, Chick-fil-A, Sam's (graciously paid for by Mr. White), etc...need I say more?! This trip was a really awesome experience, I got to know some super cool high schoolers and just loved the way I witnessed them serving Jesus. It was also really neat to see the way people in Chicago are making a difference everyday to the community. Jesse White of the Jesse White Tumblers is also the Secretary of State of Illinois. He is a man that has devoted his entire adult life to the city of Chicago and helping urban kids find a better life and stay off the streets and out of gangs. He lives in the community he serves which was amazing for our kids to see since he could afford to live in a nice gates community somewhere. He also took the time out of his crazy schedule to talk with our group and pose for pictures. Kimmy at LaSalle Street Young Life is a native of West Michigan while she attended GVSU so it was fun to make some hometown connections. God is using her in a mighty way in the city and it was cool to witness that as well!
All-in-all there couldn't have been a better 3 days planned in Chicago, and instead of posting a bunch of pictures to share with you guys like I always do...I tried a different route this time and made a highlight video of the trip! What?! Take a look, and let me know what you think! :)
(sorry you actually have to click on the link to get there!)
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