Five Minute Friday - Broken

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt: “Broken” with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

GO

I remember what it's like to be broken. I remember the point in my life when I thought that God was very far from me. Four years ago, I was in the hospital for emergency surgery. That afternoon, I was studying at school. The study hall for classes was on top of a dirt road type driveway that was very slanted and rocky. I remember tripping over a huge rock and not being able to get up. I called out for help and someone came to help me but still I felt very very broken. 

All I remember is pain for the next few days and I knew I was in the Lord's hands all along, but still the fact is that I was still very very afraid. I had never had surgery before and I was four hours from home. I felt very very broken and open and there was no one that I knew there except for a study hall person Mrs. Cheryl. She rode to the hospital with me. All I could think was Please don't leave me in this hospital alone. I was not her child I was not someone she cared more than a friend about. I felt very alone and very broken. I remember the pain as they moved me from place to place to place to place to place. I remember the meds they gave me. After that I remember nothing at all really. I went into surgery the next day. I remember even in my broken state that God does look after His Children I remember the church coming by and how there was always someone from church coming by to see me even when my family arrived to look after me. I would take that day back to have the strength and nerves in my legs again. But I know that God does take care of us and mend us when we think we are broken. I honestly to this day do not know why all that happened to me, but I do know that God holds the future. HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU!!!!!

STOP

First Thursday

Well, I promised to keep up this blog and so far it's so hard to find time to keep up with it.

Today was my second first day working the front desk. It was pretty fun. I opened doors for people, sorted mail, and answered phones. I'm getting to know a lot of the seniors that live in our Friendly Towers.

This week was like I said it would be a crazy week. I got all my cooking done last night thank goodness. Tonight has mostly been a relaxing night. My roommate said last year at Fest for Us she was overwhelmed. I've not signed up for too many priorities.

I'm working the front desk tomorrow and then Sunday I will be participating in karaoke. I'm going to sing Lord You're Holy by Karen Wheaton, I practiced for my roommate tonight and she liked it.

Dinner tonight wasn't that great. Maybe it was because I wasn't in the kitchen....lol.....jk. Anyways, they cancelled women's bible study due to the festival. I'm excited to see what it's like.

My roommate and I have just been discussing schedule changes. It seems that now we both have to get up at about the same time. So we have to figure out the bathroom situation. We are going to test a plan tomorrow.

Well, I have to shower and hit the hay. I hope to get around to Five Minute Friday but if I don't then I'm sure you will understand.

I'm Slacking on my Blogging

I just realized that through a mist of this past week. I only blogged once this week and not in my journal blog but the Friday blog. I feel really bad and I will try to make up for it this next week.

A few highlights of the week, I messed up on bread dough one day and Tim saved it somehow even though we ended up having a lot less bread that night. I hung out with more people this week. I also got to know Zach and Sasha better. They are the couple that I have been working in the kitchen with. The health inspector dropped back in to check on us. We passed Woo hoo!  I hung out with another girl who will be gone for two weeks to visit her ex fiance (???) But the guy is the father of her child.  She's a good friend. She invited me up to a party in her room the night before she left.

I've had book night two nights in a row. We read a book called Coraline, which is actually a children's book that was made into a movie a few years ago which I have not yet seen. Weekends fly by so fast for me now. I didn't even get to do laundry, which I will have to do tomorrow. If I wait until another day I will have no more clothes to wear.

This coming week I'm afraid will be another mist. Fest for Us is coming which is Easter weekend. I have to prepare and bake. I also signed up to work the front desk Friday night. Fest for us is basically a huge party during Easter weekend since they used to have the Cornerstone Fest during the summer. Everyone has to pick a slot they want to work to help pick up the slack in the house, such as dishes or kitchen duty. I signed up for front desk. So during one of the Good Friday services, I will be manning the phones.

There's only one thing to say about this coming week, it will either be too long because of all the things we have to get prepared, or it will fly by so fast.

