Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Chicago: A Little Encouragement Goes a Long Way

I can't believe we've already been here for almost two weeks. It feels like just yesterday we stayed up for 44 hours without sleep and went straight from orientation in Alabama to Chicago and orientation here. Now that we're finally settled into our permanent residence for the summer (with our jaw-dropping view), we've been so thankful and blessed with the amount of encouragement we've received.

Earlier this week, 14 other college students landed in Chicago to do mission work for the summer. They're helping with a church plant about 30 minutes from where we are, but we're all staying in the same dorm. We've had a lot of fun being able to recharge and share our experiences with other college students just as focused on sharing the gospel.

Becky and I were also blessed with two very special visitors for a couple of days. Our Project 52 Coordinator and her friend/our trainer came up to Chicago to visit us for a few days. We were able to show them the wonderful area we get to work in this summer, and they were able to give us some helpful advice on how to complete our research and still form relationships and share the gospel with people we meet in the city.

The highlight of their visit was when we took them down the street that's our central location for the summer. It's got so many different people groups and cultures, it's basically like going to three separate countries without ever leaving Chicago.

While their trip was short, it was so wonderful to see them and be encouraged by their support and advice for our work this summer. Here's to six more weeks of completing research and sharing the gospel with everyone we meet!

Sending love from Sweet Home Chicago,
Sydney