I Never Realized....

Okay. I am definitely not a school person at all. In fact, I've always hated school to the point that I wanted to graduate early and get out of here! I was home-schooled when I was younger and though that coming to school would fix all my problems. Then, as soon as I got IN-to a school, I hated it and wanted to go back to home-schooling. Now I'm at the end of my high school years and I haven't liked high school at ALL, so I planned on not going to college (more school, right?).
My plans have definitely changed.
While I had mostly planned on just NOT going to college, I have been strongly encouraged to at least go for a short time or g just to have the degree. and I applied and have started making plans, but my heart just wasn't in it.
After attending the Perspectives class I am taking for credit last night though, my mind has been changed. If that is how my classes will be, then I want to take as many as I can! It was amazing and I enjoyed the class a lot. The homework was enjoyable because it was something that I was interested in. The actual class was enjoyable, too. The speaker last night was Todd Ahrend and the whole class was phenomenal! It was great getting to learn about the origins of God's promise and purpose beginning with God, moving to the Israelites, and then on to the nations. It was eye-opening to say the least. I didn't think I would enjoy the class time very much because, well, it was a class. but I was so wrong.
I cannot wait for next week!

Maranatha.

-Kelly

Now That I'm Home...

It's so different being home. Everything is a lot quieter and a  lot less rushed. My mind is focused on getting this last semester of high school over with and keeping my grades up in not only my school classes, but also in the college course I am attending -Perspectives. It's a really tough class, but so far I'm enjoying it. I haven't actually attended a class, but I've completed homework and the articles we read are really interesting! Especially when you read them in a British accent, like I do....haha.

Getting back into the swing of things is really stressful. It's really difficult going from having a 100% mindset on BridgeBuilders and Sunshine, taking that, and turning it around to a mindset of school, work, and church. My perfectly planned days here at home are drastically different from the days I had in Chicago! Here I have a basic schedule of school from 7:30 to 3, work at 4 until 7:30 and home work afterwards on most days. If I don't work I either have Perspectives or youth group. CRAZINESS. I'm always busy! 

The reasons I am taking the Perspectives course are pretty legit. I have a list!

1. To prepare for my trip to Africa this year.

2. To get college credit.

3. To get a better rounded view of missions.

I can't wait to really kick this class into gear and get into that mindset. This will be great ground work for my trip to Africa. I'll explain that a bit more later though. 

The college credit will be nice, too!

Please continue to pray for me and the work I am trying to complete. It's a bit overwhelming...

Maranatha.

-Kelly

Last Days

Tomorrow will be my last day working at Sunshine for a while. I have to head home and get back to regular school days and regular schedules. :)
But before that happens, I'll tell you how my week is going.
It's been a pretty busy week! Lots and lots of office work. I've probably killed twenty trees by now just from the amount of papers I've gone through. All of yesterday and the day before was spent writing out thank-you notes to those people who donated year-end money gifts to the ministry here. My hand was so cramped by the end of each day. I didn't realize how many people love to support Sunshine! It's amazing to see how God always finds a way to provide.
Today I've been at the office working on getting paperwork ready to be sent out to future BridgeBuilder groups. We (as in Jared and I since Sarah is out of the office at her classes for the day) have put together massive amounts of starter packets to be sent out to the BridgeBuilder groups that will be coming over their spring breaks. I have also been making lots of phone calls to local area shelters, soup kitchens, and pantries to see who would be interested in having volunteers come and help them out. So many wonderful ministries located around us! I've called at least 20 different places all relatively near to Sunshine.
I've definitely realized how different ministry is. There isn't just one type of ministry, but many. You can minister with your time, your actions, your words, your money, your possessions, your work, etc. Ministry is more than just work work work and getting things checked off a list; it's about relationships and fellowship. Without relationships here in the city, Sunshine would have a hard time establishing a name and being such a help to the community. Sunshine is mostly spread by word of mouth. Just today a lady came in to inquire about our youth after school programs and she had found out about us through one of the teachers in the public school. People love the programs that Sunshine has because the programs are helpful, safe, and caring.
The staff at Sunshine definitely care about this community and the people who live in it. All of the staff live in the Woodlawn neighborhood and have become a part of it. Some of the staff have even gone as far as taking in kids who have gotten kicked out by their parents or who don't have a place to stay. Sunshine isn't just a far-off place to visit on a short-term mission trip and help for a week and walk away from. It's a continuing relationship. When you visit, you grow. You learn how to connect the lifestyle here with your lifestyle and you learn why things are the way they are.
Having community and fellowship is something I value much more now than I ever did before.