Everyone please pray for my roommate. Her name is Sara and she will be going into the hospital the week after Easter to have brain scans done for her epilepsy.

I'm so sleepy so I'm going to slip into my jammies and go to sleep now.

Five Minute Friday - Remember

This is where I write for five minutes flat on a topic that is given on a christian blog Five Minute Friday. This week's topic is Remember. So here I go

GO

I remember a lot of things that come to mind when I think of remembering. I remember Grandma Faye and how the family would always go swimming in her and Grandpa's pool. I remember how she took me to Birmingham when I was young for my first Tim McGraw concert with Uncle Ray and Jackie. I have known that she wasn't really my blood grandmother either only a step grandmother but how she always cared for all of her grandchildren. I vaguely remember going with her to show houses since she was a real estate agent. I loved going to her house every weekend and going to children's church. I always remember their house being at the center of everything. I would anxiously wait when my cousins would be coming over and ask When will Jackie or Jamie be here?

END

I will always remember Grandma Faye and even though she died of cancer when I was very young. 

Satuday and Sunday All in One Post

Saturday was a good day. I thought about the class on rest and also about the Five Minute Friday about rest. I took their advice, I think the Lord was trying to tell me something (hint, hint, nudge, nudge). So I did all my work on Saturday. I did all my laundry. Ugh, laundry was horrible. I had a load of clothes that were so stained up from working in the kitchen.

Laundry took almost all day, in between I went to the coffee shop to hang out. That is my new hang out spot. This sounds crazy but within the upbeat music, I do find a lot of peace there.

After laundry, I went to the family fondue party. Some of the ladies there said I should bring my Mary Kay Satin Hands. So we all had a fondue party/beauty party. It was fun. The fondue was pretty good too. Our hands ended up being silky smooth. We just spent time talking and getting to know each other.

I actually ended up going to sleep early.

Sunday was a good day too. I actually don't think I've had any bad days since I've been here. I went to church and sat by Sara and Cindy. They presented the last two stations of the cross. Jesus falling for the last time and Jesus' clothing is stripped. It was really meaningful and reflective. I didn't eat lunch that day because it did not look appetizing at all. While Sara and I were in the room, she asked if I liked to bake. I said yes but that I don't have much experience. She eneded up inviting me to a small group that her and another girl here Anastasia go to every other sunday.

I made sure that it was in walking distance. So we decided to make banana bread that is glueten free so that Sara could have some.

Baking the bread took all afternoon. Around 5, we got ready to go and walked there. It was a good 30 minute walk. I got to see a little of the city and go to a side of town that I had never been to.

The small group was nice. There were kids running around everywhere. We talked about church, politicians, missions, and homeless shelters. We also ate finger food and the banana bread without glueten was a big success.

The walk back home was a lot colder than I expected. I could see every breath that I made. My legs were freezing. My friend let me borrow her mittens, which helped a lot.

When we got home, me and Sara went to Annaliese's room/house and watched Where the Heart Is. Sara had to leave early, but me and Annaleise finished watching it and then we stayed up until 12 talking.

Overall, a really good relaxing weekend. Now I'm ready for the new week

Thursday Class Notes

John 20 Jesus calls the disciples now His brothers. We are being invited to a supernatural family. Mary is weeping. It was customary to go back to the tomb. She's coming to mourn her master. There's confusion because the stone has been rolled away. There are two guys in the tomb and that makes it less ordinary. The two men identify themselves as angels. Mary is trying to figure things out in her head. She thought maybe he was a gardener. Mary is in pain here. We know people in pain but if we let their pain speak to Jesus, we might hear Jesus response, because He is a God of suffering. C. S. Lewis says pain is a megaphone. If a person is lost we can imagine Jesus calling their name and pray for them and leave that person in God's hands. 

