Locust Grove Mennonite Church

Trip Home
We have just confirmed plans for the group to come home from Pittsburg by vans on Sunday morning instead of waiting in Pittsburg from 5:30 A.M. until 1:20 P.M. for the train to Lewistown.

John L Yoder and Lyle Yoder will be driving 15 passenger vans. Frank Hartzler will drive his Explorer, towing a trailer for luggage, and John David Peachey will drive his Durango. They plan to meet the group at the Pittsburg train station and bring them back to Locust Grove, arriving here sometime between 9 and 10 Sunday morning.

Written by Max on Jun 29, 2007 at 11:40:52 AM.

So Far...
To begin, the train ride here was very long and tedious. Mechanical difficulty caused us to be stranded on the tracks for an hour or more, but making memories that will stay with us for much longer. I met a little girl named Johanna, who was 8, and we had a sing along time together. We sang BINGO, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the ABC's. I'm sure the other strangers on the train were severely annoyed. We also played with her Barbies and other small toys. Later her mother read a fairy tale story to us. It was a pretty enjoyable time killer. But anyways, we are here now. The first day of our service, I was in a group with a pastor named Juan. We rode in the van to a widow's apaartment, where we really did a number on an empty apartment belonging to her on the third floor of her building. It was completely stripped of furninshings, so we wiped down all the walls, mind you, this apartment could house a family of at least five, with room to spare, so the wall washing took a long time. Not to mention it seemed like it hadn't been cleaned in over a decade. The kitchen was the most, well, difficult task. Grease covered every inch of the kitchen, taking old paint with it when wiped away. The ceiling fan was a journey for Joseph, as he scraped quite a bit of the gross grease from the blades. So after wiping and cleaning, we painted the rooms that needed painted, the kitchen still being cleaned. So the painting of the kitchen was left to take care of another day.

Yesterday and today I spent my service time in the school across the street from our "home away from home." Helping children from preschool ages to eighth grade. The summer school has basically all the kids who needed help, which are obviously needing to be here. A lot of the younger boys seem to have a very difficult time with their attention span. It is obvious to me that violence is a big issue in their lives. A young boy named Elijah shared that he likes being mean, and punching peole is cool. Another youngster name Zamir shared that his fater had been shot in the head because he had an afro. Whether that is the reason, we can't be sure, but it makes me sad that these children are exposed to so much violence. Growing up in Big Valley, its kind of a shocker walking into a big city where the children know more about guns and murder and street fights than we even can realize is possible. The population of children are all black, with one preschool girl being white. It seems like a good school though, they go swimming at a local YMCA Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Wednesdays they have a program called Music Alive. The music alive program that i got to be a part of, was, beyond interesting. The men were called African Explosion. Im sure that you can tell from the name, they were pretty exciting. They entered playing various African tribal drums, with the tribal attire. It was amazing watching their hands move, they were incredibly fast. They got the children involved in dance and chants. Also the leaders were involved, all the teachers and helpers there were called forward to dance for the children, which we did a pretty good job in my opinion. They shared about the African cultulre, and taught us a way that his grandmother used to get his attention. By saying the word "Ago" his reply would always be "Ame" and his attention would belong to his grandma.

Im sure this is getting very long by now, so I'll cut it short from here out. Tomorrow we will be getting to know more of Chicago, and catching a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, and departing sometime Saturday. I can tell you that all of us kids really miss having a bed to sleep in! Floor mats and sleeping bags get very old after a week's worth of sleep! So i hope this gave you some information of our trip, see you in a few days!

- Kayla
Written by Kayla on Jun 28, 2007 at 3:56:56 PM.