Maranatha.

-Kelly

2-5-2

I had the privilege of helping out with the after school program at Sunshine last week and it was a lot of fun! Those kids are crazy.
Club 2-5-2 is called 2-5-2 because of Luke 2:52," And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." 2-5-2 is around to help the kids who attend grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
It's basically a tutoring program. The kids come to Sunshine at about 3 p.m. to work on their homework until 4. At 4, they all go to different stations where they have 10 minutes to complete an assignment correctly and then move on to the next assignment at the end of the 10 minute period. Each of the nights focuses on a different subject. The subject that was focused on last Thursday was reading, so the assignments were all about simple predicates, simple subjects, basic reading comprehension, and character identification. These were all divided by grade of course, so the 1-2 graders did basic reading skills, the 3-4 graders had character identification, and the 5-6 graders learned about simple predicates and simple subjects.
It doesn't help that I haven't even THOUGHT about any of these things since I was in those grades! I completely blanked on how to find the simple predicates and subjects for about 30 seconds.
Fail on me. haha.
After the 4 sessions that the kids have, they sit down and listen to Pastor Pete, Pete Blodgett- Sunshine Youth Pastor- talk to them about some Bible story. This past week's story was Job.
They usually get to play a few games, but this week ran a little bit late so they got a piece f candy and had to go home. No fun awana games. :( sad day. 
It was a lot of fun helping the kids though. The first and second graders are the cutest! They get really crazy when they are done reading though. They start running around unless you have something for them to do.....hmmmm. Addition and Subtraction flashcards anyone? How do these kids LIKE doing math? I've always hated math.
2-5-2 is twice a week, so hopefully I will be able to help out again this week on either Tuesday or Thursday.

Club 2-5-2

Maranatha.

-Kelly

A Day In the Life...

There are so many behind the scenes things that you don't see or appreciate in a ministry. When missions teams come into a ministry to help, they are usually single-minded about work, work, work, and more work. and, admittedly, that's how i started out when I came down here. All I could think about was the fact that this was a mission trip for me. This was an opportunity for me to serve. And when I say serve, I usually think of work!
That isn't how it always is though. Serving and Ministry are all about relationship. That's the key! If you come single-mindedly with the idea that all you need to do is build this or change that or organize that other thing. If you come with that mindset, you're going to get burned out. By building a relationship with the people in the community you can fill more of their needs. This is mainly because you see what is personal to each of them and you also feel a sense of loyalty towards them. It isn't just a face anymore that your serving, but a whole human being.
I got a little bit frustrated today with how things seem to happen on a bit of a different clock than what I'm used to. I'm a very task oriented person and I absolutely LOVE lists and checking things OFF of a list. This past week I've been doing office work and was a little upset at the way I seemed to be sitting around a lot and then frantically running to get something done and then going back to just sitting. I couldn't seem to find the happy medium! A lot of the seemingly scattered work was due to the fact that Sarah has been really stressed out with school (She's a full-time student), her sister (who has been having seizures, in and out of the hospital), and also having this full-time job. She has a heavy load and it can sometimes really get to her. I didn't realize until today that my seemingly "scattered" office work was actually a big help to her. When I stepped back and looked at what I had considered a small amount of sporadic work, and I put it all together as one big chunk of work, it came out to be more than I realized. I was able to help her out in the office and also serve her with my time by being a friend. I love being Sarah's friend! :)

Karissa (Hamernick), Kaylie (Hamernick), and Sarah Murphy

The main thing I'm trying to get across here is that all of the little things that are done in ministry- cooking a meal for someone, stopping to talk even when you're in a rush, offering to do work for someone, making a phone call- really add up and can definitely help make those around you more able to do the work that God has planned for them. Anything I can do to encourage those around me on toward His goal I am willing to do!