Jesus said to her,  “Don’t hold on to me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” (John 20:17 NCV) 

What this verse means is that He wanted to let her know that He wasn't going to hang around. God is always calling us onward. We have mountaintop moments and we like Peter on the mount of transfiguration we want to build tents and stay with God but we must move on. Mary understood Jesus saying this. Jesus affirms her and tells her to go tell the disciples what is going on. 

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. His followers were thrilled when they saw the Lord. Then Jesus said again,  “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, I now send you.”    After he said this, he breathed on them and said,  “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. If you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:20-23 NCV)

Now this family extends to the disciples. Jesus appears and it shows that His body is not like the old body. That's why He says  peace be with you twice. Context is everything in these verses. We are not to speak forgiveness to people but to tell them about the forgiveness that is available to them. 

Friday is Here!

Friday was a pretty good day. The kitchen crew started the day with Our Daily Bread devotional. I don't really remember what it was about the only thing I remember is that it was very cheesy. Some of them stick with you for a long while and are very profound. Other's just go in one ear and go out the other. We were making burger bean bake for dinner that night with homemade dinner rolls (yay).  So me and Seda were the only ones in there somehow. So our job was to just prep the bread dough. So we made the bread dough and were done extremely early at 10:30.

At 10:30 I didn't have anything else to do so I went to my room. I actually got some transcription done for my little side job. I didn't realize that when I came into the community, I would have to give that up too. It's not for that much, it's through a site called www.mturk.com. Some of the jobs aren't worth paying anything for but the transcription jobs are the best paying ones on there. Before I came to this community, I did it to help me get a little extra Christmas money. I ended up making about $75.00 extra by working 3-4 hours in the evening. Friday I got about 2 hours on the site just working. But I had planned on getting some work in every day. It's okay, at least I know that I am always staying busy.

I didn't really eat lunch and when I came down for class. Today we were working on the magazine for P12. (Which is the name of the discipleship class) We all pitched in and gave a few ideas. I'm going to see if I can come up with any poetry. Some people are contributing paintings and articles.

After class, I went back into the kitchen. Thank goodness, there were more people in there helping out. We rolled up the dough and put it on the cookie sheets. That took longer than I thought. Tim the head cook was working on the burger bake I guess. I was in charge of keeping the timer for the rolls and taking them out and putting them into the holders. So i did that every 10 minutes, I would get the rolls put them in the warmer take the dough and put it in the oven.

This really made me think about how in life, we are bread in God's eyes. Think about this, He molds us into what we need to be. He puts the right amount of everything we need in our bodies. For example, our gifts and abilities, we may not know what they are, but God adds just a pinch of artistic creativity with a little pinch of something else for example leadership. Then throughout our lives, if we are believers, He molds us into what we are through Christ. When we are put into the oven of life, we are tested to see if we will remain confident in Christ through all the trials and tribulations in life. This is just a little thought I had while baking bread.

The burger bean bake was a little better than I expected it to be. It was burgers and beans put over rice. Sara's old roommate Becky came by and visited. She is the one I went to the coffee shop with on my first night here. She now lives outside of the community and has a full time job. She returns to visit a lot. I guess she really misses her friends.

The Irish concert in the evening was so amazing. I love that type of music even though I only hear it when St. Patrick's Day comes around. The band's name is The Crossing an article about the Crossing. I danced to a few songs and the flutes and the harps and the pipes were so amazing. I met my friend Molly there, who had worked in the kitchen with me for several days when I first arrived. She was only visiting during spring break if I remember correctly but had returned just for the concert. This concert was put on so that our girl scout troop can raise money to go on a mission trip.

I got up to my room very very tired. It was only 11 but it seemed like it was a lot later than that.

Five Minute Friday - Rest

http://bible.us/111/mat.11.28-30.niv

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.       Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.       For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Normally when I think about rest, I remember when the only day I got to rest was on Sunday. I worked at a call center for a mail order pharmacy. There were times in the busy season when I would work 10 hours a day sometimes five to six days a week. I was trying to get as much overtime as I could get. This didn't leave much time for God. I soon found out that my spiritual faith was weakening. I learned through a few mentors of mine, that it is necessary to take that rest, not only because we need to refresh and take time to rest in God, but also because God Himself also rested.

