I'm deviating from my Supper Club posts to share my journal from the past week at Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection in Chicago with the Youth Group from First Presbyterian Church in High Point. This is what I wrote along the way, with a little editing and clarifying. To protect their privacy, I'm only using initials of other people, though.
6/17 a.m. We spent the night last night at Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church in Kettering, OH. It was established in 1804. Beautiful Church! We were treated to breakfast by W and will be attending Worship here before heading on to Chicago.
6/17 p.m. In Chicago. There are 85 people here this week - including 17 youth and 4 adults from Italy! I'm teamed with L, A, J, J, J and E. First stop tomorrow, Gaia Movement. I think they're a clothing ministry? [P.S. No, a recycling facility] Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, but wishing I'd brought some flip flops for the shower - will try to remember to buy some tomorrow if I get the chance.
6/18 We rode two trains, a bus and walked quite a bit to get to the Gaia Movement, where Alex gave us a presentation on recycling and then we split in two groups to take apart recyclable components and work on a rainforest garden. It was 91 degrees there today - it didn't really seem that warm with the wind, though. I never realized how very many parts go into some of the things we take for granted - printers, for instance. There are circuit boards, plastics, screws, springs, etc. They are quite hard to completely separate! I even spent a little while taking a zig saw to an infant car seat - the screws were so tight, we stripped them and had to cut them (and it) apart. It really seemed ironic that some of the things we disassembled were in really good shape and could have been used rather than recycled for parts. I think some of the people in our group really enjoyed taking hammers to some things that proved difficult. The rainforest component consisted mainly of pulling weeds and raking, trying to clear a spot for the garden to eventually be planted. We were not working on them today, but they also have a community garden, worm pit and 3-phase compost pile. We were able to compost out organic lunch remains - orange peels, apple cores, etc. All in all, it was pretty neat, but I'm glad to get back to the Church and off my feet. Tomorrow, we're due to go to the Open Lands, which are community gardens - I've been assured the main organizer there can find me something other than gardening! Preferably sitting down. Getting there will be a different story. One of my 'out of my comfort zone' issues is not knowing directions in advance. I don't do well with blindly following, but I'm trying to let go of that and I think I'm doing a pretty good job of it if I do say so myself. One more thought - I was very proud of how polite and considerate our guys were on the L, especially one. He was the first several times to jump up and offer his seat. There were all very helpful to me, too - and I used them as needed!
6/19 This morning we left at 7a.m. to work in a community garden. I tore out a flower bed and planted trillium (sp?) plants, then watered the whole garden. Some folks were weeding, some planting, sweeping the sidewalk, mowing, weed-eating, digging, etc. It was a very productive morning. Unfortunately, L lost her camera, so we lost our 'before' pictures, but we have a group shot afterwards, taken around 'my' flower bed! [P.S. The camera was found and returned to DOOR that evening] This particular garden was started by a group of 4 people 20 years ago, one of whom was Willie Marks. Mr. Marks lives next door and very graciously provided ice water, bottle tea and snacks mid-morning. He and one other lady are the only 2 of the original founders still living. After we were done, we came back to the Church to eat and are leaving shortly for the Sears Tower and a walking tour of downtown. I just told J & E if I'm going too slow, they can park me somewhere and come back later.
(Later) We took the blue line to the pink line to the overhead (Metro?), then walked to the Willis [formerly Sears] Tower. One of our group didn't want to go, so she and I stayed at McDonald's on the corner while the rest of the group went up. I had almost backed out totally - I told L I didn't want to be a burden but she said it was fine, so I ended up really glad I went - I was definitely needed, even if I did cause some major slow downs, especially on the M-A-N-Y steps up and down to the trains. From there, we walked to Millennium Park and saw the water walls, amphitheater and bean statue. We made it back in time for dinner and I really enjoyed some one-on-one time with a couple of the kids throughout the day.
(Even later) Amazing talk by Brenda Matthews, poet and Christian speaker! Good reflections on our day with small group, then all of First Pres - followed by some lively games of King Mao and Spoons in the Fellowship Hall - I'm ready for lights out!