Amen?

Maranatha.

-Kelly

Beauty Here...

Sometimes it seems hard to find beauty in the city. I get frustrated often when I look out the window or am driving down the road and all I seem to see are the potholes i'm about to hit or the abandoned buildings i'm passing. It gets very difficult to see how absolutely beautiful this city is at times.
Just tonight, i saw beauty. I was laying in bed about to go to sleep when i decided to look out the window. I love the view from the third floor of the Hamernick's house! I looked out the window and just above me in the sky was a cloud-covered sliver of the moon. To my right was a snarly tree with branches all twisted and curled with a reddish hue behind it from the city lights. To my left was a street lamp illuminating the snowy road beneath it and the steps of the abandoned building next door. After seeing all of THAT out my measly little window, I decided to venture onto the back porch and brave the cold to see how pretty it was out there.I wasn't disappointed! The backs of the apartment buildings across the alley all had their porch lights on and that made the snow look like a city wonder. It was.....a sharp beauty. I loved it even if I couldn't stay out their for more than 5 minutes...:)
So often we are distracted by the bad things we see.....the problems we have, whether or not we have peanut butter in the house, how we are going to fill our gas tank for the week, how not to sleep through an alarm clock....that we can't even begin to see the beauty that's around us. Have you ever stopped and just marveled at the simple beauty around your own home? Take a second to stop and look at the nearest chair or table and see how many memories come back to you of different things that took place in that exact spot. One object can trigger a multitude of emotions! Beauty isn't just in the eye of the beholder and a picture isn't simply worth a thousand words.....it's so much bigger than all of that. It's the simple and joyous creation of God. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord..."
My favorite activity of the week is the El Experience. It isn't just my favorite because I get to sit on a train for two hours and do nothing.....it's my favorite because of what I get to see. The main reason we take a group of BB's on the El is so that they can see the huge differences between the neighborhoods. We start on the South Side at either the 95th Red Line stop (farthest south the red line goes) or the Green Line Garfield stop (goes above ground through downtown). This is what it's like going through the residential parts of the south side:

<---This is where I get on the train .

This is an actual picture taken from the green line. It's just a few apartment buildings placed together in the middle of a lot. I've seen these buildings a few times and it's a decently accurate description of what you find down here.The next portion of the city you see on the El Experience is the Loop or Downtown:

High rises and packed parking lots set right beneath and around the train. The El literally roars past your window every 5-10 minutes! How would you like that? The third and final neighborhood you get to see on the El Experience is the North Side:

This is a row of houses/apartments in Wrigleyville. Neat little rows, neat little houses.

Do you see the differences? None are specifically bad or amazing, but each has it's own specific pull. While it may seem pretty ugly to some to see a few sporadic apartment buildings in the middle of a lot or really packed tight houses on a one way street as opposed to high-rise apartments, skyscrapers and a train roaring past your window, there is always a person who can see the beauty in a place even when it has experienced poverty. Beauty is still present in all places of God's creation.

Experience it.

Maranatha.

-Kelly

RAPTURED!

