Chicago!

So I just got back from Chicago and there is a lot to share. I'm not quite sure where to start. But first of all, the trip was AMAZING! God really moved and I also met tons of new friends!

The first couple of days we helped out an intercity church that was moving buildings. We were only supposed to do this one day but we got rained out of our outreaches so this was "plan B". We loaded boxes, cleaned, painted, etc. It was fun, believe it or not, because of the group's attitude. It was such a fun group! We got along great and didn't have a single personality conflict the whole week! We also met lots of new people that were working with the ministry! The two I got closest to the most were Laura and Kim! They have been working with City Limits Ministry for four years but this summer they were interns or "summer missionaries". I love them and I feel like I have known them my whole life! They are amazing and so much fun! They even want to come to Des Moines to visit...like later on this week!

Then we dove into the outreaches and that was incredible! We didn't do altar calls because the main focus of the ministry is just loving on the kids and building a trust and relationship. Knowing what kind of homes these children came from made it really fun to see the kids smile and laugh! They come from fatherless homes filled with violence and drugs. Gangs are a huge problem in the neighborhoods we were in, which inevitably results in many murders. This kids long to be loved on and so it was fun to give them that for at least at hour! To see their faces light up was so fulfilling! Pastor Chris is going to look into getting First Assembly's outreach truck fixed so we can do the same type of outreaches in the intercity of Des Moines! I'm so pumped!

Another highlight of the trip was our devotions, worship, and sermon every morning. God really moved during these times and it was extremely good to start each day out with this time! One of the best mornings was Friday morning. Cory, the Pastor of the church we stayed at and Missionary Tim Thomas' son, preached on the presence of God. It was a powerful sermon and I think I had the goose bumps the whole time! Then that night at the church, after ministry and dinner, God showed up. We prayed for three hours and the presence of God was so strong. You could physically feel Him in the room! It was life changing for EVERYONE there that night!

Overall, the trip was great! It was eye-opening and life changing! God was there with us every moment...you could feel it. I also made lots of friends and I am going to miss them terribly! I am really interested in being an intern there next summer, like Kim and Laura were. I miss the ministry so bad and I am excited to see if that could be where God is leading me next summer! Thanks for all your prayes!