11th Day Here

Howdy y'all...
It's been almost a week since I posted last, so a lot has gone on but I'll just highlight the main things I suppose. My goal when starting this blog was to post at least once a week, so I'm gonna try and hold to that. Also, remember that I'm on what we've come to call "project time"... so it all goes so slow but is never boring. I feel bad because I feel like I haven't posted for a super long time, but it's only been six days. Haha.

~Last week I went on my first "Campus Day" with my action group.
An action group is basically like a bible study (all girls or all boys), and the leader of each one is also discipling each student in his/her action group. My action group has about six girls including me, and our leader is a recent purdue grad named Linsey. The function of an action group is not only to do bible study together, but to do campus ministry together. My action group is paired with two other action groups, and as a whole we are the Impact Team assigned to the University of Chicago and Malcom X campuses. It's our job to scope out the campuses and try to develop or continue to develop a Cru movement with the school while reaching out to students that we meet.
Our first day on campus was interesting. We went to U of Chicago, and got to walk around to get to know the area and maybe do a survey with some people. Sara and I stumbled upon the Oriental Institute which is a crazy awesome museum. They had several pieces that I've learned about in art history! Who knew they were on UOC's campus!? Also we ended up talking to some grad students, but they were sooooo smart and very liberal-minded. They didn't think the campus would receive Cru very well at all. UOC is kind of known for being excessively smart and so invested in their studies that they hardly even get involved in campus activities. Someone said that it's basically Ivy League. So yeah, this campus will be a challenge. At first I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get stationed with Columbia College, because I know some people there and since it's a liberal arts school, it would be super easy for me to connect with those people. Me and artsy people just go together. :) But then I realized, why would I need training to connect with people I already know how to connect with?
Sooo. Super-smart, book-wormish, semi-social, critical-thinking University of Chicago is where I'll be.

Oh yeah and I had my first meeting with my discipler, which was cool. I've never been discipled before so I don't know what to expect.

~Thursday night we had our first huge Cru meeting with everyone that was already on project. It was my first time being a part of leading worship that big, and I was afraid that I would be hyper-aware that people were watching me or worship differently because I was at the front. But I didn't change a thing, and that's probably only because of God working in me. I feel like God is going to teach me a lot of things about leading worship this summer.
Something that a lot of people don't know about Project is that after the first 5 weeks, the staff leaves all of us students here to continue running the project by ourselves.
BY OURSELVES.
I know, right. When I first heard that I'm pretty sure my heart dropped into my stomach. We will all be delegated the positions that staff holds right now, so for instance two people will be project directors, and all the committees that are working now will be operated by students in four weeks. New bible study leaders will be appointed, and we will basically all be discipling each other. There's a good chance that me and the other student who is in the worship team will be leading worship after the others leave. To me that's all pretty crazy.... it's hard sometimes to remember that we are all adults here. Hahaha. So yeah, I'll probably be blogging more about that as the time approaches for staff to leave.

~Saturday I was on the boat for 9hrs straight, so my feet hurt pretty bad at the end of my second cruise. It's a fun atmosphere, though. My other "shipmates" love to good-naturedly complain (if that's even possible to imagine), but I don't think it's bad at all. I just wish I could sit down from time to time, that's all.  Other than that, the people are all pretty fun and they all like me because I do my best to help them out and do a good job. I got my first tip as a Servers Assistant ($5), yay! Haha. This one Server named Kandise who looks like Mercedes off of Glee (and has the same amount of attitude) was teaching me some things about being an SA, and then stopped and asked me if I was wearing false eyelashes. She had a minor stroke when she found out they were real, and then informed me that, giiiiiiiirl yo' eyelashes are the EX-act same as the #66 falsies at Sally Beauty. "I would know." Hahahah. I've made friends with the boys who have to dress in US Navy-looking outfits but actually just manage the boat (cleaning the bathrooms, ect.) Poor boys. One is so little looking, even though he just graduated high school. And the guy who is in charge of the buffet let me sneak a mini piece of cheesecake when no one was back there. So I'd say life is pretty good. LOL

~Church was interesting. We're gonna be going to a "satellite church" every week, which is an extension of Willow Creek. There was worship which was actually a bit more like a concert, and then we watched the message on a huge screen at the front of this church and it was a video stream from the other Willow Creek outside of the city. It was a very different experience, and not what I'm used to. More on that later, because I'm not sure what I think of the church yet. But whether I like it or not, I figure that we're still worshipping God.. and it's very good-intentioned whether or not I agree with the order of worship or the doctrine. Plus it's only for ten weeks. So I'm chill... it's not like we're not getting taught every single week here!

~After church a large group of us went to Wicker Park which is basically an area with TONS of vintage stores and a huge Urban Outfitters. It was like hipster/art kid heaven. I loved it sooooo much, and I'm definitely going back. I love that kind of style! There was also a really cool hole-in-the-wall bookstore, and me and my friend Tyler spent so long in there that everyone else left us. We finally caught up with everyone in Urban, but then they were about to leave so left us again. That was cool though because I really get along with Tyler (he's a recent college grad, studied graphic design, and is kind of punkish/hipster like my friend Aren. Gotta love hipster art kids.) and we just talked about music and art the entire time. We looked in a few really cool art galleries on the strip too. When we got back it was time for dinner with our impact teams, and that was fun because we all got to know each other better. Fact: The game "If You Knew Me You'd Know..." in three minutes does not work for me. I talk too muchhh...

~Then we had women's time, which was very interesting. I thought we were going to just socialize and mingle, but it was more like a support group meeting. Haha whiiiich I didn't expect and I don't usually like those things but I definitely do feel like there are no barriers with the women anymore. It's a very come-as-you-are atmosphere, and I really love each of the women on this project. It was kind of amazing to see so many people being so vulnerable and the fact that we all are so loved in spite of our hotmessness is really cool. My prayer is that we can each become a source of encouragement for our fellow women.

Yep so in conclusion now it's Monday and I'm writing this because I have the day off. I work 22 hours this week but that's starting Wednesday. Haha I'm about to invest in some Dr. Scholls shoe inserts or something.
Right now I'm gonna make myself make some phone calls about support and then go running. Prayers would be great! I'm really wanting to do support raising less than ever because I'm already here and there's so much going on.

But that's the 411 and there's so much going on that's under the surface of course, but it's hard to get to that when all the circumstantial stuff is interesting as well! lol
God is really challenging me this summer. I know I've said that already in the previous post, but it's really been a spiritual battle since arriving here. It's a good thing though... it's going to break me and stretch me and help me develop into a strong leader.

So thanks for reading and I hope you guys can continue to pray for me and my team. I love you all!
Jordan