Great combination of mish-mash today. BridgeBuilders is over and all of the groups have gone to their home destinations of Tennessee, Florida, and Minnesota. It was a great week! Having BridgeBuilders actually here during a week is pretty stressful, but it's always a ton of fun, too.
The best part of the week, in my opinion, is definitely reading the evaluations that everyone hands in. Getting both the positives and the negatives from the week is fun to read and also gives some great insight into what can be improved for BB's in the future. This quote from an evaluation was unanimously the best one we had heard out of them all. "There are streams of living water in Chicago." Sarah, my boss, was the first to point it out and it has stuck in all of our minds ever since we read it. I love seeing how people have remembered and applied what they have learned throughout the week to the questions that are posed in the evaluations. It's amazing how someone can start out with one view point and by the end of the week have changed so much!
Probably the worst part of the week was when the Tennessee groups' bus got raptured. It went something like this...
Jared had just taken the very large group of BB's to the El Experience (see last post if confused). They all happily parked and got on the train thinking this was an ordinary BB outing. Little did they know that upon return they would be 15 passengers short of a ride home.
Jared led the group off the train and back to the vans to return back to Sunshine Gospel after the excursion. Kevin Twit, the leader from the Tennessee group, walked up to Jared and asked him what he had done with the van. Jared, not having a clue what Kevin was talking about, told him he hadn't done a thing and then asked Kevin what HE had done with the van. This is when they came to the very bright conclusion that Jesus must have come and taken the van to a better place since there was absolutely no sign that there had ever been a van there- no glass, no tire marks, no nothing. Simply raptured!
But really, the van got stolen and it was quite an experience having everyone running around trying to figure out how to get the Tennessee group back to Sunshine and around for the rest of the week.

Yikes.

At the end of the week, Joel (head of the ministry and also head of the house i'm living at) had to drive the Sunshine 15 Passenger van and all of the Tennessee group back to their homes and then return. Whew! What a week! But overall, the whole week was a blast.

On Sunday, Sunshine had a very small, community-based church service in the Sunshine building that was literally less than 30 people. I think that's what made it so great though. It was a really nice way to start the day and just fellowship with other believers. Sloppy Joe's followed and everyone had a great time. Dave Clark, Lead Youth Administrator for Sunshine, preached about who Jesus is and how he takes those who are outcasts in society and shows them that they aren't useless. He loves the women, the lepers, the tax collectors, and the children. It was great to hear something that I've heard so many times, the simple basics of who My Saviour is, in a way that made it all seem new again. It was a great refresher and amazing start to the week.
Yesterday was a very chill day with a lot of cleaning going on and that's about it. A full house clean at the Hamernick's and a bit of clean-up over at Sunshine were the only things on the agenda for the day since there was a gas leak at Sunshine...meaning no one was working because the heat was turned off and, well, there was a gas leak.
Today was my day off for the week and it was a ton of fun! The reason I had the day off was because Sarah had class all day at the college she is attending, DePaul University. This morning Paula, Joel's wife and BB Cook, woke me up and got us all kick started by getting us over to the upper offices of Sunshine (no gas leak there....don't worry....) for a staff prayer meeting. It was a great time of reflection and fellowship on John 14. The staff of Sunshine is more like a family than anything and everyone shared prayer requests at the end. It was great!
Overall, it's been great getting to know the group and just in general working within a ministry I love.

Maranatha.

-Kelly

A Note on Naps...

I love naps. Why can't nap-time be mandatory for all professions? Why do only kindergarteners get to have a time designated for naps? It's only day three and I'm already loving the opportunity I've had to take a nap from the tired, droopy eyes I've been getting from all of this hard work.
To give you a basic layout of what a BridgeBuilders day consists of so that you can follow along with me as I tell you what has been going on, here it is:
7:30 a.m. is time for breakfast and coffee.
8:30 a.m. is a half-hour time of worship which, thankfully, is being led this weak by one of the groups that is here-RUF Belmont- who have an amazing style of worship! You can check it out here.
9 a.m. each of the groups disperses to various work projects around the area. The work projects for this week are as follows: tutoring at two CPS schools in the area, building the apartments that are going to be above the Sunshine building, working at a small, local, Christian school called Masters' Academy, and helping gut out an abandoned building that was recently bought by a local pastor to be turned into a church.
12 p.m. everyone breaks for lunch and downtime before the afternoon activity.

