Thank you all for a truly amazing race! The winner is the BLUE TEAM! The green team took second, and the red team was third. The race came down to the final challenge, where each team dressed up their leaders in ridiculous outfits, complete with face paint and well placed toilet paper rolls, and paraded them in front of the church. Matt, who was driving for the blue team today, won the congregational applause-vote, propelling the blue team to victory. Kristan and the red team took second place in the final challenge, but it still wasn't enough to beat out Mike and the green team for second place.
Watch over the next few days for our final posts; we'll be putting up the videos that we had technology trouble with, and pics of the final challenge (well worth seeing!).
Thanks again for all of your support. Special thanks to Candi Banghart, who worked behind the scenes to arrange our travel, organize our budget, and make this event happen! Also thanks to Orchard View Congregational Church of Muskegon, Michigan; Mike and Sheri Miller, Jennifer Gregar, Pastor Andy of Community Evangelical Church in Niles, MI; Nina and Brandon Cooper and family, Ashley Towey, Craig Wood, Andy Veith, and everyone at Lighthouse. Also, thank you to the Wiliams family and the Schettler family for letting us borrow Matt and Kristan. And Matt and Kristan, THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for joining us and making this event possible. It is 11:43, the race just ended, and I am exhausted, so if I missed anyone, please, understand and know that I am so thankful to everyone that made this event happen. And, most of all, thank you to you, God, for allowing us to run this race so that we can better understand this faith race that we are living every day.
~Pastor Mike
Sunday, August 9, 2009
And The Winner Is...
Saturday, August 8, 2009
We're baaack :)
Hey everyone guess what.. we're back in Iowa!! I know I know you're so excited. Haha, well don't worry right now we're about 12 hours away from Des Moines so you still have time to go out and have one last party before we get back! But right now we're driving to our hotel (Last night of the trip, but don't worry we get showers before you see us! ha) and we kinda got a little lost because they were doing construction on I-74, of course. Poor Matt, first he had to go through the Chicago traffic and now he has to drive at 11:45 at night trying to get to our hotel, and he misses his girls a lot. But we finally found a way to get to Coralville and we are now on our way to our hotel in Coralville Iowa and let me just say, last night we stayed in a really nice hotel in Chicago (of course) and it felt sooo good to sleep in a bed! My back and feet hurt so bad.. wow I'm getting old haha. Anyway, its really late right now, I can't wait to just get to our hotel and go to sleep.. thanks for cheering for the red team! :) and remember.. In just 10 minutes we'll be back.. in 11 hours! Crazy right?! Well don't have too much fun on the last night we're gone. I'll post more later.. right now I have to take a nap I'm way tired. We love you all!
Okay everyone, guess what?! We're back on track with our blogs (finally!) and we're back on the road again! Well, on Friday we went to Notre Dame college in Indiana and had to do a scavenger hunt to get our next hint which took us to Chicago! So we met at a cafe in Indiana and ate at Jimmy Johns and then we started on our way to Chicago! Well we got to the freeway in Chicago and most of you know the Chicago traffic.. Well, I had to pee about 20 minutes BEFORE we got stuck in the traffic on the freeway so of course I was literally almost crying cause we were sitting in traffic for about... an hour maybe? haha it was soo bad. So we finally just had to try and find an exit to go to the bathroom because by that time almost everyone in every van had to go to the bathroom so it was terrible. So we got off and went to the bathroom and the original plan was to go to the hotel and get checked in and then race to the water tower but since the freeway was so backed up Mike decided to just stay downtown for the night and eat supper and do our devotions downtown. So we went to Giovani's downtown and it was really popular so we reserved a table and some of us went shopping for about an hour.. then we went back and ate the famous deep dish Chicago pizza (Yumm! But definitely not as good as Bucca de Beppos) It was really good but I was really full after one slice! haha Then we walked down to John Hancock Observatory and walked around up there for a little bit and did our prayer time up there.. It was so beautiful and I don't know why but for some reason the prayer time that night really got to me.. it really touched me and I understood things a lot better and I felt like I really connected with God that night. Then we went back to the hotel and slept in (yayy!) until 11:00 the next morning and we got up and went downtown and just did the normal things.. ya know dinked around a little.. No what we really did was went to Water Tower Place (this huge mall in downtown Chicago.. it's so cool and definitely has one of the coolest, but most expensive, food courts I've ever been to) and we ate lunch there, then Mike took us to this place in downtown Chicago called Pacific Garden Mission and we got a tour of that place and it was amazing.. just to see how people did things there and how many people are out on the streets hurting and using drugs and trying to commit suicide? It was just sad and it really touched me. We heard some peoples' stories of how they came to find Christ and it gave me the shivers. This place runs souly on donations.. Everything they do and have is donated, they don't spend ANY money.. isn't that amazing?! That just shows you how much God is working in our everyday lives with everyday people and we don't even know it.. It has definitely made me look at my everyday life and all my things. I have been way selfish, I mean some people are out there starving and barely wearing any clothes and i'm complaining cause my parents won't buy me a laptop.. It really makes me realize how selfish I've been. It's truely amazing. But anyway sorry this is so long.. once I find out where we're going next i'll definitely let you know ;) keep checking up on us!