My time in Chicago
During my time here I have experienced many new things and have had alot of fun most of the time. The work for me started on Tuesday b/c Monday was just a chill day. On Tuesday 6 of us came over to the Christian School across the street to help tutor kids and just help the teachers (the school is just summer school so classes are combined and have less kids). I started out off with a good day I had 2 boys from 2nd grade reading to me and I was helping them on words they didn't know there names were Aaron and Elijah. The kids were not calm at all in the classroom most of the time. My highlight from Tuesday would be when we helped them write a page on what they would do with a million dollars. The one girl Rihanna read hers aloud and said she would help all the poor people and orphans so that they could go to heaven and her family. Also on Tuesday I went with the kids swimming at a place that is like the YMCA.
On Wednesday I when with Juans group and we pulled weeds, picked up trash, and planted a weed garden (with just some pretty weeds we moved). This was placed outside the center we are staying at. The same day I helped with a food depository I think is what you call it we made almost 40 bags full of food that was bought at a discount. It was interesting to hear stories from some of the ladies there who I was working with. Also yesterday night we rode the L-train for I think 2 hours. We went down to Danas church. It was an awesome experience to see how filled with the spirit they are and how livly the service and worship was (it made what I think church is seem boring). The coolest man i met at the church was named Eugene he was a blind man who was still full of energy and life he told us about his life some and he wasn't always blind. I can't imagine living in a city like Chicago and still getting around while being blind and also being full of God's spirit. Today is Thursday and I went back to the school today and helped out again with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Today they were much more rowdy. The one boy I was working with named Joshua was in 2nd grade and him and another boy from his class named Elijah got into a fight. When I think of 2nd graders fighting I don't think about it like this, they started punching and kickin each other so I stepped in and made them stop but it lasted all day when I was with them trying to get each other back. The one funny part of the day was when the little boy Joshua told his older sister in 4th grade that I was his girlfriend it was cute. The kids here need alot of attention and love they would just want to come hug you and play with your hair. They really like my hair b/c it is soo soft they say and it is fun to braid. Also today on the playground I went to sit with a girl who was all alone her name was Alishia she is in 4th grade and we started to talk about her life and family. She lives with her grandmother and her dad is almost 50 and her mom is in her 20s. Her parents don't live together and she barely ever gets to see them. None of her sibling have the same mom and dad. It makes me sad to see this little girl and she doesn't have much of a family at all. After the fun with the little kids 3 of us went swimming and the other 3 including me went to pull weeds around the school we had 3 garbage bags full by the end. Then we started getting some rooms ready to be painted we washed the walls and dusted. Thats all I have done so far today other than typeing this entry for all of you to enjoy. Tonight we are meeting with dana and going over to see his place and then him and Jeremy will be comming back to eat supper with us and Jeremy is going to rap for us which will be awesome! Thanks for reading my exciting entry (well I hope it was exciting!)

Love,Kelsey
Written by Kelsey Peachey on Jun 28, 2007 at 3:49:49 PM.

Summer School
Greetings from Chicago!! It has been very hot and humid here and it reminds some of us of our trip to Jamacia. One of the things that did this for me was helping out at West Side Christian Accademy. Yesterday, Tuesday, a six of us went to this school across the street from where we are staying. The school's summer school program needed some help. They do school six out of the ten weeks of summer. It was both fun and tiring as we worked through worksheets with the kids, did recess, did more school work and helped entertain the kids. Learning the kids name was a task, as I haven't heard many of those names before. The school was for kids from preschool through eighth grade. There was probebly around 45 to 50 kids there. The kids loved attention, wanting to sit next to you, play a game with you, as well as watch them do trick on the it reminded me of Jamacia. However then I was thinking that isn't so different from us or the kids around us. We all want to be noticed, love, needed and deeply cared for. to be able to do this for anyone is a blessing. Though when you do this for kids it's neat because they respond to your encouragement, touch, and attention. They love you right back, which is such a special gift! At lunch time we went back to the "church" where we're staying. We ate our lunch and got back to "work", which for a few of us was swimming in an indoor pool. For others it was cleaning and painting. A pro to going to the school was having air condition and geting to swim, helping the kids ofcourse as we played:). Our day ended around 3:15 with playing in the gym with the kids or watching a movie with them. After this I took an hour and an a half nap. It was exhausting, and lots of fun!
Thanks for your prayers and interest in our trip. It has been fun and rewarding. Sleep is always great. Tonight we plan to attend the church Daina Stevens(the speaker at Snow camp)goes to. There is a geust speaker that we we will be hearing. City transpertation has been fun and some what confusing. Well I need to wrap this thing up. Thanks agian and have a great rest of the week!
Written by Becky Staley on Jun 27, 2007 at 3:02:38 PM.

