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