In God's perfect creation, before the fall of man, He himself took the seventh day to rest. God spoke through His Holy Spirit and told me that I need to rest in Him, even if that meant not being able to work overtime. I was going on and on without even stopping in my busy work day to take time for Him. We all need to remember to rest not just one day a week but rest in God every day of the week.

Onions So Good They Make You Wanna Cry

Today was an EXTREMELY busy day. The morning started out very well. We had our morning devotion, which was very good. Today we read from John 12 about Mary anointing Jesus with perfume. They told us we would be making soup and homemade bread and rolls. This sounded so simple when really it was not.

The day began by slicing twice as many vegetables for the soups. Then on top of this...the city health inspector came by for inspection. This made work twice as hard for us because we had to be without the head cook for a while doing what seemed to be double the work.

After the health inspector left, it was already 12 and I had just got done chopping onions. Woo, one thing about chopping onions is that they make you want to cry. The lady next to me was chopping cucumbers and she said that the onions were getting to her.

Class was really good today. I will post the notes a little later. The class was again John teaching from the book of John. The next class we really discussed ideas from a paper from a roman catholic organization. We determined that our views are very different from their views.

When I got back to the kitchen, it was good. The speed had slowed down a bit. I helped cut the bread and get the salad bar ready. Dinner was packed. I take it that soup night is a very popular night. One creative guy took the round loaves of bread that we received from the donation bin and made it into a bread bowl. I didn't really help with line pick up tonight.

Tonight was a ladies Bible study where we talked about James 1. I sat with Hannah and even my roommate Sara got to go, even though at first she thought she wouldn't be able to make it. It was a very insightful Bible study.

After the Bible study, Hannah and I made tea together. The coffee shop was closed so we had it in the dining room. Then we went to the living room on my floor.

Well I really need to get some sleep. I believe it's going to be a big day tomorrow with the concert. A group that plays music that sounds like they are from Ireland lol. I can't wait I think it will be so much fun.

Wonderful Wednesday....well not wonderful but not so bad either

Today was a good day. I went downstairs to work like usual. Usually I grab a quick bite of something and go into the senior's dining room for morning devotional. The senior's dining room is for the people that live in the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of our low income based housing. When they are seated in the senior's dining room, they are served. I am told that it is served restaurant style where the "waiter" or "waitress" takes their order. After the seniors clear out, the kitchen crew and clean up crew go into the senior's dining hall and that is where we have our devotion time. Usually we read from 'My Utmost For His Highest'. After that we pray, and there we plan out what each person will be responsible for. We were told we were cooking Beef Stroganoff today. So we went into the kitchen.

On the way into the kitchen, one of the coordinators stopped me (a coordinator is a person that oversees scheduling and living arrangements, and this person also helps out when someone can't complete their job, also a person who arranges visits from people interested in this ministry and people who want to move in). Cindy asked me if I could help work the front desk and the phone since the lady that usually handles it is sick. I said sure and got right to work. I am a people person and love talking to people.I answered phones and put mail away all morning. I worked there from nine A.M until noon. At noon, the lady who was sick came and said she was feeling better and would be able to take over. So I went to my room and relaxed for a little while.

The afternoon was really strange and odd to me. At class time which is one, I went down to class only to find one person there along with the teacher. He said since no one showed up he would cancel class for the day. Second class at 2, same thing no one showed up except for me and that same guy. I don't know where everyone went, but it sure wasn't to class.

The afternoon in the kitchen was CRAZY. Tim the head cook said that they ran out of beef, so they had to cook ham for the stroganoff. Then it turned out we didn't have enough noodles, so we gave noodles for the Senior's dinner and cooked rice for us. We didn't have time to prepare a vegetarian dish. We barely got the food out on time, the greens had to cook a little longer.

