Today was our first full day in Chicago...and we’ve been busy! Before diving too much into what we did today, we’ll explain a little about the week.

This week we are staying north of downtown Chicago in the Edgewater neighborhood at Edgewater Presbyterian Church. Throughout the week we’ll be partnering with a few of organizations in the area doing service projects. Something unique about our trip is that we’re serving with another church group this week! They’re from a suburb of Charleston, West Virginia and all week long we’ll be doing everything together as a group!

After arriving to Edgewater Presbyterian Church yesterday evening we got settled and went out for Chipotle dinner while waiting for the West Virginia team to arrive. It was a beautiful evening outside, so we took a stroll to the lake and spent some time at the beach jumping over waves and playing frisbee. Our West Virginia friends arrived last night, we gathered as a large group for the first time and went to bed to catch some zzz’s.

This morning we woke up and ate breakfast before attending church service here at Edgewater Presbyterian Church. Amongst the congregation here at the church there are over 14 different languages spoken! The service was still in English, but it was so cool to worship the Lord as one body though we were from so many different backgrounds. Pastor Sherry preached this morning, and we all got to walk on water! You probably know what passage she taught from, but you’ll have to ask us more about it when we get home.

Following the church service was a fellowship coffee time with the congregation, so we got to know some folks from the church which was cool! Afterwards we ate chicken cesar salad wraps for lunch and they were deeeelish. This afternoon we spent some time getting to know one another and talking about the week ahead. Most importantly, however, we now know everyone’s favorite ice cream flavor, and that mint chocolate chip is quite popular among the group. (Do I hear a call for ice cream later in the week??)

We spent the afternoon at Cornerstone Community Outreach serving people from the community and the organization. Part of us went and helped Steve, the cook, prepare dinner for members of the community and the rest of us sorted through bags of donated clothing and other materials.

FUN FACT: The kitchen crew prepared dinner, cleaned dishes, and two of us cracked 148 eggs to be used for breakfast in the morning. Check out photos of each of the crews on the previous page!

Tonight we dined on true Chicago-style pizza...Pizza Hut! Okay, well, maybe not Chicago-style pizza...at all...but that’ll come later in the week ;) Afterwards we showered and spent some time exploring the church building here- it has over 80 rooms, a sanctuary, a theatre and a gym!

Today was certainly a busy day...and we’ve only just begun! Tomorrow we hit the ground running with service projects at a few places, but we’ll tell you about it later!

Thanks for supporting us in prayer this week!