12:45 p.m. is when we do our major activity of the day. The activities vary and everyday consists of a different thing that pertains to the discussions for the day. On Monday the entire group went to Pacific Garden Mission, which is the largest homeless mission in the world, and took a tour. Tuesday consisted of a thing we call "Mealshare." Mealshare is a 2 hour time frame when everyone goes into the downtown area with sack lunches, finds a homeless person who is panhandling in the area, and shares a meal with them. The basic point of this activity is to reach out to a very closed community and minister to them simply with our time. Today's activity is the El Experience. The El is the train that runs through, and around, Chicago. The group gets on the train at the farthest stop south on the Red Line and rides the train to downtown where they proceed to get on the Green Line and ride that through downtown. After that they get back on the Red Line and ride it as far North as it goes and all the way back to the 95th stop. I know I probably lost the majority of you on that, so I'll include a map of the train system so you can see it - just look at the green and red lines.
The point of riding on the train is so that the group can not only experience traveling on the train, but to see the differences between the neighborhoods they pass by- from the low-income housing of the southside, to the fast-paced industrial skyscrapers of downtown, and finally to the northside that is mainly filled with young, urban professionals- or yuppies for short. You would be surprised how much you can tell about a place just by it's housing!
4:30 p.m. is a debrief about the afternoon and a down-time for personal devotions, naps, showers, and whatever other things a person may want to do (keep a blog, maybe??).
5:30 p.m. is dinner time. yummy food that is provided by Paula Hamernick and is bound to be delicious.
7:00 p.m. is always over at the Sunshine building. There is a lesson for the evening given by Joel Hamernick who is the Executive Director of Sunshine or by another person at Sunshine or in the community.
Usually after the lesson, that's the end of the night. The group gets a general run-down of what will happen for the following day and then they have time to get ready for bed or hang out or whatever else they may want to do. Last night, we did have an event after the lesson called "The Pulse Tour." Three of our local artists (and Sunshine staff as well!) are touring the area giving concerts. The members are CW "Da Zeal" Allen (Rap Artist), Michael Avery (Dancer), and Pete "DJ Wreckelect" Blodgett (DJ). Dave Clark is another Sunshine staffer who handles their merchandise sales. Check out CW's website here!

I'll keep you all updated and feel free to pray for me and the amazing ministry at work down here. God is at work in this city-

Maranatha.

-Kelly

Dinosaurs and Bridges

Kids ask the most wonderfully ridiculous questions sometimes. 
 On our way home from Cityview Presbyterian Church, Caden pops a wonderful question into the conversations we were all having in the car. Caden suddenly asks of Joel," Dad? How did God get up in the sky?" and immediately as a result of Caden asking this, Corban and Kaylie have to echo what he says. Joel replied with the simplest answer saying," He was there before the sky." Kaylie chimed in with "even before the dinosauws?!(she has a lisp)" and Joel says," yes, Kaylie....He made the dinosaurs."
And it's all true. After hearing Joel preach that morning and give a wonderful sermon, this is what stuck with me all day; the simple questionings of 3 littles. I know, right....."how cuuuuute....all she could think about was 3 little kids and there cute little questions all day." That's not what I'm talking about. What they said was undoubtedly cute! But they hit on something without even knowing it. 
Why do we make religion so complicated? In Mark 10:15 Jesus says,"  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 
These littles have it right. If they can even begin to ask the simplest questions, and yet have faith, they have something greater than the most brilliant theologian. They have true, strong, child-like faith.


I am an intern with Sunshine Gospel Ministries in the inner-city of Chicago. My neighborhood is Woodlawn and the people here will hopefully, one day, become my neighbors. I have a passion for the city and for becoming not only part of the city, but a part of the city that helps it grow and thrive. I want to see God's presence here in every face and around every corner. I want God to use me.


While I'm here, I'm considered an intern with the BridgeBuilders program. I help run the show and pull the strings to make everything fall into place where it's supposed to. The BB (or bridge builders) program is a program that seeks to make suburban and rural churches aware of God's work in urban centers. Student and adult participants are given the opportunity to listen, learn, and serve within Chicago in a unique and challenging way. Essentially, we try to help those from different kinds of communities, different places in our world, and different backgrounds, "build a bridge" between the way they live and the way we live here, in Woodlawn and the surrounding areas. 


Now that you know the basics, I hope that the rest will fall into place as I go along. I'm very excited to see what God has in store for me during this next period in my life and I am more than curious to discover the plan He has ready and in action.

Maranatha.


-Kelly