I sat with my family for dinner. We talked about the pope and christian rock music. After dinner, my roommate and I went to the coffee shop for tea and to study for our bible study which is tomorrow night

Tuesday March 13th

Today was a good day. I pretty much did the salad bar again. I enjoy fixing up the salad bar. It's so nice to make it all look very pretty. For dinner we were going to have something called zippy beef. It's basically where you cook beef and noodles together and add sour cream.... so yeah.... didn't sound too good.

So, I chopped cucumbers, carrots, and cauliflower. It was my turn today with the radio. So I turned on Jesus Culture in the Pandora app. Pandora is a service on the iPhone where you can make your own personalized radio. I enjoy listening to music while I prepare and cook. It does make the time seem to go by faster. (speaking of that read below for what we talked about during class session today) While I was in the kitchen, one of the ladies comes up and just hands me ten dollars. I asked her if she wanted me to give this to someone because I haven't loaned out any money. That was the only way I could think that I would receive money for. I don't really have the cash to do that. But instead she smiled and said it's treat money. Treat money is apparently what people use when they have to go out and eat lunch or something. She said usually people spend it at McDonalds or the corner store. But I always eat what they have and if I don't eat what they have then I'm usually not that hungry. I am so happy that God gave me treat money, but I'm not going to spend this money on treats. I'm going to see if I can buy a notebook that way I can properly take notes in class instead of taking them on my iPhone and having to transfer them later.

God does know our needs, even when we don't think we know exactly how we are going to have that need met.

Today's class is about a book called Community and Growth by Jean Vanier. This lady who runs a commune similar to Jesus People but it is for mentally handicapped people and their nurses. I am just starting classes here so they are actually in the middle of the book right now. I hope to catch up later. Today we read about the different soils that people fall on and soil that chokes the life out of them. Neil (the teacher) said that living in a commune you have to have one key ingredient when working and that is love. You will always meet people here that get under your skin or that have differences that you don't particularly  like but you have to show them love and forgiveness. We also talked about making sure that you take time for yourself. 

The funny part in class was when Neil said the way he takes time for himself is a cup of coffee while in the  shower. We all laughed. He said that two things he enjoys is a nice cup of coffee and a shower so why not combine them together and get the day off to a good start. 

Class time was until 3 like usual. Afterwards I went back to the kitchen and I got to cook the vegetarian dinner which was tomatoes, onions and noodles sauted together. 

Later on in the evening, we had something called the community gathering. This is where we worship God and also tell everyone about various projects within the community. They mentioned that the protest was a success. Everyone sang happy birthday to a lady and then we talked about Easter weekend and all the festivities going on. It is going to be a big party with movies, karaoke, games, coffee samplings, big dinners and of course the Good Friday service and Easter Service. They have several churches come and help out with that.

They also talked about in May they will have a dedication for the building across the street. They are going to  have three pastors come and I guess help dedicate it. I'm not sure why it takes three pastors. LOL. 

I was going to hang out with Sasha after the meeting but she didn't feel good

Monday Class Notes

John 19:38-42 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Joseph did this in secret. About 80 pounds of spices. This amount was reserved for someone who was a king. Joseph was a wealthy man and convinced Jesus is a King. Joseph doesn't show up in John until these verses. John is involved in putting out heretical fires in the church.  Why did John make sure to say that there is a new tomb. To say that it wasn't recycled. In Jewish culture, tombs were reused. They would reopen tombs and take out the bones and put another body in there.  There was a theory going around the swoon theory that Jesus really didn't die but fainted. John is trying to prove that Jesus rose from the dead. Another rumor is that when Mary goes to the tomb and there was no one in the tomb that she was at the wrong tomb. Their love for Him is still alive even though their King is "dead". The body would disintegrate within the tomb. A stone would be rolled in front of it. In the narrative we the reader are in on things that the people in the story aren't aware of. 

