transitions...

Hello Hello!

Well, I've finally managed to find internet access and settle down somewhere, so I suppose an update is overdue. I have so much to tell, but I'm gonna keep this as short as I can. Amusing Anecdotes might come in another entry sometime soon though.

So, Friday morning I woke up at 4 am, made it to the airport by about 4:30, was on a plane by 6:30, landing in Memphis by 7:30, and in Chicago by 10:30. Serena (the Beverly Parish of Illinois) met us at O'Hare and Chris drove us to a church in Des Plaines to hang out with the famous Jim Smith. He kept us entertained, asked questions, fed us sandwiches, played card games and mad libs, etc. We wound up hanging out there until about 6 that evening. With no AC in the building. But thankfully Chris took us to get ice cream midway through the afternoon- an act which I'm fairly certain saved my life. Then we got Chicago's best pizza (according to some) at Giordanos. I (of course) wound up at a table full of guys, which allowed me to meet Jim and Don. They're pretty awesome. They work with/live at C3- a church in the heart of Chicago. They do lots of urban ministry with street kids, LGBTs, druggies, and that sort of folk. After pizza they took us all to a baptist camp about an hour and a half out of Chicago and we spent the weekend there- all the Illinois summer missionaries.

Saturday we did orientation stuff. Which consisted mostly of getting to know each other and napping in the massive amounts of free time we had. We did some real stuff, but mostly it was just great fun. Sunday was pretty much the same. We went to a small church which was basically a 60-member church type thing you'd expect to see in MS, not in Chicago. But it was fun times as well. Don brought beef jerky with him and ate it. That just makes me happy. By this time I'd become pretty good friends with several guys and spent most of my time with Mike and Charlie and Jim and Don. Sunday afternoon we discovered kittens. teeny little ones. They were adorable. Jim and I were big fans of the kittens. However, I became less of a fan of Jim when he positively forced us into playing a purely evil card game called Three Card Manard, or perhaps Mao. EVIL. the end. our friendship might have ended if it weren't for the kittens. If you're out there, Jim, we're still on shaky terms til a zoo visit happens.

Sunday evening we went to a carnival. That was great times. Actually, it was really lame. But hilariously so. And Myung won some gold fish. Myung is my newest Korean friend. I think he should marry Angela. He's really handsome, and she's really pretty, and they've been in America for about the same amount of time, and they both love Jesus. I don't see any reason they shouldn't get married. Except perhaps Myung's "girlfriend" back home that we aren't 100% sure actually exists.

Today I met all the TIBM folks. I'm sitting on my air mattress in the living room as I type this. There are two cats. I love them a lot. We hung out with Napalis today too, which was great times. They're such beautiful people, and very loving. I ate Nepalese and Indian food, which I actually enjoyed a lot. I've also learned they eat with their fingers. Rice and sauces included. It's magical. I'm determined to learn this art. We went grocery shopping tonight. I bought goldfish and animal crackers and peanut butter. And some other things, but those are the most important ones. Especially since there's already coke and ice cream in the house. I like this place. Also, Charlie is a BOAT-level coke drinker. He'd fit right in with us.

I do wanna add a little tribute to what I learned this weekend. They guys really taught me a lot about life in Chicago. Jim and Don really challenged me, as well as the local chicago guys like Aaron and "Bellucci". I am really inspired by their love for the Lord and their willingness to go to such lengths to obey His calling on their lives. They are doing some pretty crazy, hard stuff this summer as well as all year long. I really desire to live the kind of missional life I see in these guys. They also had some great advice for me on dealing with some stuff back home, as well as just being good listeners or allowing me to listen to them just muse and discuss and such. They were really a blessing to me, and It was sad to leave them. However, I came nowhere close to tears. (Take that, punks!)

One quick anecdote to show you how nerdy I am (as if you didn't already know). So, at the carnival, I walked around with Jim and Charlie a lot. As we wandered around, our conversation topic was Greek. We've all finished 2 years of Greek. All our professors wrote their own text books. We talked about verbal theories and all kinds of strange things like declension and parsing and decided there should be a scale to compare all Greek teachers. This is all we talked about the entire evening. At a carnival. I'm lame. The end.

K, well, bedtime. I'll try to not be so long between posts or so lengthy from now on. But no guarantees. You all know how wordy I am... *dramatic sigh*

Goodnight moon.

P.S. MY ROOMMATE LEAVES FOR PERU IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU AMMIE!!! YOU'RE AMAZING!!! ENJOY THE LARGE AND DIVERSE CULTURA OF PERU!! ;)