back in Michigan

I arrived back in Michigan a couple of days ago...it is amazing to look back over the summer and see 1)how quickly it went by, 2)that I am already wanting to go back to Chicago, and 3)the biggest thing...how much I have learned. This summer has been growing, learning, stretching, challenging, exciting...
the first week of the summer was spent in Memphis, TN. We lived in a neighborhood called Binghampton, and stayed in a vacant apartment there, working with Eikon Ministries. Our first "culture shock" came when we first arrived and noticed a cockroach dead on the floor right by the front door. Optimistically, i tried to encourage the group..."well..at least it is dead....that is a good sign, right?" Unfortunately, optimism does not always mirror reality.
we began noticing these "friends" appearing everywhere-in our bags, the kitchen, the bathroom, the couch. Our response at the beginning of the week was screaming, running, (staying up all night with the light on, watching the door to our bedroom for any intruders). However, by the second day, we began to fight back...squashing the roaches with our flip-flops-by the end of the week it really wasn't that bad.
While in Memphis we helped out at a community center nearby-they run an afterschool program and are very understaffed. We helped out with the different game times/i helped clean two huge fish tanks, and we had a chance to spend time with some of the kids.
we also had the chance to hold a small 3-day basketball camp on our block...many kids came. We played games with the younger kids while the guys played ball with the older ones. The second to last day, we presented a skit, shared the gospel-and kids came to Christ! The last day the gospel was presented again and more people came to Christ-including two moms! As our team reflected over this, we were amazed. People coming to Christ was not a result of anything we did in our power. It was God drawing these people to himself, and we were privelaged to be his instruments-to share in the work that he has already been doing there.
Also in Memphis, we had the chance to go to the Civil Rights Museum. It is built around the hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It was so impactful-and is so amazing to think that it was not so long ago that racism and segregation so permeated society...and then to realize that in many ways-it still does. And what a contrast it was for our team (a team of different ethnicities, home backgrounds, church backgrounds) to walk past exhibits that showed that segregation.

We left Memphis in our donated van (an astro), and our leader's minivan, and headed back to Chicago. There, we (the girls) stayed in a family from the church's garden apt. no cockroaches. the guys stayed in an apt at the church.
One of the first things we did was help out at "The House" a hip-hop youth service in Lawndale.
During the service we were able to get involved- i helped out with a drama-and was able to pray with a couple of girls after the service-who wanted to get serious about their faith.

We also had the amazing opportunity to work with Kids' Club in Cabrini Green. Kids' Club is a ministry through Moody Church. They have an afterschool program for the kids that struggle in school, and many come to Christ as a result of this ministry. We helped them advertise for thier summer "Sidewalk Sunday School!" We passed out fliers and candy, walking through the row houses, talking with families- the next day a couple of us went into some of the high rises to pass out fliers again.
Gang symbols on painted walls
the smell of urine
profanity
a little girl swinging from a makeshift swing, made out of a pillow and rope
boys fixing a bike
playing basketball
children laughing
metal fence around the buildings
barbeque
community
double-dutch
music

a few days later we went back to Kids' Club again, but this time it was for a different reason. We helped out at a funeral of an 18 year old boy who had been shot. The pastor had done 7 funerals of boys under the age of 18 in 12 days. This young man was a follower of Christ, and it was such a reminder of the urgency to share Christ...we never know how long we have-life is so short.

Our summer also consisted of helping out at sports camps, helping a school in the area move some boxes, desks, etc..., office work at Kids' Club, office work at Holy Trinity Church, Bible study (discourse analysis), and eating lots of chocolate. To write everything would take forever...as i have already written so much. These are just a few snapshots...
thanks for your prayers, encouragement...
hope your summer is going well
mar