John 20 a woman finds the tomb. Mary Magdalene. Within the four gospels, we don't know the exact order of events. The guys that wrote these books weren't stupid. They left it the way they experience it or from interviews from people who experienced it. A number of Marys show up at the tomb. Mary Magdalene the woman with a bad reputation, Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary sister of Martha. Mary Magdalene is called the apostle to the apostles because she ran to tell the apostles what she had seen. 

They are in despair because they see that the body is missing. They are possibly thinking the romans took the body or grave robbers. 

John when he sees the tomb is now seeing and believing the identity of Jesus. He believes in the resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus raised Lazarus, this should have been a clue. Easter is the moment of the new creation. It is finished. Dark is gone and the sun is shining. 

Kinda slow for a Monday

Today was a really good day. I was in the kitchen and my buddy Seda was in there. Seda is my buddy, she is also the one that helped me get to know everything and showed me around on my first day. So, this morning I helped with the salad bar. I cut up carrots and cucumbers.

Afterwards, a  couple that I have been working with every day since I got here, Zach and Sasha. They let me do the dinner board. What that means is every day we have a board that we put up at lunch time that shows what we will be eating for dinner that night. You have a basket full of markers and you can decorate the board. So it's turkey fried rice. I wrote the words and then I drew (to the best of my ability) a turkey, tomato, pepper, and a bowl with a bag next to it. I hope if people can't read they will figure out what we are eating by the pictures.

We got done before 11 am, so I fixed a cup of hot tea and went to my room.

At 1 pm, there was my class. The class today was about John. It's easy to remember the teacher in this class because his name is....well....John. I will include the notes when I am done for today. John...teaching John...was the only class for today.

After that I was informed by my buddy that if I am in the discipleship classes, I don't have to go back to the kitchen until 4. So I went ahead and went up to my room and relaxed a little while.

At 4, I went down to help in the kitchen. As I was stirring up veggies and rice, I thought about the verse that says "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:34. At first when I came here, I thought cooking and preparing food wasn't a big deal. Sometimes I feel like I'm not helping people, but in reality I am helping them get fed so that they can feed other people (spiritually and physically).

I ate dinner and helped with line cleanup, The food is served in a buffet style manner. So I had to take the leftovers out and put them in the refrigerator. Sasha and Zach helped me take the salad bar apart and put it up.

This evening has been a really quiet evening. It is really cold outside. I'm going to drink some tea and go to bed.

This week

I decided instead of taking each day and making a post I would make it a big journal. All divided by the time of day.

So, in the morning I go and help out in the kitchen. Wednesday I helped make cornbread. Thursday I helped make Turkey Mancotti or some weird word like that. Friday helped make coleslaw. I enjoyed being able to help out in the kitchen. I work with a different cook every day and also there is another couple that just moved here and they are helping out as well.

Afternoon I have classes from 1 pm to 3 pm. Some of the classes I had was Ephesians, John, new testament, and also a magazine class. The magazine class is basically something we are putting together to hand out not only in this community (Jesus People) but also the community in general. It will have poetry and art and articles about different issues in the community. I might contribute some poetry but I don't know yet if I will be able to. I was barely able to unpack.

We had a class that I won't forget. This was one where we were asked a question. Can you stop sinning once you become a christian?  Many people had different answers. We read a story about a homosexual that was able to change. However even if you put a sin behind you the teacher made the point if you put sin out the door, it is waiting right outside the door for you. So you have to be careful not to let it in again.

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

We also had a class about the parables in John. The lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son. Two things in common. First is that in each parable something was lost, second is that the person went to extremes to find the thing that was lost the woman who lost the coin, the shepherd who went looking for the sheep and the father who saw the son while he was coming down the road.