Breaking Ground
For the first couple of days I have been working with Breaking Ground. After Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed, there were a lot of riots. During the riots people burnt down houses. Breaking Ground is trying to rebuild some houses and making the west side of Chicago better and cleaner. Another thing Breaking Ground does is that they have classes for people so that they can change their life style, and get a job. First day out I worked on cleaning lots, this means picking up trash, leveling lots, and picking up rocks. Later that afternoon we went to Peter’s house and picked up trash and tried to level his yard. Peter has been working for Breaking Ground for ten years. The second day I still was working with Breaking Ground. But before doing some work on the second day Brian and I went to Home Depot and got tools. During the ride Brian showed me where he lived while he was in Chicago. He also introduced me to Otis, one of the people that he visited a lot and liked. This time we finished leveling lots. After leveling the houses we spread top soil. After the houses are built, they sell them for an affordable price.
Written by Lucas Hostetler on Jun 27, 2007 at 2:56:28 PM.

Trip to Chicago
We left the Lewistown Train Station at 3:46 PM on Sunday June 24. The train was really full when we got on and weren’t enough space for all the MYF members, but as we stopped places seats got available and we took our seats. We began to embark on our journey to Chicago. Before we could go to Chicago we had to switch trains at the Pittsburg Train Station. We didn’t have too long of a layover there and it went fast. We all were tired and wanted to get on the next train to sleep. The new train had plenty of seats for us to sit in and everyone got one. Soon after we go on the train it seemed like half the MYF were fast asleep.
We arrived at Chicago at around 8:00 AM. We decided that we would finish that day off by touring the city. Brian’s friend was there to pick up our bags to take to the place we were staying. It was pretty hot and humid when we got there as we began to tour the city. We split up into groups and headed our own ways. A few of places my group went to were the Sears Tower and Wrigley Field. The transportation that we used throughout the city was the L-Train and the Subway. We all met up then and stopped at a great burger shop for lunch. Once we were done eating we went off into the city again and then headed to our place to stay at about one. As we traveled by subway to the West side you could tell that it wasn’t going to be anything like the main city was at all. The buildings were more rundown and the population of African Americans began to increase as we went along. You could tell as we traveled that poverty was going to be more of an issue of the people of west side. We got to the West Side and took the bus to the building we were staying. We stayed at a church that they used in the city, that had a gym, game room, and places to sleep. It worked out well for us. We just hung out there till about 7 or so then went to get some famous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. The food was very good. After that we headed back to go to bed and rest up for the next day of hard work.

Written by Jacob Yoder on Jun 26, 2007 at 2:13:45 PM.

Chicago
Hi Everybody!
After a hot night of sleep at the church, we preceded to our various work destinations. Some were able to go across the street to a school to help tutor some of the students. Some went to an apartment building and did some odd jobs. I went with a group to an organization called "Breaking Ground". This organization helps the locals in the community find jobs as well as provide jobs for them. This can involve a long process, since some of the men have felonies. They take the men off the street and provide a training session for six weeks. This helps equipe them with the skills to build a resume and hold down a job. This affects the women and children of the community as well, since many of the men have families.
Many of the men work for the organization doing construction work. Mostly, they build homes. This is where we came in. After the homes are built, someone has to clean up all the debri and trash left by the builders. Then they can put down topsoil and plant grass and trees.
I went to a house with Hannah, Jeremy, and Steph. Once there, we found that the dumpster was already full of trash. We had to wait for another one to come. While we waited, we were told to pile all of the rubble to the side and then put it in the new dumpster when it came. Thus we moved it twice. The trash consisted of several indescribable smells, wood, rats (lovely creatures, yeh!!) and bricks. After about two hours others from our group came and rescued us.
There is one interesting fact I would like to mention that the owner of the house told me concerning why there were so many bricks. Apparently, Martin Luther King Jr. used to live a few blocks away and was very involved in the neighborhood. After his assassination, a lot of riots broke out and many homes were burned. When they dig the foundations for the new homes, many of the old bricks are unearthed.
I would just like to say thank you for your prayers and support and continue to pray for strength as we learn to interact with the people and learn the flow of city life.
Thanks again!
Love you, mom, dad, and adam!


Written by Emili Grabill on Jun 26, 2007 at 2:09:55 PM.

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