Me Megan and Brittney on a gorilla statue right before we left for Illinois!
Me and Mikky. I know we look soo cute with greasy hair and no make up haha
haha don't I look cute
the view from the top of the Hancock Observatoy.. It was so pretty, especially as it got later.
Me and Mikky about to fall in Lake Michigan.. AHH!
Me and Cody!
Mikky and Cody!
Me and Mikky on the skywalk above the subway
Me Mikky and Brittney in the bathroom at the food court. (Which by the way was thee most complex, confusing, yet cool food court I have ever been too! It was the one in Water Tower Place mall, a huge mall, but if you ever go there tell me what you think of it)
Me Megan Brittney and Mikky in the bathroom
The four of us with Dennis the Menace!
The four of us with him again but farther away haha. isn't he a cutie?!
The cafeteria in the Pacific Garden Mission
Some of the workers at the mission
Megan touching the beds they sleep on (very uncomfortable looking beds I might add)
Mikky with the beds
Our tour guide holding open the door to the Chapel for us
The Chapel in the mission
The wall of the chapel
The sign outside of the Mission
Friday, August 7, 2009
new pictures!
hey guys! sorry it took so long but we FINALLY got all of our new pictures up.. but for some reason they're down a little ways.. Just make sure to scroll down and check out the blog called Chicago here we come :) to see all the pictures you've been missing.. they're grrreat! Sorry it took so long.
cody in chicago
hey were in chicago! whoo hoo! im alrite with chicago. (I MISS THE CORN FIELDS) alot. chicago is well like a corn field, you get lot easy. trip is good. matt was a little irritated with driving downtown chicago. i had some awesome pizza a few hours ago. im not a big talker on this blog thing. im so like my old man. i thinks that it 4 now. thank you for keeping us in your prayers everyone.
Cody
John Hancock Center
Tonight we visited the observation deck of the John Hancock Center. I did our evening teaching while we were there; it was about stepping back from our everyday lives to gain some perspective. I think the students took it well. The lesson culminated with an opportunity for each of us to get alone with God and discuss our personal faith races with Him. In their notebooks, the students were able to fill out three seperate "Game Plan Adjustment" plans. These plans are important. If the students are understanding the teaching and being at all convicted by it, they will respond with adjustments to their lives. Writing these responses, or adjustments, makes them tangible and specific: Instead of thinking "I need to make some changes", they will be thinking, "I need to make these changes". Specific, stated goals are much more likely to be reached.
If you know a student on any of our teams, please ask them how God is working on their hearts. See if they are planning on making any "Game Plan Adjustments", and if they are, hold them accountable. Pray for our students, I love them and I want them to succeed, to live their God-given purpose, to know the fulfillment of serving God well.
~Mike
Chicago;)
we are on our way to chicago..
and in traffic for about an hour
we have all had to go to the bathroom for
about fifty nine minutes ago.. so
some of us are hurting a little bit ha
we just uploaded all of our videos
for the funniest video award and well duh
since red has been winning pretty much...
everything ya id say everything muahaha
well we are trying to find a bathroom and then
go to our hotel for a few more challenges tonight
and then i have a gues we will be heading to iowa city,
but not for sure thanks for all the comments and keep
cheering for the red team cause you all know were the best.