At night, the second night I was here I went to the cafe with a few friends that I met and had coffee and played games. Thursday I had ladies bible study. We studied the Armour of God in Ephesians. One lady made an interesting point that the armour does not include back pieces. She said she believes that that is because other believers have your back so you don't need back armour. That night I also went to Target and got a little caboodle to put my bathroom things in. It worked out perfectly.

I also realized I'm not used to the big city. You can walk down the street to a main store. That felt a little awkward at first. The snow was still on the ground and it was sooooo pretty.

Friday was a "slow" day. We were only cooking BBQ and coleslaw in kitchen. My roomate went to bed early and I wandered the halls looking for something to do. I finally found something down the hall, a group of girls were having craft night so I joined in. I didn't make anything though.

Protest

I forgot to mention the first night I was here there was a protest that would be taking place on Wednesday. So we all made signs for the protest.

The reason for the protest is because a lawmaker wants the Salvation Army to stop helping in this neighborhood (which is the poorest neighborhood in Chicago). I got to help the people make signs. Here's one I helped design.

It felt so good even being able to help on my first day here. I also got to meet a lot of people here.You can read more about the protest here http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Hundreds-protest-Cappleman-over-Salvation-Army-fallout/41846.html Also another news article with video http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/03/06/protest-help-outside-ald-cappelmans-office/

The second video shows that our protest was a success. I did not go to the protest, but I did pray for God's will to be done in this situation.

Post from Tuesday

Tuesday when I got here, I got to see lots of snow. The snow looked so pretty. It reminded me of the Christmas song I learned from the remnant. Snow is only falling if it falls for Thee when it falls for Thee and it decorates the trees. I know that this is not Christmas time but I don't think God minds us singing His praises all the time. I was really blessed to even get to the JPUSA building. I thought I was going to be stranded. It ended up that I was the last stop during the snow storm. All the other bus trips were cancelled because of the snow storm. When I got to the building I walked inside and was introduced to a lot of people (I still can't remember everyone's name) and I ate dinner that night (after 24 hours on a bus) and took a shower (wow that felt good to take a shower after so long on a bus).

I got to meet my roommate Sarah, who is very sweet. She and I talked for a little bit and also found out that we have a little bit in common. She was moving her stuff from the bottom bunk to the middle bunk. The bunks in our room contain three beds. So by the time she moved them all, I only had time to move my clothes in.

I fell asleep that night and slept peacefully until 7:00 the next morning. I didn't even hear the traffic down below. I only heard the occasional siren. (There is a hospital down the street and a fire station on the other side)

Post from Monday Night

This is an old post that I wrote on the bus trip to JPUSA.


So I am leaving Atlanta heading to Chicago. I had a tearful goodbye, but I know I'm in good hands.

I say this because I feel so much peace right now. I surprised myself actually. I'm going to miss it here in the South. I was watching the Weather Channel while in the Atlanta terminal. They said that Chicago is actually expecting 8-12 inches of snow. I'm excited because I've never seen snow like that. I've only seen snow flurries. A friend of mine says that I will be calling her and telling her I wanna come back to the South. I don't think so. I really want to help and serve people. Matthew 23:40. I want to help people and get away from doing what I want. I have found that we live in a me world. When a baby learns to talk the first thing they learn to say is mine that's mine. They pitch fits in daycare (I worked in one before) saying that toy is mine when they know the other child brought it for show and tell.

Well It's hard to believe that tomorrow afternoon I will be in Chicago. I was thinking recently if there were any songs about Chicago. haha. I don't know any.

I wanted to leave you all with a song that is totally in my mind and heart right now. Even though the name of the song is Welcome to Delaware I believe that as of tonight when I ride past Tennessee I will be stepping out of my comfort zone. Like I said I feel total peace about it right now. Thank you Lord. All Praise and honor and glory to You.

All I really have here now is You Lord

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYYXmzc-qlU&playnext=1&list=PLU5ZrYtbE_qNQkgjBadkZJj8WyXIlAWb-&feature=results_video