"You'll see 'im in church one mornin and ya heart be like 'bang!'"

Today was flippin' sweet.

We went back to the shelter, and I'm growing more and more fond of the place. Makes me sad that we will be leaving and who knows if I'll ever make it back out here.

This morning we were helping hand out extra food, basically a store to those who need the extra food. I met the most wonderful woman, Ira, fondly known as "Granny" by everyone else. I now have a Chicago granny. She even calls me Jennifer :) I was set beside her to hand out some veggies and fruit, and enjoyed some lovely conversation. She is an absolute gem!

The other woman beside me proceeded to keep everyone in order, and yelled more than a few times "Keep your gates shut and move the line on ya'll". Ha, and then I would hear sweet Granny say "Hey there sweetums, what can I get ya today?". I couldn't help but smile.

Again, looking into the eyes of so many different faces touched my heart. I saw the bluest blue eyes on this elderly man, yet they were filled with such a lack of hope. While others grinned their big lack-of-teeth smiles, and were so grateful and sweet. Never in my life have I been happy to hear 'Why thank ya baby" so often.

This funny older man who seems to be a common resident at the shelter continually calls us over. He is stellar. A bit of a kook I might say, however, he makes me laugh. He told a few of us gals who we will marry, mine sounds like he will be a pretty decent guy. Lindsay is gonna get a stellar ripped godly fellow named John, which I think was nice for her to hear. I was quite blessed by him though as he poured out some godly truth, and blessed us and told us to stay focused on our schooling because God has great plans for each of us. Here, a man with so little, lavishly proclaimed God's love and truth on us, and I felt overwhelming blessed.

I actually got a little choked up today. Looking at all those faces I had to hold back some tears. Knowing I'd be going back to a warm place to say, and soon to fly home to my comfy life while these others would walk out into the snowy cold weather, made me so grateful yet undeserving.

Got to cut probably 6 cows worth of meat in the kitchen too, yikes. And I am pro at washing dishes now (Rika, you'd be so proud of me).

Our crew headed into the city to skate outdoors. It was frigidly cold at first but we eventually warmed up. Skating was sweet. I actually felt quite decent compared to the shocking amount of lame skaters out there. It was fun wandering around downtown with the light snowfall. This crew is stellar and our laughs are always continuous.

Aight, ya'll, I'm gonna sign out. Peter and I are trying to work on our gangsta lingo, there is some cool talk out here.

Tomorrow I'm back to the school. I'm stoked to see some of those kiddies again.
Jen J, signing out.

"Ahh nice, service with a smile."

Today we switched things up a bit and Lindsay, Kevin, Peter and I went to the homeless shelter downtown. We felt somewhat odd walking through the inner city with our brown sandwich lunch bags.

We immediately went to work cleaning and cutting potatoes, washing lettuce, and clearing out a back room.

Maybe not the greatest jobs, but people are so gracious and thankful. "God bless ya" is continually muttered or cheerfully expressed numerous times a day.

Handing out lunch was enjoyable, but a new experience.

My eyes met those of tired mothers, cute little youngins, sad elderly men, rough fellahs, as well as those that still hold a cheerful shine. One gentlemen saw my smile and chuckled, and cheered "Yeah- she's got teeth! She's got teeth! Service with a smile."

Peter and I sat and had lunch with a nice guy who used to work at the shelter but was now attending a Truman college down the road. We got talking about money, and how much schooling cost. He mentioned how others pay a hefty amount for some other schools in the area. I cringed inside thinking how much I pay to be at Trinity. While I have absolutely valued that experience, sometimes it is hard for me to really justify all the money I have put into that place. I sure hope my heart remains willing to serve where the Lord directs me, rather than desiring a comfortable shallow life for my future.

Now we are settled back in at our residence for the week. I'm about to go make a cup of tea, and maybe nap or read a book. We are planning to go skating tonight...

Many laughs have happened since our crew been here, God is good in unifying us and bonding together. Amen.

Chicago...windy city, and the snowy city.

Monday.

So we were supposed to get 10 inches of snow during the night...but God is good, and we only got about two. However, Chicago definitely knows how to handle their snow and the roads were cleared before we even looked out the window this morning.

Four of us piled into a car this morning at 7:45am. Debbie, the wife in the home we are staying at, is the principal of the inner city Christian school we took off to for the day.

We made it through the slush and entered the school. A smiley face met us at the bottom of the stairs as a few minutes passed, introducing himself, Corell, a student teacher. He laughed with a twinkle in his eye as he said this will most likely be like nothing we could expect. He said, "You'll probably get to teach a few lessons too!". Ha.

We organized our schedules for the day, willing to jump in wherever we could. I took off to the Grade 2 class, to be met by 12 or so kiddies, only one of which was a girl. Corell, ended up teaching them a class right after I got there. He entered the room, "YO!", and the kids responded with an equally energetic "YO!". After this going back and for three times, he hollers "Sit down in your seat and take a load off your feet!". Um...the only thing running through my mind at that moment? Pssh, that's flippin' cool - if only I could do that.

I left the class to chat with the teacher and get a bit of an introduction. Here, I was handed materials to teach the next lessons from 9:20 until 11:30am. Ha. Sweet.

So, I've already taught a Social Studies lesson on American history, mainly which I had the students teach me to review their material. They found it fun to know that we also celebrate Christmas, Easter and Halloween in Canada, but have a few different historical holidays. I also covered some language arts stuff, and now I am fondly referred to (at least I hope it's fond), as "Miss Jen".

Took them down to recess and smoked two kids in the head with a ball by accident...opps. They were tough though, no tears. Tears only come when I have to put their names on the board for not staying in their seats or constantly talking during the lesson.

I then went off to a Grade 5 class where I was handed the poetry lesson, and had the class all to myself. God is good and completely removed any stresses or worries and the lessons have all gone pretty good so far.

I helped out in the computer room a bit today as well. However, the Grade 7/8 kids are a little out of my league. Pretty sure two girls were mocking me and calling me "Crispy Cream". Being a white gal from Canada just doesn't make me that cool. Dang it. At least the young kids think I'm somewhat neat.

I can't wait to back :)