Last 2 Weeks in Chicago

   My friends, hi! Welcome back to discover how our last 2 weeks in Chicago turned out. We’re already going to be leaving Wisconsin in 6 days and so, I’m excited to share how our time has been here soon!!   

 OUR 3RD WEEK?

    Guys, it was so sweet.

   We spent our week partnering with Chicago World Relief (C.W.R.), a Christian humanitarian organization that bring solutions to world disasters, oppression, violence, and extreme poverty! As they partner with U.S. and abroad community leaders and local churches, their vision is to bring transformation, hope, and healing for the most vulnerable communities.

Those vulnerable communities include: 

• refugees,
• asylum seekers,
• immigrants,
• and migrants.

    Training through Zoom

   We were able to take time during our training with Sara Aardema, Director of Church and Volunteer Engagement in C.W.R., to imagine life as a refugee, asylum seeker, immigrant, or migrant. It was hard being confronted with realities that most of us in our squad have never been through. Imagine being at risk of losing your life, your family, your home, and your financial stability and having to flee from your country? What if you had to leave your country because of extreme poverty and/or because there are zero opportunities for your family to have a decent future? Without this reality check, a thought of some are, ”Why don’t they just go back to their country and work or ’fight’ for what they want? They’d rather take our jobs because they just want to get easy money.”

   We learned that sojourner in Hebrew is, “Ger” = a person not native to a local area.

   We learned what our response should be to the question or thoughts above.          

   Our response is God’s heart:

   When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:33, 34

   You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him” Exodus 22:21 

   You shall not oppress a sojourner” Exodus 23:9

   I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” Matthew 25:34

   I love how the Lord reminds His people to never think less of anyone, yet this command is not only for the Israelites who were sojourners (foreigners and exiles) (Psalm 105:12-13; 1 Chronicles 16:19), but for everyone. Regardless if many of us cannot relate first-hand to the sojourner, our past generations and/or friends of our past generations do. God’s heart is for all of us.

 And so,

we embraced the new cultures and people we got to meet in Chicago.

 We embraced new food, 

 and restaurants. 

OUR LAST WEEK was
an ATL week

 ATL= Ask the Lord.

   This week was interesting because it was our first ATL week, which involves praying and asking the Lord what He would like the week to look like. So, individually and as teams we went on prayer walks and continued to visit those who we had connected with during our time in Chicago. 

My team and I (The Oakies) would faithfully go to this awesome restaurant called Pupuseria y Restaurante Guscatleco and it’s an understatement to say that WE LOVED and MISS IT!

Personally, during our train and bus rides, I loved writing verses and prompting questions from Holy Spirit on sticky notes and sticking them on the different trains, buses, and places we’d walk around; praying over the people that would see them was sweet too. I also would visit a cafe called The Perfect Cup, and I had the opportunity to be blessed and be of blessing to the employees. It was so cool hearing and trusting the voice of the Lord.

   PLEASE PRAY:

• for Chicago World Relief and their ministry; that many new sojourners may be impacted by their various programs
• that many will be interested in C.W.R. English classes and connect with sweet C.W.R. staff. 
• Pray for the various subcultures, the Hispanic community, and the Arabian and muslim community
• for local restaurants and owners in Chicago who are being affected by the Covid-19 regulations.

   There is so much to pray for, but these are the specific prayers that came to mind. Thank you for reading! It will be a new year in 1 hr and a half (right now) and I am so happy I accomplished this goal: to blog this before a the NEW YEAR! Thank you for your patience and love. 

 Nov 16th, 2020 Chicago - The Loop

   Happy New Year to all of you! Until next time,

J