Solitude

Throughout this month of training we have been observing different spiritual disciplines. These consisted of prayer, journaling, solitude, sabbath, and body image. The main goal of practicing these was to challenge us in our faith and to find new ways to discover God in a different light. For myself, the most difficult one was obviously solitude. More than once I simply forgot that we were supposed to be silent and slipped a comment, or knocked on someone's door expecting to hear an answer. Also, it was almost impossible to be in complete solitude in the city. Everywhere you go there is still the rumble of traffic and the train in the background. It is hard to feel completely alone with God with all these distractions around, which is why solitude is the discipline I am going to keep working on throughout this year. We've been challenged and encouraged to incorporate a discipline into our lifestyles and this is the one I feel will stretch me the most. 

10 more days

My team only has one and a half more weeks in Chicago before we ship out. Yikes! We've been trying to brain storm ideas about things like what we'll cook, where we'll visit, or what we'll do for fun, but obviously it is almost impossible since none of us have a clue what it will be like. Right now the unknown seems very intimidating.

This past week the group has had discussions on conflict within our teams and also conflict with the culture. We're learning how to work problems out when they arise and also ways in which we can avoid them. Inevitably there will be problems, but hopefully we're learning more about what kind of cultural clashes will occur so we can understand them better.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we are going to practice solitude. I am not looking forward to this! I am such an interactive person and I know this exercise will be a challenge. But I'm sure it will be a meaningful one as well. 

Week 2

So far orientation has been going really well! I've been enjoying getting to know everyone in the program and learning to work with my team. I'm confident that Lee, Kristen and I will have a magnificent year together. 

This past week we've been reflecting on service and prayer, and have had opportunities to practice both. Last Friday we had a service day and I was in the group that went to Gads Hill to work with children, which I guess was good preparation for Bradford. Lee and I got to work in the same class together and ended up performing a little skit about fire safety, which was surprisingly fun! 

Yesterday, we were encouraged to visit the conservatory and walk a prayer labyrinth. The day was gorgeous and the labyrinth was really refreshing. We've also been challenged in the way we pray and experimenting with that.

I am so eager to see what else God throws my way during this month and how he will continue to work this year.

Gallavanting around Chicago

Today we were set loose with our teams on a scavenger hunt where we spotted the seductive Sears Tower according to Lee. We got lost just once, but made a full recovery around lunch time and joined up with the rest of the group for a break. After swapping stories we proceeded to the YMCA and set up our blogs.