6/20 a.m. Clean up this morning - much easier than p.m. clean up the other night! I'm not really looking forward to today. We're going to Cornerstone Family Shelter. I am so much more comfortable working behind the scenes than with people. I don't interact well with people I know, much less ones I don't know and won't ever see again. I enjoy helping and serving, but don't want to get involved. I'm thinking today will really stretch my comfort zone.
(Later) That went much better than I anticipated. We ended up sorting clothing donations, then visiting/sitting with the guests at the shelter while we and they ate lunch. I sat with a 56-year old Army veteran. He was very nice and we talked the whole time. He went to basic at Fort Jackson in South Carolina - said he loved it - so much warmer than west side Chicago where he grew up and lives now. After lunch, we went back to sorting clothes until one of the collection trucks showed up. The kids helped unload the donations off the truck and we pretty much left after that. Tonight, we're heading out for Chicago Pizza and the Navy Pier. Late night tonight!
6/21 I overdid it yesterday. Thankful for K getting me a cab to Navy Pier after Pizza! I didn't sleep well last night - kept waking up and finally gave up about 5:30 and took a shower. Very reviving, although I'm sitting here now sweating already. Today, we are heading to Reba Place, about 2 hours away. I think most of our large group has been there - sounds like largely clean up, but some have distributed fliers door-to-door in the neighborhood. Yesterday's group ate lunch by Lake Michigan and went swimming. We're taking a change of clothes (just shirt for me - you couldn't have paid me to bring a bathing suit) and will head straight to the Point afterwards for our final supper and group reflection. It's been a good week, but honestly one of the hardest I've ever had. I'm looking forward to heading home, but will be sorry to see it end, too. I'm having second thoughts about tomorrow afternoon/evening at the aquarium and baseball game. I'll have to wait and see how today goes. "Breathe in, breathe out, move on".
(Later) Reba Place turned out to be my favorite place! We started out rather disorganized, but our host, Dan finally got there and he has such a passion for the community. I actually ended up sitting the A/C reading while the team taped fliers to doors in the neighborhood about a pizza party in the park that night. The Church is Mennonite and works hard for peace and reconciliation in the community. After lunch, they did a little yard work, then we all walked to the park and played basketball, handing out drinks and Popsicles to the kids who were there. After that, we had a LONG train, train, bus ride to Promotory Point Park, where we met the entire DOOR group for pizza and a closing reflection. Beautiful spot on Lake Michigan.
6/22 This morning we are cleaning up , saying goodbye to the other three Churches here and heading out to the Shedd Aquarium, then the White Sox game this evening.
(Later) it turns out 2 of the other 3 groups are also staying tonight. Our group was really hoping to spread out a little, I think.
(Even later) Our team did a great job on the bathrooms with only a little grumbling LOL. We're slowly gathering in the Sanctuary now for a final whole group reflection. After that, we're heading out for the day. K braided my hair for me! I hate we had to turn in our water bottles today. I bought DOOR tee shirts for J & D - have to get something for MB and A! I think we're shopping at some point today. In hindsight, I really wish we could have had more Worship and fellowship time with the other groups. The whole crew was so large that everyone pretty much stuck to their own Church groups on sites. It would've been nice to get to know the others' better, but there were just too many. It would've been nice to have more singing and Worship together, too, but the days were so packed with activity (and travel), there just wasn't time. The 2 sessions we did have were wonderful and reminded me of NC Presbyterian Pilgrimage.
(Later) no Shedd (3 hour wait), got shirts for A & MB, long day of waiting - good game.
6/24 Wow - I was absolutely worn out when we got back Friday night. Yesterday, we were up at 6 a.m., had the vehicles packed and were on the road close to 6:30. It was a really long day of travel, ending up back at the Church at 10 p.m. almost on the dot. All in all, it was a pretty smooth trip, though. We stopped a couple more times than we would've liked, but for being on a van with 9-10 other people ALL DAY LONG, it went really well. As noted earlier, I was so glad to get home, but a little sad that it was all over. The Youth did a great job this morning of sharing part of our stories in the two Worship services - I will miss them this Summer. Chicago was a great initiation to Mission trips!
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